Novel Full Chapter 883 - Taming the Fifth Year - Attrition - Healing
Chapter 883: Chapter 883 – Taming the Fifth Year – Attrition – Healing
This was combat at its best…
Not just strength versus strength but mind versus mind, strategy versus counter-strategy and preparation versus adaptation.
And even when he was on the losing end of clever tactics, Ren could appreciate the artistry of it.
Ren’s mantis observed the massive amphibian with a caution that came from instinctive recognition of absolute physical disparity.
The creature in front of it weighed approximately 50 tons according to Ren’s quick estimate (volume close to half a blue whale), an enormous monster that walked on two legs. It wasn’t the solid density of muscle and bone but rather a notably inflated body, with the transparency of its skin revealing internal systems that operated in ways that Ren found fascinating from a mana/crystal-biological perspective.
It was like observing a massive and grotesquely expanded version of a bipedal Amphibian, a creature that seemed to have been inflated beyond normal proportions. The transparency wasn’t complete like crystal at this moment but more like looking through turbid water, with enough clarity to distinguish general shapes of internal structures but not fine details.
The digestive system was most visible. A central cavity where the consumed water beast was broken down. Energy flowing through the Amphibian’s body in visible streams, like watching shiny blueish blood circulate through semi-transparent skin.
Min stood several meters behind his beast with a smile that communicated confidence in the capabilities he’d cultivated during years of dedicated training.
Although he wasn’t using it now, the Amphibian possessed one of Min’s signature techniques… that invisibility. Not simple camouflage that matched environmental colors but genuine invisibility, with light bending around the massive body in a way that made it seem like the space it occupied was empty.
It was a technique that Ren’s Mantis also possessed, a shared capability that both beasts had developed through increasingly apparent control over the light element.
The Amphibian wasn’t using invisibility even though it consumed very little mana, because when it was digesting it was obvious where it was located anyway. The mana mass of the beast inside its stomach created a visible distortion that would have betrayed its position regardless of whether the rest of its body was transparent.
Since it had just consumed 2-3 beasts minutes before…
Watching the amphibian eat while invisible always made Min laugh because at the beginning it was always an absurd image of a beast apparently suspended in the air with nothing holding it. Grotesque and hilarious in equal measure.
But although Min’s beast wouldn’t become unseen this time, Ren’s would.
The Mantis’s exoskeleton was already beginning to shimmer slightly as it prepared the technique. Light bending around the edges. Colors bleeding into the background. Not fully active yet but warming up the capability for when it would be needed.
“Hey,” Min called toward Ren with a tone of exaggerated complaint, “that’s my role! I’m the one who’s supposed to have the cool invisibility abilities. You already have control over seven elements and advanced fusions and all that unfair garbage. Can’t you let me have at least this?!”
It was a comment that made the audience laugh with their appreciation of Min’s self-awareness about how ridiculous it was to complain when his Amphibian clearly had the rank and power advantage in the battle.
The irony wasn’t lost on anyone… Min was complaining about fairness while standing next to a Gold 1 beast that had just consumed 4 beasts to enhance itself beyond its standard baseline. While Ren was stuck with a Bronze 2 Mantis that, despite its impressive capabilities, was fundamentally outmatched in raw cultivation.
But it was characteristically Min, with humor used to relieve the tension of serious confrontation and to communicate that even in the middle of competitive battle, they could still enjoy the situation with the occasional joke.
Ren grinned despite himself. “You can have invisibility if you take your 50-ton monster that eats other beasts for breakfast and put it into a diet.”
“Deal,” Min shot back immediately. “Just let me borrow your Wolverine’s elemental control for a week and we’ll call it even.”
“Not a chance.”
“Worth a try.”
The banter drew more laughter from the audience. It was good theater in Finch and Theodore’s opinion, they were learning… It made the battle feel less like a stressful competition and more like what it actually was now… two friends testing themselves against each other with everything they had.
The battle tempo had gone down and the participants were talking too much…
Master Yang raised hand. “Combatants ready?”
The joking stopped. Both tamers nodded, expressions shifting from playful to focused in an instant.
The humor had served its purpose. Now comes the serious part.
“Begin!”
The Mantis didn’t wait for the Amphibian to make the first move. The moment Master Yang’s announcement finished, she was already in motion, with her body blurring as the invisibility technique activated fully.
One moment it was visible, 3 meters of jade green exoskeleton and deadly scythe arms. The next moment it was gone, with light bending around her form until only a slight shimmer remained, and even that shimmer was difficult to track as it moved too fast across the arena floor.
The Amphibian’s head swiveled, tracking somewhat not with eyes but with some other sense. The Mantis’s invisibility hid her from sight but couldn’t completely suppress her spiritual signature. A faint trace remained, like heat shimmer in air, barely perceptible but present for those who knew how to look.
Min’s intent was transmitted through their connection. The amphibian responded immediately, shifting its massive bulk with surprising agility for something weighing around 50 tons.
Not as fast as the Mantis… But fast enough to matter with that size.
The Mantis struck from the left, scythe arms targeting the Amphibian’s leg joint where the hide would be thinnest and most vulnerable. A precision attack designed to cripple mobility without requiring massive force.
But the Amphibian’s leg moved at the last instant, shifting position just enough that the scythe scraped across thick hide instead of penetrating into the joint. Sparks flew where chitin met enhanced skin.
The attack scored a shallow cut but nothing that would significantly impair function.
A shallow cut that healed in an instant under a brilliant light.
First exchange: Mantis’s advantage in speed versus Amphibian’s advantage in durability.