Chapter 330: Stronger

Boiling red blood seeped through the wounded eye of the beast. Surprised, it hurled its bulb-like tail to fend off Ned.

Midair, Ned kicked the Guulvorg's face, claiming dominance the moment he used Overclock. The kick threw him backward just in time for the beast's tail to hover before him.

Ned flipped mid-air then appeared behind the two hunters, and the unconscious Napond.

"Take him and leave, now!" An order he once accustomed with. He smirked from the nostalgia of him ordering his clones.

The two hunters reacted so quick that they were now a good meters apart from him carrying Napond.

The Guulvorg was smart, Ned knew this all along. Even though enrage, its thinking was only that of eliminating all its prey. The air whistled from the beast's movements and appeared before the three Hunter.

It reached for the three with its massive fang but was struck by a crystal jade ax hurled toward its face.

The hurl was so mighty one of its fang broke in half. The Guulvorg whizzed and curl along with the blood leaking from both its eyes and the battered jaw. Bone-like spikes jutted behind its back, its bulb tail now constantly generating purple electricity along with its four paws. The beast was enraged beyond enrage. So much, that every footstep it made generates a tiny scale earthquake. Talk about elephants against ants.

Gogmurch scaled the hill and appear above the sky with Newter holding him to glide.

"Baron-sir!" One of the Hunter plead. "Please... Save Napond."

"I won't," Ned said under the mask, a muffled voice that of a gentleman. "We're all going to leave this place." He brandished the sword and activated Overclock once again.

To lengthen the use of Overclock, Ned managed to use it through Boosting, which lasts only for a quick second, and recalling it if it's not in use. This way, his 30-second Overclock would stretch to almost a minute.

The air under his boots whistled and Ned appeared under the paws of the beast and slash it six times before evading the purple thunderbolt that was striking him under the ground. Blood from the beast hisses as it touches the ground, creating a tiny hole with every drip. Ned appeared again before the three Hunters.

"Leave now while you still can," Ned said.

"How about you, Baron-sir?" The hunter, a silver rank, carrying Napond on his left said.

No time for him to argue why they were calling him Baron. But it doesn't sound bad after all.

"We'll manage," Ned said leaving his after image.

The moment he disappeared, the Guulvorg screeches of pain as it was struck again by the Butterfly under its belly.

Gogmurch went descending and latch himself on the Guulvorg's back. Riding the beast like a rodeo, Gogmurch manages to pull one of its spikey bones. Spewing blood all over him and on the ground. Gogmurch had to leave its back after the blood touches his green skin and made small patches of burn marks.

Gogmurch rolled and caught the jade ax along the way. Ned appeared beside him.

"Helping the humans now, Goblin General?" Ned said. Dust and crack covering his mask.

"Not me," Gogmurch replied, striking the ground with the butt of the ax. He then looked over his shoulder and saw Newter resting over the tree. "Thank her."

"It seemed that wyvern has more sense than you."

"Stop talking, little Baron."

Gogmurch growled and Newter flapped its wings and glided towards Gogmurch. Newter then attached to Gogmurch and pulled him back midair.

The same attack won't work for the Guulvorg after it simply leaped and cleave Newter along with Gogmurch, throwing them back inside the forest.

A splatter of mud under his black boots, Ned vanished and—

And was struck by the beast's tail and thrown with his body trailing against the mud and the dry ground. A tree he hit and stopped. His vision blurred, and blood leaked from his nose, under the mask.

"Fucking smart," Ned muttered overlooking the branches, looking at the serene blue sky. "In a short time, he could already read my movements even with Overclock on."

How in the world do we defeat that thing. Ned thought and reached for the broken Butterfly on the ground. Once he touched the sword, the Fourth Form of Vanishing Stance was activated, extending the Butterfly with a green light.

All this time, Ned was using Emulator under his red display. All he could see as its weaknesses were its eyes, and the skin that attaches the purple bulb with its tail. His pelt was tough already, that only magic weapons could make a scratch of it.

Ned wiped the blood running down his neck as he watched Gogmurch dashing toward the beast. Newter hovering above him.

"Blood?" Ned muttered under his mask. Smudged of blood on his palm.

"You're killing him!" Naari once said to Ned after he let Coco transformed to its final form without having the thought of him killing the mythical cat. "No. This would kill the wyvern."

Ned dashed letting go of the idea of his blood feeding to Newter.

He jumped and raised the Butterfly to block the attack coming from the tail of the beast. At the same time, Gogmurch hacked its leg. On-time for Newter to appear over the head of the beast and made a scratch over its wounded eyes.

Ned scrambled on the ground from the force of the beast. The last thing he heard was a growl before he hit another tree.

"Something's off." Ned wiped the blood off his neck. His black and plain-looking Kurashinpi were visible of cracks. "It's getting stronger."

To support the thought, Ned focused and blocked all the noises. He focused his thoughts on the beast, and there he senses the abnormality of its Mana Leak. Its Mana was flooded, unable to control, it kept on leaking endlessly.

"No way," Ned whispered. He was tenfold stronger than Gazul; the first Lord Ned met. Or Gogmurch. But no way the beast was stronger the Kon Sas Koron. But Sas Koron wasn't with them. Ned scowled under the mask.

Escape it is, Ned thought and eyed the hunters carrying Napond. If only they could make it inside the forest.

An idea came into him, an idea he must try with the remaining time of his Overclock.

Ned dashed and left steaming afterimages and appeared next to the beast foot. Ned cut its pelt and once he does, Ned raised a hand close to the bleeding wound. All these happened before the beast could sense Ned.

"Egneous!" Ned conjured.

A deafening boom came under the beast's belly. The ground cracked and the Guulvorg's leg was turned to pulverize along with its blood evaporating.

"Good job, human," Gogmurch growled behind him.

Guulvorg fell on its head as it just lost one of its legs.

But as Ned had said before: "Something was off."

Indeed, something was off.

The Guulvorg stood even though it was badly hurt, but its eye remains the same. Glowing red; glowing vengeance.

The wound on its left eye leaks red boiling blood but it did not drip on the ground. Instead, the blood slithered and heals the wounded eye. The same goes to the bone behind its back, it was restored from its blood. Its front limb, which Ned used half its Mana conjuring the spell Egneous, was also healed. The healing was fast enough that Ned and the rest could not do a thing.

The abnormal Guulvorg might be the toughest enemy Ned fought after Rassus.