The creature looked uncanny, with dark purple scales covering its entire body like armor. It looked like a mix of a rhino-sized spider at the legs and a humanoid lizard for the torso. Small, empty white eyes were placed at a part of its body that could be considered a face.
He froze. He could feel the pit of his stomach.
Nagai suddenly cleared his throat.
“Well,” Nagai began, speaking loudly.
Shin looked at his master with horror.
“Shut up,” He mouthed as though his was on his last life.
“No point in whispering now, it’s already aware of our presence,” His master said nonchalantly.
Nagai let out a sigh as he uncovered himself from the rock formation.
Shin paused for a moment, almost not believing the gale of his Master. But after seeing his confidence, Shin followed.
“Shin, this will be your first observation of a True Qi Spirit Master. This creature is too far above your skill level, so just carefully watch from a safe distance back.” Nagai said, never breaking eye contact with the creature.
Shin stepped back with no argument.
After he noticed Shin receding, his Katana finally sliced out, the sunlight bouncing off the blade with glee.
A few moments passed, and bloodlust spilled forth into the battle.
Nagai began circling the monster, rocks crunching below his feet.
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Suddenly, the monster lashed out, stabbing forth with two of its eight legs.
A loud crash resided, and dirty brown smoke filled where the ground once was.
Jun Nagai recoiled, standing up a few meters away. He looked at where he had just been. Two rugged beach ball-sized holes uncovered the earth.
Jun Nagai smiled slightly, thinking about his youth. This monster was like a nostalgic rewind for the old man.
The monster, whose ‘face’ looked shocked regathered itself.
Nagai straightened himself, analyzing the creature from ‘head’ to ‘toe’. The scale armor was thick, yet it had its vulnerabilities. The eyes, and where his legs connected to his torso lacked any sort of Armour— it would impede movement and eyesight.
‘I could just use Sword Mastery to easily cut through his armor, but I want to teach Shin brute skill isn’t always the most efficient way to battle’ Jun thought profoundly.
He looked over at Shin.
He no longer looked scared, in fact, he stared on with excitement.
“Shin, when in battle, try to always defeat your opponent with as little effort as possible! Conserve your energy!”
“Lazy Old Man!”
The back-and-forth banter between the two seemed to enrage the monster. He huffed out, and a thick mist spewed forth.
Nagai gripped the blade tightly, returning his gaze to his opponent. His visuals were obscured by fog. It smelt like a forest after heavy rain mixed with a lingering scent of rot. His eyes felt a slight burning sensation, and his lips and skin tingled.
He closed his eyes and began sensing the surrounding Qi. One, no, two flickering Qi’s marked the area. One in front of him, and one to the left, most likely Shin.
The creature slowly receded from the front of Nagai, going to a nearby Rock. its sharp, knife-like legs easily gripped onto the vertical surface; the Monster now parallel with the rock-face furiously wall-climbed to Nagai’s right.
Sensing all of this, Nagai altered his battle stance a little to face his left.
Just a second later, the creature came bellowing from his side, it cut through the smoke leaving trails of empty suspended midair.
CLANG!
Blue blood trickled down the creature, six of its legs curved and contorted in different ways to pierce its target.
Nagai stood unmoving, inches in front of the monster, his Katana inserted deeply.
Deadly, sharpened legs were extended just feet behind his position
With a single fluid motion, he retrieved his sword, blue blood being flung as he extracted his sword from the beast’s flesh.
A second later he crouched and dashed underneath the falling creature. The creature had fallen face first into the rocky dirt, kicking up dust and flinging rocks.