Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 973: Dangerous

Sage didnt have time to focus on the rest of the battle as he currently had his hands full. In the most literal sense. He charged in front of the Charming Slate Boar and grabbed hold of its two huge tusks. He was struck by the sound attacks it was emitting, but the Jade Mantle hed activated in the middle of his run gave him a small measure of protection. The Soundshield created an area of vacuum that greatly weakened sound as it passed through different mediums. That shield was spread out wide like a bubble which meant it couldnt protect Sage. Instead, he only had the layer of energy in the Jade Mantle to muffle the sound. Thankfully, the Charming Slate Boar was not in tier 6 and so the law it naturally grasped was much lower in quality than his own.

By infusing his Law of Corruption into the Poison Qi making up the Jade Mantle, Sage protected against the incoming law by corrupting it with the layer of poisonous energy. Even so, he was still struck by that insidious energy. Sound was the medium it used to enter his body where it tried to damage him from the inside. Hed shaped the Jade Mantle to block his ears, but that only dampened the attack. The vibrating air caused his body to vibrate. The reason sound based attacks were so terrifying was this ability to avoid defenses. While he couldnt completely stop it, Sage only had to dampen the attacks long enough for him to disable the Charming Slate Boar.

Grabbing hold of the boars tusks, Sage directly engaged the beast in a test of physical strength. His toes dug into the ground, trying to resist the weight of the charging boar. His own strength wasnt lesser than the boar, but its huge weight and four legs put him at a disadvantage. The boar continued to press forward, pushing Sage in front of itself with only a reduction in speed. Sages feet dug into the ground like plows, slowing the boar but not having enough traction to stop it. In his usual fashion, Sage chose to reveal only the necessary capability to solve his problem and at this time the boars tusks were suddenly getting covered with layers of silken webbing. He swung around to one side, using one hand to hold the tusk while the other swept back and forth looping silken threads around it. The threads were helped along by a burst of air from his palms as well as manipulation from the Spirit Strings technique. They quickly wove into a thick cocoon around the main body of the tusk. Then Sage flipped over the back of the beast and grabbed its other tusk to repeat the process.

The thick layer of silk didnt blunt the ends of the tusks or tie against its body, instead they were used to muffle their use as a striker. The combination of tusks and rib plates created a percussion instrument and now Sage had put a baffling layer between them. This was to disable the boars most dangerous weapon as quickly as possible. When that was done, he released the still charging boar and spun away from its body to avoid its retaliation. Instead of pressing the advantage and finishing off the boar, he broke away from it to recover his situational awareness. Beast Keeper Deng was just too dangerous for him to focus completely upon the Charming Slate Boar. It was simple enough for him to hang on to its body and mess with it a bit, but if he wanted to actually kill such a tenacious beast he would have to be very careful to keep from being injured in the process.

Of course, thats under the assumption I dont show off too many secrets.

Sage had already come to terms with showing off his strength, but that was in general terms. Right now, trapped in this pen, he wanted to conceal as much as possible until he found a way out. Like always, without knowing all the variables, he wouldnt dare to reveal all his cards. The Discipline Keeper was hacking away at the second beast, and now that hed got some time to get a good look at it, Sage recognized it as a Gold Scaled Porcelain Crocodile. A quite to the point name that described its appearance quite succinctly. On the other hand, the name did little to describe its abilities and right now, the Discipline Keeper was starting to learn that the Porcelain Crocodile was most well known for its water law. An immense quantity of water was already pouring out of the crocs mouth, spilling onto the ground. In the few short moments since the crocodile had appeared a layer of water a few inches deep had built up.

The combination of the soft white ceramic look of its scales as well as the flow of water reminded Sage of a giant teapot with a vicious set of teeth. Flecks of white dust were falling like snow into the water from every place the Discipline Keeper struck the crocodile. Yet, that wasnt what caught Sages eye. Beast Keeper Feng called out an order to the boar while at the same time reaching through the bars once more. Sage quickly called out his own command, Teachers, handle the boar!

Hed already started running towards the bars and he threw out a few glowing green seeds towards the grouping of students and teachers. The seeds exploded into a mass of vines that stretched into a circle around the small group. They started to crawl on top of each other, rapidly weaving a basket-like wall. The lower levels of vines started to harden and brown, combining together to form into a solid wooden barrier as the softer vines kept weaving higher and higher. Seeing this wall appearing, Teacher Zhou and Teacher Gray leapt over the wall and moved to intercept the Charming Slate Boar that had lost its two opponents. After Sage was tossed aside it tried to keep striking its rib plates but the sound was only a shadow of its power. Beast Keeper Fengs call snapped it out of its misery and it spun to face the group at the center of the pen. The two teachers were in the fifth rank, but the boar was at the peak of the fifth tier. When combined with the powerful body of a Demonic Beast, the two of them had to join hands just to match the boar even without its most powerful weapon.

Suddenly alone with the four students the old librarian had a fierce look crawl onto her face and she stood protectively between them and the direction the Beast Keeper was in. They couldnt see what was being released, but with two previous examples they were terrified of what else would appear. Sage didnt wait for the beast to get its bearings, especially since hed already seen what it was with his Foresight. As it appeared, Sage was already releasing a straight punch. While his hand was in motion, the Jade Mantle around his arm was reshaping itself, taking the form of a sharp spike that he stabbed directly into the eye of the monster. He immediately withdrew his arm and jumped backwards, dodging out of the way of a huge dark mass that swept past where he was just standing.

The new beast was twice the size of the last two, ten feet tall and nearly thirty feet long. The black scaled beast was shimmering from the slippery coating over its scaled body. The huge creature looked something like a cross between a fish and an eel, yet with four large tentacles in the same arrangement as a land animal's legs: two on either side with a set in the front and back.

A lungfish?