NOVEL NEXT Chapter 439: The Jungle Lord?
The monster seated at the throne was a tall, wendigo-like monster with a jagged crown made entirely out of twisted bone and antlers.
And fused with the crown was the deer skull head of the wendigo, who stared at her with hollow, glowing eyes and a face that made it seem to be eternally frowning.
The wendigo had a sickly and starved skeletal figure, which was covered in withered black flesh and thick ropes of pulsating vines that thrummed with life.
It had two massive, clawed arms with hooked, bony fingers, which rhythmically tapped at the armrests of its stone throne—as though it was bored—and had legs that were bent at an unnatural angle, similar to a deer.
The identity of the wendigo was the Jungle Lord, whose strength had managed to reach the Savage Gore...
Otherwise known as a monster with a D-rank mana core, but had gone through a total of 5 different evolutions. And with that information, it had a calculated Threat Rating of 6.
Which was categorised as a threat to an entire city...
As the Jungle Lord adjusted its position and rested the left side of its face into its fist, its Predatory Aura finally reached the group, causing them to fall into a momentary state of panic.
The pressure they felt from the Jungle Lord, who exuded an unprecedented amount of dreadful aura, was as if they were suddenly forced to carry several tons onto their shoulders.
Fortunately, with their experience, on top of the recent exposure to the Twin-headed Seawater Leviathan, they were able to resist the frightening aura.
However, they couldn't help but feel the aura that the Jungle Lord gave off was similar to that of the weakened Leviathan.
It could be their imagination.
But there was one thing they were sure of, and that was that...
Everyone in their current group had no chance at taking on the Jungle Lord...
Everyone, aside from Lillian Ker Arius, of course, who trembled with excitement.
'Yeah... This guy would've given me a run for my money...'
Lillian basked in the wendigo's overwhelming Predatory Aura before feeling its effects drastically weaken until there was eventually none left.
This could only mean one thing...
Her chances of overcoming the Jungle Lord in battle were now around 50% and above—something she was confident was the work of her Earring.
'Powerful Items truly are the best...'
However, as much as the thought brought her joy, she doubted her chances were above 50%...
Viesta watched as Lillian took a step forward towards the large arena below and reached out to grab the girl.
"H-hold up a second, Lillian... Do you really want to fight that thing? Let's think about this carefully..." Viesta gulped, shooting the wendigo a glance, "It hadn't attacked us yet, so it must still be wary of us... Maybe we could use that to our advantage?"
Lillian looked back and hummed slightly as her eyes darted between the faces of the people here.
Usually, in the game, the player would battle the wendigo with all available party members—even with Captain Righthook, if they found him.
However...
Was it not best to test her current strength against a powerful enemy like the Jungle Lord?
By going off the fact that she no longer felt the Jungle Lord's Predatory Aura, that meant their battle could go either way.
Lillian gave a comforting smile, masking her confidence—that could easily be misunderstood as arrogance.
"Don't worry~... I'm the one that got you guys in this mess, so let me deal with it for you."
After saying that, Lillian broke free from Viesta's hold and leapt down into the battle arena.
Thud.
Once landing inside, Lillian got a good look around at the foreign carvings on the wall of the arena.
It told stories.
THUD!
Lillian's eyes immediately snapped towards the sound and found the Jungle Lord to have finally gotten off its place on its throne with a loud stomp.
The Jungle Lord warily looked down at Lillian from its towering height before retrieving its weapons stuck in the ground beside its throne—now identifying her as an enemy instead of one of the tribal members in the heart of the jungle.
It clutched the handle of its two-headed battle axe and held it over its right shoulder, watching as Lillian took a stance.
It gripped the shaft of its spear and aimed it towards Lillian, who had now chosen her own weapon—the Regular's Last Spite, otherwise known as her black shortsword.
Lillian gripped the hilt of her sword as she watched the Jungle Lord take a single step towards her.
While her shortsword had been her main choice of weapon for her recent battles, this one would be where it would truly shine.
That was because...
SWOOSH!
This battle was going to be one about speed.
After the Jungle Lord took its singular step, it appeared in front of Lillian with a silent gust of wind before—
SWISH!
—Instantly swinging down its battle axe, splitting the air.
Lillian preemptively turned her body to the left, dodging the swing, which crashed against the ground.
Although the Jungle Lord's arms appeared frail, they carried a frightening strength behind them as the ground cratered from its swing.
Without any regard for the stone shards erupting from the ground or the wind that brushed against her face, Lillian immediately countered with an attack of her own—a swift stab.
SWIP!
Lillian stabbed forward and watched as the Jungle Lord instantly transformed into a rapid blur as it sidestepped her stab—despite its large size.
She looked up with an ecstatic grin as she gazed upon the face of the wendigo, which continued to look down at her with its consistent frown.
It was still bored—unimpressed.
'But not for long...'
Adjusting her grip, Lillian swung again—narrowly redirecting the stab of the Jungle Lord and causing sparks to fly off their weapons.
And just like that, their high-speed battle took place.
Whenever it looked like one had the upper hand over the other, it would always be proven wrong.
Even after a few minutes had passed, not even a scratch had been made on either opponent's body, with the only obvious sign of damage being to the arena.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
As everyone from the sidelines watched in awe at the sight of sparks flying around and Lillian fighting off a fearsome blur, they couldn't help but feel as though the white-haired girl was faring well on her own.
However, that was until—
CLANG!
—The Jungle Lord became even faster.