Chapter 469: Pushing it to the Limit

A scorpion tail slammed into the ground causing a cloud of dirt to explode into the air as Joshua dodged to the side just in time. The tail wasn't large, but the power behind the strike was much more powerful than some of the giant beast that Joshua had fought in the past and there was a good reason for it. When the dust cloud cleared up a familiar figure stood in front of Joshua as it pulled its tail out of the ground. The being in front of Joshua was the same powerful boss class monster that Joshua and the rest of his group had faced back in the scorpion dungeon.

Joshua was currently in his training ground using the new system program that allowed him to fight different enemies that he had faced in the past. Over the last couple of days Joshua had spent most of his time fighting several different beast with the training grounds simulation feature so that he could get used to all of the new skills he had bought from the auction house. He was able to fight against some interesting opponents that other people had already uploaded to the system so that other people could face them in simulations. Joshua had uploaded a few beast he had faced in the past as well, but he didn't plan on uploading all of them right away since he didn't want everyone else improving just before the tournament.

The reason Joshua was currently facing a boss that he had fought in the past was because it was the perfect sparring partner. Unlike most of the beast Joshua had fought in the past this one was actually human sized with similar movements and possibly even greater power than any of the opponents Joshua could end up fighting against in the tournament. Joshua even thought of the scorpion's tail as a surprise factor that his opponents in the tournaments might have with certain spells or skills. It was hard enough trying to get through the aura armor that surrounded the scorpion monsters body, but after Joshua had raised the level of the monster from level sixty all the way up to eighty five, the fight became a lot more terrifying than in the past.

Although the boss class monster didn't gain any new abilities its raw stats sky rocketed with all of the level ups and the amount of aura that it generated to protect its body more than doubled. That alone would make taking down the beast far more difficult, but there was also the fact that Joshua was taking it on alone without any buffs from Henry or any help from Lilly's beast companions. Joshua's development in his use of using will to empower his aura was the only reason he was even able to go toe to toe with the beast in the first place.

This was the third boss class humanoid monster that Joshua was using the battle simulator to create from his past battles. Each of the humanoid beast had their own advantages in a fight. The first one that Joshua fought against was from the first true dungeon that Joshua had ever entered when he had first met Lilly. It was the lizard warlock like creature that used several different spells to try to hinder and kill its opponents. Joshua used the battle to simulate a fight against a powerful spell caster that he was sure to come across throughout the tournament. Although the lizard warlock was specialized with debuffing spells and poisons Joshua was still able to use it to practice against the timing of spells and ways to realize what types of spells were coming based off of how the aura in the environment around him would shift from the spell.

Even after leveling up the lizard warlock all the way up to eighty-five Joshua didn't have to much trouble taking it down. Although it had all sorts of spells that Joshua had to look out for it didn't have much of a defense of its own which meant the moment that Joshua got in close things were pretty much over. Even so the fight really helped Joshua get accustomed to the timing of mages and that would help in a tournament that was likely to be filled with them.

The other humanoid beast that Joshua challenged himself against was the mutated ant soldier boss from the ant hill. In a similar vain to the scorpion boss the ant was just physically superior to all of the other beast that Joshua had fought in the past. The only reason that the scorpion boss was more challenging was because of its ability to use aura. The mutated ant couldn't do that, but what it had in spades that made it an extremely challenging opponent was its speed. After being leveled up the speed of the mutated ant only became even more dangerous as it moved so fast that it simply came across as a blur.

Fighting the mutated ant would help Joshua get used to fighting against opponents that would rely on their speed. Although Joshua doubted there would be anyone in the tournament that would have that level of speed at all times it would still be useful to get used to fighting at such high speeds in case he came across someone that could move at that kind of speed in short burst. While fighting the mutated ant Joshua had to wonder how exactly Lilly was able to take it down on her own back when they cleared the ant hill dungeon, but he eventually got accustomed to its speed and was able to react to its attacks.

Now Joshua was busy trying to figure out how to take down the scorpion boss in the most efficient way with all of the skills he had available. In the end Joshua was forced to stop thinking about it as the beast stomped the ground and shot itself directly towards Joshua once more. Joshua matched its strength with his own as he blocked its punch with his scale blade and was sent sliding backwards from the force of the impact. He nearly stumbled off of his feet from the blow and with the short exchange he knew that he wasn't going to stand a chance without using his aura to take on any of the blows the creature would dish out.

After their first clash Joshua immediately coated himself in aura in preparation for the beast as it charged him again. This time around when they clashed into each other Joshua was only slightly pushed back, but he didn't lose his footing at all and was able to use the humanoid scorpion's momentum against him as he tilted his scale blade and turned to the side causing it to stumble forward. Joshua coated his scale blade in aura and quickly slashed across its side before jumping out of the way as its tail tried to pierce through him.

Joshua smiled as he noticed that the aura around the creature was already dimming a bit after the slash since the Power of Joshua's will made his quick slash do far more damage than any regular attack would have in the past. Now that he knew that he could slowly whittle the beast away if he wanted to it was time to see how some of his new skills would work against such a powerful beast. While the beast tail was still stuck in the ground Joshua decided to use his leaping skill to close the distance once more and attempt to break through its aura with the energy released when he slammed into the ground.

Joshua made sure to surround his scale blade in more aura as he leapt through the air with his new skill in effect quickly closing the distance between himself and the boss class monster. The creature quickly pulled its stinger out of the ground as it swung its tail around in an attempt to block the incoming attack which was a mistake on its parts. The moment Joshua slammed down in to the creature with his blade a large blast of aura shot out on contact directly into the creature sending it flying backwards from the force of the blow. A long fifteen or so foot trench was formed in the ground out in front of where Joshua landed.

The boss class monster tried to get up from the dirt as it stumbled a bit from being knocked away so forcefully. Its tail was still intact, but the aura around all of the creature's body clearly dimmed greatly from the attack and Joshua could tell he was fairly close to breaking through. The skill was useful in the fight from what Joshua could tell, but he doubted most people would attempt to block it instead of getting out of the way.

The beast started to charge towards Joshua once more so he didn't have any time to think on how best to use the new skill that he had just tested out and avoided the clawed hand of the creature as it tried to slice his head off. This time around Joshua didn't counter it and instead started placing aura strings around the creature as he dodged around all of its attacks. Since Joshua was dodging or blocking the attacks while staying right in front of it the creature didn't leave the spot or notice Joshua's intentions.

By the time Joshua used an aura blast to get some distance between himself and the mutated scorpion there were several aura strings around it tying it down to the ground. The beast tried to break through them causing the ground to start to crack, but Joshua knew that he had placed enough aura strings on the creature to hold it in place for a few seconds as the ground began to break apart. During that short amount of time Joshua rushed to use one of his other new skills. His scale blade was suddenly surrounded in a towering pillar of aura that shot up several feet into the air.

Before the creature could break free Joshua quickly slammed the massive aura sword down onto the beast causing the ground to shake from the force of the attack as if a major explosion had just occurred. A large cloud of dirt shot into the air as rocks flew everywhere from the force of the attack. Joshua waited with his scale blade held at the ready for the next attack of the beast since he could still sense its aura to an extent even if it was seriously damaged from that attack. Suddenly the large cloud of dirt was blasted away as the mutated scorpion let out a loud roar that sent aura flooding into its surroundings. It entered into an enraged state that let Joshua know that he was going to have to push his limits.