We approach the dark treeline, and it's not only the lingering gaze of the golden lizard that makes me shiver.
The trees themselves give off an aura of danger that I can't quite figure out.
All I know is it's best if I don't touch their trunks. Every time my gaze falls on them at this close distance, I get the instant reflexive feedback to stay away.
Even so, we enter the dark forest.
I activate my stealth skill along with my greater form.
The orange threads that flow from my core wrap around my large form while I pull out my sword, intertwining and amplifying my stealth skill as well, making me completely vanish.
The only thing left behind are the heavy orange footsteps that bend space behind me. Once they've made it far enough from my core, the stealth skill deactivates and the threads are visible to the naked eye.
Even so, I still have a window of time where I'm invisible and can catch it off guard.
This small time-lag and a bit of misdirection are what I'm counting on.
I've witnessed its raw power. I'm making no assumptions that I can outclass this shifty creature in a one-on-one fight of pure strength or speed.
We creep through the forest further, splitting up and wrapping around the creature on two opposite sides.
I can still make out the faint outline of its presence, and Ember can too.
Its gaze switches back and forth to Ember as he's not using stealth, and back to my footsteps as they trail behind me.
Using telepathy, I relay the plan I thought of when we were going to face this creature before the island rose into the sky.
He nods and his body grows even larger, shifting from his hybrid form into a full-fledged dragon.
Ember's black scales shimmer with an even darker glossy shine than the leaves on these trees. Orange light permeates from his core and covers his entire being as he flaps his wings and I dart forward while charging my greater form's blade with as much Soul Energy as possible.
Instead of moving straight, I take a sharp left and airstep to spin around a large trunk of an obsidian tree.
The path of least resistance would be to charge right toward the lizard, and the footsteps that slowly appear in my prior path make this the predictable logical maneuver.
I'm counting on it to be aware of this while I take the unnecessarily long path around a trunk in full stealth while aiming my gaze right toward the creature's back. I've positioned myself on the completely opposite side from where I approached, putting it between the golden fruit and myself.
As the gap closes, another factor is added to the scene as Ember bursts through the trees on the opposite side, glowing with flames and leaving a trail of his corroding Soul Energy behind in his wake.
It covers the black leaves of the trees and lights up the dark forest as he nosedives downward to be the obvious distraction.
The lizard lunges forward toward Ember while I rocket toward it down the backside of the branch it's perched on.
At my high speeds, it takes less than a tenth of a second to swing my blade, but the tension and dangerous aura coming off both the invisible chameleon and the black tree beside me make my mind scream to run away the closer I get.
Regardless, I've made a plan and I'll follow through. My blade makes contact with the bottom of the lizard's neck while it lunges forward, keeping its full attention on Ember.
I release my full-powered slash upward, aiming to slice its head clean off before it realizes I'm here.
However, it feels as if my blade is colliding with a hardened wall made of tough sandpaper-like scales when my greater form's blade makes contact.
I use all my strength to thrust upward, but my sword hardly budges. I feel a few scales give way, and the strongest point of my blade pushes through a few centimeters, but no more than a few threads of orange energy make their way through its thick scaly flesh.
The majority of the attack is deflected and the dense crescent of reinforced Soul Energy that erupts from my blade wraps around the creature's neck like it's hitting a force field. It explodes and disperses to either side without leaving any extra damage.
I fly past, following through with my strike, but soon realize it's all been for nothing.
The same pulse of yellow light comes surging out from the lizard's forehead, spreading throughout the nearby trees and painting everything bright golden.
Its full appearance is clear as day to me now, and it shifts its head toward me instead of Ember.
Despite my stealth skill still being activated, its yellow aura wraps around me and shows a real-time outline of exactly where I am like echo-location.
The only damage I see done to it is a few scales missing from the underside of its neck and at the apex of my slice, I managed to make it through the first layer of its flesh to leave a small meter-long scrape and some orange leftover residue. My attack didn't even pierce through its neck to hit any vitals like I'd hoped, but seeing that this monstrosity isn't invincible still gives me the necessary adrenaline rush to come up with a new plan on the spot.
My eyes dart around and I consider breaking a teleport crystal to retreat, but another idea comes to mind as I take in the situation as a whole.
It may see me now, but its momentum is still moving away from me.
I'm closer to its golden fruit than it is to me, and Ember is not its primary threat anymore so his movements are far less noticeable.
I send out a new telepathy message while swinging my sword again to slice through the small stem of the fruit keeping it connected to the upper branch of the tree.
Ember swoops down beneath the thick branch while I open up my item storage and let the fruit fall inside.
The enormous lizard's long spiked tail uncurls and shoots backward to grab onto the black branch and shift its forward momentum and swing toward me instead of keeping its forward lunge.
The torque created by the sudden change in direction is far more powerful than I predicted, and its rows of teeth and open maw come rocketing toward me much faster than I was initially expecting.
Even so, I still see many possible escape options I can take before having to use my teleport crystal.
In my greater form, its open mouth is almost half the length of my body.
The sight is still hideous, but it isn't as intimidating as it was when I witnessed it kill 40 insects in the blink of an eye while I was still a red core.
Crimson blood drips from its neck where I managed to slice it earlier; this even adds to the full picture that this too is just another beast that can be killed. It may have been a full-powered cheap shot, but I never planned to have a fair fight in the first place.
I smirk and continue to airstep forward, putting my sword away into my item storage to increase my aerodynamics and fly through the air faster.
It gains on me quicker than I travel forward, but in my peripherals, I see Ember emerge from below the branch of the tree about 20 meters away flying even faster than the lizard.
If I try to change direction in mid-air, I'll only be leading this creature toward both of us.
Its tail is about to unwrap from the branch to propel itself in my direction even faster, and I need to make sure its momentum is pointed in a direction that helps me get away with my prize.
I take a deep breath and whisper to myself. "This is going to hurt a lot..."
Then, I grit my teeth and shift my weight, putting out my greater form's unguarded arm right in front of the jumping lizard's jaws as it clamps down.
All the same pain and crushing pressure of its teeth piercing through my flesh translate from my greater form to my actual body on the inside. My HP and MP both drop drastically while I feel orange threads being ripped from my being as well.
I let out a yell while separating with half of my arm and kicking off the trunk of the tree at the base of the branch to change my direction entirely.
As my foot makes contact with the black tree, another dangerous sensation hits my body and psyche. For the split second I kick off the tree, even more orange tendrils of divine energy are ripped away from me and disappear into an indescribable greedy depthless hunger of the obsidian tree.
I let out a gasp while I push myself away from the tree and the lizard tears off a large chunk of my greater form's energy and leaves tendrils of yellow threads behind in every single tooth mark.
It flies one way, and I fly the other toward Ember.
I don't dare look back to see if it's satisfied with its energy-dense meal while I power down my greater form and land on Ember's back.
My rings and gauntlets float in front of me where my arm is missing.
It regenerates back instantly to fill the empty space, however, the slow-moving orange threads that flow from my core take a few seconds to fully intertwine with my arms again.
Ember flaps his wings and twists his body through the deadly trees and we burst out of the forest seconds later.
Once the view of the clouds and open sky hit my vision it feels as if an immense pressure has lifted from me.
We escape the yellow observation domain of the lizard in the same instance, and its presence disappears from my senses as Ember flies away from the island.
I stare down at where my arm was bitten off and still feel the pain of every single toothmark it left behind.
After a few more seconds pass and my HP rises back up to full, the pain fades away.
The blood gushing from its neck replays in the back of my mind, and I reactivate my greater form while standing on Ember's back while speaking to him through our link.
"Even with just an orange core, I made it bleed. That beast isn't indestructible."
I smile as Ember's flight path turns in the air, slowly pointing us back toward the forest while I pull my sword and the glowing yellow fruit from my item storage.
"It has a weak point, we can take advantage of that and can kill it before it heals. I just need to give it a taste of its own power."
As I channel Soul Energy into my blade, I activate stealth again, and begin examining the yellow fruit closely.
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Author's Note:
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