"Hehe shh shh shh shh!" The creature which was now standing behind Muku let out a creepy laugh even creepier than Muku's nightmare armour voice.

BOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOM!

BANG!

Muku jumped up into the air to create some distance from the creature.

Unfortunately, it didn't let him as it jumped up after him.

However, he had been expecting something of the sort, so the creature's claw hit a thick metal wall he had created around himself before hitting him.

And by that time he was ready.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Multiple thick, ten-metre spears emerged from the wall and stabbed at the creature.

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

Unfortunately, none hit as the spikes on the beast's back grew like vines and met the spears before they could reach it.

Surprisingly enough the vines won... Then again, they were extremely corrosive like the rest of the creature's body.

Which was why it had managed to cut off Muku's hand so easily when he lost concentration for a split second. So of course the metal spears got destroyed by the creature's vines.

It wasn't using mana at all. Its energy was something different, something sinister. If he had to guess, he would say that it was Monarch energy or a mutated variant of it.

Considering the creature's origins, such a thing was quite possible.

Anyway, Muku knew that the chances of something like that happening were high. So he took that chance to create some more distance.

Fortunately for him, it didn't seem like the creature could fly as it began to fall to the ground. Either that or it just didn't know how yet.

Anyway, its plunge didn't stop it from attacking. Its vines kept on following Muku and trying their best to stabilise him. It was almost like they could grow infinitely.

Muku who was running low on Force could only defend with his metal element as he retreated further and further away.

Hile hadn't created too much Mithril, so he couldn't waste it. If he were to use it, he had to be sure that it would work. And with the speed the creature had shown so far, it was clear that it would probably dodge the attack.

So he had to weaken it a lot before using his trump card. On top of that, his severed arm hurt a lot... Well, it was obviously the stump which hurt and bit the arm on the ground...

Muku had never felt so pressured in a battle since his battle with that Earth Dragon. And that was a long time ago. So the experience felt a bit new and disorienting.

He had gotten used to always being the bully in his battles. But it seemed that streak had been broken that day. And it had been done in less than a minute which seemed way longer due to their quick movements.

Grab!

Whooosh!

BOOOOOOOOM!

After flying a long distance away Muku took the little time he had before the vines caught up to grab the creature with his Telekinesis and throw it a distance away.

He tried squashing it first, but that took too much mental energy without providing good results. So he didn't waste too much on that.

After all, for the time being, what he needed to do was buy time for himself.

He considered using his soul metal but surprisingly enough, he couldn't sense a soul in the creature's body. All he could sense were negative emotions from anger, hatred, betrayal, envy and so much more. It was like the creature was a walking body of energy driven by negative emotions.

That was both surprising and not, at the same time. The reason was that no living creature should exist without a soul. So its existence was surprising to say the very least. On the other hand, Lewis and the others were all dead, so the creature's soullessness was understandable since souls vanish soon after death unless the being has some special means to preserve their souls like Monarchs.

{Kid! Where are you?!} Muku called out to Raya in his head as he looked at the creature he had thrown away.

He finally got a chance to do so after disrupting its tempo. That's right, he couldn't even spare a thought before. That's how much pressure he was under.

{I'm watching of course. Didn't you say I should wait until you can't handle it? You seem to be doing fine to me} Raya replied nonchalantly like she was just stating the common truth of life.

{Brat I lost a freaking arm and I can't injure the thing at all. I can barely breathe under its assault and you dare say I'm doing fine?! You'd better get into the mix or you'll regret it after this} Muku cursed at Raya with a few threats too.

{Sigh. Fine. Just keep it busy for a bit while I prepare...} Raya replied then went silent.

Muku didn't say anything either as the creature was up again. He wasn't sure what Raya wanted to do, but he trusted her. The little dragon girl was quite unreliable but her power was undeniable.

And so, Muku began throwing the creature all over the place with his Telekinesis. It wasn't doing much damage, but it was enough to keep the creature safely occupied.

Unfortunately, its large size and resistance meant that he couldn't do so for too long. So he hoped that Raya would hurry up with whatever she was doing.

SHOOOOOOOO!

"Whoa!" Muku screamed as he got out of the way.

He was completely caught off guard when the creature suddenly spat black flames at him. But that should have been impossible no matter what. After all, Lewis only had the plant element... But wait... didn't Jimmy have the flame element?

Then that means...

"Impossible!" Muku shouted out as multiple flame-resistant shields he had placed in front of him were getting destroyed easily by the black flames.

He didn't dare take the flames head-on despite his flame resistance. After all, the black flames were obviously not normal.

The fact that he had to do that made him feel like cursing. After all, he had suffered greatly for the resistance. Yet the first chance he got to use it, he had to dodge.

Anyway, the flames weren't why he was shocked, what shocked him was what they suggested. And that was that the creature might be made up if more than just Lewis alone.

Jimmy was also involved in its creation... But if Jimmy was also involved, didn't that mean that the other soldiers were included too?

And if that was the case, wouldn't the creature have more than a hundred abilities?!

But if that was the case, why wasn't it using them all at once? Wait, the way it used its flames seemed to be getting refined the more it used them. So maybe it couldn't use all the abilities from the start and had to figure out how to use them.

All that meant that...

"I have to kill this thing as soon as possible or it might be more of a problem than the damn Monarch which created it..." Muku spoke to himself as the grey light glowing in his eyes got more intense and for the first time since the battle began, he started leaking real bloodlust.

While he wanted to kill it from the start, it was just going through the motions then. Now it was personal, for his and the girls' safety that the creature wasn't allowed to live any longer.

"You're able to instantly melt my metal. But what if I use something with a little more power?" Muku addressed the creature which was still getting thrown all over the place and spitting flames at him every chance it got.

His black armour began peeling off until it was just thin threads twirling around him. What remained on his body was a glowing grey armour which radiated so much energy that the creature paused a bit as it took notice.

Muku had finally finished creating enough Mithril. The Beast had had its turn now it was his chance.

A completely metal arm now hung on his left shoulder in place of his missing arm.

His control over it was just as good as the control he had over his real arm. So other than the arm lacking the sense of touch and feeling of a real arm, it was just as functional, if not better... Pfft, it was a freaking Mithril arm. Of course, it was better.

Just a wave of it would release pure metal essence strong enough to destroy many cities at once.

If he got serious, destroying a country would be easy work.

With that said, Muku didn't intend to destroy cities or countries. All he wanted to destroy was the creature he was looking at...

Whoosh!

Fearlessly, he disappeared. Then...

BOOOOOOOM!

A hard fist landed in the creature's gut and sent it flying into the distance.

The creature didn't stay down though. It immediately got up. However, cracks had appeared on its hard skin which seemed more like a carapace than skin.

Black blood began leaking out. The beast which was about to charge at Muku paused a bit and looked down.

The moment its eyes landed on the cracks the red light intensified in its hollow sockets for a bit.

It then looked up at Muku again then...

Pew!

An intense red laser shot out from its eyes aiming for Muku's head.

Muku was prepared for anything from the creature so he reacted in time and avoided the laser.

"Hmm. So you have lasers too huh Legion? Like that? That's your name from now on... At least until I murder you..." Muku spoke nonchalantly and disappeared again.

He noticed that the cracks on the creature's carapace were speedily recovering. Which made him realise that it likely had a regeneration ability too.

Which sucked but was expected. After all, such bullshit creatures always have that ability.

Anyway, who cared if it could heal? He was going to beat it up faster than it could heal, then we'll see if it can survive...