Mike vs The Chieftain II

Despite being surprised, the chieftain showed just how much experience it had in that moment.

As soon as Mike's fists struck it, vines appeared and forcefully rotated its body, making it spin at high speeds. It then swung out its leg, striking Mike in the side of his Haven Ring just as he was pulling his arms back.

Both sides were thrown away from the respective attack, but Mike recovered by digging his feet into the ground while the chieftain caught himself using vines.

However, it was clear that something had changed in Mike. He was panting, but not from exhaustion.

'More. More!' He dashed forward wildly, and vines sprang up to impede him, but he simply sliced them apart with his claws.

The chieftain recovered and readied his axe, but just as he was about to strike, Mike halted and smashed a foot into the ground, creating a cloud of dust and dirt.

The chieftain immediately relied on its other senses to perceive Mike, but that's when a Primal Rend in the shape of a beam shot through the dust and struck its shoulder. It didn't do damage, but it threw it off guard briefly.

SKKKRRRRRRR

The sound of metal on metal erupted as Mike somehow descended from above behind the chieftain and dragged his claws across its back, digging deep into its armor.

The chieftain immediately spun and tried to slice Mike in half, but Mike had jumped away and landed on the side of a tree before dodging one of those verdant slashes from the chieftain.

He kept jumping between the trees, and the chieftain kept trying to pin him down, but no matter what it did, Mike was always a bit ahead with his instincts.

That said, the current Mike wasn't satisfied with just dodging.

After dodging another attack, he kicked off the nearest tree with so much force that the bark exploded into splinters, and he shot at the chieftain like a bullet.

Once more, it timed its swing to match his speed, making it so that its axe was already upon him the moment Mike arrived.

Moreover, vines shot out around them, aiming to prevent Mike from evading. But that's when something stunning happened.

The Haven Ring that had been hovering around Mike suddenly went ahead, and as soon as it did, the axe of the chieftain was pulled off-course to strike its edge and get deflected.

At the same time, Mike flipped, and the Haven Ring shrank just enough for his feet to pass through. He performed a dropkick, and as soon as his legs passed through the ring, it was like the momentum they were carrying was suddenly amplified, and the crashed into the chieftain faster than it could react, preventing it from defending properly as it was sent flying...

Or, it was supposed to be sent flying.

Before it could go far, Mike suddenly grabbed the shaft of its axe, and he cackled wildly as he spun and smashed the chieftain into the ground with incredible force, shattering the floor.

At that moment, the verdant energy suddenly surged in its weapon and tried to rebuff Mike, but Mike's aura flared in return, and the 'Primal' in its name made itself known as the energy was almost immediately suppressed.

"You gotta try harder than that!" Still with that massive grin on his face, Mike punched down and drove the chieftain even deeper into the floor.

It was exhilarating.

Despite having landed all the hits, Mike could feel it.

The chieftain was far from done, and that made him giddy. He wanted to see more, he wanted it to give him everything it had.

That way, when he inevitably defeated it, the rush he got from it would be that much better.

It wasn't odd for Mike to have thoughts like this during a good battle, but there was something... off about it this time.

The lack of control was telling. Moreover, he didn't notice, but the fur on his arms had grown even thicker. His canines, sharper, his claws longer.

Usually, he kept track of his ferocity via his instincts, but even when he got warned by them, he blatantly ignored them.

Moreover, usually, he didn't always use the Primal part of his aura, just to keep things more interesting. But it was like he'd thrown all inhibitions out the window, and it was blaring full force.

The surrounding vines seemed to grow weaker the moment they tried to get close. The verdant energy dimmed when it interacted with his aura, and Mike faced less resistance whenever he attacked.

The chieftain was trying hard to counter, but it was like Mike had become an unstoppable force. His punches kept finding openings, and even when the chieftain blocked, Mike's aura would somehow travel down the shift of its weapon and damage it's palms through its armor, making its grip on the weapon unsteady.

And that's probably the scariest part.

Mike seemed to be losing control, and yet, his movements were are precise as ever. He never stopped using any of his combat styles to start swinging wildly. If anything, his use of them became more efficient, more deadly.

By now, the two had caused immense damage to their surroundings, but it was noticeably smaller than what Mike, Kris, and the Rat King had caused to that region of the map.

That's because their energy control had increased. So Mike was causing less damage to his surroundings and more damage to his opponent.

Finally, the chieftain seemed to have had enough.

With a loud grunt, vital energy erupted from its body, temporarily pushing Mike back.

The chieftain raised its hands, and the energy gathered above it into a sphere that pulsed powerfully.

The green light it gave off illuminated everything, and Mike saw as the surrounding vegetation started to grow at a rapid pace while under the light. Moreover, while he couldn't see it due to the armor, he could tell that the chieftain was healing rapidly.

What's more, when this light touched Mike, he felt his aura recoil slightly.

'An area of effect skill?' He thought, but the chieftain wasn't done.

The energy within the sphere seemed to have reached a crescendo, and shockingly, the surrounding forest, which had been getting fed by the abundant life energy, suddenly started to wither away, like all traces of vitality within was getting sucked away.

Mike's senses screamed at that moment, and the chieftain yelled as the sphere dropped to the ground.

The instant it touched the floor, a blinding light filled the forest, and the sphere, which had been 5 or so meters in diameter, suddenly expanded rapidly and engulfed everything in its path.

This expansion continued until the sphere had engulfed everything in a 200-meter radius before it finally lost power and began to disperse.

What followed was a scene of utter devastation.

Where there had been plants and trees, there was now a massive basin in the ground, with remnants of the earth drifting around.

In the center, the chieftain stood, panting slightly beneath its armor which had numerous cracks all over it, as even it wasn't fully immune to its own attack.

That sphere it had created was an orb of destructive vitality. Essentially, what it did was pull in the passive vitality (plants) from the surroundings to amplify itself, and when it reached its peak, it would begin a self-destructive process where the vitality within would start consuming itself.

This led to an annihilating reaction where the energy within the orb expanded and devoured everything in its path before inevitably burning itself out as the vitality fully devoured itself, and the result was everything in the surrounding area getting annihilated.

It was especially potent against living creatures, as anything with life force would have its vitality consumed to keep the process of self-destruction going within the attack.

Such an attack would have normally been fatal to most things, and yet...

"Heh... Hehe..." At the edge of the crater created by the attack, a sphere of blue flickered before dispersing, revealing Mike who, for all intents and purposes, looked like shit.

"Hahaha hahaha!" And yet.

He laughed.

Half his armor was gone, and he'd lost about 40% of skin on his upper body, with his arms having taken the most damage, but the pain hardly seemed to concern him.

"That was great! Not even the Rat King hurt me that much!" Mike said with a grin. At the same time, steam started to rise from his body as his wounds healed at an astonishing rate.

In just a few seconds, he looked spotless, with the only signs of damage being the blood he'd shed.

Seeing this, the chieftain let out an irritated grunt, and Mike just cackled.

"Hey! You can't get mad! You were healing too!" He shot back like he understood what the Gorilla said.

Then he sighed.

"Is that it? Though?" He took a step, and all of a sudden, everything froze.

"If you have more, I suggest you use it now..." He looked up, and the chieftain felt a chill run down its spine.

"Or you might really die shortly."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.