Chapter 210: Dance some more
Chapter 208
Though the beams struck their front limbs with significant force, the energy wasn’t enough to totally destroy the creatures.
It succeeded only in reducing their mobility for a few precious seconds—long enough for Ray to regain his breath and bolt toward the one positioned slightly ahead of the rest.
Just a second away from the target he was aiming for, the beast dug its clawed feet into the stone, causing deep cracks to immediately grace the earth.
Then, with a forceful push, it lunged at the boy, clearly intending to impale him. At the last possible moment, Ray twisted his body.
His blood splattered on the ground as he was forced to let go of his injured side to move.
In one fluid motion, he drove his fist into the side of the creature.
His gauntlet now showed thin cracks across its surface due to the impact with the spikes, but fortunately, the weapon’s protection held, and he remained uninjured by the beast’s natural armor.
His sheer strength was enough to send the monster sliding away from him.
"Coming!" Van shouted, providing what support he could.
Jumping forward, rolling across the rough ground, and then springing back to his feet, Ray narrowly avoided a second beast which crashed into the exact position where he had stood a moment ago.
’Up.’
He quickly lifted his head to see the third predator hovering above him.
Its tail was lifted high above its body like a jagged sword, ready to descend upon the human and split him in two.
"Ack...." Ray groaned in pain as he proceeded to leap aside.
He dodged the tail, which tore a deep groove into the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dust with the impact.
Rising back to his feet, the beast he had previously punched away returned with a vengeance, its jaws snapping as it tried to chomp at his leg.
With uncanny speed, Ray took a half-step back, neatly dodging the closing jaws.
Then, in the same breath, he bashed his leg into the creature’s face, lifting the advanced-ranked skeleton off its feet and sending it ricocheting across the cavern floor.
Shifting backward again, Ray lifted his hands and managed to grab hold of the open jaw of a second beast.
One hand gripped the upper bone while the second clenched the lower, desperately trying to stop the creature from closing its skull-like mouth on him.
Even with his immense power, he was unable to fully halt the beast’s momentum; it was digging its tail into the ground, putting half its weight behind the push to force its way forward.
This caused the boy to be driven backward, his boots skidding on the stone.
His teeth were tightly clenched as he did everything in his power to stop the monster’s mouth from snapping shut on him.
While he was struggling in this deadlock, the remaining two beasts seized the opportunity to bolt toward his exposed back.
Clenching his teeth angrily, Ray strained, putting all fifty points of his strength to good use.
He began forcing the mouth to close; instead of trying to pry the jaws apart, he was now attempting to crush them together.
The beast used all its might to resist the pressure, but the boy was relentless.
Finally, a second before the other two predators could eviscerate his body, he smashed the jaws together with a loud, sickening crack.
He immediately proceeded to clasp his hands together and swung them like a baseball bat, smashing the beast’s head to the side followed by its entire body.
Spinning around just in time, he found the other two beasts already directly before him.
There was no space to dodge nor any room to run as they swung their heads forward with the raw momentum of a charging bull.
Ray reacted instantly, pushing his palms outward to meet the assault.
One hand braced against the first beast’s temples while the other caught the second, his muscles bulging as he attempted to shove the pair of predators back.
Unfortunately, his physical power wasn’t quite enough to halt their combined mass.
The beasts tossed their heads upward with a violent jerk, throwing the boy off his feet and into the air for a precarious second.
Sensing their opening, their tails darted toward his airborne form at a terrifying velocity.
For a brief moment, Ray felt disoriented, but he regained his focus in the next heartbeat and clenched his jaws tight.
Kicking against the air to orient himself, he spun his body around.
In one fluid, athletic motion, he batted the incoming tails away with a precise and powerful roundhouse kick.
"Rending—!"
Obsidian claw slashes burst from his gauntlets, crashing into the head of one of the beasts.
The impact was immense, cracking the skull-like armor for a moment and sending a shockwave through the creature’s frame.
He landed a meter away from the pack, huffing and panting while reflexively gripping his injured side.
He was still bleeding, his HP ticking down with every passing minute that the battle dragged on.
The monsters didn’t intend to let up.
One of them spun around, its narrow head twisting and turning as if it were searching for a target it couldn’t quite see.
"Ack..." Ray coughed, a small amount of blood escaping his lips.
The sound was faint, but the beast’s head snapped in his direction instantly.
Van’s eyes widened from his position in the back. ’They—they are blind? But it seems they are hypersensitive to sounds?’
Seeing the beast locked onto his location, Ray groaned and steadied his footing.
Despite the pain, a small, defiant smile played on his lips.
Placing his palm directly over the injury on his side, a white, soft glow appeared as his healing ability activated.
The wound began mending itself at a decent pace; the gash wasn’t overly deep to begin with, and within a few seconds, the skin closed up.
The healing process left him feeling slightly rejuvenated and ready to re-engage.
Tilting his head toward the monster, he gestured tauntingly toward himself.
"Come on. Let’s dance some more."
He grinned while shifting back into a low, aggressive battle stance.
Accepting the invitation, the creature charged at him with such blistering speed that it closed the gap in mere seconds.
It lunged, stabbing its lethal tail toward Ray’s face.
Swatting the projectile aside with the reinforced back of his gauntlet, Ray’s knee whipped upward from below.
The strike bashed into the skeletal jaw of the beast with a sickening thud.
Sharp spikes grazed his skin, drawing a fresh trickle of blood, but he didn’t mind the sting.
He had achieved his goal by forcing the beast’s head to snap upward, exposing its throat and underside.
Vaulting off the ground once more, he grabbed the head that was still recoiling.
In one smooth, heavy motion, he swung his entire body weight into a downward slam.
Leveraging his monstrous strength, he clobbered the beast’s face into the rocky floor with a loud, resounding bang.
A deep crevice instantly appeared beneath the beast’s skull as the stone shattered.
More cracks lined its bony face, and it went limp under the pressure.
Ray grinned like a madman through the thick dust that had clouded his position, his eyes glowing with the thrill of the hunt.