When we got close again this time, I had a hard time doing anything else but defending. But I also saw an opportunity. It was a lot angrier at this time and perhaps I could use it against him. I started to make myself lighter so its attacks will start to propel me further away. This took some time for me to get right but doing this help me get distance and opportunities to flank him with his help.

One of those moves gave me the chance for a ranged attack. Because of the last attack it made on me, only one of its feet was on the ground, so I had a little time to prepare before it could dodge again.

This time I pulled a bit of my core energy into the attack hopefully it will be enough for a wound on its leg making the creature's fast movements slow down at least a bit. The flying strike flew off a lot quicker than I was used to and was able to wound its right back leg quite efficiently.

I didn’t want the pain to clear its mind so I quickly rushed back in into a losing position that I now know I could get out of quite easily using its own attacks. This time I was also prepared and modified my sword's edge so it would have small spikes on it.

This way I didn’t just have to defend but I could attack while defending. For this to work I had to defend differently so that not the claws, but the paw would hit my sword when defending. The skin there was extremely resistant to cutting but the next attack proved that the now-modified sword could pierce through it.

The only problem became that he was able to snap off the energy spikes which wasn't the best news. Every time I need to reform them, I needed to use quite a lot of energy. This continued for quite some time. The snow and ice now had a lot more red in it. I could feel its anger climbing but I didn’t let up and eventually, it slipped on the ice.

During the fighting, the ice had now become a lot more dangerous. Our outbursts of energy had started to warm everything up and now some places had a water sheen on them. There were some open holes in the ice as well that the monster’s attacks had made.

With the slip that the monster made I was able to get another hit on the back leg near the previous wound. While the last wound didn't cause it to slow down much it was now starting to visibly limp when putting too much weight on that leg.

Before I could reengage it roared again but this time a shockwave was emitted from him. This came as a surprise to me, and I barely had any time to lower my weight, so I was hit pretty heavily.

While flying through the air I could see it running towards me and I was lucky that I was able to get myself light enough to hopefully be able to collect myself before the creature reached me. It was a near thing. I was able to get my blade between its claws before it had a chance to remove my head.

Flying again I thanked the gambeson. It has really helped lower my impact damage. Without it, I didn’t think I would be conscious anymore.

Luck was another part of my survival as I nearly fell into one of the holes in the ice. If it wasn’t willing to come after me into the water, I might be able to use it as an escape method but who knows what might be underneath here. But at least I have the way of retreat if it was required.

It didn’t take long for the entire lake to become our playing ground as I kept flying around. Unfortunately, it wasn't my choice to fly. It was still angry enough that I was able to get a few more strikes in but I couldn’t get it angry enough for it to lose its reason.

The monster’s blood wasn’t the only one that coloured the ice anymore. Only a few more minutes had passed but in that time a lot had happened. We were separated currently by quite a lot of distance and after checking my wound on my thigh and my lower arm I was happy to see it wasn't that bad.

The bad news was if my armour didn’t have my core energy in it, it was like paper against monsters’ ability attack. The fucker had kept that attack in reserve and it almost cost me my life. Luckily my eyes were able to pick out the change and I was able to reinforce my chest armour in time.

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The scratches were still quite visible as it even removed some of the metal, but the armour did its job. In the energy department, I was winning overall if we had similar strength energy. if this was the case I think I could win quite easily but it wasn't.

The pause didn’t last for long as I had to charge in once again. The terrain holds us back again, but I think it was better for me. In the next two engagements, none of us was able to get anything notable done. Before we could charge each other again a different kind of roar came from the forest. This paused our fight as we looked over in that direction where an extremely large wolf entered our sight.

At first, I thought this will be the end as it started to rush towards us. But quickly I realized how weak the monster was. I was extremely confused about its actions. I had kept one eye on the sabre-tooth cat so when our eyes met we both figured out that we know that the monster coming at us was weak.

I didn’t know why the wolf monster thought it could attack us, I alone could have easily handled him. It was still low silver, but it seems all its monster core was able to do was make it a lot bigger as it was about 5 meters tall.

When it was close enough, I launched my ranged attack. To my surprise, the sabre-tooth cat also did the same. The wolf monster was first bisected by my attack and then the sabre-tooth attack diced it up properly. Only chunks of meat were now left of the wolf monster. Barely a few seconds passed before we rushed each other again the wolf monster already forgotten.

I needed to do something fast after a few more engagements I was left with a trickle of core energy. I have only seen one opportunity where I might have the advantage, but it was going to suck so badly. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any other option left.

The battlefield was turning into a minefield and the bastard was now able to make use of it more thanks to its large stature. It could push me around a lot easier, so it started to push me towards the messed-up ice, and it worked quite well.

I was lucky as my leg wasn’t broken but I could feel it hurt every time I moved. I would guess I was bruised all over and at least one of my ribs is broken. I have a few more cuts as well. One deep enough that my left arm is now a lot weaker. The blood loss was not too bad but if this keeps going it will become bad. Before that will happen, I will long be out of energy and be inside the monster’s belly fueling its next battle.

It was also limping quite hard with its two legs. It also had a bad wound on its shoulder. A strike that should have hit its neck but the bastard was able to dodge even that. It was time to move in for the final round. It was either defeat and I had to make it to one of the holes to jump into the lake or victory.

I dug deep bringing out everything I had and for the first time in this battle, I let out a war cry and charged him with my movement skill as fast as I possibly could. I used everything I had. Every strike was the best and strongest I could make it. Every hit would be directly where I wanted it to be. My last stand activated with every other ability that could aid me. Seven ghosts with long spears came out of me and start to surround the now pushed-back monster.

I could see the surprise on its face as my eyes kept cycling so I could see every aspect of the monster. This way no movement was a surprise and I kept pushing and pushing. It came at a huge cost as my energy kept plummeting.

My muscles were straining so hard that even a little bit more and they would give. Still, I didn’t let up and wound upon wound started to appear on the monster. My ghost’s weapons barely did anything, but still, small wounds started to appear all around its body.

At this point, I knew I would win unfortunately so did the monster. So it let out its most devastating attack and roared. The shockwave that flew out immediately destroyed all the ghosts. The monster got ready to run towards me as I flew but to its surprise, I was still standing where I had been just a moment ago.

I split my remaining core energy between making myself as heavy as possible and my weapon so it could pierce as deep as possible. My regular energy all went into my armour as much as I could cram into it.

This allowed me to barely resist the roar and now make my own attack that the monster could not dodge. I didn’t hesitate or waste the opportunity as my sword plunged as deep into it as possible aiming for the heart.

The blade sunk into the hilt but before I could do anything else I was hit in the side and flew a few meters away. My armour was able to protect me from being slashed open but a few more ribs were definitely broken as I coughed blood.

Breathing was incredibly hard, but I have felt worse. I quickly pulled my dagger and knife as I shakily got back on my feet. The monster tried to do the same but was only able to get half up before it crashed down. It tried again but this time it wasn't able to rise at all.

I slowly got closer as it was bleeding heavily. There was no strength left in it to do anything so as quickly as I could which could barely be described as walking, I made it to the creature and finished it off.

Just before I passed out, I sent Goose orders to go and bring my apprentices here. He had been flying overhead all this time, but I had kept him away from the fight. It was hard for him to watch this fight and not participate but there was no reason for it to die. The ghosts were stronger than him and they just died from a single roar.