Chapter 179: Hellzone Grenade

Suddenly, Nags reached one hand behind his back and pulled out something that could only be described as a grenade, making Moby's tired eyes go wide. 

"Catch!"

Moby didn't have time to think or question his opponent's actions and just instinctively tried his best to stay away from the attack. Even if he was much slower than he wanted due to his rather injured wings, he was still more than quick enough to dodge the slow, incoming grenade coming his way.

However, as he was flying away, he suddenly crashed into a yellow barrier that had just suddenly appeared out of nowhere when he least expected. When he looked around himself, he noticed that he was engulfed in a sphere of Nags's shield energy, and when he noticed the grenade under him that was about to explode, he immediately understood what Nags wanted to do and panicked, immediately trying to smash his way out of his death prison. 

However, the barrier was far more potent than the one that Nags used to block and send back his attack, and with him not being at full power due to the state he was in, he was only able to form simple cracks and would not be able to break through it before the grenade exploded. 

When he recognized that he did not have enough time, he inwardly cursed as he surrounded himself with a thick layer of purple ice, bracing himself for impact.

In the next moment, the grenade exploded, causing a cloud of gas, completely shattering the barrier confining it with a less than audible bang that was suppressed due to the barriar.

As the dust began to clear, Moby's sorry figure that barely managed to even fly was now even more injured than before with an ice shield that was in tatters, holes littering it everywhere, could finally be fully seen.

Although Moby managed to fully erect his shield, the explosion still did an insane amount of damage. 

The grenade was high-quality military-grade so it did a greater amount of damage than a normal, more standard variant. Not to mention that the explosion was confined and contained in a fairly small area that no doubt greatly multiplied the strength and potency of the attack.

If Moby hadn't managed to fully put up his shield, he would have definitely not been able to stay flying to say the least.

Moby's annoyance and anger grew as he was completely tricked and outsmarted by his opponent multiple times. He was the one that turned arrogant and fell right into a trap, not the other way around. 

However, he was not at all angry at his opponent. Far from it… He was instead furious with himself.

He had to recognize that he was no longer going against a meathead that rushed into everything head-on with no plan in mind but against an actual person who seemed to have an above-average brain.

He understood that fact more and more as it began to sink in when he took a look at Nags's face that was no longer fearful but confidently smiling and laughing.

Knowing that his opponent was weaker in a head to head, close-quarters confrontation was also a double-edged sword. It also meant that he must have had some trump card or countermeasure prepare just for that type of situation, which he did in form of that glowing shield.

He should have recognized that and reacted accordingly and with more caution, not just blindly rush in like he did which sealed his fate.

When he got close to Nags and noticed his fearful, worried face he should have noticed that his agility was not increasing and realized that he was faking fear and that there was something wrong, making him rethink his approach and his plan of attack.

However, in the moment, he was too blinded by the feeling of victory to see that since his opponent seemed only 1 sword slash away from defeat.

Not only that, but he was also tricked into believing that he had no control over the disks that he threw as he did not at all move them in mid-air, especially when he was dodging them which made it seem like any sudden micro-adjustment would have led to him being hit. 

Moby did know that he was able to move his disks as proven by the disk that he was using to fly and surf throught the air but he only thought that it was a special case, requiring a great amount of control and mental strength which didn't allow him to do the same with the rest of his attacks.

However, it seemed like he only did that to plant that illusion in his head. All to make them connect when he knew they would all 100% hit, when he was staggered and when he least expected as he made both his disks and Moby's body crash into each other and collide. 

Nags's shame and embarrassment emotions still existed so he was still able to regenerate his health at a faster rate. However, those emotions were slowly lessening and fading away, being replaced by both joy and arrogance as he thought that Moby would have absolutely no chance of victory.

Both since he seemed to be too crippled and critically injured to fight and since it seemed like he had already wasted a great amount of mana in both his current and previous fight. Yet, he did not know about the effects of sin-mode and the fact that his mana was in fact almost full so he used that and the sudden arrogance of his opponent to his advantage.

Anyone else in Nags's situation would have surely thought the same thing.

He needed a way to both stall for time and make his opponent embarrassed, just in case he's forced into using his back up plan that was still not ready at the moment.

He wasn't able to throw random insults to embarrass and buy time like he could have done with Jason.

So... It was finally time… He only had one option in his situation…

Moby was about to pull out his trump card, a move he had only discovered on accident when experimenting with his ability back at Jaydon's personal mansion. 

"Not so talkative now are we? Did I put you in your place? Did I show you the difference between mine and your strength? Or do you want me to make it even clearer for you!?" Nags said with an amused smile as he stared at Moby who was covered from head to toe with blood, dust, and wounds as he tightly grabbed his left arm that seemed like it was about to fall off with his right arm, hyperventilating with blackened, bloody, painfilled eyes.

"SHUT UP!" Moby roared with immense anger, a purple glint in his dusty eyes as he began to breathe quickly through his grinding teeth. 

He barely managed to lift both of his numb, extremely injured hands and created various small, almost laughable shards of purple ice around him and out of his hands, shooting them at Nags in a fit of rage with a less than average speed presumably due to his heavy injuries. 

Nags, who now had the clear upper hand and who had more than certainly won could not help but laugh at the sorry, helpless display that was happening in front of him.

The shards looked so small and so weak that he knew even the simplest of his shields would be able to fully block them.

However, he decided to amuse his opponent's pitiful act of desperation by enjoying himself, to even further imbed how helpless Moby was by showing him that he doesn't even need the use of his shields to make his attacks futile and there was nothing he was able to do in his state.

With a blissful smile on his face, he surfed through the air on his disk, humming his way as he easily dodged all of Moby's incoming attacks, sometimes throwing back attacks of his own that Moby ignored, taking head-on and further injuring him.

However, after 30 seconds of repetitive actions and Moby's state that now looked half-dead, throwing attacks that seemed to be now completely off target, Nags began to grow extremely bored. 

"Umm... I've stopped dodging... Seriously? Are you even trying to hit me!?" Nags asked as he completely stopped in place, ignoring the useless attacks that whizzed past his field of vision as he stared at Moby who was still throwing out attacks like a broken mad man, many blood vessels on his face that looked like they were about to explode, making him reply with unexpected confidence.

"No!" 

"The Hell do you mean no!?" Nags replied with a mixture of mockery, anger and annoyance before he looked around himself with wide eyes, his mouth wide open, sweat running down his face. 

"W-w-w-Wah!?"

What he saw was hundreds, if not thousands of small purple ice shards floating in the air around him. Out of the tips of those shards were some big, some small balls of purple energy that looked like they were about to shoot at any instance. 

He was completely surrounded with nowhere to run... he was completely trapped. 

'I-impossible! No way he had that much mana left in his reserves! My power level is higher than him! And he shouldn't have the strength or mental fortitude to control all that ice in his current state! He should barely be able to stay flying let alone do all this shit! What's fucking going on? What kind of monster is he!?'

Moby could just sense the immense amount of strong emotions, now even including true fear and more shame and embarrassment coming from his opponent.

His plan worked out better than he had ever expected.

Moby's body that was on the verge of collapse began to feel health and energy coming back into his system, his previously dull, hazy vision almost crystal clear.

His mana and demon energy began growing at an incredible rate allowing him to pump more energy into his blast than before, dumping everything new that he was regenerating into the attack to deliver a decisive fatal blow.

Moby lifted his still bloody, numb right arm high up in the air, his hand wide open, a devilish smile on his face, the shadowy runic lines around his body flowing with more vigour.

"Perish for your actions human and know your place," Moby spoke, absolute death in his voice, closing his open right hand back into a fist, a glint in his purple eyes that grew even more brightly than before as he peered straight into Nags's soul.

"H-h-human…?" He slowly muttered under his breath as hundreds of purple lasers blasted straight in his direction, crashing straight into the barrier that he had previously erected, creating explosions and dust clouds that Moby could not help but smile at.