Seeing how my opponent relied on his disgusting antics to secure victories, I saw no point in furthering this battle; I had initially wished to experience this being's fighting style a little, but my interest had waned entirely as of now. Standing up, I flicked Hokori and compressed all of its aura toward the blade's tip while flying through the sky, dodging my opponent's hands as he tried to swat me out of the sky like an insect.
Nearing his chest, I got real close before once again thrusting Hokori right where his heart would be, launching a powerful heavenly pierce as a thick beam of purple Qi shot through the air and penetrated the Titan's chest before exiting through the back, slamming against the white wall. Although the hole was significantly bigger than the previous one, it still didn't mean much given my opponent's sheer size; however, before I could attack once more, I saw him release a mighty breath, yet since I was expecting it, I was able to back away before my nose took the brunt of his attack, but still, as this was an enclosed room, the scent of his disgusting breath wafted through the air.
'What a terrible opponent.' Thought Elif with a deep frown as he refused to breathe, ensuring the inside of his body wasn't forced to deal with such vile air.
Intending to finish this battle as quickly as possible, I continued with my actions of launching heavenly pierces at the Titan's chest, stabbing a hole through his heart; although my attacks were small, over time, as they began to accumulate, I knew it would only be a matter of time before my opponent finally succumbed to the numerous injuries.
However, before that occurred, something surprising happened just as I was about to attack the Titan for the umpteenth time; while floating in the air parallel to my chest, moments away from thrusting Hokori at him, I felt a pang within my body, causing me to furrow my brows, though following that pang I felt a warm sensation surge flowing through my throat, only for me to cough out a lump of blackish blood.
"W-What the–" Asked Elif in confusion as he stared at the viscous lump of blackish blood, only for him to be slapped into the wall.
Switching my attack, I launched a heavenly scar, deepening the already present wound from before while also freeing myself, though I didn't attack again and instead quickly distanced myself, intending to figure out what was wrong with me.
Using this moment of respite, I searched my insides with my divine sense, yet it didn't take long to find out the cause of my problem; all throughout my body, there were thousands of tiny little bugs eating away at my insides, all the pain I'd been dealing with wasn't because of the attacks I've taken, but instead, it was because of these grotesque tiny bugs.
I nearly vomited at what I was witnessing happening within me, though following that sense of vomit was fury at the sight of a bunch of tiny bugs feeding themselves on perfection, such as I. Without any further ado, I sent a wave of Qi through my body, hoping it would kill them, but nope, instead, they absorbed whatever Qi they could before they split into multiple different versions of themselves, nearly tripling their numbers.
"Tsk. It was you, wasn't it?" Asked Elif furiously as he narrowed his eyes at the Titan, who was stomping his foot atop him.
Since it seemed like I couldn't just easily deal with them, I let them be, as disgusting and anger-inducing as it sounded, but although they ate away at my insides, they were taking their sweet time, so they weren't really too big of a deal; they haven't significantly injured any of my organs as of it; besides, they were mostly centered away from my heart, and not a single one was at my brain, so I wasn't concerned with them defeating me.
Coating Hokori in a dense layer of ethereal purple flames and sword will, I sliced upwards at the encroaching foot, slicing it in half as it barely missed me; however, I wasn't finished; I once again readied my sword and slashed at the ankle I had previously injured, furthering the wound and completely slicing off its foot, causing the Titan to nearly trip over. I was required to use more Qi than I usually like to since, given my proficiency, the cost-to-output ratio got less efficient the more Qi I used, but I had no need to be efficient right now.
Infusing a tremendous amount of Qi, nearly one-fifth of my total Qi reserves, which was nothing to scoff at as my Qi reserves were larger than that of one thousand middle Divine King cultivators.
Flying into the air, I used the chance Titan was recovering from the loss of his foot and diagonally slashed downward from left to right, launching a massive heavenly scar that slammed against his chest; however, once my attack dispersed, I couldn't help but click my tongue at the damage it had done. There was a deep, bloody gash across the Titans chest with many of its ribs having been cut, yet my attack wasn't able to finish the job and completely bisect him.
'This is why I don't like using such an obsessive amount of Qi; it's not as powerful as it seems.' Thought Elif with an annoyed expression as he inwardly scoffed before raising Hokori once more.
The Titan tried to attack me once again, but with its new injury, it moved too slowly, and I was able to easily evade it; once in position, I slashed for a second time while using the same amount of Qi as previously, and this time, I finally succeed in bisecting it as the Titan's upper-half collapsed fell backward while his lower-half fell forward. However, even so, Giants are known to have incredible vitality and can survive wounds that should otherwise be fatal for some time, and Titans are even stronger in that regard.
I would've just let the Titan die by itself, but I had thousands of tiny little bugs eating away at my insides; with one final attack, I slashed the Titan's upper half in half vertically, yet even so, it took several more seconds before he actually died. With the Titan being defeated, its body, along with the thousands of tiny bugs within me, dispersed, causing me to sigh in relief as the constant pain disappeared.
"Ahh, finally, I can't wait to return home; I'm going to have a wonderful long bath." Muttered Elif with a sigh of relief as he stabbed Hokori into the ground while stretching with a smile.
Feeling the comfortable sensation wash through my body, healing whatever injuries I sustained, I calmly sat down while my Qi reserves were also being refilled; once they were both finished, I stood up and grabbed Hokori while glancing at the enemy in the distance just as it started manifesting. My opponent didn't even finish manifesting as I raised my eyebrow in slight surprise; the creature I was facing belonged to the Half-Sect Shelia was a part of.
"A Griffin? Those creatures are pretty rare." Muttered Elif lightly as he rubbed his chin, only for him to suddenly widen his eyes as he moved to the left.
Bringing Hokori in front of me, I locked my eyes on my opponent while grabbing my side, where she had managed to wound me.
"That is no Griffin… A Hippogriff, even more rare." Muttered Elif with furrowed brows as he stared at the Hippogriff before him.
The Griffin is considered one of the fastest creatures, capable of rivaling a Roc, Dragon, Pegasus, and a few others; however, the undisputed fastest creature in all of the OverRealm is the Hippogriff. Although a slight exaggeration, it's stated they're fast enough to fly through time, and seeing how I was barely able to react to her attack, I can see how they earned that saying.
'I'm curious if they had the same cultivation base, who would be faster, Elaine or this Hippogriff.' Thought Elif with a thoughtful expression as he curiously gazed at the Hippogriff.
Just as the Hippogriff moved, I slashed downwards, yet I completely missed and only ended up with another wound right above my previous one, causing me to click my tongue as I kept my focus on her.
"This may prove to be even more annoying than the Titan." Muttered Elif with a slight frown as he locked eyes with Hippogriff, who lunged forward with such speed only a blur was visible.
This time, I attempted to anticipate its attack and slashed before it actually moved, though that proved to be a bad move as it simply dodged my blade while wounding me. I tried a few more times, hoping I could possibly get the timing down or something else, but that was a wasted effort on my part; she was simply too fast, and by the time I reacted to her, she was already standing before me with an outstretched wing.
Thankfully, she's not that strong; I'm sure she'd have bisected a normal Elf with her first attack, but thanks to my powerful body that's capable of rivaling Echo and Goliath's physical prowess, she could only leave slight wounds, granted, with her insane speed, she without a doubt held the upper hand considering I couldn't hit her at all.
"Well, good thing I have a technique that's great at dealing with fast enemies." Muttered Elif with a faint smirk as he lowered his stance and raised his sword while an illusory one was seen floating beside it.