TF Chapter 76 Another Encounter

"You know, there is no way that attack would have hit me, right?"

The heat of arousal had just been rearing its head once again before those words of hers slammed into me like a truck, waking me up from my delusions. At some unknown time during my descent, I had changed the hug into a princess carry, which was causing her bouncy and soft body to rub against my chest, sending heat searing through my whole body.

"It had been a reflex action. There is no need to take it to heart." I let her down gently, while speaking with as calm a tone as I could master.

She scoffed at my words, refusing to believe them. But that's what had happened. The reason my body had reacted was probably because of some protective instinct I had developed towards her.

A sigh escaped my lips as I dug myself out of the mud my legs had sunk into due to the force of the landing and our combined weight.

"Senior Nat, it would be better to focus on the opponent instead of romance at this time."

Danny spoke, his words causing me to wonder whether it was okay for me to wish that he had died. His words as always were jarring.

"It looks like I will have to take a bath after this battle." I didn't answer him, simply because it would be pointless, and this mud, covering my legs was seriously grossing me out.

Mud splattered once more as something landed right in front of us, adding even more mud to me and the rest, yet this time, I didn't have time to grumble, instead focusing on this creature, whose long tongue was leaking its lips. It was excited, that much I could tell.

For a moment there, rage threatened to take over due to the fact that my first kiss had been interrupted, but I reigned it in, not entirely, no. I made sure that it drove the adrenaline within me to spike.

I pushed off the mud, and charged the creature with my twig at my side, my hand looking relaxed, yet tense with the preparation to strike.

The creature did something which puzzled me at first, by bending down and lowering its hand within the mud only for those sinuous veins to once again appear on the surface of its arm.

I weaved through the flurry of mud which it had dug up with such force that it transformed into deadly projectiles while I tried to shorten the distance between us.

But this one appeared to know that it couldn't allow my spiritual powers to make contact with it, so it continuously retreated while slinging mud and other things it managed to get its hands on, like stones and twigs, causing the already large distance between us to widen.

This was very troublesome. Its physical prowess was already above mine, and if I kept up this high speed movement, I was sure that I would run out of juice first, so I decisively halted my momentum and acted upon an idea that had been brewing within my mind for a while.

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I held out the twig horizontally while my eyes kept track of the monster, whose spiritual powers were locked onto mine. In order for my next trick to work, I had to deceive it, so I flared my spiritual powers for a moment, allowing those in contact with its own to rise in temperature.

Then, with a thought, I withdrew some of my spirit powers from the heated particles of the twig that were facing away from the creature, triggering an explosion due to expansion, forcing the other particles to be hurled towards the creature at a speed faster than a bullet!

A scream from it almost caused my eardrums to shatter as the heated particles, which had turned into something akin to plasma made contact with its chest.

It went haywire and jumped from place to place, spattering mud and destroying the surroundings as the pain overwhelmed it, until it decided to take a full bath in the mud where its screams came to a slow stop.

I moved the moment it simmered down, as even its spiritual powers had been withdrawn due to its panicking.

Within a few steps, I appeared above it and stabbed down, having heated the next segment of the twig after the other had been turned into a projectile, having even shaped this one in the shape of a tip.

As I brought it down, I felt a sense of danger overwhelm me, causing me to change my previous stabbing trajectory from the head, to its arm that was punching towards my legs. Feeling the heat, it withdrew its attack, giving me the chance to retreat.

I panted, with the clothes Bora had sewn, sticking to my body because of the massive amount of sweat my body was letting off. Some had been caused by my speedy movements while the rest had been a result of my intent.

"Shit! I am expending too much energy!"

The creature stood up from the mud, showing off the injury I had just given it, which was grotesque to say the least. The image gave me the feeling that I had to be cautious when using my intent as I could hurt myself or my companions if I ever lost control.

"Are you still up for the challenge?" I shouted, with a smirk playing on my lips. That successful attack had made me feel that I had finally managed to get out of that feeling of powerlessness, where I had faced death many times. Now, I was effectively powerful enough to at least not be kicked around, right?

It's spiritual powers once again made contact with mine. Even though they were burning, I felt that they were calm, not like before when there was a challenge.

But the chill that raced up my spine caused me to come to the conclusion that I had thoroughly pissed it off.

Its disgusting mouth was now closed and it was simply standing there as if in the middle of contemplation. Its injury had to still be immensely painful, yet it was simply standing there, as if it was a statue!

I forcefully made my posture more combat ready from the previous relaxed posture. With a thought I activated my spiritual powers to the extent I could control, causing the very air around me to shimmer with an orangish hue, a sign that the particles had been thoroughly infiltrated with my intent. Though, I made sure to keep those particles firmly away from my body.

Thoughts about my previous close calls with death entered my mind as I beheld this creature. Previously I had been weak and my mindset hadn't been in the right direction, but now, I could feel a rising intention to battle, to prove that the previous weak self had been obliterated, only leaving behind the strongest parts of me.

Even though its quietness and almost calm demeanor unsettled me, I made the first move. This wasn't the previous me who would have sat back and waited to receive an attack, or the reckless me who had chosen to throw away their life, no, this was a new me, an improved version!

The moment I appeared within range, a foot enlarged within my vision, causing me to shift to the side, bypassing it and thrusting out with my twig, only to feel the very air above me compressing.

I didn't even waste a moment, immediately rolling out of the way with all my strength, but before I could even gather myself, another foot was coming down upon my form, causing me to once again roll away, this time making sure to push myself off the ground faster, leaping up into the air.

A black palm greeted me, but this time, I was prepared, so I thrust out my twig, whose smoldering tip was even causing the air wherever it passed to explode away due to conducting the energy within the tip.