Chapter 97: Leon vs Asura[1]
The moment Asura touched the transparent green dome covering Leon, its massive arm was flung back similarly to how it did before.
Except this time, the reflection occurred with even more force.
The energy behind the giant’s own punch was multiplied by Guardian’s Dominion, turning its overwhelming power straight back against itself.
The sudden repulsion snapped the gigantic limb backward in mid-air, throwing the creature’s center of gravity completely off.
The broken concrete ground quaked violently as its balance was disrupted by the impact.
Its giant, rocky feet stumbled backwards several meters, crushing giant slabs of rubble underneath its immense weight.
Leon smirked, taking full advantage of the giant’s opening while suspended high in the air.
He adjusted his posture mid-flight and landed firmly on the center of the giant’s exposed chest.
Without holding back, he drove a powerful, fully-powered punch straight into the rocky surface.
The heavy impact exploded with deafening violence, releasing a shockwave that tore through the monster’s core.
A massive trench was blasted wide open on the giant’s chest, making it look as though a fiery meteor had just struck it directly on its torso.
Cracked, volcanic stone shattered into a thousand flying pieces as the force ripped through its thick outer layer.
Asura grunted loudly in deep pain, the harsh sound echoing like grinding boulders across the ruined landscape.
Thick streams of boiling orange magma dripped down rapidly from its crude stone mouth from the internal shock.
Some of the scalding magma dripped straight down toward its ruined chest, threatening to melt anything in its path.
Seeing the liquid fire falling right toward him, Leon was forced to hop away immediately from the target area.
He flipped backward gracefully through the dusty air, landing back on the concrete ground with a soft, effortless thud.
Teon was completely shocked as he watched the unbelievable scene play out before his eyes.
He had just watched Leon, who was basically a tiny ant beside the ten-meter Asura, do such catastrophic damage to his ultimate summon.
His jaw hung loose in sheer disbelief, his mind struggling to comprehend how a weakened boy could shatter demonic armor with a single blow.
He gnashed his teeth in pure frustration, his hands shaking as cold sweat broke out across his pale forehead.
’As expected... this bastard is dangerous!’ he thought.
He realized with horror that even without his sword, Leon possessed terrifying combat capabilities that defied normal logic.
His panic intensified as he suddenly felt his own internal mana reserves drop noticeably in an instant.
A sharp wave of exhaustion washed through his system, making his knees tremble beneath his weight.
The demonic Asura was directly linked to his personal mana pool as its summoner and anchor in the physical realm.
The more damage the entity sustained from Leon’s explosive strikes, the harder it became for Teon to maintain its existence in the world.
Teon knew that he couldn’t just allow Leon to keep dealing damage to Asura like this.
If the boy landed even a few more of those explosive punches, Teon’s mana reserves would be drained completely dry, causing the summon to collapse into dust.
On the other side of the battlefield, Leon looked up at the towering, ten-meter mass of molten stone and frowned deeply.
He wiped the sweat and dust from his forehead, his chest heaving as he caught his breath inside his protective green barrier.
’It’s too big... fighting it like this is so annoying.’ he thought.
Every single movement required him to jump massive distances just to reach a valid target on its gigantic body.
He felt like a tiny bug trying to chip away at a solid mountain, wasting precious energy with every single maneuver.
If only he had a way to enlarge his own body to a colossal scale and properly fight Asura face-to-face on equal footing.
With a giant frame, he could wrestle the beast directly, locking its eight massive arms and crushing its core without hesitation.
’Or a sword that I could use for Holy Severance.’ he thought, sighing in annoyance.
If he could still use Excalibur, he could cut the ten-meter demon down with just a slash of Hole Severance.
He could have bypassed its massive health pool and thick volcanic defense completely, ending the battle in a single attack.
He gnashed his teeth until his jaw burned with dull pain, his eyes narrowing as resentment filled his mind once again.
He remembered just how much trouble Arthur had caused for him by rejecting his soul and sealing the power within Excalibur.
The king’s cold judgment had stripped away his best options right when he needed them most against a high-level threat.
He didn’t have any choice though right now but to push forward with what he had left in his arsenal.
He couldn’t afford to stand around complaining when his wounds were bleeding and his energy was ticking away by the second.
He gritted his teeth, planted his boots firmly against the shattered concrete, and jumped straight towards Asura once again.
His body shot through the dusty air like a missile, heading directly for the monster’s exposed chest.
Asura didn’t stand still to receive the incoming attack this time.
The giant lifted its massive, pillar-like foot high into the air and slammed its gigantic foot down onto the broken ground.
The sheer weight and kinetic impact of the stomp shattered the remaining foundation of the fallen building into tiny fragments.
The entire area trembled violently, shaking so hard it felt like a massive, catastrophic earthquake was about to occur.
Deep, glowing red fissures tore open across the earth in a wide circle around the footstep.
A second later, a powerful, blazing volcano erupted violently from the ground directly beneath Leon who was still mid-air.
A massive pillar of liquid magma, blinding fire, and superheated ash surged upward towards him at terrifying speed.
The fiery column tore through the air, illuminating the ruined battlefield in a bright, deadly orange glow as it reached him in an instant.
The scorching heat threatened to melt through solid steel before the magma even made physical contact with its target.
The roaring pillar of liquid fire hit the transparent green dome covering him, crashing against the barrier with explosive force.
However, Guardian’s Dominion held completely unyielding against the fiery onslaught, refusing to crack or allow a single drop of heat inside.
Instead of burning Leon, the entire volcanic eruption was immediately reflected upon contact, sent crashing right back down into the ground with double the original momentum.
Then, it blasted right back up directly beneath Asura’s massive feet, bursting out of the earth with a deafening roar that tore the sky open.
The ten-times-larger volcanic eruption slammed directly into the groin of the giant with explosive force.
The roaring pillar of liquid fire melted straight through its thick, rocky skin, completely ignoring its tough exterior defense.
The superheated magma penetrated deep inside its body, surging upward into its internal structure like a searing wave of liquid destruction.
Asura screamed in pain, the sound resembling grinding mountains shattering under immense pressure.
It thrashed violently in mid-air, feeling the searing magma burn its inner body from the inside out.
Thick streams of boiling liquid rock burst out from the cracks along its waist, tearing its lower torso apart.
Taking full advantage of the giant’s utter agony, Leon landed heavily back on its chest.
He planted his legs firmly onto the fractured stone surface and immediately landed another devastating punch on its body.
A loud, thunderous bang echoed through the dust-filled air, shaking the surrounding ruins to their absolute core.
The initial crater on the giant’s chest exploded outward, and the hole grew even larger as pulverized rock rained down around them.
Leon pulled his heavy gauntlet back, his golden eyes flashing with ruthless, unyielding determination.
’Hydra Breaker!’ he thought, launching punch after punch on Asura’s exposed chest.
His fists moved like a continuous blur of metallic destruction, raining unrelenting force directly onto the exact same spot.
Each single strike left an even bigger, deeper hole than the previous one, tearing through layer after layer of volcanic armor.
Because each of the punches kept getting stronger with the stacking power of Hydra Breaker, the shockwaves multiplied with every blow.
The air around his fists roared with explosive energy, shattering the stone torso into fine, burning dust.
Teon, who was still standing below in the wreckage, was already panicking uncontrollably as he watched the gruesome sight.
Cold sweat poured down his pale face, his chest heaving as his mana reserves drained at an alarming rate.
He couldn’t believe his own eyes, seeing as the ultimate demonic giant he had summoned was being so easily overwhelmed by Leon.
His trembling hands clutched his head in total horror, feeling his life force slipping away with every massive crater blown into the summon.
Suddenly, Asura stopped grunting from the agony of the internal burn.
Its entire body went eerily quiet for a moment, and its eight gigantic arms rapidly heated up to a searing red glow.
The volcanic cracks along its limbs flared with blinding heat as all eight massive arms moved swiftly towards its chest to knock Leon off.