Chapter 17: Unexpected Strike
Chapter 17: Unexpected Strike
The creature's roar echoed in the skies as its new, more imposing and lethal body moved with a speed that defied its size. Ren, still standing on the roof of the ruined house, narrowed his eyes in surprise. "I didn't expect it to move so fast after merging", he muttered, narrowly dodging a direct lunge.
"This has stopped being just training...". His muscles tensed, sweat was starting to form on his forehead, but a smile was plastered on his face. "This is a real challenge." With those words, Ren lunged forward, moving around the beast as the two engaged in a fierce battle.
The dragon swooped down towards him, its huge mouth open, seeking to devour him. Ren dodged it with agility, leaping to the side as he used his gravity technique. The gravitational pressure emanating from him began to force the dragon towards the ground, but the curse, instead of succumbing, propelled itself more forcefully into the sky, tearing through gravity as if it were paper.
"Tsk, I still have yet to improve the level this technique", Ren thought, frustrated as the creature rose again, more aggressive.
The two continued to exchange blows, jumping from one place to another. Ren was using his gravity technique to dodge the dragon's deadly attacks and trying to deflect its trajectory, but the monster was stronger than he had anticipated. Even after applying his technique, it was not enough to completely trap it.
The dragon attacked with its tail like a whip, cutting through the air and destroying a row of houses in the process. Ren, calculating his movements avoided the blow by mere inches.
"I can't keep prolonging this," he thought, exhausted after dodging and attacking with no telling results. "Even if I pull out my cursed tools, I doubt they'll be enough for this thing..."
Suddenly, the creature launched a blast of cursed energy from its mouth, forcing Ren back. As he moved through the air, an idea occurred to him and he immediately pulled out two cursed daggers from his inventory.
"If I can't defeat him with brute force alone, I'll have to use a bit of strategy." The daggers were grade 1 tools, and although he knew that on their own they could not destroy the dragon, their combination could turn the tide of the fight.
Ren dodged the creature's attack again, jumping towards it and in a precise movement, plunged one of the daggers into the dragon's side, feeling how the beast's cursed energy was instantly altered. The dragon, enraged, let out a roar that shook the surroundings. Ren, with a smirk, quickly broke away, dodging the dragon's maddened onslaught. "That should have annoyed him."
The dagger, still embedded in the creature's body, was beginning to weaken the flow of its cursed energy. But Ren wasn't finished. He threw the other dagger into the air, taunting the curse with an arrogant gesture.
"What's wrong, does it hurt?" The dragon, enraged, charged at him with mammoth speed, preventing him from retrieving the dagger in midair.
Ren smiled inwardly. With a simple wave of his hand, he applied his gravity technique on the dagger he had thrown, accelerating it back towards the curse. The blade flew towards the creature, embedding itself right where it had already wounded the dragon. In that instant, the dragon's cursed energy became unstable, its body began to shake violently, unable to control the internal flow of energy.
Seizing those seconds of vulnerability, Ren gathered all his remaining cursed energy into his fist. "It's now or never." He leapt toward the creature, his fist enveloped in a dark, dense cursed aura. As he descended upon the dragon, everything seemed to slow down. At the last moment, as his fist was about to strike, he felt a strange sensation.
"This is..." His eyes widened in realization. What he was about to perform was what only the most experienced sorcerers could achieve: a Black Flash.
The impact was devastating.
Ren's fist slammed into the dragon, and an explosion of energy shook the entire battlefield. The pressure of the blow warped the air around him, creating a shockwave that destroyed nearby houses and pulverized the ground beneath his feet. The Black Flash was the manifestation of a blow that combined cursed energy and physical force in perfect harmony, amplifying the damage exponentially. The dragon, unable to withstand such power, was shattered by the blast of cursed energy.
As the dust began to settle, Ren landed heavily on the ground, panting. "Wow... that was... amazing", he muttered, barely able to stand. He knew that Black Flash was an incredibly difficult technique to perform, and that only those with near-perfect control over their cursed energy could use it without becoming completely exhausted.
"I should have been a little lucky too..."
All around them, the area was in ruins. The devastation caused by his attack was evident: the houses were completely destroyed and the ground cracked in all directions. Even his two cursed daggers, the ones that had helped destabilize the dragon, lay on the ground, damaged by the immense energy released.
Ren, with a weary smile, dropped onto his back on the ground, looking up at the darkening sky and the stars on the horizon. "My first fight against a special grade curse..." he said quietly, a satisfied smile on his face. "That wasn't bad at all."
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[Completed Mission: Exterminate the Nest of Curses in Kibune Village (special grade).
Rewards:
-Boost CE: 35% and CP: 1000.
-Special grade cursed tool
-Spell enhancement (limit: special grade)
-Enhancement material (special grade)]
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Current cursed energy: 72,216 (144,433)
Current cursed points: 6,890
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"Nice rewards", Ren muttered with a smile, still looking at the sky. "I guess I can get some rest..." And with that thought, he closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the cool breeze.