As Steel once again engaged Queen Bee in close quarters, Laura stayed out of the way with her attention on the clash happening in front of her.
Which was why she did not notice Lisa making a turn to launch a sneak attack.
Laura took deep breaths to calm her nerves in a bid to restart her Mystic arts when her sixth sense screamed at her to move.
Without bothering to figure out why, she moved her fingers and one of the swords followed the movement.
Clang
Lisa clicked her tongue. "Tch, you should have kept watching. It would have made things much easier for me."
"Launching a sneak attack?... Are you so scared of me you can't face me head-on?" Laura spat in annoyance.
Lisa did not bother to respond as she withdrew her whip and prepared to strike again.
"You think you are the only one with an unavoidable attack, right?... Let me show you."
Laura rushed forward to attack.
Lisa harrumphed. "Hmmph…. Whip arts: 100 lashes!"
Striking with her whip, the weapon's long reach seemingly disappeared. Laura immediately skidded to a stop and prepared to defend but would it be so easy?
Wham
She was sent flying as the tip of Lisa's whip struck her at the side.
"Damn it, that stupid defensive artifact just has to keep getting in the way!" Lisa gritted her teeth. "Fine then, since one strike won't handle it, then a hundred will!"
Laura just managed to get back to her feet when her senses screamed, alerting her of incoming danger.
Without bothering to find out where the danger was approaching from, she activated her Mystic art once again, utilizing its first form, not in an offensive manner, but a defensive one as the sword and wires danced around her forming some sort of circle that constantly rotated.
The next second and the first attack came. It felt like a boulder crashed into her defensive circle as a loud crash was heard.
Laura was shaken but still held her ground while keeping up her defense. Another attack came and then another… and then another until each attack began to descend rapidly.
"Ugh." Laura groaned as she felt pressured for the first time in the match.
"How can her whip be so heavy?" Laura wondered as she felt the increased weight behind each attack that struck her weaving.
As Laura endured the whip arts of Lisa that seemed to have no definite pattern, Max had an intrigued expression as he watched the whip extend and change direction with a single shift in Lisa's hold.
"I wonder if I'd be able to defend against such an attack?" Thinking about all the abilities he had under his belt, Max realized just how lacking he was when it came to the defensive as well as offensive abilities.
With someone weaker than him performing an attack that would more or less be difficult to evade, his desire to get stronger grew.
"Maybe I should accept that geezer's offer… but what if it's too dangerous?... He did say that I need to get stronger first. Fine, I'll just consolidate my base first. It won't be too late to think about this later on."
Meanwhile, Queen Bee noticed Lisa's attack that managed to push Laura into a corner, with the target of her vengeance having no choice but to stay in position, with no means of escape.
"He retracted the weaving around her?"
Steel didn't seem to be aware of Lisa's attacks against his contractor as he focused his attention on the vengeful Bee that kept escaping his grasp.
Seeing as how Steel was focused on her, Queen Bee had a wicked plot cooked up in her head as she flashed a wicked grin.
"I can definitely outmaneuver this bastard and get to her before he can catch up to me. Let's see if you'd still dare to kill my kids after I rip your face off!"
Steel yelled out. "Hey, focus down here. I am your opponent."
Queen Bee sneered. "I don't have time to waste with oafs like you. I have a human to skin alive."
"Damn you, get down here!" Steel roared as he leaped up to grab Bee's ankle, but the latter already saw him coming thus she moved up, evading his attack.
"Since you want me to come down so badly, then I'll gladly grace you with my presence." Queen Bee stretched her wings and prepared herself to strike, her stinger that remained inactive for so long, twitching as she locked her sights on her target.
Steel cracked his knuckles and waited for her to get within range.
Queen Bee took a deep breath and made her move.
She crossed the distance between herself and Steel in a span of a breath. Brandishing her stinger, she attacked Steel with it. The silver-haired ape snorted. "Bring it on!"
Using his two upper arms, he avoided the tip of her stinger and wrapped them around its breadth, with the tip only an inch from his chest.
Queen Bee remained unfazed as she opened her mouth. "Die!" A Golden colored liquid shot out from her mouth and covered Steel's face.
"Ah!" Steel screamed as he let go of her stinger and tried to remove the sticky substance that obscured his vision.
Queen Bee was free from his hold, thus she quickly followed up with another attack. She swung her stinger, aiming to pierce Steel's heart, effectively killing him.
Sensing the danger approaching, he put down his arms and guarded his chest. A second later and he felt unprecedented pain as Queen Bee's stinger pierced his arms, stopping just an inch away from her intended target.
"Tch, stupid monkey." Queen Bee clicked her tongue while feeling regretful that her finishing strike did not hit her intended target.
In any case, the result was still better than nothing as her stinger had effectively broken past Steel's troublesome fur and entered into his skin, meaning that it would only take a few minutes before the poison in her stinger spread across his body.
First would be paralysis and then… death!