ADELAIDE STARLIGHT.

I felt how the air became denser and heavier as it descended around me, as if the atmosphere itself resisted our presence, while I watched the Special grade Nightmare approach.

The distance between us was reduced to mere feet, and our opposing forces intensified, saturating the area with an electrifying presence that made the trees tremble.

"This creature... its power is immense," I reflected while observing the black vapor that slowly rose from its broad shoulders. The magical energy emanating from the creature was so vast that it gave goosebumps to any nearby creature, seeping under the Nightmare's feet like a dark mist.

The difference in size between us was considerable, like David facing Goliath.

Without warning, the monster thrust its fist forward. I didn't flinch; I faced the attack head-on, charging my own fist with dense crackling energy.

KABOOM!!

The collision of our blows caused a cataclysmic explosion that shook the air, destroying everything in its path. I felt my arm tremble when I was momentarily forced to step back from the impact.

"Some blood vessels are broken," I quickly assessed when blood came from my arm, but I remained firm, frowning.

A shockwave shook the ground when the monster disappeared. My left eye instinctively moved backward upon sensing its presence.

"Behind!"

In a fraction of a second, I jumped into the air, barely dodging a rain of countless blows that fell where I had been before.

I spun in the air, and before the tip of my right boot could touch the ground to stabilize myself, I saw a huge fist approaching at full speed toward my face.

"Too close!"

I bent my back backward at the last moment, feeling the air displacement when his fists passed grazing my face, destroying the ground and raising a cloud of dust.

I tried to position myself behind the monster, moving at great speed, but when I realized it, the Nightmare was already at my back. "Its speed is impressive," I acknowledged while turning my body to counterattack.

We began a frantic exchange of blows: my left arm against his, then the right, but when the monster used its four arms, I had to alternate and strike with both arms at the same time in an incredible barrage of fists that violently shook the air.

I put all my strength in my legs and, in an instant, positioned myself in front of the monster. In the air, my powerful kick connected with its jaw, making its neck bend unnaturally, but at the same time, I felt its left fist connect with my face, tilting my body backward.

BOOM!!

Each exchange of blows between us released shock waves that fragmented the ground and tore trees from their roots. The terrain under our feet split into thousands of pieces, forming a huge crater tens of meters wide.

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I felt blood spring from my nose after receiving a brutal blow to the jaw.

—Oh heavens... What is this? —I heard the monster murmur with surprise when my right fist crashed into its stomach, sending it flying in a vertical line.

I didn't give it time to recover. In a blink, I appeared above it and swung my left leg downward, forcefully hitting its head. I watched as its body sank into the ground with tremendous power, breaking the already devastated terrain even more.

—Just a little, but I felt that —said the Nightmare while slowly rising, shaking the dust off its enormous body.

I barely had time to blink when the monster was already upon me.

"Damn it!"

I jumped upward just as its fist split the ground where I had been a fraction of a second before. The monster didn't waste time and swung its arm backward, pursuing my body in the air.

I bent my legs in the air, forming an angle that allowed me to dodge its arm that passed at lightning speed. I found myself upside down in the sky, just one or two meters above the creature, and I couldn't help showing a mocking smile while seeing another of its arms approaching at full speed.

Spinning my body, I bombarded the monster with a powerful spinning kick in the air. My blow connected with its face, making its body bend downward, but then my eyes opened forcefully upon seeing an eel-like protrusion, with bulging veins and a row of large fangs, inches from my face.

"Damn!" In an instant, I spun my body in the air and landed with one hand touching the ground and the other behind my back.

—Tch —I clicked my tongue while observing the monster's long and thick tongue that extended from its open mouth like an eel.

The eel began to chase me from left to right at speed in rapid succession, but in a blink, I positioned myself in front of the Nightmare and forcefully closed its mouth by pushing my right hand upward, cutting its long tongue in the process with its own sharp teeth.

I saw surprise on its face for an instant before an avalanche of blows rained down on my body.

Every time its fists flew past, the ground exploded and the air seemed to split into pieces. Each blow had enough force to destroy an entire building with a simple graze.

While we exchanged offense and defense countless times, I gradually found myself pushed back by its relentless assault. The shock waves shook the surrounding trees, and power emanated from the very center of the battlefield.

—You are more formidable than I initially thought. Very well, let's raise the stakes —the creature mocked with a twisted smile on its eyeless face.

I watched as hundreds of red spikes appeared from nowhere. The Nightmare launched forward, and the ground crumbled under its feet, collapsing upon itself while crimson thorns sprouted like weeds.

I felt the red spikes emerge from the ground around me, but they shattered against the layer of bright energy that covered my skin.

I watched it pass through the crackling cloud that had remained after its attack.

A dozen protrusions, similar to tree branches composed of crimson blood, orbited around it. My heart was beating hard, but I maintained my composure.

With a sudden movement, the creature sent the branches flying toward me like missiles. Without hesitation, I materialized in my hand a spear that shone with the intensity of an amethyst. My movements, faster than the common eye could follow, cut through the rain of blood that fell upon me.

The pieces passed or bounced harmlessly against my protective barrier. I watched how the branches, as thick as tree trunks, moved like monstrous anacondas, but broke like glass before each precise movement of my spear.

Suddenly, the monster was upon me. The collision shook the foundations of the forest, and my spear became a line of vibrant golden light that cut through the screen of dust. "I can't retreat," I told myself while observing the monster's silhouette highlighted by the clash of our collisions.

I found myself forced to take a step back, moving my spear desperately to defend myself from the dozens of red branches that bombarded me without cease, while each spike and large branch vanished against the layer of energy that protected my body.

The Nightmare's relentless attacks pushed me further and further back, and with each blow, I could feel how the creature's ferocity increased. I found myself surrounded by dozens of crimson branches that covered my body in a red sphere, drowning me in all directions.