Monster To Monster

The Red Guardian had taken on a much less anthropomorphic form–More closely resembling a monster than anything else. His eyes glowed with a feral gaze… He hadn’t fallen into a bestial lust for blood. There was still clarity to be found in his gaze, but it was undeniable that he was no longer in possession of his full thinking capacities... He had become something else. A creature better adapted for slaughter than before.

Any thoughts that could impede his killing capabilities were gone in this form…

Edrick watched closely as the Blutgar was rushing directly for him. Xiaolie had made no mention of such a transformation, despite the fact that the original story had featured a fight with the Red Guardian–A fight at the end of which the defender had perished. By all means, this form should have been mentioned in the original story…

Unless it was an invention that had come from the fact that the so-called novel Xiaolie had read in her old world often lacked finer details of this world and had only presented the story of the protagonist without ever extending much on the world at large, or other details…

This meant that Anoteros knew nothing of this monstrous form. He nonetheless welcomed the unexpected challenge.

He had imagined that the protector was going to simply start using his energy manipulation more extensively to gain an edge… And perhaps he hadn’t been completely wrong in this thought.

Not only was this form definitely far stronger and faster, but the scion felt how much more powerful the Red Guardian’s pull on ambient energy became as well. His feral form quickly flooded with dire amounts of energy, around thrice as much of it as previously. The combination of great physical might and improved augmentation brought by energy was certain to bring about incredible striking force.

Nonetheless, the human noble did not move out of the way and instead waited until the last moment to trigger his own transformation. His bulging muscles ripped through the fabric of his clothes as he transformed into his most powerful form. The perfect combination of all sasquatch species he had access to.

A giant, hairy, gorilla-like creature now stood in the place of the scion, standing firmly as he used what little knowledge he had of the augmentation spell learned from the Magus-King’s bloodline.

The two giant creatures clashed.

The Red Guardian slashed Edrick’s chest, finding his claws to be less effective than expected due to the thick fur the scion had chosen to cover himself with.

Anoteros replied by punching the crimson beast across the face. The creature was sent spinning, but was not dazed by the strike, immediately using his tail like a spring once more to launch himself at the scion in an attempt to tackle him to the ground.

With a roar featuring much spit, the crimson monster attempted to bite down on Edrick’s head, unhinging his jaw so wide that it pretty much looked like his entire face was splitting apart to leave room for its maw to unfurl.

Anoteros grabbed the Red Guardian’s entire head with one hand before he could go for it, stopping his jaw from opening all the way… All the while, the human tried to twist his opponent’s neck and crush the skull… Unsuccessfully. The protector managed to resist even as Edrick used his free hand to repeatedly strike the guardian’s unprotected side.

The Blutgar held onto the arm trying to crush his skull, clawing into it in an attempt to make the scion let go. However, Anoteros held on. He hadn’t made this transformation extra furry for no reason... Not to mention that it incorporated the tougher skin of Eltysian Mountain Sasquatches as well.

So, although much blood was drawn, the actual damage wasn’t great enough to convince Edrick to let go just yet.

The Red Guardian growled, his eyes and nostrils irritated as the noble released the awful stench of the Skunk Sasquatches at maximum power. It wasn’t enough to do anything to him, but in his current, nearly-feral state, any form of annoyance translated into animalistic rage.

Thus, he revealed a new method of attack.

Edrick felt it before he saw it, but the hand holding the guardian’s head was suddenly pierced. A hole was made through it in the blink of an eye.

‘Oh my…’

It was the Blutgar’s tongue. Somehow, his tongue was not only prehensile and incredibly long, but it was also even more dangerous than his damned claws, as it easily overcame the tough defences of Edrick’s flesh and bones.

The tongue moved like a serpent, repositioning itself before trying to pierce through his skull.

In response, Edrick placed his foot against the defender’s chest and flipped his adversary over him before rolling out of the way… They once again found themselves at a standstill. Between the two of them, only the Red Guardian could heal, so only Anoteros ended up injured out of their scuffle.

Regardless, neither of the two combatants stayed still, both having the same idea at the same time.

They roared directly at each other. The brutal soundwaves they created slammed into one another, greatly weakening their effects, but the Red Guardian followed by shooting a mass of energy directly out of his maw.

Edrick was not confident about enduring a blast of energy, so he dodged out of the way as his opponent repeated this same action several times in a row... This went on until Anoteros ended up near a piece of debris from the pale red temple, which he swiftly picked up following another evasion–And with a spin, he sent it barrelling straight at the Blutgar, who blasted the debris to pieces with another energy projectile.

The scion had closed the distance in the meantime.

Using his Eltysian Mountain Sasquatch attributes, he spat out a large rock directly at his opponent’s face. Being that this was directly followed by a blast of ambient energy, the Blutgar couldn’t shoot another immediately and had to resort to swinging at the rock to stop it from hitting him.

A grunt escaped the crimson beast as Anoteros summoned Arm Of Depravity in the form of a giant Kanabo.

He did not seem capable of talking in this form, but Anoteros could have sworn that he heard him cuss out loud as he realised what was coming…

When the Kanabo struck the ground, and Oni Smash’s special ability was activated, it took into account the strength and sheer size of the Kanabo being used. It did so incredibly well since this wasn’t really the original, basic technique at play here… It was Twisted Weapon Encyclopedia doing the work.

As such, the effects were outstanding. The entire area around the point of impact shook so greatly that the Blutgar was thrown off balance. The resulting trail of destruction–Although it missed the guardian–Was massive, causing dirt to fly all over the place.

Before the Blutgar could do anything, he was struck by a direct swing of the weapon, sending him flying straight through a pillar of the pale red temple.

Gathering himself, he saw Edrick already ready to swing down on him… But the Red Guardian was possessed by rage. Part of the temple had just been destroyed.

Without caring, he struck at the incoming Kanabo. His hand and arm were shredded, but he stabbed the scion in the abdomen with the claws of his other hand. Driving them deeper and deeper.

Injuries were mounting. The confrontation couldn’t be sustained for much longer by either party…