Two minutes later....
The mantis's front leg, moving at a horizontal angle, sliced through the air as Drayan ducked, escaping the blow.
"Take that!" — Drayan leapt and used his dagger to stab the mantis's stomach.
But the mantis flapped its wings forward, propelling its body backward and dodging the strike.
Attacks like this won't work.
This was Drayan's tenth failed attempt. However, Drayan was starting to understand how the mantis's movements worked.
Let's try something else!
Drayan decided to take a risk and spend more energy on a more powerful strike. He waited for the mantis to approach and close the distance between them.
With 2 meters of distance, Drayan activated the spinning cut technique.
Drayan spun his body and left arm, making a full turn around himself, pushing all the air around him, but the mantis pierced through the air layer and quickly reached Drayan.
Damn!
Sensing danger, Drayan ducked, and the mantis passed over Drayan's body like a jet, using its front leg to cut a few strands of Drayan's hair.
That was close... If I hadn't ducked in time, I'd be dead. Looks like the spinning cut won't work. I don't have enough strength to push it away with the wind?
Drayan sheathed his dagger and moved forward.
Let's try this!
Drayan punched the air, generating a wave of wind towards the mantis. The insect flapped its wings, causing a gust, and the two different air currents collided, resulting in an explosion in the environment, destroying part of the ground.
Let's go again!
This time, Drayan decided to kick the air, raising a curtain of dust towards his enemy. Instead of countering, the mantis flew towards the wind attack, quickly passing through it and approaching Drayan. A single wingbeat from the insect dispersed all the dust around.
Why does this damn thing have to be so strong?!
Desperation increased. Drayan stepped back and stomped the ground, raising some stone debris.
Drayan used his index finger to push the stone pebbles towards the mantis. The small pieces of stone flew towards the creature like bullets, but the stone debris shattered upon hitting the mantis's body.
He's coming! — Drayan's whole body was sweating cold.
Drayan jumped back, and the mantis buried its front legs into the ground, creating a hole.
Drayan landed on the ground, his heart racing. Fatigue was already showing on his face.
What do I do? Should I wait for it to get very close and try to punch it? No... If I do that, I'll have to drop my guard...
Drayan was breathing heavily, while diving into his thoughts in search of an effective strategy.
He was also feeling immense pain throughout his body. His arms were starting to go numb. Using the crushing wind fist for so long harmed his body, potentially leading to a collapse.
Thanks to his effort since the fight against the saw shark, Drayan now had greater control over his blood and could use the crushing wind fist more effectively. Additionally, he could now decrease and increase the amount of blood sent to his arms and legs at any moment.
This became natural for Drayan since he had to train this while injured.
Regardless, he was avoiding using the crushing wind fist at level 2 to not lose too much blood. He still didn't have full mastery of the technique to the point of avoiding blood loss; the best he could do was slow down the blood flow, which made blood loss slower, allowing him to stay in this form longer, but it caused a lot of numbness.
At level 2, he could match the insect's strength, and at level 3, he could have superior strength to the mantis, but Drayan couldn't maintain this form for long, and his concern wasn't the mantis's strength but its speed.
Drayan was thinking of a way to use an attack the mantis couldn't dodge.
The saw shark was more resistant than the mantis, so a punch at level 3 of the crushing wind fist would be enough if it hit the insect directly. But Drayan knew the mantis could dodge.
Punching the air also wouldn't be enough; it could send the mantis away, but the creature would quickly return to fight Drayan again.
So, Drayan didn't consider using the crushing wind fist at level 2 or 3; he only kept it at level 1.
He could try it at level 2 or 3, but he wasn't willing to spend so much energy on a single move.
Drayan was conserving his strength so he could still stand.
The mantis was still toying with Drayan, which was a mistake. But Drayan was starting to see through the mantis's attacks, though it wasn't enough to match the insect.
But it could still help him get somewhere.
The mantis hadn't killed Drayan yet because it found it very amusing to see a weak human doing his best to defeat it. Creatures are extremely proud and sadistic.
The mantis might be intelligent, but it was still proud and trusted in its own strength, facing danger head-on.
A normal, small mantis already had its pride. When evolution occurred, not only did the creatures' strength increase, but there were also changes in their ego and personality.
This means that the mantis's pride, and that of some other creatures, inflated like a balloon ready to burst after the evolution.
A mutant-level creature might be smarter than a modified-level creature, but in compensation, some mutant creatures are more proud. But of course, there are always exceptions.
Some have more intelligence than ego.
The mantis didn't tire of rubbing in Drayan's face how superior it was.
It's risky, but there's a chance it might work. It's the best option of all. I'll finish this in the next attack, even if it's the last thing I do!
What Drayan was planning to do was very risky. He was simply going to risk his life in this strike, and whether it worked or not depended on his reflexes and agility. Unlike other times, if he failed this attack, he would die.
But what else could Drayan do? He would die anyway if this situation continued.
This means that in the next strike, only one could come out alive.
I'll beat him! The chance of a surprise attack is all I need!
Drayan didn't have time to think properly; he was just acting on impulse.
Drayan knew that the mantis attacked him from various directions, using vertical, horizontal, frontal, and diagonal strikes. That's how the mantis's hands moved.
It was like a Kung-fu fighter using a hook.
However, the attack movements had no pattern. A horizontal strike could be followed by a diagonal one, and a horizontal strike could also be followed by a frontal attack.
If there's no sequence, there's no pattern. The mantis wasn't so dumb as to use strikes with the same movement. The mantis deliberately used random attacks to see Drayan struggle even more to escape its blows.
The mantis always distanced itself to gain momentum and strike. But sometimes, the mantis distanced itself more than usual to make stronger attacks.
If there was a pattern, it was in this movement.
More distance covered, more strength and speed, and harder to change trajectory once in a straight line because its body becomes heavier.
Drayan was waiting for the creature to distance itself again so he could act. Drayan couldn't take the first step of his plan if the mantis didn't distance itself enough.
Unfortunately, Drayan had to endure the insect's rapid attacks a bit longer.
Drayan already had more than 100 cuts all over his body. But even though his body was tingling, Drayan had to swallow the pain.
Then, finally, the mantis took the necessary distance.
Drayan smiled, which irritated the mantis, but not enough to make it want to fight seriously. The mantis quickly flew towards Drayan.
Come on! You bastard!
Drayan propelled himself forward, breaking the ground under his feet. Drayan was at full speed, using all his velocity.
Both reduced their distance of 10 meters in the blink of an eye.
The mantis then used its front leg to cut Drayan's head, while Drayan sheathed his dagger, activated his body growth genes, and a 60-centimeter blade emerged from his left palm.
It was too late for either of them to retreat; they were face to face.
"AaaaaaaAaaaaaAAAAAH" — Drayan, feeling fear and anger, screamed to release all these emotions.
Since the blade was long, Drayan's blade hit the mantis first, and due to the mantis's high speed, it couldn't get its body out of the blade's way in time.
The blade sliced through the mantis's hip as if it were made of butter.
But on the other hand, the mantis's front leg, sharp as a blade, hit Drayan's neck.
The mantis's body was split in two, and Drayan had his neck cut.
A dull thud was heard of a body falling.