Crunch! Crunch!
No matter how tough the bone, if a wolf chews with all its might, it will soon be torn to shreds. Even as she watched the Devouring Technique literally crush her axe, Epirna remained calm.
After all, once you reach her level, no weapon can fully contain your power. It’s the same reason the Demon King of the Arctic relies on his own strength rather than weapons. Even the weapons revered by saints as divine artifacts are merely useful tools—sometimes not even that. The tiger, who had been smiling faintly, finally let out a roar.
Kraaah!
This roar was less a tremor that shook the mountains and more like the howl of a beast. Its white eyes glistened as if consumed by madness.
Roka, who had already learned what this was, tightened her grip on her sword, tense.
“Water Technique.”
Black streaks, like tiger stripes, rose up her face, and now Epirna’s appearance had transformed into something that could no longer be called human or beast. A half-human, half-beast woman, resembling a tiger, opened her mouth to bare her fangs.
“This is fun.”
But what came from her mouth wasn’t the howl of a beast but the voice of a person maintaining clear reason. The fact that she wasn’t going berserk while using the Water Technique was impressive enough, but it also meant she had perfect control over her explosive power.
“This time, I’ll go all out.”
‘Water Technique isn’t supposed to be used like that—she must be confident!’
Even Masters struggle with the energy consumption of the Water Technique, using it only in critical moments and deactivating it afterward. Did she have the luxury to keep it active all the time?
Roka also knew the Water Technique but chose not to use it. Instead, she focused on the ability she had just realized. As she glared at Epirna with shining eyes, she “saw” the flow of magical power coursing through her body.
To be precise, she couldn’t directly see the flow of magical power. It was the harmony created when Epirna’s magical power clashed with the natural magical energy. The trembling rhythm it emitted. All the rules aligned neatly before her eyes.
If she could read the flow of power, she could predict the next attack. But it wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t as convenient as having an answer sheet next to her.
‘Is this what Master sometimes referred to as the Observatory of Star’s Dream?’
A divine miracle that reads the future. It couldn’t compare to the Observatory of Star’s Dream. To deduce the opponent’s actions by reading the flow of power, Roka needed her own calculations.
She might think the opponent would do A, but they could do B instead. Even if she perfectly read the flow of power, a misjudgment could lead to a wrong prediction.
Of course, it required intense mental focus. Even then, she could only read a fraction of what was to come. There was no guarantee she could block or dodge the attack. If the opponent’s attack was too strong or fast, she could still be helplessly hit even after reading its trajectory.
But even so—being able to predict even a sliver of the unknown future was a tremendous advantage. Roka’s eyes lit up as she saw Epirna charging at her with claws extended.
In an instant, she saw the trajectory of the claws. She hastily dodged, and sure enough, the claws slashed through the air exactly as predicted. The tiger’s head let out a laugh.
“Unlike you wolves who can’t use your arms well, we tigers have the best weapons in our arms. Do you really think you can match me when all you rely on are your fangs?”
It wasn’t a joke. Every time Epirna swung her arm, a whooshing sound echoed, and the air shattered, creating shockwaves. Her strength was already beyond what could be called biological.
‘I can’t rely too much on this technique. It’s something to be used sparingly in critical moments.’
Even those shockwaves were within her predictive range. All she had to do was move out of the way in advance.
But when the rain of arrows fell from the sky and the sword wind blew again, Roka hastily calmed her mind. Trying to predict and calculate all these trajectories in an instant was enough to make her head explode.
The point was, just like Epirna, she couldn’t rely on a single technique to win. Roka steadied herself. This time, instead of dodging, she decided to face each attack slowly and methodically.
As Geher once said, there’s no set strategy in battle. There’s only the path of the king. Using every technique in the right place and moving forward to victory—that’s the strategy.
“Rise!”
As she unleashed the power of the moon, the image of a full moon rose behind her. It began to emit a strange gravitational pull toward the rain of arrows.
The arrows’ trajectories were thrown into chaos, veering off in completely wrong directions. As the ground was pitted with holes and noise filled the air, Roka prepared her next attack.
“Burn!”
As she clenched her hand, the Power of the Sun writhed and bloomed. She hurled it, and a radiant flash of light erupted, scattering the sword wind with a blast of heat. For a moment, a path opened toward Epirna.
“That’s more like it!”
Roka charged at the perverse tiger, determined to end this with one strike. She stepped on the image of the moon and leapt forward, swinging her sword with the most powerful technique she could muster.
“Hmph!”
The Mountain King doesn’t avoid challengers. Epirna stood tall, swinging her transformed forelimb to meet Roka’s sword.
Thick Steel Energy clung like iron plates, amplifying its force. But now, pure Light of the Sunset pierced through all defenses and slashed her arm.
“What…?!”
Not only the Steel Energy but even the magical barrier protecting her was pierced in one go. The power of the dragon scales added to the Resonance Sword greatly helped in shattering the barrier like paper.
Thud!
Blood splattered, and the tiger quickly retreated. Seeing the deep gash on her arm, her eyes widened. The Light of the Sunset on the wound didn’t fade but instead seemed to spread further.
“This is that time’s… but it’s different. Could it be you were hiding your strength back then too?”
Sunset Slash.
To be precise, the true essence of Sunset Slash.
Its true nature is a killing technique that ensures the opponent’s death upon use. Even a scratch from the true Sunset Slash will cause the wound to spread, and the Light of the Sunset will engulf the entire body.
Unless the opponent chooses death and rebirth like a Phoenix, there’s no escape. The woman hastily concentrated all her magical power into her right hand and became serious.
Even with the regenerative abilities of a monster, rapid healing using magical power, or even the pure vitality received from Kalkanmir, she could only slow the spread of the Light of the Sunset on her right arm.
Something within the Light of the Sunset, beyond mere power, resisted the tiger’s immense magical energy and even began to erode it. Epirna muttered something without realizing it.
“Black Ink Technique!”
The Black Ink Technique, a drop of which can corrupt everything, the technique of the Primal Demon King Grimudo.
Why did it come to mind, even though its color was different? The tiger growled. From the moment her arm was like this, this was no longer a fun fight.
“I underestimated you.”
She grabbed her right arm with her intact left hand and pulled. The onlookers watching from afar gasped and murmured. Even Roka in front of her was startled and shouted.
“W-what are you doing?”
Thud!
The woman pulled out her own arm, leaving everyone speechless in shock. Of course, it was an effective way to counter the Sunset Slash—cutting off the affected part before the Light of the Sunset spread.
But saying it’s easy is one thing—who could easily rip out their own arm? Most people wouldn’t even be able to pull out someone else’s limb, let alone their own.
Even Leon and Ardein exchanged serious looks. They were warriors. Masters at the pinnacle of martial arts. They knew better than anyone how significant the loss of an arm could be.
But to pull it out, not even cut it off? She was completely out of her mind. Both of them shivered involuntarily.
“This is my punishment for underestimating you. Will you accept my apology?”
Hearing her follow-up words, they nodded. She’s insane. Absolutely insane.
Roka had been through a lot, but this was the first time she’d seen someone throw their arm as an apology. Seeing the torn-off arm flying through the air made her want to vomit.
“L-let’s stop here. Just admit you lost, and we’ll call it a day. I don’t care about being the Beast King or whatever, just accept that I won. No, I never even intended to do anything to you in the first place.”
No matter how powerful the Sunset Slash was, Kyle could have healed it. She had trusted him from the start, which is why she used the Sunset Slash without hesitation.
It’s not too late even now. Her Master could surely fix a torn-off arm. Ending it here and settling the outcome would be the happiest path for everyone. That much was certain.
“Kid, tigers don’t admit defeat.”
But Epirna didn’t seem to want to stop here. She took a step forward, and an immense surge of magical power rippled through her entire body.
“You might kill me, but do you think you can make me admit defeat? That’s a privilege I’ve only granted to one person in this world.”
The wolf was at a loss for words in the face of the tiger’s stubbornness. No matter what, it seemed her opponent had no intention of letting her go until the end.
“Then, don’t blame me if you die.”
She had no intention of tucking her tail and running away either.
The wolf growled, imbuing her entire body with her own Power Techniques.