The elk's antlers were closing in on Tom, poised to impale him, but even in this dire situation, Tom maintained his composure, knowing that panicking wouldn't help him escape. As the attack drew nearer, Tom's mind raced, searching for a solution. 'I can't use any of my Astralums to get out of this situation. What do I do?'
Unfortunately, before he could come up with an alternative, the elk's antlers were already at his level. With limited options, Tom decided to employ the only maneuver that came to mind. He focused all the Etherium within him, directing it toward his legs. With a surge of energy, he propelled himself into the air, narrowly evading the elk's antlers.
However, Tom was well aware of the vulnerability that came with being airborne. It was a risk he hadn't wanted to take, as the elk could still attack from a distance. Just as he predicted, the elk raised its head, opened its mouth, and released a volley of teeth toward Tom, who was defenseless in mid-air.
As the barrage of teeth closed in while he descended, Tom sighed inwardly, realizing that he had no choice but to place his trust in the training suit provided by Vista. Vista had assured him that the suit was remarkably resilient and could even save his life in certain situations.
With determination, Tom wielded his sword to protect his head and vital areas, mentally preparing himself for the imminent impact.
The barrage of teeth struck Tom head-on, sending him tumbling through the air before crashing to the ground.
'That hurt like a bitch,' was Tom's initial thought as he collided with the earth. The training suit had held up, and no teeth had pierced his body, but the impacts from the teeth and the subsequent crash had left him in immense pain.
The impact created a cloud of dust where Tom had landed, causing the elk to halt its attack. Lying on his back within the dusty haze, Tom gazed up at the sky and let out a sigh. "Sigh... I should probably get up."
The elk had ceased its assault, assuming Tom to be either dead or severely wounded. Once it realized otherwise, it would undoubtedly resume its offensive.
Getting to his feet, Tom remained still, assessing his situation. 'The best option would be to flee, but unfortunately, that's going to be tricky given where I've landed.' Indeed, Tom had landed right in the middle of the clearing, making it impossible for him to escape without alerting the elk to his position. While the surrounding dust obscured his location, he knew he couldn't flee without the elk noticing him, dust cloud or not. Thus, Tom found himself with no other option but to engage in combat with the elk.
With no other option but to engage, Tom began contemplating how to approach this battle. 'Given that it can extend its antlers for attack, I imagine it can do the same for defense. This means I have to strike when it extends its antlers to attack. That's going to be complicated,' he thought.
While confident in his assessment of the situation, Tom also felt a sense of unease. The task ahead was not only about finding the right timing to strike but also about avoiding the elk's attack before being able to retaliate – that would be the real challenge. And not to forget, the elk's long-range capabilities could prevent him from getting close, making the task even more daunting than it seemed.
Meanwhile, the dust had settled, revealing Tom's standing form. Realizing that his cover was gone and that the elk was already preparing its new barrage, Tom channeled Etherium into his body and towards his legs, thinking, 'Whatever method I end up using, speed is crucial in this fight.' Without hesitation, he burst into a sprint.
Within a fraction of a second after he started running, the first tooth had already reached where he had stood. Tom was sprinting towards the elk at full speed. Although he still wasn't entirely adept at controlling his movements at high speeds, he managed to evade the elk's teeth by zigzagging. When he was about 10 meters away from the elk, it extended its antlers, launching an attack.
Tom dodged the antlers by swiftly moving to his right. He intended to close in and strike the elk, but to his surprise, the elk's antlers curved and began to pursue him. Observing this, Tom paused his sprint, changed direction, and swiftly moved away from the charging antlers.
However, Tom didn't move far from the elk's antlers. He planned to use the antlers as cover, anticipating the elk's attack with its teeth. But unexpectedly, the elk didn't fire its teeth or continue pursuing him with its antlers. Instead, it began retracting its antlers while opening its mouth. It only launched its tooth attack after fully retracting its antlers.
While running to evade the tooth bullets, Tom's thoughts raced, 'I see, besides the time it takes to regenerate its teeth, it can't fire its teeth while its antlers are extended. It has to retract them before it can fire its teeth. Moreover, from what I've observed, its antlers can only extend within a radius of 10 meters.'
Reaching this point in his thoughts, Tom grinned and thought, 'I believe this should be doable.' He had finished formulating a plan, and all that remained was to put it into action. Meanwhile, he continued running in circles around the elk, dodging its tooth projectiles. After its new salvo was fired, the elk charged at full speed toward Tom. This time, however, Tom decided to confront the elk head-on and charged toward it as well.
The two adversaries sprinted toward each other at full speed. Once they were about 10 meters apart, the elk extended its antlers, which surged toward Tom.
Tom, following his previous tactic, turned to his right and sprinted in that direction with the elk's antlers hot on his heels. This time, the elk didn't stay stationary; it chased him with its antlers still extended. Tom led the antlers that were just a few centimeters behind him, intentionally slowing down to let the antlers catch up.
However, just as the elk's antlers seemed about to pierce him, Tom used Etherium to boost the power in his legs. In an instant, he lunged to his left with incredible force, evading the antlers. The elk was caught off guard, assuming that its antlers would impale Tom.
During this maneuver, Tom found himself propelled to the left. Using the Etherium he had stored in his legs before jumping, he managed to stay slightly elevated above the ground. However, he began descending toward the ground. Without being distracted by his fall, Tom drew his sword from its sheath. Then, he did something unusual—he released his grip on the sword but immediately used his time manipulation Astralum to suspend the sword in midair.
Gripping the sheath of his sword, he concentrated all the remaining Etherium in his core into the muscles of his arm, he calculated the distance separating him from the elk and the target with lightning speed, and in a fraction of a second, he struck the back of the suspended sword with the sheath as if it were a baseball!
This strike carried such force that the sword shot forward at a speed even greater than the elk's tooth bullets and embedded itself into the elk's neck.