This insect is such a pain in my ass! Not only is it faster and stronger than me, it can heal itself naturally while I need to draw blood from it to heal. I need to be extra cautious since one wrong move and I'll end up on the wrong foot, or worse, losing my life entirely. Damn it, why does it feel like I've been fighting alone for a while now?
"Zen, you've got my back, right?" I asked while maintaining my focus on this strange insect.
But there was no response whatsoever. I called out to him again but was met with nothing but the wind. Where the hell did he go?! Did he seriously just leave me to fight this crazy insect alone?!
I made a quick glance behind my shoulder and almost let out a shriek when Kuchisabishii-sama suddenly walked across my vision. When did he even get here?
"I'm— surprised you're here. Thought you had gone to help out at the Cosmic Tree instead. Where's Zen, by the way?" I asked him.
"I sent him over to the Cosmic Tree where he's needed. What I'm more intrigued by is this insect instead. It's been some time since something made my blood pump up. You did well fighting it alone thus far," said Kushisabishii-sama.
"Are you saying you're going to fight this thing? Wow, and here I thought that there was nothing in this world that could trigger you to fight properly. I would be honoured to have you fight by my side," I said.
"No, you stay back. Way back. This insect had not even shown a fraction of its true powers," said Kuchisabishii-sama.
"Y— you're joking, right? We had sliced off so many of its limbs and I had a good feeling that I was winning," I explained.
"That's what it wants you to think. The insect was just having fun with you. Both of you would've been dead if it had been serious from the beginning. Now step back," ordered Kuchisabishii-sama.
I obliged as he seemed to know what he was doing. Honestly speaking, I was getting tired from all the constant fighting. Oh, how I wished I could be hugging you right now, my little Daffodil. Your smell had always calmed me whenever I needed to relax.
I placed some distance from them, making sure that I was still capable of helping Kuchisabishii-sama when the time comes. Both of them were some distance apart from one another. The insect remained nonchalant while Kuchisabishii-sama approached it casually. He paused right in front of the insect and stared down upon it. Such was the height of Kuchisabishii-sama compared to the insect.
"I had never seen such an insect before. What are you exactly? I wish to remember your kind," asked Kuchisabishii-sama.
"I am known as Xenos Peckii. Perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me your breed then?"
"I am a winged dire wolf, not a common breed of this world. Other beings call me Kuchisabishii, despite only eating three meals a day and having not used my fangs for anything else but food. But for you, I will make an exception," said Kuchisabishii-sama as his voice deepened towards the end.
The insect immediately leapt backwards, placing some distance between itself and Kuchisabishii-sama. From where I was standing, Kuchisabishii-sama's fur appears to be standing up and began to change colour. The insect grew wary but started laughing loudly. Is there even anything funny in the first place?
"Finally! A worthy opponent. Now I'm going to enjoy this!" laughed the insect as it spread its wings proudly and started growing sharper claws.
Kuchisabishii-sama's fur began to glow dark red and seemingly defy gravity with the way it moved unnaturally. From where I stood, I could only see Kuchisabishii-sama's back and the insect's horrifying face. They continued to glare at each other as the wind flew between them. It's as though the forest itself was preparing the stage for these two powerful beings.
Moments later, they vanished completely and sparks started appearing out of thin air. There was absolutely nothing my eyes could see no matter how hard I tried to focus myself. No wonder Kuchisabishii-sama said that both of us stood no chance against this insect if it went serious from the start. There was no way we could have coped against its speed if I can barely even see what's going on. That's not to say that my perception sucks as I can still see Zen's full speed when he's serious. This— this is just something else.
Both of them broke off from their insane speed with a shockwave clash that rumbled the surrounding trees. Kuchisabishii-sama landed in front of me with a dismembered limb in his mouth. What threw me off wasn't the dangling limb but it was his facial features that looked completely different. He no longer looked like the friendly-looking doggo earlier. His eyes were pure white along with massive amounts of visible fangs, some even protruding out of his mouth in odd angles. His white and greenish fur had changed to reddish-white now. Is this how he's supposed to look when he's serious? Or perhaps he is just angry or something.
He spat aside the insect's limb as he got ready to attack once again. The insect regrew its limbs in a span of a second with a sickening crunch and readied itself for their next clash. It took a while, but I finally noticed that among the reddish fur, Kuchisabishii-sama was actually bleeding. Is the insect actually stronger than him? In that case, Kuchisabishii-sama will lose in a battle of attrition with this insect due to that ridiculous healing factor. Should I help him out? What the hell can I even do?
"Ah, it's been a while since I've used this form. I don't even know how much power I need to use," he spoke with a deeper tone.
Steams began to rise where blood was seen. Hot damn, guess Kuchisabishii-sama has his own healing factors too. This battle is definitely going to take a while when both of them have such incredible healing factors.
They clashed once again, disappearing from my vision with the occasional sparks that appeared from thin air. I tried my best to focus my full attention on the battle, but every time when I thought I saw them, they increased their speed even further.
At this point, red and green blood began to splatter all over the place as though it just appeared out of nowhere. I took a glance at the blood that had fallen and started noticing that the leaves and grasses on the ground were strangely shaking and appeared to be moving towards the fight itself. Wait— is it… because of the speed that they're fighting at end up causing some sort of vacuum?! Oh my goodness, and I'm in the middle of it!
More and more leaves were being sucked in and began to swirl around their battle as the weather itself seemingly began to deform from their insane battle, whatever it is they're doing right now. Both of them broke their clash for a short period, which resulted in another massive shockwave but resumed as quickly as they stopped. It seemed that both of them were striking at each other faster than their healing factor could keep up. Who is going to come up on top? Kuchisabishii-sama, you need to win. There's just no way I can win against this insect at its prime.
They continued their battle, but I had a gut feeling that it'd end soon. Both of them had shown their powers, so it was only a matter of time before one of them gained the upper hand. A huge vortex of wind began to form directly in the middle of the field, as thunders could be heard above. It's like the whole universe would implode if these two don't stop fighting anytime soon.
A massive shockwave erupted, and the surrounding landscapes deformed in all sorts of ways. I was forced to hug a giant tree in hopes of keeping myself alive and not being blown off. Something crashed into the ground not too far from me, leaving a huge crater upon impact. Damn it, I really hope it's not Kuchisabishii-sama that had lost. I shudder to think that I have to fight such a powerful opponent for even a minute.
Whatever that had landed picked itself up, but started getting shredded into thin air by some unseen force. As of luck, it's the insect that had lost against Kuchisabishii-sama as he landed gracefully in front of where the crater is. He continued staring at the crater as though he wanted to make sure that the insect doesn't regenerate after being shredded to pieces. Jeebus, what crazy ass battle did they fight when I couldn't even see a thing.
"A formidable foe indeed. Been a while since I fought like this. I certainly enjoyed our battle for sure," smirked Kuchisabishii-sama as he returned to his original form. Seems as though he had fun fighting this insect.
"Guess it was a tough opponent even for you, huh? I thought there was nothing in this world that could threaten you. I couldn't even see a damn thing throughout the whole fight," I confessed.
"Hm? Ahh, I just had trouble adjusting to my grizzly form at the beginning since it's been centuries since I've used it. Once I've gotten the hang of it, it was only the matter of time before I end the fight. There was no need for me to use my other form on an opponent like this," he smirked.
What the hell? He still has another form up his fur? At what power level does the opponent need to be for him to even consider using it? The Demon King's level or something?
This battle had certainly opened my eyes significantly; there's still a long way for me before I reach the level of these mystical beasts. Will I even be able to achieve such power in the future? It feels extremely far-fetched for a human to achieve such a power level. Who will end up reaching first? Zen, or me? Or perhaps the ladies? Rose had always been the best of us, she should have the highest chance with her ridiculous spells.
"Can't regenerate when there is nothing left, huh? That was an enjoyable battle, Xenos. I will certainly remember our battle for times to come," said Kuchisabishii-sama as he puffed up his chest and smirked.
"Let's hope there's no other insect that is stronger than this one up there. Otherwise, we will need your help once again," I chuckled.
"Nah, the insect up there had sacrificed a huge portion of her powers to spawn this henchman. She must have been expecting it to protect her while she absorbs the power of the tree. Speaking of which, you might want to close your ears soon," said Kuchisabishii-sama as he moved his gaze towards the Cosmic Tree.
I was completely surprised to be seeing the Cosmic Tree tipping and falling in the direction of where I assumed Zen and the others were. Wait a minute, the tree is going to crush me along with Kuchisabishii-sama if it continues to fall in this direction. We need to move, now!
I thought of throwing my axe as far as I could and teleport away with Kuchisabishii-sama but he nudged me to look at the Cosmic Tree once more. Upon a quick inspection, it would seemed that the tree was being pushed back by something roundish. Miraculously, the tree was somehow being pushed back to its original position. Is Zen pushing it back with his wind powers? My eyesight had never been the best so it was hard to see something so small. Whoops, didn't realised I made fun of him when I didn't meant to.
The Cosmic Tree slammed back onto its trunk with a loud thud that could be heard all the way here. Phew, guess we're safe after all. We should be heading there to help out. Who knows what kind of enemy that massive insect might end up becoming after the Cosmic Tree falls?
"Let's go. Zen will need our help up there," I ran ahead but stopped after a couple of steps as I noticed I could only hear my footsteps running.
I turned my gaze back to Kuchisabishii-sama who appears to be yawning. Uhh, shouldn't he be rushing over to help out at the Cosmic Tree? Doesn't he worship the tree at all?
"What's wrong? Shouldn't we be heading over to the Cosmic Tree to help out? I thought it's your priority to be protecting it?" I asked curiously.
"That is false. Only the elves have sworn such an oath. The wolves have not done so. Besides, I'm hungry. It's been a while since I used that form. Our duty is done, let's have some grub," said Kuchisabishii-sama as he licked his lips.
"W— what? You must be joking, right? Zen needs my help. I should be heading over there to help him. Not getting things to eat when my cousin is up there fighting," I frowned at him.
"They'll be fine. Nothing they can't handle, trust me. We have already taken down the strongest foe on the field. We can leave the rest to him. It'll be useful for him in gaining more combat experience," said Kuchisabishii-sama nonchalantly as he started walking back to the city.
I thought of ignoring him and head towards the Cosmic Tree but I was yanked from behind and ended up being dangled from his fangs. I couldn't even loosen myself from his teeth as he happily brought me back to the city, stating that it is lonely to eat alone and I should accompany him since he helped me fight that Xenos creature earlier. Ugh, guess I should honour his request then since I can't do anything now. I'll rush over as soon as I fed him, Zen. Wait for me, and don't die.