A cold wind blew through the clearing, now a blackened, smoldering mess. Flickers of electricity still pulsed here and there sporadically as the final clash approached.

  The Onisha stood before me, taking shallow, ragged breaths. Countless injuries marred its mammoth figure yet it still stood tall, unbowed by the onslaught it had faced.

  Nowhere to run now; this was as good of a chance I was going to get. Hoping that the other races would be able to deal with it was nothing more than a pipe dream with the condition they were in.

  With how injured it was, it most likely wouldn’t be able to keep up with my speed. I took the initiative and leapt forward with my Nanoblade drawn.

  The Onisha roared and swung its massive club in a wide arc, creating a massive gust of wind. I was already prepared, however, as I arched my back and slid right underneath, its menacing spikes mere inches from my face.

  Quickly spinning around, I pushed off its shoulder into the air and swung the Nanoblade down with all my force at its exposed neck.

  Snap!

  Without leaving a mark, my trusty companion cleanly broke in half against the thick leathery hide of the Onisha. Its monstrous physique stat had clearly been too much for the Nanoblade to handle.

  Immediately abandoning any further attempts, I made a quick retreat as I leapt backwards.

  I’d been hoping to cleanly decapitate the Onisha in one fell swoop but that plan was clearly off the table now.

  Looks like I can only strike the areas where it’d already been wounded. Even though the Nanoblade had been broken, I still had one weapon left, my Lycoph claws.

  Leaving the cover of the trees, I once again sprung forward with my claws aimed at a gaping wound on its stomach. Just as they had barely grazed the Onisha, I was suddenly sent flying from a massive impact, as if a small bomb had gone off.

  The Onisha had given up on hitting me directly and instead smashed its club directly on the ground, creating a miniature earthquake.

  Coughing specks of blood, I stood up once more. At least 3 ribs had been broken.

  But I saw it; the Onisha’s movements had now become slightly slower, almost imperceptibly so. The paralytic poison coating my Lycoph claws coupled with its heavy injuries appeared to be having an effect, although incredibly minor.

  There was a way; the brute could be taken down.

  I gulped down a Medium Potion and went in for a third strike. As the Onisha once again began to swing its club downwards, this time I explosively jumped upwards, soaring over its head.

  Landing on its back, I gave myself a piggyback ride as I wrapped an arm around its neck and began to repeatedly stab my claws into an exposed chest wound.

  One stab, two stabs, three stabs, four stabs-

  With a frenzied bellow, the Onisha reached behind its head as it struggled in vain to grab me.

  Too late- I'd already propelled myself away and back into the shadows. From then, a merciless assault began.

  Shik!

  Another strike, on its left thigh.

  Shik!

  Its lower abdomen.

  Shik!

  Its unspeakables.

  Alright, that last one was personal, I admit it.

  The torment that the Deinopi Arachnid had inflicted on me in my first battle was now being experienced by the Onisha.

  Gradually, the speed at which it swung its club grew sluggish and its body seemed to become slightly stiff. I could do this; like an ant vs an elephant I would simply pester it to death.

  As I recoated my claws with paralytic poison in the darkness, the Onisha suddenly made a movement. With eyes blazing with fury and a hint of unwillingness, the Onisha pulled out a large, golden potion from its Inventory and uncorked it.

  No! Thats cheating! Boss characters aren’t allowed to use potions!

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  All our efforts were about to go down the drain. It was obvious at a quick glance that it was some sort of higher tier healing potion that the Onisha had been saving.

  As a cold knot formed in my chest, I watched the Onisha slowly raise the potion to its lips.

  Swoosh!

  Suddenly, a shuriken flew through the air and shattered the potion, creating a small explosion of ice that froze its contents. As the Onisha howled in rage, I spotted a heavily injured beastman hiding up in the trees, several shurikens clutched in its charred hand.

  Nice save! I take back what I said earlier about your aim.

  The Onisha attempted to pull out another potion, but right on cue another shuriken curved through the air and cleanly pierced it. No matter how it tried to protect the potions it withdrew, a shuriken would appear seemingly out of thin air and destroy it.

  For the very first time, signs of fear appeared on the Onisha’s arrogant visage and its supreme confidence began to shatter.

  The Onisha began to rampage, slaughtering any of the races that lay nearby, in a desperate attempt to find the hidden assailant.

  Blinded with wrath, it hardly even noticed me as I once again approached from behind with my claws. Shurikens continued to whizz by, creating small chunks of ice that further impeded the Onisha.

  The Onisha seemed to lose all sense of reason, as it indiscriminately smashed anything around it remotely resembling a living being. The other Tier 5 races could only helplessly watch as they were turned into a bloody pulp.

  Soon, only the injured beastman and I remained. Yet, our two-pronged assault continued to relentlessly chip away at the Onisha’s once majestic life force. I lost count of how many times I recoated the Lycoph claws with paralytic poison as time seemed to pass in a blur.

  A short breather in the shadows, then another quick hit and run. Halfway through, the first set of Lycoph claws crumbled and were swapped out for another set of claws. Slowly, but surely, the Onisha began to lose even the ability to swing its club until finally, the Onisha completely stopped moving.

  It stood in the midst of the clearing, one knee knelt to the ground with its head slumped. Rivers of blood flowed incessantly from its body and soaked the ashen soil.

  Despite its apparent immobility, I didn’t let my guard down. Losing one eye had been enough of a lesson.

  I walked in front of the Onisha and approached it, pretending as I were about to gloat and posture over my victory.

  “Well well well little piggy, look how the turns have tabl-”

  With a sudden lunge, the Onisha lurched forward in a last-ditch effort to grab and tear me apart. Already prepared, I quickly stepped back as the Onisha tumbled forward helplessly onto the ground. It continued to lie there, collapsed under its own weight.

  What a sly bastard. Now...for the coup de grace.

  Keeping an eye on the beastman in the trees, I picked up the Onisha’s club with my Lycoph arm. The club was incredibly heavy, being almost as tall as I was, and it wobbled unsteadily in the air as I barely managed to lift it with a heavy grunt. Muscles screaming in protest, I raised the club high into the air and slammed it down onto the Onisha’s head.

  Crunch!

  With a sickening noise, the skin on the Onisha’s head split and became slightly deformed. However, no system notification appeared.

  Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

  Again and again, I brutally crushed its head, as bits of bone and cartilage flew everywhere. It was only when I’d completely caved in its skull and turned its head into a bloody soup did a message appear.

  Ding!

  Finally, the titan had fallen. If just a single member of a Tier 4 world was this powerful and overwhelming, I shuddered to imagine what the higher tier worlds were like.

  Yet, I knew that one day I would reach their heights.

  Ding!

  Two pillars of light descended upon the battlefield, illuminating me and the heavily injured beastman.

  Dropping the club, I slowly walked over to the beastman lying up in the trees as he simply quietly stared at me.

  Soon, we faced each other, and for a moment, neither of us spoke.

  “Go on then, finish me.”

  A sour taste rose in my throat as I tightly clenched my hands. The beastman had tried to kill me first and by all rights I was more than justified in killing him but...... he had also saved my life. Without his intervention, the Onisha would have been able to recover and I’d be the one lying there like a smashed watermelon. For a brief moment, we had been comrades.

  “Aren’t you going to fight back?”

  Chuckling, the beastman gestured at his own horrifically burned and mangled body and said,” Don’t you see the shape I’m in? I’m not much longer for this world and I’m all out potions. Besides, I already know how fast you are. Just send me on my way.”

  “Why’d you help me then if you knew you’re going to die? I even killed one of your companions.”

  “Don’t think too deeply about it. I’d rather one of us walk out of here than one of those higher tier bastards. Knock those cocky sons of bitches down a peg or two.”

  A deep resentment and unwillingness began to bubble forth within me as my unrivaled obstinacy reared its head.

  Try and tell me do something? That’ll just make me a hundred times more likely to not do it, especially if it was one of these dirtbags who had sent me here.

  I quickly opened the Shop function and purchased a Greater Potion as an idea suddenly sprung into my head.

  I tossed the Greater Potion to the beastman, whose eyes widened in surprise as he said, "What the hell are you doing?”

  “Let’s try something else.”