Rhino charged into the wilderness, his heavy footsteps echoing like rolling thunder. He wasn't looking for a tactical puzzle like Yuro; he was looking for a war.
He came to a halt as the System Sphere flickered:
[Alert: Target Detected – Tier C Minor Stone Beast.]
Rhino smirked. "Fifty meters. Let's see who shatters first."
He tore through the foliage and found the beast standing over the shattered remains of another statue. It was a Tier C monster, and it looked like the king of this clearing. Rhino didn't hide; he stepped into the center of the clearing, manifestating a blade of pure energy.
"Finished with your warm-up?" Rhino asked. "Good. Because I won't break as easily as he did."
The beast lunged with a massive stone blade. Rhino clashed with it, sparks flying, and fired an energy arrow to create distance. He managed to land several heavy cuts, but the beast was relentless. After a brutal exchange, Rhino delivered a concentrated energy beam that finally shattered the creature into rubble.
Rhino stood over the remains, breathing hard. "Too weak. I've learned their patterns."
He turned his eyes toward the deeper forest. "The real target... is the Armored One."
He followed the coordinates until he saw it: a titan encased in jagged iron plates, gripping a mountain-splitting axe. Rhino lunged, swinging his energy sword, but the blade skated off the iron hide without leaving a scratch.
*CLANG!*
The Armored One roared, swinging its colossal axe. Rhino barely dodged, the ground shattering behind him.
[Warning: Cutting attacks ineffective. High-pressure concentrated strike required.]
Rhino gritted his teeth, dispelling his sword. He realized this wasn't going to be a quick fight. He began to focus his aura into his fist, but the beast didn't give him time—it charged again, its iron-clad shoulder aiming to crush Rhino's ribs.
The real battle had just begun.Rhino dispelled his energy sword and stared at the beast, his eyes narrowing. "This... doesn't feel right," he muttered.
The Armored One didn't give him a second to think. It gripped its massive axe with both hands and swung it in a violent, horizontal arc. The force was so immense that it launched a crescent-shaped wave of energy directly at Rhino.
Rhino didn't even try to block it. He leaped high into the air, narrowly dodging the blast. *CRASH!* The shockwave tore through the thick forest behind him, decapitating dozens of ancient trees in a single second.
Rhino landed, looking back at the fallen trees in pure disbelief. "The System warned me about its destructive power," he whispered, "but I didn't expect *this*."
The beast didn't stop. It raised the axe again, the metal plates on its body glowing with a dull, menacing light. Rhino felt the ground tremble—this wasn't just a monster; it was a living siege engine.
Rhino unleashed a concentrated beam of fire, the searing heat washing over the beast. But as the smoke cleared, the Armored One stood unfazed. Its metal plating was barely scorched.
"Tsk, standard skills won't cut it," Rhino muttered, his eyes scanning the titan. Then, he saw it. The gaps. "The joints... his armor isn't a single piece. But one mistake, and that axe will split me in two."
Rhino didn't retreat. He summoned two blades—one of jagged ice and the other of roaring flame. He charged.
The clash was frantic. Rhino aimed for the exposed joints, but the beast was a fortress in motion. Suddenly, pieces of the monster's iron armor detached, flying toward Rhino like guided shrapnel. He twisted mid-air, dodging the metal, but as his feet hit the dirt, the ground erupted.
The beast slammed its massive foot down, creating a localized earthquake that shattered Rhino's balance. In that split second, the monster drew its second weapon: The Hammer of Destruction.
The hammer swung toward Rhino's skull with the weight of a falling mountain. Rhino threw himself backward, the weapon smashing into the earth where he had stood, pulverizing the bedrock.
"Close combat is suicide," Rhino gritted his teeth. "But Yuro wouldn't give up, and neither will I!"
He manifested a flaming energy arrow, weaving through the chaos to strike at the weak points. The arrow hit a joint, causing the beast to roar in annoyance, but the damage was minimal.
Then, the unexpected happened. A searing beam of light erupted from the beast's eyes, piercing clean through Rhino's leg.
"Argh! Eye beams too?!" Rhino gasped, clutching his bleeding limb.
Driven by desperation, he readied a second arrow. But the Armored One was faster. It swung its hammer in a massive backhand arc. The blow caught Rhino full in the chest, sent him flying across the clearing like a broken doll.
Rhino hit the ground hard, the world spinning. The predator had become the prey.
Rhino forced himself up, coughing blood. His eyes burned with a relentless fury. He charged again, slamming his energy blade against the Hammer of Destruction, but the weapon was an immovable wall.
Each strike sent a bone-shattering vibration through Rhino's arms. As he retreated, he saw it—the beast's hand gripping the massive axe, muscles coiling for a lethal 'Guillotine' strike.
Rhino leaped high just as the axe whistled through the space he had occupied. While mid-air, he aimed a concentrated energy beam directly at the beast's hand.
*BOOM.* The axe fell, clattering to the ground. But before Rhino could even smile, a searing beam from the beast's eyes struck him mid-descent. Rhino countered with his own energy blast, the two beams colliding in a blinding explosion of light.
Driven by pure adrenaline, Rhino lunged through the smoke. He manifested dual blades, aiming directly for the creature's exposed neck. He slashed with everything he had, but the steel was too thick—he only managed a shallow, jagged scratch.
Then, the world slowed down.
A massive shard of iron, detached from the beast's shoulder, tore through the air like a guillotine. Rhino didn't have time to dodge.
A sickening *SCHLICK* echoed through the clearing.
Rhino stumbled back, his breath hitching. He looked down, his eyes widening in pure horror. His left shoulder was a mangled mess of crimson. His arm—his entire left arm—was gone, severed clean by the iron shard.
The pain hadn't even registered yet, but the reality was cold and absolute. Rhino had lost a limb, and the Armored One was still standing.
Rhino stared at the empty space where his arm used to be. A normal man would have collapsed, but Rhino's eyes glowed with a terrifying light.
'A limb is just a tool,' he gritted his teeth. 'If I lose it, I'll build a better one.'
Channeling his aura to the stump of his shoulder, he manifested a shimmering arm made of pure, unstable energy. It was a temporary fix that drained his reserves like a leaking dam, but it was enough.
In his new left hand, he summoned a jagged energy sword. In his right, he condensed a Frost Beam.
He moved like a blur. As the beast swung, Rhino unleashed the Frost Beam, freezing the monster's massive iron arm for a crucial second. Taking the opening, Rhino lunged, driving his energy blade deep into the beast's right shoulder joint.
*SQUELCH.*
For the first time, dark, thick ichor sprayed from the monster's wound. Rhino had pierced the fortress.
But the Armored One was far from finished. With a roar of agony, it delivered a brutal haymaker punch that sent Rhino skidding back across the dirt. The beast ignored its wound and retrieved its massive axe from the ground, its iron grip tightening.
The stage was set for the final, desperate exchange.
Rhino retreated into the shadows of the massive stone pillars, his breath coming in ragged gasps. With a sharp hiss of pain, he deactivated the energy arm and the sword. The shimmering light flickered and died, leaving him with only one arm and a rapidly depleting mana pool.
'I can't keep this up,' he thought, leaning his back against a cold rock. 'The energy limb is a black hole for my power. If I don't end this in the next move, I'm dead.'
He closed his eyes for a second, forcing his racing heart to slow down. He could hear the heavy, metallic thuds of the Armored One searching for him nearby. The beast was wounded, but still lethal.
Rhino looked at his remaining hand, then at the heavy axe marks on the ground. He wasn't just thinking about power anymore; he was looking for the one opening, the one fatal flaw he had missed in the heat of the chaos.
"One strike," Rhino whispered to the darkness, his resolve hardening into diamond. "I won't get a second chance."