120 The Fight (2)

Matthew saw the kids were already on the border between the woods and the clearing, but when they also tried to come into the clearing, the invisible also stopped them from going past it.

The kids also tried banging on the wall and throwing rocks at it, but still, the invisible wall didn't even budge after all of that. In the end, Matthew tried his best to use his body language to tell the kids to stay right where they are and not do anything that may endanger them.

Matthew then turned his gaze back to the general who was only watching them struggle to find a way out of the barrier and seemed to enjoy it. Knowing what is probably happening currently to the kobold village, Matthew didn't waste a single second and shouted,

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? QUICKLY REMOVE THAT INVISIBLE BARRIER!"

"Gladly…"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!"

Right after the general shouted his answer towards Matthew, he opened the pouch tied to his waist and rummaged through it before pulling out a bean-sized pill from it and quickly swallowing the pill.

Matthew didn't know what the pill would do but guessing that the general had pulled out a magic tool from the pouch before, Matthew didn't want to take any chances and charged straight towards the general before he was able to say the chants to activate the magic tool.

Matthew's decision was correct to act as fast as he could, but unfortunately, the pill that the general had just eaten wasn't a magic tool that needed any chants to show its effects.

The distance between Matthew and the general was quite far away as Matthew tried to go outside the clearing before, but Matthew still had his wolf aura ability on and his speed was also enhanced, so it didn't take him that long to come towards the general.

However, in that short amount of time that Matthew took to run towards the general, the pill had taken its effect as Matthew could see that the hazy white aura that was only covering the general legs' starting to spread out all over the general's body.

Seeing this, Matthew put more strength into his legs and tried to run faster towards the general. And when they were only about 10 meters apart, Matthew jumped forward with all his strength to try and cut the general's neck before the general was able to do anything else.

As Matthew crossed the 10 meters distance in under a second with the enhancement of his wolf aura ability, but it was still not enough to stop the general.

The initially hazy white aura that covered the general's body from the top of his head to the bottom of his legs had visibly become thicker than before. The white aura that used to be see-through is starting to get denser and denser until it looks more like a liquid compared to its usual gas-like appearance.

Matthew got a bad feeling when he saw the thick white aura, but now that he is already up in the air, there's no way for him to suddenly change the direction of his jump in the middle of the way. So Matthew decided to commit to his attack as he started to wind up his hand and prepared to transfer all the momentum from his jump towards his fist and deliver it to the general's face.

But Matthew's plan didn't come to fruition as Matthew saw the general's sword move even faster than before, blocking his claws right at the last moment. The general's blow was fast and powerful enough that it completely stopped Matthew's momentum and put Matthew back down to the ground with only a single movement.

The general's body had become even sturdier than before that he didn't even take a single step back when he blocked Matthew's jump attack and just stood still while powerfully swinging his sword.

'D*mn it! he became stronger!'

Seeing his supposedly powerful attack was repelled without much effort, Matthew quickly took a step back and tried to gain some distance away from the general as he planned to think of a way to deal with the general that had suddenly doubled or even tripled his power.

But contrary to his expectations, the general didn't give Matthew a chance as the moment Matthew jumped back, the general followed suit by kicking the ground and brandishing his sword towards Matthew.

Matthew used his scutes to block the general's swing when they were still in mid-air. And the result was something that Matthew didn't expect.

The moment the general's sword clashed against Matthew's scutes, Matthew felt his hand had become slightly numb and he was pushed back even more, sending him flying back while he was still in mid-air and breaking his posture.

Matthew landed with his back crashing onto the ground and although he didn't have any cuts or visible injuries on his back due to his crocodile scutes, he could feel what could possibly be his broken ribs shaking violently and an acute pain was felt on his chest. Not to mention the pressure from getting his back slammed down to the ground was immense that Matthew felt his innards slightly shift for a moment before going back into their place.

Despite the situation he is currently in, Matthew didn't get any chance to take a breath as he saw the general was already coming his way, jumping towards him with one of his legs at the front of his body as if he was preparing to stomp Matthew's body who was still lying on the ground.

Matthew quickly rolled his body sideways and dodged the commander's stomp that was initially aimed at his chest and now left a deep mark on the ground where Matthew was laying before.

Matthew then got up from the ground and started running away from the general to gain some time to think of a way to stop the general.

Of course, the general also ran over and chased Matthew, but now that Matthew prioritized on running away from the general rather than counter-attacking or slipping in sneaky attacks, he was able to gain some distance from time to time and he was able to avert a small portion of his focus to use his brain to think.

'What the h*ll am I supposed to do now!? I lost my advantages now that he somehow could also use aura to enhance his whole body. His aura even seemed thicker and it gave him an even bigger buff to his strength and speed compared to before he consumed that weird pill.'

'Can I use my venom to slowly bring him down?'

'No, I don't even know whether my venom would work in his current state as it also didn't work on the bear before when it was covered in aura.'

'And besides, I don't have the time to wait for his aura to run out for the venom to take effect.'

Matthew took a glance towards the rising black smoke in the sky that comes from the kobold village and gritted his teeth while he turned his brain even faster and tried to think harder.

'Come on Matthew, you need to hurry up and finish th-'

Matthew had to suddenly stop thinking for a second as he saw the general take a big step and thrust his aura-cladded sword forward. Matthew turned his body sideways and thought that he had successfully dodged the general's attack, but he suddenly felt a prickling pain on the side of his chest.

'I need to keep my calm first, I can't keep getting distracted by my own emotions...'

Matthew then looked down towards his body and when he saw what had cut him, it turns out that the general's aura that had become thicker and denser was able to pierce through his aura-enhanced soft scales.

But Matthew didn't stay surprised for long as he remembered that he needs to prioritize staying away from the general.

'And now even his aura was able to cut me… What am I supposed to do…'

Matthew avoided the general's attack and ran all over the place while simultaneously using his brain. And after he successfully dodged the general's attack tens of times, Matthew had finally realized something.

'His technique had become duller…'

Although the general's speed and strength had significantly risen after he took the pill, Matthew realized now that the general's movement wasn't connecting and flowing as well as it had been before. The general's movement and attacks had become simpler than before even though if he did get hit by the attack, Matthew would receive a more serious injury, it was easier for him to dodge and evade the general's attack.

'But still, it doesn't change the fact that I can neither injure him nor end the fight with this… I need to get out of here as soon as possible…'

'This is because that d*mned aura… how am I supposed to go against it…'

Matthew saw the thick white aura still covering the general's body and it didn't seem that it would run out anytime soon.

'Wait a minute, how did he make the aura become thicker?'

Matthew then remembered that the aura covering the general started just like how he used his wolf aura ability, covering his whole body before it slowly became thicker and denser until it became what it is now.

'If the process was similar to how I use the wolf's aura ability, then does it mean that I can also do it…?'