15 A vicious brawl (1)

The ligneous spikes pierced into Alfraed's abdomen, although not deep, it was, without doubt, painful. Yet, that unpleasant sensation was meritorious in bringing back his focus to the current situation. And, in fraction of second, summarizing what he knew about the creature that had been showering him with murderous charges.

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First, from what he saw, the creature seemed do not have necessary sensory organs. It was vexingly unaffected by the sleep gas. Other than that, most likely, it was foreign to the notion of pain. Alfraed previous strike broke its left torso, and he could plainly see the result. However, it was moving as if nothing happened, and did not show any gesture showing it was hurting.

Second, it could not be more obvious the claws were dangerously sharp, might be comparable to, at the very least, high grade weapons. In addition, the creature was swinging them without constraint.

Third, at the same time, the creature could fully control countless living woods to persistently bind and attack its target, which, at the moment, was him, unfortunately. And, he had no choice, but to assume that their reach could cover the whole area.

Fourth, the creature had the ability to perform short-distance teleportation to any of its extended woods, allowing that tall stature to move around effortlessly.

So, with all those information combined, Alfraed came to a conclusion that this creature was nothing like beasts he had faced in the past, and.....wasn't he in a grave situation???

What started as a simple gathering of materials to make a deadline, while sightseeing in a new place, turned out to be a desperate struggle for survival against an unknown, powerful creature. Well, there were many beasts intending to eat him too before this, but that was not an issue.

Now, if escaping was not feasible, since the creature could hunt him down wherever he went in almost an instant, it was clear what Alfraed had to do.

'I've to crush it' he solemnly declared, until nothing was left.

Alfraed had subjugated many beasts during his journey to find materials for his potions and other products. But, all of them were purely self-defense, and he often chose to simply run away to avoid tiresome confrontation. Now, for the first time, he had every intention to end his opponent, else he would not be able to keep his precious life, because he knew for certain that the creature would show no mercy.

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Alfraed strongly grabbed the discourteous foot that dare to attack him. The creature tried to draw back its caught foot using force to its rightful place, but no matter how hard it tried, the foot would not leave its victim's hands, as if glued to them.

"My turn…" said Alfraed to the creature, whether it understood or not was not his concern.

Afterward, he turned his body around while pulling the four-meter creature's foot along with its entire body, drew a downward arc, and smashed the strange and frightening creature to the ground.

"...….!!!" A booming sound reverberated throughout the voiceless environment like a shockwave, and a crater was created.

Despite the creature's severely lacking facial features, it could not hide its shock expression by the matter that just took place.

"…Not yet…" told Alfraed, prompting the creature it was too soon to be surprised

While the creature was still slightly floating above the ground after being slammed, and not yet able to gain proper footing to stand, at that exact moment, Alfraed kicked the momentary defenseless creature as hard as he could, refusing to give it a chance to recover.

The creature could already feel a great force hit its body, forcefully bending it to an unthinkable degree, and making it flew until colliding with a nearby ruined pillar. Then, using his athletic legs, he gave chase, and already arrived in front of the creature after it just made contact with the pillar.

"Hmphh!"

Alfraed clenched his fist as tight as possible and landed a punch on the creature's center, giving it a permanent mark to its sturdy body. The impact also caused web-like crack to appear on the pillar. Concurrently, he noticed the barrier cladding the fist that touched the creature's body surface greatly weakened. But, no matter how weak the barrier became, it still managed to increase his punch's hardness!

A second punch that was identical in power also arrived successfully, the impact caused the cracks to spread upon the priceless pillar that was filled with untold valuable history. However, it was pale in comparison with how precious his life was, meaning, he could not care less about the pillar!

"Aaarrhhhh!!!"

Thus, he maimed the creature with barrage of punches, nailing it to the pillar.

The poor pillar finally surrendered, and crumbled due to the continuous impacts.

Before another punch could made contact with the creature, a plethora of living woods burst near Alfraed, circled on one of his legs, and pulled him away to a certain height. The creature then slammed him to the ground and another crater was formed, returning the favor.

Fortunately, Alfraed could protect his head with both hands to avoid concussion. After being slammed for the second time and a third crater was added, he thrust his left arm into the ground, resisting the woods' relentless pulling, and instead pulled the living woods from the ground with just the power of his right arm until they snapped, rendering them inanimate. In the next second, he desperately dodged incoming claws to his neck by a paper margin by bending his body backward.

"...Danger…danger…" commented Alfraed while holding his sweaty neck, checking its condition, and grateful to the fact that it was still positively attached to his body.

Then, a brawl, not a fight, between the creature and Alfraed continued for quite some time. There were no grace nor strategy incorporated to their moves, only a wish to inflict harm to their respective opponent.

The creature showed unrestrained savageness, each of its claws attack could easily cut steel. Honestly, it might even able to slash trough a dragon's skin. In addition, the moving woods under its command, and the ability to blink gave it unpredictability. This combination caused unwanted wounds to pile up upon Alfraed's body.