"Attack from both sides, aim for the concentration of the stripes. That's his weak spot. Ready?"

"Yes." Wain nodded, and a sword appeared in his hand.

The lizard looked menacingly at them and opened its mouth wide.

"Attack!" Osvald shouted, and they jumped aside.

Boom.

A massive beam of energy rained down on where they stood, a deafening explosion. A wide crater was left of it, with Wain and Osvald standing on the edge.

"Is this normal? A few more of these, and it will destroy half the forest." Wain eyed the crater warily. The size and power of the attack were a surprise to him.

"I warned you. Even though he didn't absorb Soul Pearl, he found a clean source of energy emanating from Soul Pearl somewhere. Though he won't be hard to defeat, he is faster, stronger, and has more energy than any other creature in the same Chronicle. Let's go!" Osvald uttered and ran at the monster.

Wain nodded and followed him.

Osvald was on the left, and Wain on the right. They attacked simultaneously, and in response, the lizard raised its paws high and struck the ground. The shockwave tossed them aside, Wain grabbed onto a branch and regained his balance, and Osvald jumped away from the tree trunk and punched the lizard in the side.

His fist slammed into the lizard's armor, and the tough hide crumpled.

"What? Damn, how hard are you?" Osvald was puzzled that his punch didn't penetrate the lizard's hide.

"Roooooaaaarrrr!"

The lizard roared furiously, turned, and struck Osvald with its tail. Osvald blocked it with his hand but was thrown back a hundred meters.

'Fuck. I'd definitely have a broken arm if I'd gotten that punch.' Wain thought and clenched his palm into a fist.

A dark pillar of thunder came crashing down on the lizard, but the monster didn't even dodge. This powerful attack did him no damage.

Whooooosh.

Osvald jumped out of the forest and got to the lizard, but he did not attack the beast. Osvald pushed his hand off the lizard's back and landed next to Wain.

"If you want to absorb its energy, you must fight for all your strength. Otherwise, nothing will work. Remember that and start fighting already!" Osvald uttered, and palm slapped Wain on the back.historical

"Okay, I hear you." Wain said seriously, "In that case, I'll use everything I've got!"

"Sure. That's the way you should have done it from the beginning." Osvald smirked.

Wain activated the second form, Cursed Swordsman and a Beyond. He wore a long, tattered cloak and a black crown with an open eye, and his sword was covered in gray, devouring energy.

His aura became powerful, and the lizard sensed the threat coming from Wain.

The lizard opened its jaw wide, and its tongue swung like a harpoon toward Wain.

Wain's pupils narrowed, and he jumped aside and swung his sword at the last moment, unleashing a wave of ice on the lizard.

This time the lizard didn't ignore it and jumped aside. The wave reached the trees, turning them into chunks of ice and consuming half of them.

'Not bad, but it's not enough.' Osvald muttered inwardly. He watched the fight closely and allowed Wain to reveal himself fully. Osvald wanted to see what Wain was capable of when he used all his trump cards.

The lizard swung his tail and struck Wain, top to bottom.

Wain responded by lunging with his sword and creating a cone of ice, it was covered in jaws and posed a serious threat. The cone met its tail and pierced the beast's tough hide, however, at the same instant, the energy bands glowed, the hide became much stronger, and the cone shattered into many shards.

Bam.

The tail came crashing down on Wain, but he managed to jump aside at the last moment. The tail ended up a meter away from him, buried deep in the ground. This attack created a wind blade that left a blank swath hundreds of meters ahead in the forest.

'Hey, I think I need a different approach here. It's my turn. The voice of Blind Sorcerer sounded.

After a few seconds, Wain hesitated and nodded, and the coat and the silver sword disappeared, replaced by a tight bandage and a long gray robe.

'Another one? He's used three such powerful skills already. I doubt all humans are capable of that. Hmm... how interesting. These are forms, but he's only in Second Chronicle, these are unique skills, but why does he have so many?' Osvald and Sven had once met some of the humans, and Wain's power was different from theirs.

Piercing the lizard's hide proved an impossible task for Wain. Even with a Beyond, he could not do it, and the lizard could reinforce the damaged areas at any time. Wain chose a different method, nothing could prevent him from cutting through the space.

Wain removed the blindfold and opened his left eye, which had the image of an hourglass on it. He waved his hand and created an X-shaped blade cutting through space.

Lizard shuddered in fear and moved away from the blades as fast as possible. However, he didn't have time to dodge fully, and the blades caught his tail and cut half of it off.

"Roooooooaaaarrrrr!" The lizard roared in pain, but did not retreat.

"Huh, his attack finally succeeded, but cutting off a lizard's tail, seriously?" Osvald grinned.

The lines on the lizard's body glowed, and suddenly the tail began to regenerate at a tremendous rate. In just a few seconds, it had fully regenerated.

Wain was not upset. On the contrary, he made sure that his new weapon worked perfectly against the enemy, and this was his way to win.

'Don't limit yourself. You're capable of more than a few blades, though it will be quite painful.' The voice of the Blind Sorcerer sounded.

Wain suddenly jumped aside.

The lizard thought Wain had decided to retreat, but suddenly he extended his arm forward, and the space above the beast began to collapse. Gradually it turned into a massive rift that sucked in everything in the affected area like a black hole.