“Loruk, what’s your element?”

  “I can use the water element My Lord, but forgive me, I am not proficient with it.”

  ‘The water element…that might work against my fire a bit. Hm…what do you think Velora?’

  [He mentioned he isn’t proficient with it, so perhaps the impact won’t be that heavy if it comes into contact with your flames. Even if that’s the case, it would be better to avoid and perhaps have him do something simple. Like making the ground wet enough to cause slippage of some sort.]

  ‘Ah that’s a good idea. I’ll just save that for a last resort. I’m going to try and fight this thing by myself first.’

  [I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything less.]

  ‘Glad you’re coming around.’

  “Loruk, your just support for right now. Hang back but be prepared to act if need be. Sound good?”

  “I understand My Lord.”

  “Oh wait, you said you’re not proficient with your element, but are you able to at least put some water on the ground? Enough to soak it and make it soft or muddy?”

  “I am confident that I can do at least that much My Lord.”

  “Good, just be ready.”

  After having a conversation at a low whisper with Loruk, Rick began to navigate towards the Barclaw. It was sitting down, in a small clearing, appearing to be taking a short rest on its stomach with its head resting on its massive paws.

  Rick was not particularly close to the massive beast initially, as he didn’t want to test the senses of a Tier 5 beast, but he knew he would have to get close eventually, but at the same time he didn’t want to lose the advantage of surprise that he had right now.

  So, Rick began to slowly gather the flames in the palms of his hands and began molding them in an arrow-like structure. While being Tier 4 granted a lot more control over his mana than he did at Tier 3, and the fact he was Royal also granted him more power and better talent regarding said mana, he was not a Maglin.

  So, the process still took a few moments despite his advantages.

  Though by the time he was done, a proper arrow-like structure was formed, and he held it steady for a moment before shooting it forward as if it was shot from a high powered crossbow.

  The flame arrow whistled through the air and Barclaw seemed to sense it at that moment and a loud grumbling could be heard in the area as the large beast began to slowly wake up. Of course, Rick wasn’t just standing idle as the arrow flew and the Barclaw began waking up.

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  He quickly broke out into a full sprint towards the Barclaw, and before it fully woke up the arrow struck it into its bark-like skin, and it immediately caught aflame.

  The Barclaw which was slow to move until that very moment, suddenly bellowed out a cry of pain and practically sprang to its feet as the yellow eyes that sat deep into its skull suddenly gained a tint of red as it turned with a speed that betrayed its size to face the oncoming Rick who was much closer now.

  The Barclaw, with a hide still covered in still growing green flames, let out a deep roar that shook the immediate the area and took off in a charge towards Rick, while the fire continued to spread on its back.

  [RICK BE READY!!]

  ‘I’M READY!’

  Rick immediately covered his fists in flames and as the two drew closer together the Barclaw swiped out with a ferocious paw and its claws seemed to be on o runway straight towards Rick’s head.

  Rick ducked under the paw in the same way a boxer would duck under the oncoming jab of another boxer. He then closed the distance further a delivered a powerful blow to the lower jaw of the Barclaw, which of course was still covered in the bark-like hide of the Barclaw.

  “DAMMIT THAT HURTS!”

  [Don’t stop punching!]

  “ARGHH!!”

  Rick roared out as he kept delivering punch after punch to the jaw of the Barclaw who appeared to be dazed for a moment as the fire on its back eventually spread to the rest of its massive body and once it found its way to his face it seemed to shock the Barclaw out of its daze and it let out another loud bellow before jumping back away from Rick.

  With a body covered in green flames, eyes red with maddened rage, and a jaw cracked in multiple places. The Barclaw no longer seemed to care about the pain it was in, as a rush of mana began gathering at the tips of its claws and before Rick could react to the change the Barclaw stood up on its hind legs and rapidly swiped out with its front paws in a X shape in front of its chest.

  6 slashes seemed to materialize in the air and immediately flew rapidly towards Rick.

  [RICK DOGE!!!]

  “ARGHH!!”

  Rick did his best to jump to the side but he wasn’t able to fully get out of the way, and his left arm was caught by the slashes and from his shoulder to his elbow three massive gashes could be seen, and they didn’t waste any time in bleeding profusely.

  [Rick!!]

  “MY LORD!”

  “FUCKK!”

  Three different reactions took place that very second as Rick stumbled but managed to remain on his feet. He glared at the Barclaw for a moment before immediately turning around and running towards Loruk.

  “Loruk! Get ready!”

  The Barclaw didn’t need any other invitation, and it immediately took OFF in a mad sprint towards Rick, roaring loudly as it did so.

  A determined Loruk could be seen with a focused expression on his face as he extended both hands towards Rick and waited for his moment to act.

  “Now Loruk!!”

  Rick yelled as he approached and Loruk didn’t hesitate to release all the water he could on the path before him and the forest ground was quickly soaked as a large stream of water was dropped on top of it.

  Once Rick verified that it was sufficiently soaked, he yelled out at Loruk to run while he himself approached the wet area and jumped over it.

  Perhaps if the Barclaw was in its right mind, it would’ve stopped running or maybe even ran around the area but in its mad flame induce rage, it simply continued running, and promptly lost its footing, causing it to slip and slam into the ground and sliding a couple feet due to the force it was running with.

  Rick, who was waiting a few feet away could be seen leaping into the sky and he then coated the soles of his feet in more flames before falling down while making sure to stomp as hard as he could on the head of the beast.

  A loud break could be heard in the forest as the neck of the Barclaw snapped on impact, and it’s massive body instantly went limp.