CHAPTER 25

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A bonus chapter

CHAPTER 25

Kreegan began to attack as he put Alexander aside, but Battler's thick fur wouldn't let him cut it. Kreegan was faster than Alexander and had no emotional connection to Battler, so he didn't care when the man tried to throw him off balance with his taunts.

"How is your friend? He looks a bit deflated."

He was making weird jokes to himself and then laughing at his own joke.

"Did you get it? Oh, come on, it was funny. Since your friend has a hole in him."

As Battler kept talking, Kreegan kept attacking, but both of them were getting nowhere. But only one of them had a real battle experience. As the exchange continued, Kreegan started to understand the extent of Battler's power. He had immense strength, but his speed was limited. If he didn't take a miss-step, he wouldn't get hit. Since his attacks were ineffective, he decided to go for a war of attrition, but he had a hidden weapon against Battler. He was too arrogant about his defense and wouldn't dodge his attack if it didn't hit somewhere his fur was thin.

So, he was attacking the places where he wouldn't dodge, but with every attack, he was using Touch of Fatigue cantrip. Both of his swords had a 10% chance to apply the debuff, and in these few minutes, he had exchanged at least 50 blows. The Touch of Fatigue had activated seven times, and with every passing minute, it was shown on Battler's labored breathing that it was working.

Battler's fatigue marked the beginning of the battle, not the end, as Kreegan wouldn't be able to break through his defense with his basic attacks, and Battler wouldn't fall into the same trap and leave his face exposed.

Battler started getting tired of Kreegan, who dodged like an eel. With his rage and fatigue reaching their peak, Battler headbutted to the ground, and there was an earthquake as his golden horns sank into the ground. Earth shattered, and spikes of rock started to protrude from the ground.

For a moment, Kreegan lost his footing, and seeing this, Battler was going to do the same thing he did to Alexander, but Kreegan had more experience fighting than Alexander, and He had his spells. As Battler was getting ready to dash at him, Kreegan used one of his spells.

"Grease"

Three meters around, Battler suddenly covered a yellowish liquid, and he landed on his ass. Using this moment, Kreegan activated his Expeditious Retreat spell and increased his speed by 50% for 3 minutes. He used the Tatsumaki attack immediately after applying the Touch of Fatigue spell to his swords again. It was as if Battler was stuck in a blender, and small sword energies of compressed air were trying to cut him to pieces, but the strikes were not powerful enough to cut him anywhere other than his face, so Battler hunkered down and turned into a giant fur ball.

This type of defense was precisely what Kreegan wanted him to do because every attack Tatsumaki created had the potential to trigger Touch of Fatigue. Meanwhile, Battler realized that something was wrong. Suddenly he was getting exhausted and trying to get out of that area, but just as he was about to get up, he fell back to the ground as if the earth had been pulled from under him.

Battler tried to get up by digging his claw into the ground, but the second he let go, he fell back again, and again he got hit by another Tatsumaki. This time he dug his claw deeper and catapulted himself towards Kreegan while trying to impale him with his horns, but Kreegan held his swords parallel to the ground and used Nigiri Hirameki (Flash). This way, he was able to deflect his horns.

With a thunderous crash, two swords and horns clashed while sparks were flying. Kreegan managed to deflect the horns, but because Battler was stronger and heavier, the force of the clash sent him flying backward. Kreegan managed to slow himself down by digging his swords to the ground.

At that moment, he realized something. A small part of Battler's horn broke and fell to the ground. With it, Battler's size got a tiny bit smaller. Kreegan had seen the man eat the horns and transform. At that time, he thought it was something similar to devil fruits, that the power was permanent, but it looks like it may not be.

He got the power through the horns, and it looks like if he lost the horns, he might lose his power too. He only got 20 seconds of the buff left and could only make one more attack in that time frame. While he was thinking about what to do, something caught his eye, and he charged at Battler.

Kreegan was so fast that he appeared before Battler in the blink of an eye. Battler swiped his giant claw at Kreegan from the side, but Kreegan managed to change his direction by stomping his foot sideways and using his own foot as a wedge, then he tumbled into the air. Basically, he was tripping over his own foot, but this footwork was really dangerous because it strained his ankle too much. At that speed, by tumbling into the air. In essence, he turned into a buzzsaw. He cast the jolt spell and held Ichinami with both hands.

"Ittoryu: Hiryu Kaen (Flying Fire Dragon)."

A blue fire dragon-shaped flying sword attack charged toward Battler's horns while encased by lightning. By attaching his spell to his flying sword attack, Kreegan was able to use a touch spell like a ranged attack. But Battler had realized what Kreegan was aiming at and tried to bring his other arm to defend his head. Right at that moment, Alexander attacked Battler from behind and hit him with his wind blade right at the back of his knee.

This caused Battler to stumble to the ground. So as not to fall, he kept his hands on the ground as a reflex, giving Kreegan the opening he needed. This time he cast Shocking Grasp, and the slash in the shape of a flame dragon with lightning flashing around it, instantly cut both of Battler's horns at its root. Everything happened as he predicted. When he was planning what to do, he saw Alexander had come to himself. So Kreegan positioned Battler in such a way his back would be facing Alexander. Kreegan guessed if he provided Alexander with a perfect opportunity, he would strike Battler from behind, and he did exactly that.

Battler let out a shrill cry, and instantly the golden fur fell off his body. After that, those giant muscles that once covered his body collapsed like a balloon. What was left was a skinny man that looked like a stick. At that moment, Alexander dug his claws into Battler's spine and broke it. Battler screamed in an incredibly loud voice. Alexander threw him to the ground and stood before him. He was savoring this moment, blood was trickling down his shoulder, and his skin was pale from the blood loss, but while smiling, he said.

"I told you I was going to rip your head off."

He stomped hard on Battler's throat and pinned him to the ground, then dug his claws under his chin and pulled with great force. Because Battler couldn't open his mouth, he could only make painful and muffled sounds. At that moment, Alexander winced because of his shoulder but didn't let go. On the contrary, he pulled with all his might. The wound on his shoulder started to gush with blood. Then with a heart-rending tearing sound, Battler's head split from his body.

While holding Battler's severed head, Alexander closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then let it out in tranquility. He felt like a giant weight was off his shoulders.