Rebirth (6)

Neon stepped forward, turning into a blur he reached the beast and slashed with his sword. The sword had an intimidating momentum as it cut the air apart. The red runes on the blade of the sword glowed faintly as the enchantments were activated. The creature responded with a straightforward sweep of its claws.

When the sword met the claws, an unbelievably strong force went through the blade and through Neon arms. His expression changed and he speedily retreated to disperse it. On the ground, a deep trace was left. His hand was shaking and the sword was vibrating from the effects of the blow. Between his thumbs and index, a wound appeared.

'What monstrous strength, grade one is indeed different.'

He vomited a bit of bad blood to clear his circulation. He was still rattling from the impact. Steadying his breath he decided not to confront the beast frontally but to rely on his speed to launch fast sword strike. He took a step and his figure flickered like a candle flame, he seemed to have not moved but he instantly appeared by the side of the beast and launched a piercing strike targeting its heart. The sword swiftly passed through the first layers of skin before stopping totally.

'What tough body, truly these magical beast have a tyrannical physique!' he marveled before retrieving his sword. His silhouette flickered again like a ghost avoiding the enraged beast retaliation.

The beast stomped the ground powerfully leaving cracks at the place Neon just left. Pissed at Neon having avoided it, the beast let out an enraged roar before pouncing toward Neon who had appeared 10 m to its left. Its speed was truly astonishing as in a single bound it had almost reached him.

Startled Neon dodged to the side. Before he could take a breath the beast had already turned toward him and sent a blow with a speed that belied its stature. Neon only saw a shadow before he received a powerful impact sending him flying for 15 m before crashing heavily against a tree.

The tree shook as its leaves fell on the ground. Neon had just opened his eyes when a paw filled his vision, without thinking he rolled to the left.

'BOOM'

He looked just in time to see the tree explode in splinters after the terrible strike. Swiftly retreating he vomited another mouthful of blood.

'My internal organs are damaged. Still, I didn't think its speed would be so horrifying.'

Angered by this slippery prey, the beast let out another roar as the sparks turned into flames on its body.

Soon its entire figure was engulfed by the flames, making it look like an infernal creature. Seeing its current state Neon felt a huge threat. He guessed that it should be some kind of fire beast from its appearance but he never thought that it would have such powerful innate ability.

'CRACKLE'

The surrounding temperature reached a new high with the beast transformation.

'It won't be easy to come close now, let alone attack it.' realizing this Neon didn't bother fighting it anymore as he sped toward the magical flower.

The beast saw his action and was immediately incensed. It had religiously defended and watched over this herb for years waiting for it to mature. It had fought against other beasts who wanted to take it for themselves and emerged victoriously.

Now that it was almost time for it to harvest the flower, this detestable human came to steal it. The beast couldn't tolerate such affront. The flames burned more intensely as the beast's eyes turned red.

Like a meteor, it sped toward Neon who had almost reached the herb. Feeling the incoming beast Neon made a dash jump and extended his hand ripping the flower from the soil. He made a front somersault landing on his feet before running like the devil was behind him.

The beast looked at his back with madness and took off in pursuit, its speed was truly remarkable, if not for Neon's footsteps and agility it would have already caught him. The continuous evading of Neon made it crazy, It took a deep breath in.

Neon who was running for all he was worth felt a suction force coming from behind, it wasn't strong enough to affect him but it made him look at the beast behind. The flaming creature closed its open maw then its torso inflated. An intense sense of doom fell on Neon before he could even react the beast opened its mouth and breath out launching a burning fireball the size of a basketball. The fireball wasn't slow in the slightest.

It already reached him before he could muster the thoughts of evading. Knowing he needed to face it head on, he unsheathed Bloodthirsty and swiftly slashed backward. The sword and the fireball met and a huge explosion resulted.

Neon was swept by the explosion and used that momentum to speed up. He had burns on his arms and hands, blood was pouring out of his wounds but he didn't stop moving forward. Stunned by the fact that Neon wasn't reduced to ash after taking a direct hit from its flames, the beast growled and continued its effort to kill him.

So in the Darkwood forest, a fantastique scene could be seen, a youth barely 14 of age being chased by a huge maddened lion-tiger-like fire-type magical beast.

From time to time the beast would inhale violently and release a powerful fireball targeted at the youth.

Over the body of the youth in question, numerous injuries and burns could be seen. If there was someone spectating he would be amazed at the fact that this kid wasn't burned to death yet.

In reality, it should be like this but thanks to the relentless cultivation and the fact that Neon was half-step into the grandmaster level he was able to hold on barely against this hellish-like creature's flames.

Even he himself was amazed by himself. This battle helped him accurately gauge his prowess. To his surprise, he of now was already comparable to the grandmaster level warrior of his world, even a little bit superior thanks to being a martial supreme expert.

But it wasn't the time to think about that as his actual situation wasn't looking bright. He had already exhausted his stamina since a while ago and wouldn't last very long.

The beast was still on his heels and was even gaining some distance as he was weakening by the second. Looking at the surrounding he didn't feel like he would be able to escape outside of the forest before this beast caught him.

Unknown to him, a few kilometers from his position a shadow, sitting on the branch of a tall tree was looking at the cat and mouse game with interest.