"I've never seen anything like this!"
Mel muttered in astonishment as he gazed at the colossal blossom held firmly in his grasp. Inside its petals lay a circular mouth lined with razor-sharp fangs, and just moments ago, this very mouth had tried to swallow Mel whole.
"A wild beast posing as a plant, or maybe a mix of both! Now it makes perfect sense why so many who come here end up dead!"
Trying to spend the night perched on a tree after killing the serpent, Mel had been ambushed out of nowhere. If he hadn't spent countless nights honing his instincts in the forest Grandpa prepared for him, he definitely would have died in the aftermath of that attack.
"Let's see if this thing has a core."
As he severed the massive flower's stem with his hand, a subtle tremor rippled through his body; the vibration, refusing to stop there, traveled first to the tree and then seeped into the dirt.
A few breaths later, the surrounding trees began to thrash violently, their long branches striking against each other.
"So you're giving away my position to the wild beasts... I finally understand how this place works!"
Realizing that the beasts and the plants of the forest had a pact to survive together, Mel leaped from the branch to the ground and swiftly retreated. The trees relied on the wild beasts to slaughter humans who tried to harvest them, and the wild beasts relied on the trees so they wouldn't have to hunt in the open plains.
"I won't mess with your natural order, but I have to harvest the cores of those who choose to step into the Killing Cycle!"
When he decided to enter the forest, Mel's only goal was to test his own limits; whatever he ran into wasn't going to stop him.
The boy had absolute resolve, but his enemy commanded an entire forest. Wherever he walked, the trees helped the wild beasts track his every move. So, when he reached a small clearing, he found himself surrounded by serpents.
While over ten creatures moved constantly to cut off all ways of escape, a shadow slithered from the rear into the clearing, stopping right beside Mel.
Coiling its thick torso, it began to sway above the young boy. Even coiled up, its length was twice Mel's height.
"So you're the boss! I'll give you one last warning: back off, and I won't come after you. But if you stay and fight, you're going to die!"
The colossal serpent responded with a sharp hiss; following its lead, the surrounding creatures began to make the exact same sound.
"Then let's get started!"
Realizing they had crossed the point of no return, Mel raised his arms and got into his fighting stance. At the same time, two shadows lunged from the undergrowth straight for his arms.
They looked like smaller copies of the colossal serpent; they quickly wrapped around Mel's arms, latching on tight from his wrists to his shoulders.
Their boss hissed with arrogance, its whole vibe radiating a mocking superiority, as if to say, 'You can't even handle these.'
Mel understood the mockery; while the serpents tightened their muscles trying to rip his arms out of their sockets, he just offered a calm smile.
It was as if the serpents had learned from past fights; to avoid getting shredded by his claws, they had pinned his arms, dropping their enemy's mobility to zero.
While the serpents ruthlessly squeezed their bodies to make his arms useless, the boy let out a roar and began to flex his arm muscles.
A clash of two opposing forces began; one squeezed inward from the outside, while the other pushed outward from within. Mel's body had long since shattered the limits of his peers, but his arms were a completely different legend.
All the energy from the wild beast carcasses he had absorbed with the help of the tree inside the cave had been spent to forge the dragon transformation in his arms. Even if they didn't look like it to a normal eye, the arms those serpents were trying to crush were basically the limbs of a true dragon.
The series of explosive snaps proved it; the mangled remains of the two serpents, their long bodies torn to pieces, fell to the dirt.
"Stop sending your coreless grunts to die; if you're strong enough, face me yourself!"
Mel was gentle only around normal people and those who hadn't stepped into the Killing Cycle. Anyone who crossed that line met his true nature; his resolute and feral side was unleashed.
The boss serpent realized its subordinates were no match for him. The strategy of swarming a human—who had effortlessly killed a subordinate with a core—through sheer numbers was doomed to fail.
Still, it didn't step forward without playing all its cards first; after a subtle vibration of its tongue, the creatures hiding in the shadows launched their attack.
"Since you want to die so badly, come on!"
Pulling both his hands, now morphed into Dragon Claws, to his sides, the boy began to swing them with blistering speed. The enemy hadn't even reached him yet, but the claws made of emerald energy shooting from his hands were already hitting their marks.
The small clearing was covered in serpent carcasses; not a single creature was left in one piece. Mel had reached the second stage of the Dragon Claw; he could detach the energy built up in his claws from his body and launch it at his enemies.
The surrounding trees weren't spared from Mel's attack either; with their branches cut and trunks scarred, they made rustling sounds like they were protesting.
"Don't get mad at me; you should have thought about what would happen before teaming up with the beasts to give away my spot!"
That was the absolute truth of the fight; the serpents were torn to shreds by the flying energy claws before they could even reach him. Their tree accomplices had taken heavy damage; Mel had no mercy for anyone who entered the Killing Cycle.
"I don't know if I can cut through your thick hide with the Energy Claws, but I can't wait to find out!"
Looking at the colossal serpent frozen in place, the young boy held out his hands in a silent challenge. A normal creature, watching its subordinates get massacred, would have turned and run, but faced with this, the boss serpent only got angrier. Uncoiling its body like a tight bowstring, it launched its attack, and Mel simultaneously fired the Energy Claws from his hands straight at it.
A deafening crash echoed; ignoring the hits it took, the boss serpent kept its momentum and slammed into Mel. Thrusting its head forward, it used its body like a spear, basically impaling the boy.
Taking the devastating blow, Mel was sent flying backward, forced to smash through dozens of trees before he could stop. Finally, losing all his speed, he slammed into the trunk of a massive tree.
The colossal serpent hissed loudly in an open challenge, carrying the pride of a warrior who had heavily punished its enemy. On the other side, Mel watched it from where he lay; when the serpent's show of dominance ended, he moved and pulled himself out of the crater he had made.
"I left a mark on you, but I still can't shoot enough energy to pierce your hide and cut your flesh. Come on, let's see what happens when my claws hit you directly!"
They charged at each other again. This time, as the head came down like a spear, Mel dodged the strike and buried his claw deep into the long body.
As the hand covered in emerald energy tore through the scale-armored hide and pierced the flesh, the boss serpent let out a horrifying hiss. Unable to stop its forward momentum while caught on the claw, its body was sliced open from end to end.
"For a snake that dared to act tough in front of a dragon, you aren't nearly as tough as you look!"
Even though his confidence spiked during a fight, he never let arrogance take over. The moment he saw his enemy's weak spot, he attacked again. His goal was to use the open wound, which was as wide as a human hand, to do even more damage.
The young boy executed his plan perfectly; sneaking up from the blind spots of the serpent—whose movement was now badly crippled—he practically dug his fingers into its bleeding wound.
Even though the hit-and-run tactics drove the colossal serpent crazy, there was nothing it could do; the enemy's speed and agility had long since left its own in the dust.
The boss serpent hissed in fury, but this cry was different from its earlier roars. Its tone sounded like a desperate plea for help, and a few breaths later, its backup would arrive.