Chapter 591: Brute Tactics

Another clash, another smashing blow, another tumble over the wastelands.

Fighting against the Deepclaw for so long had put Kai into a strange fugue state where he was more thoughtful than he would have expected. As if all the blood and brute force faded away into consideration. This battle, with all its blows and injuries, was ultimately an equation.

The damage had taken its toll, leaving him with aches and pains that Behemoth's Heart couldn't keep up with. He was definitely exhausted, in a completely different way than just fighting normal monsters at length. His left leg was injured enough that he couldn't run properly, but flight would drain his reserves further, so he had to choose his movements carefully.

In the process he'd also severely injured the Deepclaw, but that was the reason he couldn't retreat and had to keep pushing himself: given time, it would regenerate and all his progress would be undone. Even though he guessed that his recovery speed was faster, he wasn't willing to gamble that a rest would benefit him more, especially because the Deepclaw might try to evade him by tunneling deep.

But what else could he do to finish things? He was getting tired and running out of tricks. Even after so long in his fugue state, Kai hadn't come up with new ideas.

Again, their bodies smashed against one another, Kai's claws digging deep even as the Deepclaw raked his side. They both staggered back, the Deepclaw filled with endless hatred while Kai merely pondered what could be done.

Raw power was a difficult force to overcome, a lesson he'd learned from many cultivators. Strategy had given him the upper hand up to this point, but perhaps he was reaching the limits of the advantages it could give him. He wasn't obviously stronger than the Deepclaw... but he was smarter and more flexible. If he could buy time...

The battle was too intense for him to change his monstrous essence, which he had developed in order to fight the general incursion. Given just a little time, Kai thought he might be able to come up with a solution, but those paths were blocked to him so long as the fight persisted like this.

Without warning, a silvery whip lashed out at the Deepclaw's side. Kai stared at it, his tunnel vision breaking as he realized that there was someone else here: Sheiri had arrived and was trying to help. Unfortunately, even her whip only dealt a shallow injury to the monster's tough hide. This was the sort of nation destroyer that the elites would need to band together in order to defeat.

Still, her arrival bought him some time. The Deepclaw shifted uncertainly, trying to decide which opponent to attack, so Sheiri looked over at him.

"I can try to help," she said, "but I don't know that I can do much good."

"Don't try to kill the Deepclaw," Kai told her, "just keep it fighting. Can you do that?"

Sheiri grimaced, which was answer enough. They were about to find out.

Kai leapt at the Deepclaw for one more clash, managing to strike its side with his claws while it was distracted. He knocked it back and pushed off, leaping to a distance to let Sheiri move in with her whip. Hopefully that would hold it.

As he bent down to focus on his monstrous essence, Kai kept one eye on the battle. Sheiri could use her whip to great effect, but the Deepclaw was immensely strong and shrugged off the wounds. Worse, it seemed to be trying to grasp her whip every time it struck. He wanted to call out a warning, but would have to trust that a veteran like Sheiri could handle herself.

In fact, it was a mistake to be watching the battle instead of focusing on his own. Kai began to shift the monstrous essence within him, drawing forth abilities for a new strategy.

What he needed to do was pierce to the core, dealing damage that it couldn't recover from. The heart of that strategy would be Isulfr's Bite, which had always been good at piercing through defenses. Kai kept all of his supporting essence, since that would be critical for meeting its raw force, but added Bloodtail's Armor to deal with its counter-attacks.

That used five of his essence slots... was it fine to keep other abilities? Void Gaze or Baleful Breath might help, but Kai judged that he'd gotten the most benefit he could out of those. Instead he opted for an alternative strategy: Monstrous Tail would surprise the Deepclaw and counter more of its blows, giving him time to strike.

For the last slot, Kai abruptly reached for the old Silver Demon essence, which he hadn't effectively used since killing Anaelina. He'd grown more used to using essence from people, and something about it felt right. Demons drained the power of their enemies, and that was exactly what he hoped to do. Adding this to his other abilities might help him pierce the Deepclaw's twisted essence.

So he'd chosen his seven abilities:

<

Isulfr's Bite - X (kappa)

Direboar's Strength - XV (omicron)

Bloodtail's Armor - III (gamma)

Behemoth's Heart - XII (mu)

Thunderbird's Wings - XI (lambda)

Silver Demon - II (beta)

Monstrous Tail - III (gamma)

>

This was an unusual combination, optimized for a single purpose. If this didn't work, or they were attacked by other hordes, he was going to have to use some unusual strategies.

But he was out of time: it looked as though Sheiri was struggling just to keep the Deepclaw from pinning her down. Kai growled and let himself begin to change, falling into the savagery...

.

..

.

Sheiri Kagskan had mixed feelings about the word "elite". It felt pretentious to call yourself that, but the terminology was too firmly ingrained across the Frontier to be brushed aside. Within the actual organization, they tended to avoid terms altogether: they were just people doing a job.

Beyond that, she was keenly aware of her own limitations, compared to both the others and the threat they faced, so she didn't feel personally elite. Irunian steel was effective at dealing damage even where other methods failed, but was too weak on its own for her to take part in some of the most dangerous operations. Even after developing her Windborn abilities, enabling her to get her steel into position more easily, she still felt like a second rate Irunian and a second rate Windborn instead of a proper hybrid.

Her recent transformation had changed all that, and as she cut through monsters, Sheiri felt as though she truly deserved to be a member of the organization protecting the Frontier. At least until she ran into this one.

The monster Kai Clanless had called the Deepclaw was durable and unbelievably strong, reminding her of just how dangerous nation-destroyers could be. Her whip blows, which had carved through so many other monsters, felt like splashing water against a rock. The brute force was the worst: it had only managed to catch her with one shockwave, not a direct blow, but even that had caused an injury. If not for her remade Physique, she might have been taken down.

Ordinarily she would have needed to take this on with numerous other elites, desperately putting their lives on the line in order to stop a threat that could wreck the continent. This time, she did it solely to buy time. In theory, if they could trust in Kai, recovery time could let him handle it himself.

Eventually the Deepclaw managed to grasp her whip, but Sheiri let the metal dissolve into shards that bit into the monster's body. She reformed the whip at her side and the Deepclaw roared, likely more in anger than in pain. It had been planning to grasp her whip and pull her in for a finishing blow.

Now that it knew that wouldn't work... she wasn't sure what she was going to try next. There was a limit to how many times she could keep reforming her whip.

A second growl, much lower, emanated from behind her. Even though she had been expecting it, Sheiri still flinched, turning to see another monster. Kai launched himself past her, no longer human, covered in dark plates that made him a suit of armor from a nightmare.

When he collided with the Deepclaw, the shockwave knocked Sheiri back a pace. That was better than she could have done, but it didn't seem like Kai had the upper hand any more than before. Was he counting on her to join in? They were both maintaining a consistent speed phase, and though she could match it, she wasn't confident she could land a blow while the two monstrous bodies struck at one another.

The sound of teeth snapping together cut through the chaos of the battle.

Sheiri's eyes widened as she saw a huge portion of the Deepclaw disappear, leaving bite marks as if some monstrous mouth had carved through its flesh. Kai's head was distorted, but she could see definite signs of chewing. He drew back his head again, preparing for another bite...

Of course the Deepclaw, which had somehow survived such a large bite being taken out of it, retaliated. It stretched all of those disturbing hands, aiming to slash at Kai from all sides. But something extended from his back, a long tail of armored plates ending in a wicked spike, and began lashing around him. Tail and claw clashed, neutralizing one another and letting Kai take another bite.

This one went deeper, taking out part of the Deepclaw's head. Even that didn't stop the creature, and it thrashed with greater strength, but Sheiri realized that the fight was over. Kai had gained the upper hand now, finally overcoming his opponent's regeneration. Now, with every bite, he was increasing his advantage.

And so he chewed his way into the nation-destroyer, bite by gruesome bite, and Sheiri only watched.

In the beginning, there had been many who were antagonistic toward Kai, and some were still uncertain. There was the blunt fact that his soul looked like a human veneer over a monster, which was unsettling after years fighting against incursions. Others feared that he had been corrupted by the other continents, or accepted the rest but feared that tampering with such powers would ultimately lead to him losing control and becoming another monster.

For a moment, watching one monster tearing into another, Sheiri had to admit that she could understand those fears. But as the Deepclaw finally went still, and Kai climbed out of the body, he sat down against the side.

Even in that monstrous form, the posture of weariness was so recognizable that she couldn't see him as anything but human. This man, basically a child compared to so many elites, was one of them. He had crossed the world and seen the riches of other continents, yet he'd come back to help them. When faced with a monster that was his equal in strength, he had fought it for hours on end in order to fulfill their common mission.

Instead of fear, Sheiri began to feel that they had their own nation-destroyer on their side now. She walked closer, still cautious in case the Deepclaw had some strength left, but its power seemed to be gone... now, its power had been consumed by Kai. That made the final decision for her.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Bit tired," he said. Kai hadn't reverted to human form and his voice was still unnaturally deep, but he lay back against the body wearily. "Are there more?"

"Nation-destroyer tier monsters? I hope not, but I'm out of touch. I've been fighting on this front too." Sheiri touched the crystal on her belt to begin making contact, then focused on him. "For answers about the incursion overall, you'll need to talk to an organizer."

"What next? I need a minute, but I can keep fighting."

"And we're grateful for that, but I think it's time for us to thank you."

Kai's eyes opened slightly, and they glowed in a not quite human way.

"The initial flood is almost over," Sheiri told him with a smile. "Let's go investigate the central abyss before it ends."