Chapter 285 - Evolution

Wain changed course and headed toward the tiger. He could not let the beast attack Lea, while she was still weak.

The bone wings swayed, and he turned into a dark flash. Wain did not hold back and immediately activated his fifth form. His hair turned blue, and his eyes were amethyst. He wore dark armor covered with spiky gray vines and a dark sword with a picture of petals.

Wain waved his hand, and several vines emerged from the ground toward the tiger. However, the beast didn't even stop. The tiger kept running forward, and the vines couldn't stop it.

'What? It's as if it didn't notice them.' Wain exclaimed to himself and quickly gathered energy from his sword.

He swung his weapon, and a straight bloody blade flew toward the tiger. This time the beast did not ignore Wain's attack and opened its jaw wide. The beast sharply clenched it and shattered the bloody blade into tiny shards.

The tiger's eyes flashed, and the patterns on its body glowed brightly with blue light.

Several spheres appeared around it, from which dozens of energy projectiles flew out in all directions. At the beast's will, they all headed toward Wain, like homing missiles.

Wain swung his sword several times and created a pair of bloody blades. They met with projectiles but could not block them completely, only half. The remaining shots came down on Wain like a hail of arrows.

He blocked the projectiles with his sword and barely had time to react to the new attacks.

Whoooosh.

The rosebud on Wain's chest shone brightly, and spiky vines burst out of the ground again, but many buds were growing on them this time. They quickly blossomed, and thousands of petals headed toward the tiger.

The beast sensed threats from it and so decided to block the attack. The tiger roared furiously, and a protective barrier appeared in front of it, into which the petals flew. Hundreds of explosions rang out, but the barrier did not collapse. Several cracks appeared on it.

"Damn!" Wain frowned, and then his eyes went wide.

The cracks in the barrier fused together, and it glowed brightly. A massive beam erupted from the barrier, combining the tiger's energy and the petals whose power the barrier absorbed. This skill was not only suitable for defense but also a counterattack.

Wain plunged his sword into the ground and folded his arms crosswise. The ground trembled, and a massive vine appeared with a giant rosebud on it.

The bud blossomed, and a large red beam erupted from the rose to counterbalance the tiger's attack.

The two beams met and created a shockwave that caused several rickety buildings to collapse and the trees to sway from side to side.

However, the blue beam gradually suppressed the red one and came down on Wain with residual power.

Wain tried to block this attack, but he was not strong enough to do so. The red beam threw him aside and left serious burns on his body. The dark armor was partially destroyed, and the vines were destroyed.

Scarlet drops of blood fell relentlessly to the ground, and red streams flowed from the corners of Wain's mouth. The Ring of Damned glowed, and Wain quickly ate two pills, one white and one green, and drank the yellow potion that was supposed to boost his regeneration.

'Fuck! It's too strong. I couldn't even hurt it!' Wain exclaimed to himself.

The only thing he had left was Beyond one potion and a few items that, in theory, could have helped him or destroyed part of the city.

Wain saw no point in using a Beyond since he couldn't even get close to the tiger. He urgently needed to come up with another plan.

Wain expected to be able to fight the tiger as equals at worst, even though they had different Chronicles, but the reality was brutal.

Wain's plan would have worked if the tiger's strength had been at the lower end of Second Chronicle. With crumpled uniforms, other skills, and items, he would not have stepped on the beast. However, the tiger was at least in the middle of that stage, making the difference in their strength insurmountable.

Tremble.

The tiger walked slowly toward Wain crushing buildings and roads with its paws. It was no firmer than a house of cards and a minor obstacle to him.

"Looks like you met an invincible foe today." Suddenly a voice came from outside.

Wain looked back and saw Forgotten walking in his direction. He was calm, and the tiger's menacing appearance did not frighten him.

"What?"

"Wain, this is something apparently you've never encountered before, the insurmountable difference between Chronicles. You're strong, very strong. It's not enough to defeat the wretched beast that could only reach the middle of Second Chronicle." Forgotten uttered and pointed his sword at the tiger.

The blade glowed, and Forgotten brought the sword down sharply. He did this so quickly that his movements were invisible, only a residual image.

The giant ash blade came down on the tiger and sliced it in two and the few hundred meters behind it. It was the power of Ashen devoted to sword and ash and at the limit of Second Chronicle.

"Damn, I'm actually far from that level..." Wain muttered.

All of his attacks and attempts were unsuccessful. He couldn't even scratch a tiger and Forgotten only needed to make one attack. Wain felt that all the skills and stats he had acquired through sweat and blood were no more dangerous than clappers.

Whooooooosh.

A blue soul flew out of the tiger's body and headed toward Forgotten.

'What?! The tiger had a Rare Rating Soul? Just that?

Wain thought that an enemy possessing such power possessed at least an Ascendant Rating Soul, but he hadn't yet fully understood how big the difference between First Chronicle and Second Chronicle was.

"Don't worry, given your current accomplishments. You still have a long way to go. Even I still have room to grow, even though I'm on the border of Second Chronicle, I still meet the conditions for the third evolution. By the way, Wain, do you have a problem with that too?"

"Hmm? No, I recently met all the conditions, but now is clearly not the right situation. There's chaos, uncertainty, and ruin all around. I can't go missing for weeks or months in a situation like this. It's too risky."

Wain truly wanted to start the second evolution and become much stronger, but it needed the right conditions.

Even during the first evolution, Wain ensured that he was safe and quiet. Otherwise, evolution could have been interrupted at the most inopportune moment, which would have failed.

Wain didn't know what was happening in such a case, but he didn't want to find out.

"Huh, you don't have to worry about that."

"What do you mean? Can't you see what's going on around here?!"

Forgotten waved his hand, "It doesn't matter. If you disappear for a couple of days and come back with your strength several times, no one will be hurt by it. Just start evolving on Merge Island, and don't worry about anything."

"What? A few days?"