Facing the monstrous beast, Reve smirked and activated his [Voice Magic], "Hey, why are you so fixated on me?"
The lizard roared, "You are prey. Prey should not run away."
It stopped talking and blew a thick fiery breath at Reve. Of course, Reve would not simply stand and let himself be burnt.
He had cast his [Nature Echo] spell while he was talking to the lizard and quietly exited the scened with his stealth skills. It was a tactic he had learned the hard way.
As soon as the lizard noticed that the person it burnt was just Reve's clone, it bellowed ferociously like a tempestuous storm, "Where are you?!"
Before it could fully express its anger, an arrow flew unfettered in the air and hit the lizard.
"Ahhh! Who is that?!" screamed the lizard.
Suddenly, a rain of arrows appeared in the sky. The lizard unleashed its fire arrows at the arrows. It repelled the attack by spewing another flame breath at its surrounding.
This time, it was successful in revealing the location of its unknown attacker. It vanished from its position and later appeared next to the hidden figure but a tree smashed at it before it could injure the hidden figure.
It was Reve who had been watching the scene. He realized that he needed the help of the hidden figure. The battle style of the hidden figure was quite elusive but it dealt maximum damage. That would be the key to killing the lizard.
Reve had already decided on that. The lizard wouldn't leave him alone anyways. He just hoped that the hidden figure understood the plan.
*Roar*
Reve changed his location and continued hiding. The hidden figure did the same but Reve had gotten a good look at him. He wore a black cloak and a blank wooden grey mask.
The weapon he used was a crossbow, but Reve wasn't sure if that was the only one.
Meanwhile, the lizard created multiple fiery clones and began his rampage on the duo. Each of his clones scavenged the damaged forest, searching for the duo.
From his hiding position, Reve saw a few of them walk past him. He could have destroyed them but that would reveal his location. For now, he had to continue assessing the situation while he recuperated.
While he was hidden, the other figure acted. He rolled around and shot arrows at each of the fiery clones before they could combust. It seemed he had assessed enough of Reve's fight to understand the clones' uniqueness
Just as he was about to finish off the rest of the clones, he found himself out of arrows. From his vantage point, Reve wondered if he should interfere now but ultimately decided against that. If the figure could carry a crossbow freely, he would have factored in situations like this.
Truly, according to Reve's thought, the figure's body emanated with a mastered aura. It was the blackest aura Reve had ever seen.
It reeked of death to the point even from far away, Reve could already feel suffocated.
Suddenly, the heaviness of the aura diminished and it turned purple with a hint of calmness and mysteriousness. Wisps of ki escaped from his aura and entered the crossbow. It formed the shape of an arrow, which the figure used as such.
This was Reve's first time seeing a warrior. Unlike mages, warriors could not manipulate mana. They had to master their aura and draw out the energy of the soul called Ki.
Circe had explained to him that he should never belittle an aura warrior as they could always surprise him when he least expected it.
Perhaps, this was one such moment?
The figure rolled away and slipped his hand on the ground. He threw away his crossbow and brought out a hunting sword.
Words escaped his mouth but Reve wasn't able to hear them. The figure took a stance and the energy in the air immediately got disturbed.
Ki coalesced around his sword in an unstoppable fashion. It made the sword hum which troubled even the terror lizard.
*Whoosh*
With a single swipe, a great wave of water appeared in the air and destroyed all the clones.
As if practiced a thousand times, he ran at the lizard. Getting close to it, he flicked something with his leg and twirled around to make a full circle.
The moment he faced the lizard again, a sharp light escaped his hands and pierced the lizard's scales.
Once again, Reve was in shock. He was able to see what had just happened. The figure had flicked a weapon up and flung it at the lizard while discarding his sword.
'Crossbow…..Hunting Sword, and even an Atlatl. What is even more shocking is the locations of these weapons? He knew the exact location. Does this mean he had planned everything?'
Reve had never been more amazed in his life. This level of battle prowess was really mind-blowing. He now felt like the chance of slaying the lizard had increased by a large margin.
After damaging the lizard, the figure dropped back the atlatl and picked up his sword. He engaged the lizard, clashing beautifully well with the monstrous beast.
By the time two minutes had passed, both of them had left marks at each other but the injury of the lizard worsened so Reve thought the figure had a chance.
Suddenly, the lizard flared up with flames once again. It released a fiery shockwave that blasted the figure away. Afterward. It chased the figure and kept decimating him, not giving him a chance to retaliate.
Reve sighed, 'I guess this is show time.'
The figure could only last for a few minutes. But at least, he had secured some important information that Reve badly needed.
To combat the lizard, Reve needed to be at his best. He too needed to draw out his prime form.
As soon as he thought that, transformations began to occur on his body. Just like the lizard, his bones continuously broke and reassembled.
It was painful but Reve had been taught by Circe to endure it. He allowed the transformation to play out the way it wanted while hiding the deep pain.
After a few seconds, a new Reve was born. This Reve was over six feet tall. He still had a cat face but he was in a bi-pedal form. His white fur beautifully protected his body. His heterochromatic eyes beamed when they detected light particles.
He was ready….ready for a definitive battle!