Solomon: AAAAARRRRGGGGH!!!

Lunging towards one of the approaching bull-sized insects, Solomon smashed his qi reinforced fist into its head. With the force of a car crash, Solomon's fist transferred all of its power into the enlarged parasites skull. But even with the huge power contained in Solomons fist being forced down onto its head, the parasite was only left with a few cracks in its armour like body.

Parasite: GRAAAAA!!!

Letting out a grating howl, the enlarged parasite slashed at Solomon with one of its sickle-like claws. Unable to contend with the parasites extreme speed, Solomon could only hold up his arms to protect himself. Smashing into him, the parasites claws were surprisingly powerful. Even though they were only the width of a small pipe, the power contained within them was massive. As the serrated edges slices against Solomon's arms, he winced in pain. Sending Solomon flying, the Parasite watched him spin through the air. using one of the floating swords at his side as a stepping stone, Solomon cancelled out the momentum of the parasites attack. With a controlled flip, he landed steadily on the ground.

Solomon: argh.

Feeling a stinging pain shoot down his arms, Solomon looked at the two deep cuts left on the backs of his forearms. Even with the tough defence of his silver fur, Solomon couldn't resist the attack of the large parasite. In a contest of physical strength, Solomon was several levels weaker than the parasite.

Solomon: it looks like I've underestimated you a bit.

Looking back up at the motionless parasite, Solomon was surprised to see it staring back at him. In its surprisingly intelligent eyes, there was a mocking glint. Stunned by the oddly human display, Solomon stared dumbfoundedly at the creature. While he was eyeing down the parasite, it's companions caught up with it. Having left it's other brood mates behind, this one sped up to face Solomon. Now having had an exchange of strength, the parasite felt like it was extremely lucky. Having seen the way that Pluvia was dispatching of the small parasites, it didn't want to be on the receiving end of her claws. but as for Solomon, it was surprised by how weak he was. Looking back at the 14 other parasites that had accompanied it, the parasite thought it would have been better to send them towards Pluvia. Before facing off against Solomon, it had though that he would be as strong as Pluvia. After all, the rate at which they killed the weaker parasites was about the same. But now it doubted that initial assessment. So the way that the 30 enlarged parasites had split in half to deal with them felt wasteful to the enlarged parasite. Seeing the already injured Solomon, the new group of parasites seemed disappointed. Once again showing traces of intelligence, they shook their triangular heads.

Solomon: haha, looks like they're also underestimating me.

Letting a wide grin appear on his face, Solomon quickly came up with a plan. Sprinting at the group of parasites, Solomon was swiftly followed by his floating swords. covering the distance to the parasites in an instant, he abruptly held his hands together. Seeing him act so strangely, the parasites though he had lost his mind.

Parasites: KIKIKI!

With a snickering laugh, the frontmost parasites reached out to Solomon with their claws. Expecting his body to be ripped to shreds, they had let most of their guard down. But just as their claws were about to meet his skin, the floating swords behind his body flew out. Connecting with the parasites claws, the 5 swords sliced through them. Like a hot knife through butter, the swords continued forwards to separate the parasites heads from their bodies.

Swords: KUCHUK!

Parasites: GREEEEE!!!

Enraged by the sudden death of their comrades, the ten remaining parasites screeched at Solomon. Wanting to maul Solomon, they charged towards him. Grinning at their reaction, Solomon held out his hand.

Solomon: let me show you, the difference between you and I!

Sending a 16th of his fiery qi into his hand, Solomon activated the flame serpent art. Wrapping around his hands, the fiery qi condensed into a small lizards head. Shooting off his hand, the small bundle of qi flew towards the approaching parasites. e Solomon wasn't using the arcane Though this attack wasn't especially powerful, to the energyless parasites, it was deadly. Scared of the little fire lizard, the parasites all swiftly jumped out of its path.

Swords: SWOOOSH!

Taking advantage of the Parasites momentary fear, Solomon attacked. Hoping that their attention would remain on the lizard, Solomon sent the flying swords whirling towards the parasites. However, it wouldn't be that easy. Now understanding Solomons strength, they were sure to be on guard. Feeling a change in the atmosphere, the parasites quickly spotted the flying swords. knowing how sharp those swords were, the parasites once again dodged away from them. Having a moment to calm down, the parasites began to work together. Forming a circle around Solomon, they would occasionally lunge towards him. But to their dismay, his flying swords would always move out to block them. Like this, the battle continued on. With no side gaining an advantage over the other, the battle had turned into a waiting game. Whoever lost their patience first would die.

Pluvia: FWAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

While this was happening, Pluvia was the facing the other group of enlarged parasites. Unlike Solomon, Pluvia didn't test out their strength. All she was interested in was quickly wiping them out. Every minute that she spent fighting them was another minute for the queen to attack her. She already knew she'd struggle to fight the queen. But adding in the enlarged parasites, she wouldn't even have a chance to escape. When the first parasites came into her range, she faced towards them. opening her mouth, the scales on her neck lit up an ominous red colour. Seeing this, the parasites began to approach more cautiously. a few seconds later, a scarlet flame appeared in Pluvia's mouth. Spiralling forwards, the scarlet flames formed into a pillar. Shooting off towards the Parasites, the pillar continued to grow in size. Seeing the approaching danger, the insects desperately scrambled to get away. But despite their attempts, they had already come too close to Pluvia. Covering the small distance to the parasites, the pillar smashed into their bodies. Under the intense heat of the scarlet flames, their hardened shells were reduced to ash. when it had run out of power, the spiral had killed off two of the parasites, as well as injuring a few more. Realising the danger that Pluvia posed, the parasites took up a different tactic. Running loops around her, they didn't give her the opportunity to use her fire breath. Having her only skill blocked, Pluvia was left with one option, to fight them in close combat. So when the first Parasite slashed at her with its claw, she slashed back with her own. When the two opposing forces met, Pluvia's superior strength crushed the parasites attack. Splitting the parasites claw in half, Pluvia aimed her attack for the parasites head. But before her attack made contact, the parasite had run away. With its superior speed, there was no way for Pluvia to pursue it. Waiting for the next one to attack, she once again attacked it. But like before, it had run away before she could hit it. As the minutes continued to pass in this cycle, Pluvia became increasingly frustrated. Like with Solomon, the parasites would circle around her. Occasionally jumping forwards, they would slice at her with one of their claws. But in the end, it was a futile effort. How could their weak attacks break through the golden energy barrier around Pluvia's body? Even if she hadn't used her golden scale formation, it would still be impossible for these parasites to injure her. The difference between their attack and her defence was simply too big.

Pluvia: ARGH! Fuck this!

Losing her patience, Pluvia charged at one of the Parasites. Using a huge amount of qi, she drastically increased her speed. Almost matching the speed of the parasites, she dashed towards her target. Witnessing the sudden change in her speed, the parasite panicked. Using all the power its spindly legs could muster, it jumped several dozen meters away. But to its surprise, Pluvia pursue it. Instead, she ran out of the parasites encirclement. Thinking that she was fleeing, the insects hastened to chase after her. But once again surprising them, Pluvia turned back to face them.

Pluvia: hahaha, I've got you now!

With a mad smile on her face, Pluvia faced the 13 remaining parasites. Opening her mouth, the familiar red light lit up the scales on her neck. Recognising Pluvia's actions, the parasites started to flee. But, unfortunately for them, this wasn't an ordinary fire breath. Just as the first wisps of flame started appearing at the back of her throat, Pluvia closed her mouth. Pursing her lips, Pluvia parted her lips slightly. When she did, the flames in her mouth shot out of the hole like bullets. Because the flames were escaping out of a small hole, the pressure that pushed them out had increased several times over. The previously slow pillar of flame that would have been created was nowhere to be seen. in its place, there were small, needle-like, bullets of flame. Closing her mouth, Pluvia looked over at one of the parasites. Having seen just watched Pluvia, it knew exactly what she was planning. terrified of her new attack, the parasite made a mad dash to flee. But how could it's speed compare to that of a bullet. Looking at the escaping parasite, Pluvia let out one of the needle-like bullets of fire. Before it could even react, the needle had hit it square between the eyes. Burrowing through its hard shell, the needle bullet reached the parasites brain. In an instant, the parasites brain had been reduced to ashes. Slumping to the floor, the parasite was very clearly dead. Using the same method, Pluvia quickly slaughtered the rest of the parasites. When she had finally finished, the corpses of 13 large parasites laid limply around her. looking at their outer appearance, you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with them. but every single on of them had either their organs or brain destroyed by the flames. Looking at the collapsed corpses of the parasites, Pluvia felt relieved. Back when she was surrounded by them, she was trying to figure out a way to speed up her attack. Using her wealth of knowledge, she knew there wasn't a way to speed up her body that she could use. So moving on, she tried to think of a way to speed up her other method of attack. her skills. As fire breath was the only offensive skill she had, she had to find a way to speed it up. after deliberating it for a while, she remembered a distant memory of hers. The legend of a dragon who could kill others with a single whistle. From what she remembered, that dragon specialised in using pressure to increase his attacks speed and power. Going from there, she had devised this improvement to her flame breath. But even with its terrifying level of power, this attack didn't come close to that legendary dragons.

Now having dealt with her portion of parasites, Pluvia looked over at Solomon. She was surprised to find him looking back at her. Looking beside him, she saw the remains of his portion of parasites. They had all been dissected, leaving behind several grim puddles of blood and body parts. It seemed like in this fight, Solomon had dealt with the parasites better than Pluvia. Thinking about it, Pluvia put it down to his skills. In this situation, it just so happened that his skill was perfectly suited to dealing with the enemies. Without the verdant mountain gale, Solomon wouldn't have been able to deal with the parasites even half as easily. But with it, they were little more than tofu under his blades.

Nodding to each other, they both looked towards the queen. Standing a hundred meters away, she was silently observing them. Walking towards each other, they knew that the real fight was beginning now.