Mike vs The Chieftain

Sparks flew as Mike's claws danced around, aiming to rip apart the chieftain. However, it appeared that the Gorilla wasn't only good for attacking, as he somehow managed to create an ironclad defense that Mike couldn't easily get through.

This didn't last, though, as the chieftain wasn't satisfied with being on the defensive, so it soon switched up its tactics.

The ground shifted, and Mike immediately jumped back just as roots sprouted from the ground. He avoided them, but more simply appeared and chased after him.

He quickly slashed apart the ones that got too close and jumped back to create distance, but the roots were relentless.

Moreover, the chieftain didn't just stand by. The roots followed him like silent guardians as they coiled around his body. What's more, thorns grew on each of them, making them even more lethal.

This created quite a precarious situation for Mike. Not only was he being assaulted from all sides because of the vines, the chieftain also exploited whatever openings they created to attack, and Mike had an even harder time countering as the vines moved to protect the chieftain whenever he did, allowing the Gorilla to defend itself without ceasing his attacks.

When Mike saw this, though, he didn't get annoyed. Instead...

His eyes glittered.

'Passive defense... yeah, I think I should incorporate that, too...' He thought as the fight continued.

As time passed, his position got progressively worse, but he intentionally refused to increase his tempo as he wanted to see how the chieftain used this form of defense he had created for himself.

After all, other than creating a movement skill, there was still something else Mike was working on, and anything he saw that might help in its creation was instantly cataloged into his mind.

The fight continued, and Crimson Ladder had increased Mike's stats enough to stop his situation from worsening, but not enough to help it get any better.

The two were in a dangerous dance with Mike on the back end, and the smallest mistake could cost him dearly.

Which is why he didn't make any mistakes. Instead, he just did what he always did.

He adopted.

He realized that the vines had a preset order of commands and couldn't act outside of those commands unless the chieftain commanded them to do so, and as soon as he realized that he made his move.

In an instant, he predicted how every vine between him and the chieftain would move, then, his body blurred.

His claws flashed, and in merely a moment, he was in front of the chieftain, all the vines between them having gotten sliced apart by his claws.

This development surprised the chieftain. That said, it didn't stop its attacks. In fact, as soon as it realized what Mike was doing, it slowed down its tempo to match his, and the moment Mike arrived in front of it, its axe was already descending on his head.

But Mike didn't react.

Instead, he swayed his body, and the massive blade missed him by mere millimeters, the wind it generated whipping at his armor.

Still, it missed.

And as soon as it buried itself into the ground, Mike raised his foot and stomped hard on the other side, driving it deeper into the earth.

Then, he clenched his fist and threw a punch.

The chieftain didn't panic as it clenched its free hand and mimicked the motion.

Their fists clashed, and a powerful gust of wind erupted, pushing back the surrounding vegetation and loose earth back.

They struggled for a moment before both their fists were blown back.

Equally matched.

"Haha! Nice!" Mike grinned, and the chiftain also showed its teeth, approving.

After that, they didn't immediately go back in for follow-ups. Instead, they seemed to have a tacit agreement as they backed away from each other.

Mike rolled his shoulder while the chieftain wrenched his axe free and threw it from hand to hand.

Both of them seemed to have reached a conclusion.

They wouldn't get anywhere with their current pace of battle, so they decided to stop playing around a bit.

Blue light briefly shone from Mike's body before his aura erupted out of him, the liquid blue radiance clinging to his skin in all its augmenting glory as his stats recieved a large spike in an instant, his hair and fur fluttering.

On the other side, the chieftain stretched out a hand, and several roots burst from the ground. But they were different from the last ones.

They were smaller, almost the size of threads, but numerous times more durable.

They weaved around each other on the chieftain's body, and Mike watched as the vines knitted themselves into a full set of armor. The process was quite fast, and it ended with an angular helmet of vines covering its head, the only gap a thin slit that allowed it to see.

With it, Mike's instincts sent alarm bells in his head. This thing had just become several times more dangerous...

'Even better.' Mike smashed his fists together and entered a stance.

Similar to the beginning of their battles, both of them observed each other for a few moments as they didn't immediately move.

Mike kept his eyes trained on the chieftain, then...

WHOOSH

The large creature moved far faster than it had any right to. It completely vanished from Mike's field of vision, but Mike ducked in that same instant, and he felt the wind from the axe utterly shred everything behind him.

There was none of that strange verdant energy. Just pure brute force.

But Mike didn't have time to think about that, as there was a massive leg barreling towards him at the moment.

He didn't block. Instead, he swapped his style on the fly to the flowing style, his limbs moving like water as he managed to brush the kick to the side,but he couldn't help but be surprised.

Other than the absurd power behind the kick, the durability also caught him off guard. The roots that made up the armor weren't simple at all.

As soon as his arms brushed against them, he felt like he'd brushed against a mountain. Moreover, they didnt simply increase the durability of strength. He felt a strange energy try to worm its way into his body, but he quickly snuffed it out with his own aura.

If he had to guess, the energy would do to him what it did to the surroundings and cause vegetation to forcefully sprout from his body, a fate that seemed.s. less than ideal.

After deflecting the kick, Mike dropped down and tried to sweep the chieftain's remaining leg that was on the ground, but roots appeared and blocked his kick. They didn't stop it fully, but it was enough for the chieftain to regain his balance and swing his axe down at Mike.

Mike borrowed the motion from his kick and performed a backhand spring away from the attack, barely avoiding getting cleaved into two.

The vines chased after him, but instead of dodging, Mike's aura condensed around his claws as he swung them.

Primal Rend ×2

The vines were ripped through like paper, and the chieftain had to respond by sending out more arcs of verdant energy to meet the claws slashes.

The two energies clashed, but Mike's Primal Rend had been weakened from cutting through the vines, so it was inevitably broken through.

The chieftain's attacks carried forward, and Mike didnt hesitate to create a Haven Ring which spun. So instead of taking the attacks head-on, it deflected them to the side, leaving Mike unharmed.

The chieftain immediately dashed forward, but Mike decided to try something.

He maintained the Haven Ring around his body and shifted his stance again to something far more aggressive.

He dashed forward to meet the chieftain, and both of them collided, but something surprising happened.

While they clashed, the chieftain tried to use it's vines to harass Mike like before, but instead of simply taking it, Mike's Haven Ring did something interesting.

It started to spin much faster. What's more, the outer edges became sharp and serrated like a saw.

Then, the surrounding vines started to get attracted to the ring instead of Mike, and as soon as they reached it, they were shredded like weeds in front of a weed wacker.

Mike heard a notification and knew that he'd upgraded the skill, which only made him grin wider.

'Come on!' He made a fist. 'Show me more!'

They clashed again, but something strange happened this time.

As soon as Mike's fist struck the chieftain's axe, his aura didn't just clash against it. Instead, it traveled through it and into the chieftain's hands.

It was so abrupt that the larger creature almost dropped its weapon.

It managed to keep itself grip, but the brief moment allowed Mike to get close and throw two punches.

When he did, two muffled explosions sounded from within the armor of the chieftain, and it staggered.

There was no outward damage, but after his fight with the Rat King, Mike had learned how to deal damage to his enemy's internals, and right now, one thing was made clear.

Mike drew first blood.

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