CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48: HIDDEN ATTACK

The water churned and split and a few kilometres away he could the giant body of the hippo running towards him like a moving mountain.

It reached him in only a few dozen seconds which was incredibly fast for something that huge but still much slower than he was. He didn’t run but waited instead.

The hippo did not waste time and attacked the moment it saw him but he was different from before, he was nolonger that lower lifeform with an underserved dragon name.

He watched without panic as the giant mouth with spear like teeth came at him. He was not in any hurry to dodge and when it was a few metres away from him he moved.

His body flashed and he appeared a hundred metres away, the air exploded behind him. His eyes met the giant black marbles of the hippo and he was surprised.

He didn’t notice it before but this thing was a spiritual beast. It intelligent eyes looked at him with anger and disdain. The disdain made his blood boil.

How could a lower creature look down on one with a noble dragon bloodline. ’ Huh?’ he calmed down, his own thoughts surprised him.

He thought he had grasped the dragon curse but this was different, when he felt the hippos disdain for him something primal rose inside him.

A source of pride and anger he couldn’t explain. He breathed in and out then looked directly into the hippos eyes. The hatred and killing intent in them was hard to miss but he saw something else beneath, unwillingness and curiosity.

The hippo lunged at him with it giant mouth wide open, he dodged to the side and before it could react he was already beside it.

He rammed his claw to it side and a giant shockwave blasted out but the hippo did not even flinch. He felt like he was hitting a giant steel wall.

He was confident in his strength so this was a surprise to him, he jumped backwards to dodge another bite. ’ Is this thing stupid? It’s obviously slower than I am so why is not using that pulse ability?

Or maybe it’s planing something, I should be careful just in case.’ he dodged another one of it charges and slashed it with his claw but instead of blood only sparks flew.

Before he could retreat it stomped it foot and a giant wave fell on him, this was not enough to damage him in any way but he underestimated it intelligence.

It used the wave as a cover to hide it actual attack, while distracted by the giant water wave he was suddenly hit by something. It felt like a steel ball.

He was sent flying back for hundreds of metres and crashed on the water sending tons of it into the air. He floated up and coughed a mouthful of blood.

He didn’t even see the attack and it seemed to ignore the existence of his iron scales, infact his scales barely suffered any damage but his organs felt like they were punched.

He spit the blood in his mouth but before he could do anything he was hit again and sent flying. He still did not see the attack. ’ Damn it what is happening?’

The attack sank him underwater but he did not swim back up and tried to use the water as cover however he was hit again and coughed up blood, there was no warning or disturbance to the water.

’ Does the attack not travel, does it spawn directly on the target?’ he knew if that how the ability worked then dealing with it would be troublesome so he decided to test it out.

After realising being underwater was not helpful he swam back up, the moment he appeared above water he created a wide wall of web infront of him.

He knew this wall could not stop whatever was attacking him, something ripped through the web and he immediately dodged to the left as fast as he could.

The water exploded where he was. He saw a flicker of surprise in it eyes and grinned. ’ So it can be dodged?.’

However he knew using the web would not be sustainable, ’ If only I had a way to detect...wait ’ he remembered during his evolution he was able to sense everything around him.

’ How did I do that again?’ he tried to recall the feeling but it was hard, he spread out his will but it dissipated in the air like smoke.

That distracted him for a moment and two attacks hit him. He felt the air leave him lungs and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

He bounced on the water for dozens of metres and when he stopped another attack landed even before he could adjust he was sent flying again.

His insides felt like they were on fire and a feeling he had long forgotten rose inside him, fear. His body shook and he thought about running but something inside him disdained that very thought.

A feeling of disgust rose inside him the moment he thought about running away as if doing that would be an insult to his bloodline itself.

But something even deeper, stronger, a part of himself that transcended his bloodline appeared. It echoed like ghostly whispers in his mind that there’s no shame in running, that pride is a weak thread for fools to cling to in order to feel important.

That life matters most, he knew it, he knew this feeling, this overwhelming desire to live, it came from his very soul. Using it he tried to conjure up an image like before.

He already figured that it worked best when his life was in danger. He tried to conjure an image but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t.

The image was without substance. He sighed ’ I see, so you’re not really a threat to me are you?’ he felt his confidence return to him.

Then he closed his eyes and spread out his will, attack after attack landed on him, he gritted his teeth through the pain but he still did not opened his eyes.

His will was unstable, the surroundings were blurry unlike when he evolved, he calmed his mind and ignored the pain then slowly they grew clearer and clearer then he he opened his eyes.