Chapter 37- ...You Bring your own

~Mira~

Mira gulped as she looked at the two monsters she had helped create. She was terrified, rooted to the spot, unable to move an inch. Her legs were shivering, teeth chattering in abject horror. The waves of aura being released by the pair were enough that any weaker human would probably be unable to even stand within thirty meters of the beasts.

‘An aura’s dominion’ her tutorial sponsor, Rakesh, had called it. An event where auras clashed to assert their dominance over an area. To claim it as one's territory. A challenge in the most primal sense.

Except it was a phenomenon that only occurred when monsters above level 175 challenged each other. The fact that the lizard could even release something similar to it told her that something had gone very, very wrong with the elixir she had made.

Arthur's response to the strange reverberations was even more absurd.

It simply didn't make sense.

The lizard was only supposed to be as strong as a level 120 monster, 130 at most, but the aura it was releasing told a very different story. With a standard beast's linear evolutions occuring at levels 5, 50 and 200 respectively, the monster she'd created was only supposed to have the strength of the first two. Right now, Mira had no idea how powerful it truly was. Shit, if it's crossed the level 150 threshold, we need to run.

This was not a beast that was going to die in the next few minutes.

And yet, despite its terrifyingly imposing presence, it was Arthur who really commanded her attention. The lizard's power she could rationalise, and explain away via bad luck and circumstance. Arthur however was an anomaly. It simply did not make sense.

Who the hell-no- what the hell is he?

Her shock only lasted a few moments before her brain kicked into high gear. This was no time for an existential crisis. Questions could be asked later. Right now she had a bigger problem to deal with and it was currently walking forwards without a care in the world.

Why the FUCK is he not sticking to the plan!

Arthur was only level 39 for Christ’s sake, only a seventh of the level he was supposed to be at before he could start imposing his will on the world, and yet here he was, somehow doing it right in front of her very eyes. That didn't mean he should attack head-on like a barbarian.

They'd made a plan, goddammit.

Mira was not a religious person. She didn't believe in any higher power or a grand fate of any sort, but as she stood there, a feeling of awe and reverence came over her. Something special was happening right before her very eyes.

It didn't matter who won the fight, the world would be shaken off its axes if any of these two beasts were allowed to reach their true potential. The lizard was supposed to be dying, poisoned by its forced growth, and yet by some twist of fate, the beast in front of her had somehow used her elixir as a catalyst to evolve its race to rank E.

What should have been a difficult fight for the two of them to overcome had now become an impossible challenge that would certainly result in their deaths.

At least it would have if she was going off the predicted strengths she and Arthur could have produced whilst working in unison, and yet the current Arthur in front of her seemed like he could do anything, even kill the monster her unique identify skill warned her against.

Draconic Liverthion ( Evolved  Rank E) Level 219 [currently level 117]

A unique physique created this beast when by all rights it should have died.  Its growth has left it vulnerable for a short while. A true monster. RUN! ??? ??? ???

Identify [poison] (unique) has reached Level 6

The monster's description weakened the hope that had barely even begun to exist in her chest. Arthur would be able to kill it if he gained 20, no, maybe even 10 more levels, but as things stood, she doubted he was the lizard's match.

And it was only going to get stronger as time passed.

Mira knew this was a fight that she couldn't get involved in, the fighters here were in an entirely different weight class to her, their strengths tending towards the physical whilst hers did towards the esoteric. All she’d do is get herself killed if she tried to help Arthur.

The poisoned arrows she’d prepared for the fight would be useless as well as her area of effect poison skill. Arthur would be caught within its impact range, and she couldn’t for the life of her, figure out why he had decided to just go into the fight on his lonesome instead of waiting for her to soften up the beast as they’d planned for.

All she could do was wait.

Wait and pray that Arthur could pull off a miracle.

Arthur came to a stop in front of the monster, barely half a meter away from it and looked up to see the beast’s pale yellow eyes glaring from two feet above him. The stench of rotten meat wafted down and enveloped him when the creature opened its mouth to reveal a row of wickedly sharp teeth.

It snarled, the sound like a dying engine in his ears.

The lizard towered over Arthur, in both height and stature, its heavily muscled frame no doubt quadrupling Arthur's considerable weight. It was like the biblical tale of David and Goliath, except any observer would tell you that this story would have no such happy ending.

Arthur looked completely different from his usual calm, collected self. He looked like an animal in the wild, all traces of intelligence gone, a feral grin now plastered onto his face.

He looked like he was enjoying this.

Mira didn’t know why Arthur was acting so strange. He couldn't even understand it himself. Perhaps it was a side effect of consuming so many potions for the first time, her growth potion had seriously fucked up too, after all, or maybe it was the primal instincts of the lizard brain taking over in this tense situation, but Arthur no longer seemed to have any control of his faculties.

He was now just as much an animal as the lizard in front of him, maybe even more so.

And he’d just been issued a challenge.

Arthur did the only thing natural that occurred to him in his strange state.

He accepted.

Stepping forward Arthur closed the distance between the two, crossing some sort of invisible boundary as he entered the monster's personal space. As if following some sort of pre-planned fight choreography, the lizard struck with all the finesse of a careering truck, with no skill involved in the attack whatsoever.

Just raw physical power. It was a devastating attack.

The movement was fast, faster than anything Arthur had ever seen before, literally tearing through wind resistance with extreme prejudice. Yet Arthur could see it.

And anything Arthur could see, he could dodge. But Arthur didn't move an inch. His half-blood instincts stayed his movements. That would go against the unspoken rules of this fight that he was instinctively following. It would go against the spirit of a challenge as old as time itself.

Instead, Arthur raised his hand to meet the monster’s blow, his 118 points in agility allowing him to react fast enough and block the savage swipe from hitting his face.

BOOM!

The resulting clash caused an incredible burst of sound and the stone cracked beneath them, crushed to dust beneath his feet as the force was transferred into the ground he stood upon. And yet the bones in his forearm held.

They hurt, but they were not broken, and that was something Arthur could work with. He could feel his control slipping, a haze of bloodlust descending over his eyes. It was rage. Anger that such a pitiful beast would dare to challenge him.

Then it was gone as suddenly as it had come, replaced by a cool countenance of arrogance.

The shadow panther opened its eyes.