Atai (3)

Bloed looked at his saber and furrowed his brows.

'Thus guy… He is strong…' He thought to himself.

At the same time, Bloed stared at the young beastman in front of him.

The young beastman was standing in front of him silently. He was completely uninjured, save for some burns in his arms and legs plus a small cut in his shoulder.

Yes, that small cut in his shoulder was everything Bloed managed to achieve in his last attack.

Astonishingly, the young beastman had managed to twist his body at the last second, barely avoiding Bloed's attack.

Moreover, he even counterattacked in that situation, throwing a dagger towards Bloed. If not that Bloed read his intentions beforehand and stopped the dagger with Leto's sand, he would have been injured.

Besides Liu Ying, it was the first time Bloed met someone that could face him at the same level.

As expected of a place where the strongest B-Rank of the beastmen countries were gathered. Some of them were bound to be truly outstanding.

"… You are strong." The hoarse voice of the young beastman reached Bloed's ears. "What is your name?"

Bloed thought for a moment before deciding to reply. An enemy like this was worthy of his respect.

"Bloed Norman. Nice to meet you."

"Bloed, huh. It's the first time I met a B-Rank practitioner as strong as you. My name is Atai, I'm from the cougarkin tribe of Atala."

Bloed nodded. So he is a cougarkin, huh.

If he was not wrong, a cougarkin's racial talents were: Increased speed, increased strength, and enhanced senses.

Certainly, he could see traces of these talents in Atai.

Mainly his speed and senses. Atai had the fastest speed and the sharpest senses Bloed had seen in a B-Rank practitioner.

In fact, in terms of speed, he was vastly superior to Bloed.

"You are very strong… So strong I'm not confident in defeating you without using my entire strength." Atai said with narrowed eyes. "But… Only this kind of battle is exciting."

Bloed smiled wryly in his mind.

Another battle maniac, huh.

Although to be honest, he thought the same.

Only a battle like this could show Bloed how much he grew after breaking through B-Grade.

Thus, he held his saber with a hand and a gun with the other hand, without moving his gaze away from Atai.

At the same time, Atai grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow on it.

In the next instant, both of them moved.

Leto's sand surged from behind Bloed, trying to drown Atai.

But suddenly, an orange ray of light came from Atai. A powerful arrow broke through Leto's sand and advanced towards Bloed!

Bloed leaned his body aside to avoid the arrow and entered in stealth. At the same time, he ordered Oculus to shot.

Atai moved. He kicked the ground, avoiding Leto's sand and Oculus's energy bullets. Then, he kicked a wall after another, moving in dazzling tridimensional movements that made it hard for Oculus's bullets or Leto's sand to catch him.

Then, he grabbed another arrow and shot it.

Straight towards Bloed's chest!

Bloed's expression changed. He moved out of the path of the arrow and narrowed his eyes.

As expected, the cougarkin had found a way to discover his stealth.

Bloed knew it was not through smell. Since the day when Irina had seen through Bloed's disguise due to his smell, Bloed made sure to take it into account each time he needed to move in disguise or stealth.

Then, how was he discovered?

Now that Bloed stared closely, he could see Atai's ears twitching slightly, as though he was reacting at each sound in the surroundings.

It was a crazy theory, but it was the only answer Bloed could find.

In the end, he could only resign himself to abandon his stealth.

Bloed's figure appeared on the battlefield again. He then put back his saber, opting to hold a gun and each hand.

Then, he started to move through the battlefield, firing the guns (in blaster mode) repeatedly.

Bloed's guns had also been improved after his advancement to B-Grade. And the main improvement was in the blaster mode.

Besides increasing the power of the shots, Bloed also managed to reduce the time between shots from one every three seconds to one per second.

In other words, he could currently shot two of such powerful bullets every second!

Atai seemed to know that these bullets were different to the ones shot by Oculus. He was constantly moving through the battlefield, avoiding them and retaliating with his bone arrows.

At the same time, he was constantly trying to find a way to close the distance between Bloed and him.

However, Bloed did now allow it. He controlled his movements precisely, making use of Leto and Oculus attacks to keep a certain distance from Atai. No matter how much Atai moved, he could not close the distance between Bloed and him in the slightest.

In fact, he got the feeling that each one of his movements was lay bare before Bloed's eyes. Each time Atai looked at Bloed's blue eyes, he felt as though he was naked.

On several occasions, Atai had got the feeling that he could close the distance with Bloed, only to realize that a powerful attack was coming towards him when he moved. As though Bloed would have predicted his movements.

If not that he had very sharp instincts, Atai was sure he would have been defeated long ago.

'But this can't continue!'

Atai thought to himself.

Currently, the initiative of the battle was completely in Bloed's hands. Atai occasionally retaliated with his bone arrows, but these attacks were easily avoided by Bloed.

Atai knew that if the situation remained this way, he was going to lose eventually.

Hence, he decided to change his strategy.

"Come!"

With a strong roar, Atai kicked the ground. At the same time, a cougar-like figure engulfed his body, emitting a powerful aura and killing intent that assaulted Bloed.

Bloed wrinkled his brows. He immediately ordered Leto and Oculus to attack and restrict Atai's movements.

But to his surprise, Atai did not avoid the attacks this time.

Instead, he continued forwards restlessly!

Then–

*Boom!!!*

The cougar-like figure clashed against Leto!

Arcs of electricity surged from Leto's body, trying to consume Atai. At the same time, tens of energy bullets were shot from the sky towards him!

But Atai roared. Once more, a shockwave pushed Leto's metallic sand away. Then, he twisted his body and increased the mana protecting his body, enduring Oculus's attacks!

At the cost of several minor injuries, Atai broke through Leto and Oculus and reached Bloed once more!

With a bone dagger in each hand, Atai slashed towards Bloed's body.

But instead of panicking, Bloed smiled.

Then, his body danced, moving elegantly and avoiding each attack of Atai.

His movements were slower than the cougarkin, but they were always one step ahead.

Before Atai could attack, Bloed had already evaded.

Then, Bloed's saber flashed, and [Dimensional Disintegration] was activated.

Atai's instincts screamed in alarm. A powerful feeling of death engulfed his entire body.

But even in these circumstances, he remained calm. With bizarre movements, he twisted his body out of the saber's path, only receiving a slight skin injury.

At the same time, his dagger cut towards Bloed's shoulder to put an end to him.

Bloed grunted. Metallic sand appeared around him, blocking the dagger while his saber moved in an arc for another attack.

The two of them remained in close combat for a long time. Both of them attacking and counterattacking at each second.

In the end, though, it was Bloed who had the advantage.

Atai also realized that. He could feel he was slowly losing.

In that situation, a fierce expression appeared on her eyes, and his mana started to boil.

He was getting ready for a big technique.

But suddenly, Bloed and Atai's expressions changed.

An incredibly powerful pressure approached them from the distance!

At the same time, Oculus caught the image of a beastman advancing in their direction

It was A-Rank beastman Bloed had seen before!

With a grin, the beastman unleashed a punch, and a beam of mana flew towards Bloed and Atai.

Then–

*BOOM!!!*

An explosion swallowed both of them.

When the explosion finished, both Bloed and Atai appeared uninjured, several meters away from each other.

Their gazes, though, were fixed in the powerful beastman walking towards them.

The [Hunter] stared at both of them and grinned.

"I finally found prey."