Bloodbattle in the Iron Cage!
The massive Beast-Taming Cage loomed over Mo Fan as the Cursed-Beast Demon slowly crawled inside. Foul saliva pooled across the floor in revolting streaks — clearly corrosive, raising curls of black smoke wherever it touched the iron bars or the ground.
Mo Fan understood there was no getting out of this. It was him and the Cursed-Beast Demon in this cage, one of them walking away alive. He backed off to a safer distance.
The Cursed-Beast Demon's eyes blazed with an unsettling intensity, almost impossible to look at directly. A low, rolling growl rumbled deep in its throat — the sound of a predator that hadn't fed in a very long time.
Finally, it moved.
**Whoosh.** In the space of a blink, the creature left nothing but an afterimage and launched itself at Mo Fan at terrifying speed.
Even faster than the Scale-Skin Mother Demon had been — but fortunately, Mo Fan had already backed far enough to give himself room to react.
The Beast-Taming Cage was threaded with a Barrier specifically designed to contain Shadow Demon-Beasts. Using Shadow Element skills to escape was out of the question. There was nothing to do but fight.
It had to be said — in terms of speed alone, this Cursed-Beast Demon vastly outclassed the Scale-Skin Mother Demon back when she had only just broken through to Battle-General-class. As for its raw physical strength...
**Slash!!!!!!!!**
A flying claw raked across the distance without warning.
The claw blazed with icy killing light, its form clearly multi-layered like a row of stacked scythes. The very ground tore open under the force radiating from it as the strike drove straight toward Mo Fan!
Regular Black-Beast Demons had to physically close the distance before their claws could threaten a Mage. But this Cursed-Beast Demon could launch claw strikes through open air. Mo Fan had been counting on getting off an intermediate spell while the creature was still at range — but there was no time left to trace the Star Chart.
Mo Fan threw himself sideways in a roll. The claw-light skimmed along the ground behind him — and just as he thought he'd cleared the attack range, a line of searing fire blazed across the outside of his arm.
He twisted to look. A deep gash ran the length of his forearm. Nearly to the bone.
The Cursed-Beast Demon bared its teeth in a grotesque grin. It had launched the ranged claw strike while simultaneously lunging forward — this thing actually had a brain. Use the ranged claw to prevent Mo Fan from tracing the Star Chart. Then close in for the kill.
An Intermediate-Level Mage denied the chance to Release an intermediate spell was nothing more than an ordinary person before a Battle-General-class creature — something that could be torn to shreds with casual ease.
The Cursed-Beast Demon was doing exactly that: denying Mo Fan every window to cast. With the creature bearing down on him and no room to breathe, Mo Fan didn't hesitate. He activated the mark of his other piece of Enchanted Gear.
The Nether Separation Shield!!
The soul-mark blazed to life from within, manifesting in deep blue and radiating orderly beams of light in every direction.
The beams crisscrossed before him in perfectly regular geometric patterns, sketching out a solid shield of dark blue — shaped like the wings of a great roc spread wide.
The shield was all sharp angles and edges, dotted with strange holes across its surface. Along its rim, a cold metallic gleam pulsed.
**Claaaaang~~~~~~~~~~**
The Cursed-Beast Demon's bone-chilling claws could cut through iron like clay. When they struck the Nether Separation Shield, the collision rang out in a screech of grinding metal, and deep claw marks carved themselves across the shield's face.
"Counterstrike!"
Mo Fan spotted the opening and immediately triggered the Nether Separation Shield's counterattack.
In an instant, a downpour of diamond-shaped blades erupted from the strange holes across the shield's surface.
The blades were razor-sharp. Even though the Cursed-Beast Demon's hide was armored beneath a visible layer of hardened, rotting crust, the burst of blades still plunged deep into the creature's body.
Black-Beast Demons were renowned for their bloodletting ability — but the Nether Separation Shield's counterblades were barbed, making them every bit as vicious at opening wounds as a Black-Beast Demon's own claws.
The Cursed-Beast Demon had no idea the Nether Separation Shield would prove this formidable. Its body was suddenly riddled with punctures, and grayish-black fluid seeped from the holes across its hide.
**Gluk-gluk-gluk-gluk~~~~~~~~~~!!!!**
Furious and frantic, before the remaining blades could fully sink in, the creature wrenched backward in a violent spinning leap, tearing itself free of the embedded counterblades!
"Its reaction speed — it actually pulled free before the barbs could hook in!" Mo Fan watched the Cursed-Beast Demon escape and felt a sharp pang of frustration.
If every blade had found its mark and the barbs had anchored into flesh and bone, a Thunderbolt follow-up would have left the thing dead or half-dead at minimum.
Battle-General-class was Battle-General-class. Nothing about this was going to be easy.
The counterstrike hadn't inflicted any crippling damage, and Mo Fan used the opening to put distance between them again.
Dismissing the Nether Separation Shield, he knew he had precious little protection left. He absolutely could not let this Black-Beast Demon close in on him again.
"You want to rush me? Ask my fist first!"
As Mo Fan watched the Cursed-Beast Demon gather itself for another charge, flames erupted across his entire body — rose-red, deep and blood-bright.
"Rose Flame — Blazing Fist — Earthstrike!!"
Mo Fan poured every last drop of Magical Energy into a single fist and drove it straight down into the ground.
Fire flooded into the earth. The world before him erupted in blinding red — a pillar of raging flame detonated upward like a miniature volcano.
The fire pillar surged across a wide radius, rolling torrents of molten flame billowing outward. But the Cursed-Beast Demon was utterly cunning — its high-speed charge had been a feint from the start. The instant the Earthstrike rolled up from the ground beneath its feet, the creature twisted with startling agility and leapt sideways, slipping clear of the lethal ring of flame.
A few grazing licks of fire weren't going to hurt something at Battle-General-class.
The Cursed-Beast Demon flashed a contemptuous smirk. The moment its feet touched the ground, its speed detonated — it blurred forward in a single streak toward Mo Fan. Its claws spun in a constant frenzy as it charged, and as its velocity surged and its claws lashed out in every direction, the whole assault collapsed into a swirling claw-blade cyclone, sweeping toward him at blinding speed.
Mo Fan's concentration wavered for just a moment.
*God — this Cursed-Beast Demon is in a completely different league from any regular Black-Beast Demon.*
It was a good thing he'd kept something in reserve and hadn't spent the flame energy coiled around his right wrist all at once.
But the remaining Magical Energy wasn't enough for another Earthstrike. Mo Fan made up his mind — he drove his flame-wreathed fist straight into the oncoming claw-blade cyclone, meeting force with force.
**Whoooooooosh~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**
Flame roared from Mo Fan's fist, though its raw power fell short of a full Blazing Fist — Heavenstrike combination.
He wasn't expecting to blast the Cursed-Beast Demon away. He just needed the remaining fire to hold the creature's assault off for a few precious moments.
But the claw-blade cyclone had a chaotic outer shell of claw-wind acting as a shield — every wave of fire that rushed in was either deflected or shredded. The cyclone's own momentum did not slow in the slightest.