Chapter 204: In the Wild [3]

It was my third time fighting a Gold core, and truth to be told, it was like fighting an entirely different breed.

Victoria being a human and ignorant about my abilities was easier to defeat, but the scorpion had already proved it to me, how dangerous a Gold core could be.

I wasn’t underestimating the turtle before me, but now that I was a Gold core too, I wasn’t wary of the monster either.

Stabilising my footing, I scanned the turtle to look for its weak points, which were clearly visible to my naked eyes.

The neck was the most vulnerable part of the monster, but I didn’t think striking it would be that easy.

Despite its size the turtle had quick reflexes, so it would prove difficult to carry out a good strike on its head or neck.

The other parts that were easy to damage were the turtle’s limbs, though I could tell that they weren’t exactly weak, looking at the muscles that seemed similar to metal.

Still… They were better than the shell, that was too hard for the current me.

The turtle too analysed me for a moment but didn’t wait longer, as it once again charged at me.

The ground beneath me trembled slightly as the monster had its eyes on me.

Without a hint of hesitation I moved my legs, aiming to strike one of the monster’s limbs at the back.

The moment I reached the creature, I had a completely normal thought in my mind.

I was curious about how the turtle would even attack me, if it didn’t have any claws like the other—

Swoosh!

My thoughts were answered, as I had to dodge the massive head that had sprung itself from within the shell with a speed that was difficult to follow for my eyes, as I barely managed to track its movements.

One second the head looked tiny, and the next thing I knew…

The turtle’s neck had elongated, as the creature opened its mouth to bite off my head from the body.

Dodging the attack, my curiosity was satiated, as I loosened the grip on my sword, to let it freely operate without any unnecessary interruptions due to excessive force being applied on its hilt.

The turtle without waiting for my next move, immediately turned its body in my direction, before—

Another attack with its head was launched at my side, but I dodged it just in time.

Maybe…

Beheading it was the best choice.

But I had to be careful.

The monster’s speed was far too great for me to aim my sword at its neck, which was visible only for a fraction of a second, before disappearing into the the turtle’s hard shell.

Haa…

Taking small breaths, I steadied my pulse, before once again charging at the creature, that had no intent on letting me go away.

Well… Neither did I.

Swoosh!

I charged at its limbs on the front from the back, so as to prevent the head from targeting me at my most vulnerable moment, but—

The monster was a Gold core for a reason.

Before my sword could cut through its limbs thereby making the turtle lose its balance, my plan was shredded by the mindless beast— as its neck twisted into an unnatural angle before lunging in my direction.

My pupils dilated, as I was caught between the limbs of the monster with no space for dodging the attack.

Taking a shallow breath, I twisted my body in a second, before diving to the side, with my sword perfectly angled to tear through the muscles in the monster’s neck, should its head appear closer to me, but—

My assumed plan went wrong again as one of the monster’s limbs at the back was lifted mid-air, making the turtle switch its weight to one side, and—

Damn!

I quickly rolled down, before pressing my feet against the hard ground, and launching myself out of its range—

BOOOM!

The ground trembled, as I barely managed to avoid the monster’s foot that was a second away from crushing me to death.

Sliding across the grassy ground, I rolled back, before quickly getting into a stance for countering any attacks, that could follow.

“SCRREEECCHH!”

A loud screech made me turn my head only to find Chroma looking at the turtle with an intent to kill.

’I am fine. Stand down.’

The hydra looked at me in confusion as I gave it the basic commands to stay put.

Though I could still see Chroma hesitating about whether to follow my order, but at the end it chose to comply.

The monster too seemed to be distracted for a moment as it observed Chroma in silence.

But—

Its rage towards me, made the creature once again focus its entire attention on me.

When I had been a Silver 3, fighting monsters in the same rank had grown surprisingly easy, so I had expected to be able to fight against Gold core easily once I had evolved my own core.

But—

Clank!

Another of my strikes was misdirected to the monster’s shell, though I had tried to aim it at its neck, the moment it came out to attack me.

The monster before me was surprisingly tough.

Was it another genius among its kind or…

No.

I didn’t believe this monster was an anomaly.

On the contrary I had a firm belief that the entirety of its species was of similar strength, as their anatomy made it so that they had the best defence out there.

Though the monster’s attack with its jaw was fast and lethal, it was still within the range of predictability.

The turtle didn’t have any other weapons at its disposal to attack me, but… Its hard shell and lightning fast neck, made it possible for the monster to compensate for all of its lacking attack patterns with a solid defence, that I was finding too hard to break.

Haa…

Maybe it was the only option here.

I hadn’t used mana pressure until now, because seeing the hard shell of the turtle I didn’t think it would be of any use, even if I restrict its movements.

It was the turtle’s neck that was fast not its body.

Even if I had used mana pressure, the neck wouldn’t have been much affected, as it was protected by the covering of it’s hard shell, making it able to negate some of the pressure.

As for monster’s body, I didn’t think slowing it’s speed would benefit me in any way.

On the contrary my mana would be wasted—

So to target the neck…

Interlocking the fingers of my hands, I opened them completely before forcefully shutting my palms.

Mirage Clone.

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