Chapter 169: Taking Down The Moose Beast Part 2

Damian was just about to land on the ground, but before he could, the wild and furious Moose Beast had already reached him and thrust its large and hard antlers that had relatively sharp tips at Damian's chest.

He had no choice but to face the attack head-on as he grabbed the antlers with his hands before they struck his body and held onto them, knowing that if he let go, he would either be hit by the antlers, or trampled over by the wild Moose Beast.

The Moose Beast didn't expect Damian to grab onto its antlers mid-attack, but it was too furious to think and be careful as it continued its charge and slammed Damian's back into a large tree.

Damian let out a loud yelp, not expecting the sudden impact as he vomited out some of the beast meat he had eaten that hadn't been absorbed already and his organs were rattled by it.

He let go of the Moose Beast's antlers as it took a few steps back to prepare itself to charge again, but before it could, Damian had already jumped up onto a nearby branch of the tree as he began gasping for air.

The Moose Beast could jump up after him, but Damian knew that up in the trees he had the complete advantage as the hooves of the Moose Beast allowed it to run very fast on the ground and take long leaps, but wasn't effective up in the trees.

Its hooves were small, smooth and hard, making it so that the Moose Beast would struggle to keep its balance while standing on a branch, let alone fight Damian on them.

They had both struck each other once and although there wasn't any visible wound on Damian, the damage that each of them suffered was quite even and each of them recognised each other as worthy and dangerous opponents.

[I will use the trees to my advantage and this battle will be one of wits and attrition, but this is exactly what I trained and prepared for. Beasts at higher cultivation levels and beasts in general usually have stronger bodies, higher vitality and lifeforce and are overall stronger, but I still won't lose] said Damian to himself as he jumped to a nearby branch on another tree.

Damian was a few metres above ground and there were branches at the peaks of the trees that were dozens of metres high, which was why the environment of the beast woods was quite dark even in the day, but they were much more spaced out in the Inner Section of the beast woods.

There was a clearing in the centre where the Moose Beast had moved to and wanted to fight Damian in it, since there weren't any trees in the centre, meaning it would be harder for Damian to retreat up into the trees.

However, Damian didn't mind there being a clearing and trees surrounding it as it was the perfect place to battle in for him.

When he went down to the clearing, he could use his Flame Burst Skill to dodge the Moose Beast's charges and attacks, while he could also attack it with his close-range attacks, then he could retreat into the trees and attack with ranged attacks.

Damian jumped down a second time and formed the Fire Sword that he had previously used to battle against the hoard of beasts that surrounded and attacked him all at once.

With it, he was planning to fight the beast at close range and try and damage it as much as he could, aiming to mostly restrict its ability to move quickly and dodge, so that he could take it down with his bow from a distance.

He knew he had to heavily rely on the Flame Burst Skill to cover their gap in speed and had become very skilled in using it, even managing to use it simultaneously by preparing fire energy in his legs and feet while using the skill.

Launching himself over to the beast that was charging towards him, Damian used the Fire Burst Skill to do so, but just as his feet landed on the ground and was about to clash with the Moose Beast, released a small Flame Burst to the side.

It was just about enough for him to narrowly evade the antlers of the Moose Beast as he leaned to the side, but it still slashed his cheek as he did so.

However, the small cut didn't bother him and he didn't feel it at all with all the adrenaline that was being circulated throughout his body as he struck the beast's side with his sword.

The sword slash was fast, direct and relatively damaging, but didn't cut deep into the beast and Damian felt that his swordsmanship was bland, especially after looking up to Darren who was revered as the academy's swordsman.

Despite that, it was still the most conventional weapon that he had and Damian was planning to learn more swordsmanship in the future when he had more time and freedom.

As soon as he struck the Moose Beast's side with his fire sword, the Moose Beast suddenly jumped up onto its front legs, then kicked Damian's stomach with its back legs.

Damian who didn't expect such a sudden, fast and powerful kick was launched sliding away, however as he was kicked, Damian deactivated the Flame Sword Skill and grabbed onto the Moose Beast's leg for a brief moment.

His grip strength wasn't enough to hold onto the beast's legs for long as he was kicked away, but in the brief instant that he had a hold of one of its legs, Damian released a burst of as much fire energy as he could muster at that instant.

Sliding across the ground, Damian regained balance and got back up onto his feet while the Moose Beast let out another cry of pain with one of its back legs being scorched quite badly by the burst of Damian's fire energy.