Chapter 176: Chapter 176- Fast
Leighton darted forward first, his speed skill bursting alive beneath his feet. The ground cracked where he pushed off, and in an instant he was already circling the lion, pistol spitting quick bursts of kinetic shots that sparked harmlessly against its armored hide. It wasn’t about damage, it was about drawing its eyes, its fury.
The lion roared and swiveled after him, arcs of lightning scattering through the air like wild whips. Leighton slid low, a dagger flashing in his other hand, carving shallow lines across its legs, just enough to sting. "Come on, Eyes on me!" he taunted, breath sharp with adrenaline.
Vivi appeared at his flank like a streak of silver, acceleration skill flaring. Her twin daggers blurred, clashing against the beast’s mane where the current was weakest. Sparks flew, forcing the lion to stagger and whip its head between the two attackers.
Their rhythm was chaotic but relentless, Leighton striking and vanishing, Vivi slipping in to cut before retreating just as fast. The lion’s focus split, its growls turning more frantic with each second.
Behind them, Zoe lowered her stance. The wolf’s muscles tightened like coiled steel, her black fur bristling with shadow energy. Her eyes gleamed with a feral clarity as she opened her jaws, energy swirling into a vortex of dark light. The air warped around her, the ground trembling under the pressure of her gathering power.
Leighton caught the flicker of her charging attack out of the corner of his eye. "She’s ready!" he shouted, diving beneath a swing of the lion’s paw. He fired his pistol point-blank into its chest, not to pierce, but to shove its body back, to hold it in place just one heartbeat longer.
"Now, Zoe!" Vivi cried, slashing across the lion’s flank before leaping away.
The wolf lunged, unleashing the full force of her kill blow. A beam of seething black energy erupted from her maw, tearing across the battlefield and engulfing the lion in a storm of shadows and lightning. The creature’s roar split the air, drowned beneath the explosion of power.
The blast from Zoe’s kill strike sent shockwaves across the ground, shattering stone and filling the air with smoke and ash. For a moment, silence pressed down on them, only the ragged sound of their breathing remained.
Then the ground quivered.
From within the dark smoke, a guttural roar exploded, more savage than before. The lion staggered forward, its body charred and bleeding, but instead of collapsing, its form warped grotesquely. Lightning coiled tighter around its mane until each strand looked like a crackling whip. Its muscles swelled unnaturally, veins glowing with blue fire, and the horn on its forehead split into two jagged antlers that radiated unstable energy.
Leighton’s eyes narrowed. " Are you for real?" He tightened his grip on his dagger, then barked over the intercom, voice sharp and commanding. "Don’t give it time. We kill it now, before it stabilizes!"
But the beast was already moving. With terrifying speed, it lunged, not at Leighton, but at Vivi. Its claws, wreathed in lightning, slashed across the ground and caught her mid-dash.
"MOVE!" Leighton roared.
She barely managed to cross her daggers in front of her chest, the impact rattling through her arms, but the lion’s raw power broke her guard. The force hurled her across the battlefield, her body skidding until she slammed into a jagged rock. Sparks still clung to her frame, electricity snapping across her armor as she groaned, blood trailing down her lip.
Zoe snarled, shadows flaring as she rushed to shield Vivi. Leighton gritted his teeth, forcing his speed skill higher, his body already aching from overuse.
"Stay with me, kid," he muttered under his breath, eyes locked on the raging beast. Then louder, to the team, "Zoe, cover her. I’ll keep this monster busy!"
Leighton dashed forward, boots grinding against the cracked stone as lightning split the sky above them. The lion, now a grotesque beast of sparks and rage, swung its antlered head, loosing arcs of energy that scorched the battlefield. But Leighton didn’t flinch. His breath was steady, his grip tight around dagger and pistol both.
"You think raw power is enough?" he muttered, eyes flashing with determination. "I’ve already been crushed before, by my own student. Since then, I’ve sharpened myself a thousand times over."
The world blurred as his speed skill surged to its limit. His movements became unpredictable, feints layered over feints, forcing the lion’s instincts to misfire. Every lunge, every swipe, found only empty air. Leighton’s dagger flashed like silver lightning, tracing cuts across the beast’s hide, faster than its nerves could react.
"Your strength is brute instinct," he growled under his breath, weaving past another claw strike, his dagger grazing the beast’s throat. "Mine is experience."
At last, he slid under its chest, dagger angled for the heart. The beast’s eyes widened, the first flicker of animal panic.
But before the final thrust could land, a sudden surge of wild lightning erupted from its body, raw and desperate. It blasted across the ground, catching Leighton mid-stride. His body jolted violently, pain burning through his veins, and his dagger slipped from his fingers.
"Sir!" Vivi shouted hoarsely from behind, trying to rise despite her wounds.
Before the lion could finish him, a shadow stepped into the fray. Zoe, no longer in full wolf form, but not wholly human either, her hair wild, her eyes burning with feral gold, her frame still cloaked in a dark aura. Fangs glinted between her lips as she leveled her hand toward the beast.
Her voice was cold, guttural, heavy with power. "Die."
From her palm, black energy surged outward, thick as tar and hungry as flame. It enveloped the lion in an instant, swallowing its thrashing body. The creature roared, electricity crackling violently as it fought to break free, but the darkness consumed it piece by piece.
When the energy faded, only the corpse remained. The lion lay dead, leaving only silence and the stench of burnt ozone.
Leighton, still breathing hard, managed a strained chuckle as he forced himself back to his feet. "Guess I didn’t need to finish it myself..."
Zoe stood there, chest rising and falling, her aura still flickering around her like a storm barely held in check. Her eyes, sharp and predatory, met his, and for a moment, even Leighton felt a chill.