This was the first time Ashes initiated the attack since Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan had completely animalized.

Lorgar also did not back down and lifted her body toward her opponent. But this time she found that her attacks could no longer be coherent, and even with a wide range of Sweeping Strike, it was difficult to force the other party to block or counterattack. She was always a little slower than Ashes. She could hit Ashes before, but now she could only tear off a corner of her clothing.

And more often than not, she could not reach anything.

After fighting for a moment, Wolf Girl had to use a strong tactic. When her right claw was unsuccessful, she had to use the remainder of her strength to rotate her body, and use her stout tail to hit the other party—this tactic allowed her to instantly place half of the platform within her attacking range. Even if Ashes were quick on her feet it would be impossible to retreat completely, unless she had no intention from the start to approach. A tail like an iron whip could easily sc.r.a.pe off fresh flesh, and most of the wounds on Ashes were left behind by this move.

However, the expected crash did not come.

Sounds of exclamation could be heard coming from the platform.

Oh no!

Lorgar's heart suddenly had a bad premonition and at the same time, she saw a fallen figure from the corner of her eye.

She—can fly?

All the bystanders were staring with their eyes wide open. They saw Ashes levitating even over the top of Wolf Girl who was half a head taller than her, and she landed directly on the turning head of her opponent!

Tail attacks had a wide range, yet could only sweep close to the ground raid without being a threat to mid-air targets. However, it would be extremely difficult for most people to jump over such a great distance. As it would be easy for opponents to judge the landing point leading to the inevitable next attack, so few people would jump into a duel.

Unfortunately, after Wolf Girl rotated her body to do a sweeping strike, her tail part became her blind zone.

Ashes no longer chose to show mercy, but smashed her fist into Lorgar's eye, causing the eyeb.a.l.l.s to split open suddenly. A ma.s.s of blood splashed over half of her body, and severe pain caused the latter to scream out hoa.r.s.ely. Even if the body could bear the attack, the organs such as the eyes were still very fragile parts. After losing one eye, the duel had quickly tilted its balance in favor toward the Extraordinary.

However, just as Ashes inteded to withdraw her fist and give her opponent a chance to surrender, she found that Lorgar's eye was closed and her right hand was gripped tightly by her eyelids and face muscles. In the meantime, a giant claw came flas.h.i.+ng toward Ashes—even if this claw managed to wound her, it would also increase the trauma of Wolf Girl's eye.

Lorgar showed that she was determined to fight.

Normally, imprisonment like this would be unable to trap the Extraordinary witch, but just slow down her actions by a little. But at such a critical moment, even a breath of time could be extremely deadly.

Ashes knew very well that she could not avoid it, so she did not hesitate and lifted the other arm to face the attack head-on.

She seemed to have heard the sound of her broken bones caused by the tremendous impact.

She sprayed out a mouthful of fresh blood.

This was probably the first time after the duel started that she was really hit.

As the two separated, Ashes noticed that her left arm had been bent into a weird shape.

"Roar——!"

Lorgar roared loudly and rushed towards Ashes with her mouth wide open, ready to bite.

Instead of retreating, Ashes rolled forward. She escaped the other party's bite and crawled under the blind zone of Wolf Girl's neck. Then with one hand holding the ground, she kicked both legs to the other's forelimb.

With a loud noise, the forelimb bent out like a folding door. And at this point, the three-legged Wolf Girl almost lost her ability to attack.

"Lorgar, that's enough!" The head of Wildflame Guelz shouted.

"No, I can still fight!" Lorgar replied breathlessly. "Her situation isn't much better. I just need to hold on for a while... hold on for a while and it'll be alright!"

Ashes licked the bloodstains from the corner of her mouth, and could not help but laugh.

Her opponent was right as her situation was indeed not too good. The heavy blow caused her whole body to ache and her internal organs felt like they had s.h.i.+fted positions; her arm was also broken and drooping weakly beside her. She looked as pathetic as the one-eyed giant wolf that was standing with three legs.

However, a man could move by two legs, but a wolf could not. Coupled with the loss of one eye, the limited vision would further hinder Wolf Girl's action. If she could not accurately hit the enemy, then being strong and powerful would be meaningless. This was what she had learned from her experience of fighting with the G.o.d's Punishment Warriors.

The other thing that could be confirmed was that she was now a lot stronger than she was a year ago.

This was particularly obvious when she received that great impact. Ashes could clearly feel the magic power in her body flow faster than ever before, and time seemed to slow down in that instant. She could even see the claws and meat pad that kept coming close toward her. And most of the magic gathered in her forearm, so she had an unprecedented strength.

If it were her in the past, this strike would not only have broken that arm that was used as a s.h.i.+eld, but would have also cracked her ribs and internal organs.

But for now, she just felt pain and not numbness nor weakness.

Was this what Agatha meant by the life and death sentiment?

She felt as if she was standing in front of a thick door.

If Wolf Girl could partially control her magic power to partly animalize her own body, could the Extraordinary apply the same method each time to attack with a strength beyond the limits of her own power?

This may be a worthwhile exercise.

Of course, the most important thing now is to resolve this duel.

If I break even the other eye, she will have no choice but to admit defeat, right?

Anyway, with the help of Leaf's herbs, she could stay alive. As long as she could be towed back to the Western Region, Nana would be able to heal her back to brand new.

Ashes took a deep breath and bent down slightly.

Lorgar also got ready for an attacking stance and exposed her fangs at the same time.

Both of them knew that the next blow would be the final blow for both parties, no matter what the outcome was. Only one person would be standing on the platform.

The heavy atmosphere infected all the spectators and the entire scene was silent, leaving only the sound of the burning ground.

Just as Ashes was about to move, there was a sudden scream from Echo. "Be careful, overhead!"

She rapidly looked up and saw a huge monster rus.h.i.+ng down that had expanded wings even wider than the platform. Its claws were like open blades, and as thick as an arm. Only when it got close to the ground, could she hear the hiss of the air stream pa.s.sing over its wings.

Ashes jumped aside with her greatest strength to avoid the monster's diving attack range.

And through the corner of her eye, she saw that Lorgar was also trying to dodge its attack. But because of her broken forelimbs, she was unable to and got hit directly by the enemy.

With a boom, the platform was smashed into several cracks by this meteoroid-like impact.

Lorgar cried out piercing screams.