Chapter 32: Survival

Absolute cold dread filled my heart.

I have less HP and physical stats than a skeleton soldier. Hanami was able to pulverize them easily. My CE is not topped off either. On top of that it at least has 10 times my CE capacity, maybe even a 100 times.

My brain ran like an overclocked processor.

Run away? ID Escape is blocked. The moment the undead soldier was thrown at me the fight had started.

Use Undead Minions? It obliterated them without effort. They were less than fodder to him. In fact, they are less than nothing.

I remember, his skin is so tough that lower-ranked cursed tools just can't wound it in the first place even if someone far stronger than me wielded it. Its skin is tougher than steel. It is as intelligent as a human and is capable of tactics and improvisation. And it is dead set on killing me.

Head on fight? Laughable.

What are my chances against him? My head ran through what I knew about him at the speed of lightning. Physically, it would rip me to shreds, it is ridiculously fast too, but speed isn't its forte. In terms of technique, he lacks variety but not versatility, he definitely has the cursed energy to outlast me a hundred times over.

Dread.

I don't outclass it in any category. No, it's not that I don't outclass it. I can't even match up to it. IT outclasses ME.

Dread.

This was impossible.

Dread.

But I don't have a choice.

To quickly get my CE reserves back to full I brought out a mana potion as fast as I could and-

*Flick!*

All I saw was his figure blurring before he invaded within a singular meter of me and with a simple and quick flick of his wrist shattered my potion. My eyes widened and I activated cursed energy enhancement just before that hand formed into a fist and struck me casually just as I managed to raise my arms in a cross shape.

HEAVY

That punch made me feel like I got hit by a freight train as my arms shattered from the impact and I was sent flying, crashing into a tree and literally ripping it apart on contact. My arms and back burnt. They burnt so much.

'My arms... are still here?'

I couldn't even feel the adrenaline in my body. Between fight or flight, my body had chosen freeze. I could see flying bundles of roots hovering close by. Instead of performing its best to survive my body had simply given up on living.

GET UP

Forcing my body to obey I got up and jumped to the side just in time to avoid the bundles of roots shooting out a sharp tendril that skewered where I stood prior like it was made of cardboard.

The bundles shot out another tendril that I tried to dodge but I got nicked by it in my waist, nearly gouging out my side. My sixth sense pricked and I jumped away just in time to avoid a mass of roots emerging from where I stood prior.

But before I could even celebrate he had arrived in front of me once more with me unable to see him in time due to dodging. His fist was cocked back, no doubt when that fist meets my face my head will burst like a rotten grape and I will perish.

My eyes landed on that, his pitch-black fingers formed a fist that would take my life. A sure ticket to the afterlife.

Black.

Darkness.

Void.

Visions of that cruel afterlife passed by me. A world of nothingness worse than any hell. As if the entire world had stopped around me with that single thought. If I die I would go back there.

No.

I snapped out of my trance and this time. My body moved, I didn't force it to, we both moved out of the shared desire to survive.

I slammed my left arm into the side of Hanami's arm as he punched and diverted the fist. While my leg which was covered in cursed energy and kicked Hanami in the head.

It felt like kicking a wall of solid steel but damaging wasn't my intention. My brain went overdrive and I released a grave buster right underneath Hanami's feet, sending several bone pikes into his legs they barely drew blood but they still drew blood.

"『 Wha- 』"

I kicked myself away from Hanami and canceled Cursed Energy Enhancement before charging the most powerful cursed flame I could. Even for a tiny moment, Hanami would be confused by the sudden onslaught.

Somehow, even though it should not be possible the flame in my hands grew to full size almost instantly.

"Cursed Flames!" the beach ball-sized ball of flame left my palm and reached Hanami just as he broke the bone pikes. He wouldn't be able to dodge this.

*Booooooom!!!*

Indeed Hanami raised his arm and blocked the ball of flame but was still pushed back, with fire being his weakness as the embodiment of nature I could see singe marks on him but he was relatively unharmed. It had taken him less than a second to recover from the attack.

How about this then?

I created a scythe of darkness that spun rapidly until it reached full speed and became a blur and released it toward Hanami but when the scythe made contact with its body it was like an aluminum saw trying to cut titanium as sparks flew from the clash. But it was futile as Hanami smacked the blade away with his hand I could see that it dealt slight damage but nothing else.

All of those wounds took him approximately 0.8 seconds to regenerate.

"『 Are you done with your futile struggle? 』" Hanami said as he shrugged off what I just did. I wasnt even an enemy to him. Just a bunny trying to resist a wolf trying to eat him.

I didn't listen, my eyes were completely locked on Hanami. As if my entire field of view had become clear as they as my eyes seemed to focus on everything. All of my senses became sharper. I need to survive.

"『 Very well then. 』"

Suddenly a flower field bloomed in front of me, suddenly draining all the adrenaline from my body and relaxing my mind before I recognized what happened and snapped out of it. Just in time to dodge back and avoid a giant spike of wood that erupted.

And another. And another, I didn't even have a moment to relax as I was being bombarded by stakes of wood erupting everywhere. But, it should be soon.

*BOOOOM!!!*

"『 Kuah!!! 』"

A fireball slammed into Hanami's back, and right after a volley of arrows. My soldiers regrouped and charged in at the moment Hanami was preoccupied giving me a moment of reprieve as I activated chameleon and drank a mana pot.

That didn't last long however as a giant eruption of roots emerged, bigger than buildings. The wave of roots obliterated every single of my undead. It was slower than before but it was too big for my undead to dodge. The ones that dodged were sniped by wood bundles.

It took him less than a m i n u t e to eviscerate my entire army excluding Fido who was still back at base.

Hanami dashed toward me. No doubt planning to do the same once more. But the roots weren't gone, they were still active to prevent my escape. So he can't use anymore. Before he reached me.

"Create Undead: Death Knight!"

In front of me, shadows coalesced into one solid gigantic figure bigger than even Hanami clad in black steel armor wielding a giant steel tower shield. Hanami's fist slammed into the tower shield and dented it massively but the Death Knight managed to stand.

[Death Knight Lv. 110]

My nose bled from the strain but now I had a shield that can withstand the onslaught for at least a second or two. As Hanamie threw another punch against the shield that pushed the death knight back I ducked under and weaved from behind the knight and reached Hanami's left side.

My already abused brain was forced to run at inhumane speeds. How can I damage Hanami through his shell? How can my fists hurt it? My brain ran through calculations and eliminated dead ends, ran through solutions until.

A mass of cursed energy coagulated on my fist like a flame. With the union of Intermediate Cursed Energy Control and Taijutsu, a new technique was born out of desperation.

[Iron Fist]

Amplifies the destructive power of your blows and ignores a portion of your enemy's defense.

My fist slammed onto Hanami's face. It felt like hitting a 5-meter-thick wall of solid steel but I felt the hit go through. Just as Hanami was about to hit me back I had Death Knight abandon his weapons and lunge at the fist, delaying the arm just enough.

*BAM!*

My arm circled back and grabbed a hold of the root eyes along with my other hand, this is his weak spot. I pulled as hard as I could, nearly pulling them out as Hanami winced. Using the roots as handles I drove my knee into Hanami's face.

"『 Gyah! 』"

Unlike before my hit cleanly drove into his body, as if his armor-like skin had lost its hardness and my knee broke its teeth and dug into the head. I slammed my knee over and over I felt my kneecaps shatter but I kept hammering in.

I dropped down and punched the stomach. As Hanami was about to punch down and end me suddenly the Death Knight's gauntleted hand hit his face. I dodged the fist and kicked its knee. The knight punched it on the chest. I raised my hand up to his face.

"Cursed Flames!"

*BOOOM!!!*

That blow severely damaged the roots and basically zeroed the defense. I could visibly see the damage now. But as I was about to land another blow suddenly roots erupted beneath my feet and send me flying. He had dispelled the other roots.

"『 I should take you somewhat seriously it seems.』"

He wasn't serious...?

Suddenly he beheaded the death knight with a punch. I was flying through the air when he tore the sash on his left arm apart, revealing a left arm that was entirely black with white fingers in contrast to his right arm, there was also a giant flower budding on the shoulder.

Before I could process the meaning of his words fully however Hanami suddenly appeared before me and...

*SPLAT!*

His fist went through my gut.

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