Lately, Nicola had come very close to reaching level 40 and was preparing for it, he felt that the next time he defeated an enemy he would reach a level, the last one he needed to strengthen his bloodline for the last time.
So Nicola decided to go out and look for a worthy opponent, he had heard that in the vicinity there was the territory of a very powerful magical beast on the silver level, almost on pair as the hydra he had previously faced. It was the territory of a powerful Suanni Lion, a magical beast resembling a lion back on earth, except for its body that was entirely clad in metal and its powerful mane that was black, reflecting its affinity for dark mana.
The magical beast had received the title of devouring beast because of its special ability, its jaw could widen enough and create a vortex that would recreate a black hole that could suck up all the surrounding matter, and even the light would be affected by it, leaving that space in the dark while the ability is activated. Many weak cultivators were willing to get rid of it but ended up swallowed by the creature.
And there was Nicola, in the territory of the beast. The lion lived within a rock formation that emerged from the ground, the cave's pitch hid its outline so that the others could not see where it would launch its attack.
"What do you want, intruder? Don't you see that you are invading my territory? Never heard of the great devouring beast?" The beast let out a series of questions, its voice sounding like an old person speaking, an accent far too sophisticated and sophisticated for the present time.
"I'm here to fight you. Come on, get out of there and come and fight me, lion." Nicola challenged the beast that was still hidden inside its den.
The lion did not attack before leaping out of its den jumping towards Nicola, its speed was quite fast for a large heavy beast that appeared in front of Nicola. The fur of the beast was entirely made of a metallic material, it looked like a silver skin, perfectly malleable, but with an absurd defense, from the feet to the head, even the nails were made of metal, except for its black mane that swayed in the air.
The black was so deep that someone would think they were looking into the void. From the beginning Nicola did not underestimate the enemy and promptly jumped to the side to dodge the bite he was trying to take.
'Sin Fox Song Style, first movement form, Bolero steps'.
Nicola activated his ability, he had learned some tricks from Kin, which consisted of using fast elements mana only Ana parts needed to increase the movement speed he could achieve. The lightning excited his nerves and tendons for a quick response, while the light acted on the muscles increasing his resourcefulness, finally the wind created a wind tunnel that would make the body move in the desired direction.
This ability to move allows him to step on small steps in the air to dodge attacks, and he did, jumping in the air towards the lion's back before launching his blow.
He had activated all his powers of sin since he arrived at this place, his daggers were just a fist twist away, his quick reaction left even the lion impressed, after all his fangs would normally shake with fear as he attacked. The power of wrath sin was fully charged when he fired their two daggers at the Suanni Lion.
'Sin Fox Song Style, second attack form, Sonata'.
The two daggers hit the lion's back, but left no less than two deep streaks in the beast's metallic fur. Nicola reacted again by dodging another attack, after all the lion would not stand still receiving attacks indefinitely. He attacked back with his heavy paw, but it was a feint, while he pretended to use his paw, in fact his mane had thrown multiple needles of darkness in the direction Nicola was deflecting.
The hardest enemies he could face were those like the Hydra and the Lion, with powerful defenses and heavy bodies, the same trick he used against the hydra would not work on this lion. Nicola used his essence of darkness to divert the needles from his direction and returned them to the lion.
"Trying to use my weapons against me intruder? Get ready to die." The lion opened its jaw in a way that Nicola would say was impossible, the lion's mouth expanded until it reached a diameter of two meters in length, Nicola could see the dislocated bones through the metallic skin of the lion.
But all that impression disappeared when a black hole was formed inside the lion's mouth, a singularity capable of disintegrating light and matter, the gravitational force of the black hole pulled Nicola from the place where he was. The ground and everything that existed in front of this black hole was absorbed and disintegrated when it reached the lion's mouth.
Some nearby trees were sucked up and turned into nothing when they passed by. Nicola promptly used his tails to attach himself to anything that was possible, some were covered with earth mana and crossed the ground to attach to the ground, while others attached themselves to some nearby trees that were not caught by the attack.
With his hands free Nicola launched several elemental ranged attacks against his enemy. But no matter what element he sent, they would all be disintegrated into harmless atoms before actually met the lion.
The lion took the opportunity that Nicola was trapped and immobile because he was holding on with his tails to attack. "Damn it!" Nicola let out while running a last-minute defense, he didn't have enough time to use his defensive technique but he could manage with what he had.
The lion bit hard and managed to pass the barrier that the dagger of the earth created, sinking its teeth into one of their arms and almost pulled it out, if it weren't for the causes they managed to free themselves from the ground and curl around the lion preventing that he deepened the bite Nicola would have one less arm now.