The Beast of Legend (3)

A Bed Crossbow Bolt Fruit was consumed, and as it did so, the torrent of power flowed into my arm. I swiftly brought my arm back until I heard one click, and then let go. My arm was sent forward, but unlike the other times I've used it, it was a controllable force. The bolt left my arm quickly, but only as quickly as a normal person could throw a rock.

As my bolt got closer to the Salamander, I used up thousands of Genesis Orbs causing my entire body to glow a bright silver. I then took my left hand and gripped the air in front of my right hand which was still balled up into a fist. Even though I didn't feel anything in my grip, I directed my Genesis Liquid to my hands and, using the technique I learned during the second trial of the Firearm inheritance, I attempted to infuse the "air" that my hand was gripping onto with Genesis Liquid.

Starting from where I gripped, a silver glow in the shape of a thin thread manifested, connecting my hand to the bolt that was still mid-air. In a split second, the entire bolt and the previously invisible string it was attached to were glowing a bright silver. As if sensing something was wrong, the Salamander tried to knock the bolt out of the air as it got closer, but just before it did, with both of my hands, I tugged onto the string, and as if a feather were attached to the other side, it snapped back. Before the bolt could hit me though, I gripped onto it with my left hand.

This was my Martial Art: "The Ultimate Bolt."

The lizard glared heavily at my bolt before seemingly shrugging it off and planting its feet into the ground readying itself for another attack. I stood still, my left hand holding onto the bolt's shaft and my right keeping it in check. My knees were slightly bent, and my shoulders were dropped. I took a deep breath and readied myself for the second clash, but this time it wouldn't be the same.

The lizard jumped into the air which seemed to originally be an impossibility considering its size, however, the next move it made proved that this Salamander was more dexterous than it looked. It flipped 180 degrees while mid-air, causing its back to face the ground, but more importantly, for its tail to be more than close enough to attack me. The mace-like tail zoomed through the air, pushing passed the air resistance in a feat of absolute strength and speed.

I smiled slightly, this wouldn't be enough to injure me anymore.

I tightened my grip on the bolt and took a step back with my right leg, causing my body to go even lower. Then, with a sudden burst of activity, I threw the bolt into the air with my left hand and then began to spin it wildly with my right. The speed at which this was done made it so that my eyes couldn't focus on the bolt and the string itself, creating what looked like a silver shield. Then the tail struck.

Ting!

The sound of the spike on the lizard's tail and my silver shield clashing reverberated throughout the empty crater, and once I pulled the bolt back, I saw that I caused the tail to recoil as if it were a sword that just hit a boulder. I couldn't waste such an opportune moment. I jumped high up into the air, and then, as I just about reached the apex of my jump, I let go of the bolt and began to spin it barbarically once again, this time vertically instead of horizontally.

It wasn't soon until the same silver shield was created, but it wasn't for defense this time. As I was falling toward the lizard's belly, I suddenly, as if I was holding a whip, flung my arm back, causing all of the momentum gained from the spinning to be placed into straight motion. The bolt went far behind me, and once it just about ran out of string, I whipped it back. The bolt moved so fast, that by the time the lizard finally struck the ground with a loud boom, it struck the wide-open belly.

The bolt went right through the Salamander's armor-like scales and drew blood along with screams. The bolt was moving at such a high speed that the blood was sprayed all over me, and by the time I hit the lizard's belly as well, my robe was dyed red with few spots of white remaining. Through the shock waves of the string that was attached to my arm, I could feel that the bolt had hit something hard enough to stop it, so I pulled it back, causing another wave of blood to attack me.

As soon as I took it out, the Salamander's body began rocking back and forth, threatening to roll over. I wasn't able to jump off because of the unstable ground I was on, but I still had an escape method. I used up a Crossbow Bolt Fruit and changed my grip so that I held the bolt with my right hand. I consolidated the power into my left hand and punched forward, allowing the crossbow to escape from my fist. Just before it got too far away, I grabbed it with my left hand, causing the bolt to lift my body along with it.

Just as I escaped into the air, the lizard finished rolling over. The bolt was losing velocity at a steady rate and ended up causing me to calmly fall to the ground about twenty meters away from the Salamander. The Salamander had already locked its eyes on me, and with extreme killing intent, roared at the top of its lungs. I could tell that my strike hurt it dearly, and the fact that its first response wasn't to heal its wound also confirmed that it could only heal as far as its hands could reach. This gave me many more ideas of attack that I could take.

But before I could do anything else, I suddenly felt the ground beneath me shaking. I focused my eyes on the lizard's hind legs. They both kicked the ground with incredible strength, causing mini-craters of their own. Eventually after a couple of seconds of kicking, the two legs acted as an anchor, and sent the rest of the body up, but not into the air; into a standing position. Being now double its original height, the Salamander towered well over me.

Once I saw that it had gotten on its hind legs, I had a decent idea of what it was trying to do. I immediately began running away from it, trying to get as much distance as possible, but as I looked over my shoulder, I realized that it wasn't preparing to attack me. Instead, it opened its mouth wider than ever before, to the point of practically being a chest. Once its maw was gaped, both of its hands reached into the pool of lava sitting inside of it. They went into the surface of the pool and then gripped. After gripping the inside of the lava, the hands left the mouth of the beast, but with an object in each hand. Glowing in the hands of the Salamander were two large swords that were dripping with lava.

This was its Spell. It wasn't a grand one-time attack, but the creation of two lava and obsidian swords that would last for, more likely than not, the rest of the battle. It tightened its grip on the two swords that were facing the ground and roared at me. It wanted revenge for earlier.

Still standing up, it charged at me, getting ready to swing the two swords, which to me were practically two large trees. I wasn't in the mood to see if my Stone Class Martial Art could withstand a blow from a Spell, so I decided to run. This Spell proved to be a complete change in how it attacked, and since Rare Wild Beasts like the Salamander were rarely seen, the Spells that they've been seen to use were a short list, and whatever this one was, it wasn't listed. So I had to dedicate time to observing how it attacked so that I could find the best opening to attack. But more than all else, I needed to make sure I didn't get hit. One hit from one of those swords would spell the end for me. My Martial Art unfortunately couldn't compare.

Now that I had a Martial Art at my disposal, I could see the key difference between it and a Spell. Besides one belonging to the Magic Path and the other to the Technology Path, the biggest difference is the involvement of Fruits. A Spell is a mix of a Magic Art and many other Fruits. The same was true for Machines except with Martial Arts. The reason why I was even able to damage the Salamander in the first place was because my Martial Art was special in that it used one Fruit and because I was able to integrate my magic circles into it. Adding just one Fruit made a world of difference. So a Spell that used multiple Fruits wasn't something I was willing to stick around and see.

But now that I thought about it for a second, why should I bother attacking it right now? It was at its most dangerous, which meant that I was unlikely to find an opening. And I've already given it a big injury so that box was checked. All I had to do right now was stall until Capcis finished drawing the magic circle. It's already been a few minutes, so all I had to do was run away and avoid attacks, and if I did get in a bind, then Iusus would help me get out of it. Twenty minutes was far over my limit on using my magic circles at their maximum anyway, and I still had to save a decent chunk for the finisher.

With that in mind, as the Salamander got close enough to slash at me, I turned around and booked it.

If there was no reason to risk my life anymore, then why would I do it?

____________________________________________

About 18 minutes had passed since then. Those minutes were filled running away from the Salamander as it angrily chased me, dodging the spray of attacks that it fell onto me, Iusus getting me out of multiple tight spots, and overall just making sure that the lizard kept itself fixated on me.

I dodged to the right as a sword of lava slammed down onto my original position. As it hit the ground, I ran forward and slid under the lizard. Once I did that I turned to look at where I asked Capcis to make the magic circle. What I saw felt like a godsend in my exhausted state. Cacpis was standing there, and waved at me while yelling, "Quis!! It's ready!!!"

I nodded at her and sprinted to the area. Seeing that I wasn't wasting any time, Capcis ran off into the intact jungle. The lizard was still pissed at me, if not angrier from not being able to capture me, so it followed right behind me. Eventually, I found myself inside the magic circle that I commissioned. The circle was made of white paint that Capcis had on her before she was drugged at the school, and intense patterns with interlinking intersections, points with sharp angles, some with curved lines, and just a complex pattern design overall. It was certainly a strong magic circle.

After acknowledging the circle's presence, I ran passed it and then turned around. The Salamander was now in the center of the magic circle. Now that I knew for sure it was inside, I crouched down and touched the paint with my fingertips. I focused Genesis Liquid into my fingertips before bequeathing it to the magic circle. The magic circle, from where I touched, suddenly brightened into an incredible silver.

Now that I finished my job, I took a moment to casually look up at the Salamander. It was right before me now. Its facial expression resembled that of a smug smile as it pulled its sword back. Then, with a bang, it swung it forward. But just as it swung, from the circular perimeter of the magic circle, a semi-transparent, extremely tall, silver wall formed. Now, with a wall in the way of the swing, the sword only bounced back, causing the Salamander to lose its balance and fall on its back.

It was now a bird in a cage.

I took a sigh of relief as the tension that had been ripping my shoulders apart was elevated off of my body. That was a hell of a fight. One wrong move could've spelled my death, but I suppose that's a common theme in this world. I sat down on the ground as I watched the Salamander slam against the walls using many different methods, but it was futile. This magic circle was one that I was able to derive from the booklet that Medisma gave me. It had the effect of only letting firearm-attributed objects go through it, and I also activated it using Iron Class Genesis Liquid. The Salamander wouldn't be getting out of it anytime soon.

The sound of footsteps reached my ears, causing me to look in its direction. I saw both Capcis and Iusus walking over to me while watching the lizard struggle to escape. After taking in the sight Iusus gave me an earnest grin and beamed at me, "We actually did it! We actually beat a 2nd half-Coal Class Wild Beast!"

I nodded my head at her, "Yup, and that was a great performance from both of you. You saved me more times than I can count and Capcis was also able to make this giant magic circle so quickly. I couldn't have done this without you guys." Trying to take the credit completely for myself in this situation would be foolish since I would be getting all the recognition once I officially killed the beat. It was better to use this opportunity to spread goodwill, and subsequently push Iusus closer to my faction.

Iusus, surprisingly, returned my compliment, "Yeah, we definitely had our roles, but you were the one who actually fought the thing head-on. Speaking of which... What was that crazy move you pulled off after getting your shit kicked in?! I've never seen a spear so powerful that it could allow a Stone Class Cultivator to pierce the flesh of a 2nd half Coal Class."

I smiled at both of them, "That'd have to be my Martial Art, The Ultimate Bolt... but I'll spare you the details for now. The Salamander is still alive, so I have work to do."

I stood up and began to walk around the cage, and as I did so I could hear Capcis ask me, "So you trapped it in order to slowly kill it?"

I shook my head while positioning myself in front of the Salamander, "No. I'm going to kill it in one shot."

Before Iusus or Capcis could react to my insane words, my aura exploded. The Genesis Essence around me began to quiver as I brought back my arm. The first lock, the second lock, and finally the third echoed within my body. I sat there for a second, before counting down for dramatic effect, "Three, two, one-"

BOOM!!!!

Abruptly, just before I was able to use my finisher, an explosion of dirt bloomed in front of me. Dirt and grass were sent flying as the intense winds threatened to push me back. This bred confusion within me. Was the Salamander able to escape? No, that would be impossible... but it's the only thing I can think of as possible...

I readied myself to enter combat again as the dust began to settle, but what formed in my vision was anything but what I was expecting. Sitting on top of a headless corpse that used to hold the Salamander's soul wasn't a big terrifying monster, but something much more small. Though, I would argue that this thing was even more horrifying than a giant Wild Beast. It was a human.

She opened her eyes exposing them to be a shade of scarlet, and while eyeing each of us down, she suddenly opened their mouth and began to cackle loudly, "HAHAHHAHA!! This is going to be even easier than let on! Just one Stone Class and two Dirt Class nobodies? Sign me up!"

'...Eyes taking on a shade of red. A laugh as sharp as a blade. Teeth that zig-zagged like a shark...'

Her words, her appearance, and even the fashion in which she showed up. It all pointed to one thing...

She was a Devil.