After winning the right to participate in the main part of the tournament, I went around the stall and bought food to eat. Then, I happily went back to my room at the inn. Ember was in a great mood ever since we won the block preliminaries. She's probably happy that she proved her strength against other monsters.
"Your decision-making abilities have improved greatly, but for the battles tomorrow onwards, I would be giving orders to you."
Hearing this, Ember jumped around in joy. Although it did win the preliminaries, it had a hard fight against the Earth Anaconda. By then, she noticed that she was still lacking in applying strategies to win. It took her long enough to notice that using a large impact was her only way of winning. Her emotion right after the fight with the snake was mainly "depression" and "self-deprecation".
Luckily, the proceeding fights managed to lift her mood a bit, otherwise, it would be harder to cheer her up.
"Still, it's amazing how all those 2nd-stage evolved beasts couldn't do anything against such a basic strategy."
Despite the gap in raw stats, Ember still managed to win almost effortlessly. The main reason is probably that the beasts couldn't use their skills properly. Since Ember fought, only the Earth Anaconda was able to properly release a skill. It almost injured her with that even.
"However, contenders in the main tournament wouldn't be so simple for sure."
Since they won in their blocks, they would probably be stronger than the Earth Anaconda. If our enemies can release skills as fluent as Ember, even if they can't use two skills at the same time, then our chances of winning would be next to none.
*shuffle* *creak*
While lying down on the bed, my ears picked up suspicious sounds. Furthermore, I could feel a faint sense of cold killing intent.
"Ember!"
Not wasting a second, I immediately ordered Ember through the telepathic link. The next instant, she covered my whole body like she was about to devour me. Then, she used [Polymorph] to change into something like the armor or a tight suit of a sentai hero. Though the pink color of the suit could lead to misunderstandings, since Ember can't change colors yet, I can't do anything about that. This is the trump card I devised to protect myself from harm aptly named: Slime Suit Mode.
As soon as Ember transformed, I quickly ran toward the window and jumped out. A second later, I was glad that I did so.
*Boooom!*
The room I was in just a few moments ago exploded without any warning. Debris flew in all directions and the nearby civilians were screaming in fear and confusion. Some were unlucky and got wounded from the flying splinters, while some fainted after getting hit by rubble on their head.
From the blazing room, a faint figure could be seen standing among the raging smoke and flames. It was a bipedal lizard-looking monster covered in hard red scales. On its back, two dangerous-looking cannons are growing like wings.
"That's a 4th-stage Evolution monster, Blast Lizard!"
Seeing the opponent, I immediately decided to retreat. With my and Ember's current strength, we have no chance of winning fighting against such a monster. We would probably die in an instant.
While I was running, I suddenly felt a chill run up my spine. Almost instinctively, I ordered Ember to use tackle towards the left. Since I was technically inside her right now, the G-forces from the sudden change in direction were dampened greatly. Although I still felt pressure, it wasn't enough to cause any internal injuries.
An instant later, the ground to our right got blasted and exploded all around.
*Boooom!*
Being just a few meters away, we were sent flying by the impact. Still, Ember managed to correct my posture before landing and continue running without interruption.
"That was close!"
Seeing the amazing range of the Blast Lizard, I decided to run through the alleys that are its blind spot. With a building blocking its sight, it shouldn't be able to shoot at me anytime soon.
However, as soon as I entered the alley, it felt like I was jumping toward death's embrace. Trusting my instinct, I jumped back and turned to the main road. Behind me, I just saw something shine before the two buildings got sliced into pieces like a piece of cake.
I didn't see anything but an answer came charging at me almost instantly. It was a flying humanoid monster with wings instead of hands, and blades instead of legs. Its head, arms, bountiful chest, and back were covered in white and green feathers. It was a frighteningly smart monster and an arguably strong one.
"A blade harpy even?! What's going on!"
With two 4th-stage evolution monsters on my tail, I fear for my life even more.
"Ember, don't mind me, just run towards the government center as fast as you can!"
Given the situation, although it would lead to some physical pain, I permitted Ember to use my body and run as fast as she could. As soon as the order was out, I could see the surroundings flash past. However, I could also feel my elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles creaking and crying in pain.
Despite the boost in speed, the blade harpy still managed to catch up effortlessly. It immediately swung its legs to our back with pure killing intent. Ember, sensing the danger, quickly used tackle to change directions. However, despite the speed of her reaction, the harpy still managed to slash my right shoulder opening a large wound.
"Gahh!!"
Despite my cry of pain, Ember continued running without her speed dropping one bit. Even though she received damage, she didn't do as much as flinch. Her mental strength is probably greater than mine.
Since running in a straight line was dangerous because of the blast lizard, and not running fast enough is dangerous because of the blade harpy catching up, Ember decided to just run in a random pattern to avoid the two locking onto her.
This confused the harpy, leading to her attacks missing all the time. The blast lizard on the other hand was more devious.
*boom* *boom* *boom*
Several explosions came in succession, all of them blocking the path forward. Ember, surprised by the explosion from ahead, stopped running for a moment. However, in that single instant, the blade harpy caught up.
It swung its bladed leg as fast as lightning. Both I and Ember could only stare blankly as the blade came slashing toward my neck.