Chapter 296 - Fierce Battle

Arwen's Evergreen Wind-Rend had cut Qiao Xuan so quickly, that his body didn't recognize he had lost a member, until he turned his head to looked at it.

Roar!

He finally felt the pain and together with it, a bad feeling swept past his entire being. He saw that from the area his wing had been cut, a fierce green aura started to corrode his skin and spread towards the other areas.

The most annoying part about a poison user, was the fact that every wound, be it shallow or deep, could potentially be a fatal wound. The present injury Qiao Xuan had suffered, was already considered grave and if he delayed treating it, it would eventually turn into a fatal one.

At that moment, Qiao Xuan felt a sense of crisis for the first time in that battle. He didn't understand how the Elf Queen was able to keep up with his almighty transformation, but he knew that he had to go all out and end things faster, else the poison would be able to really take his life away from him.

In order to delay the poison and avoid that it would spread to the rest of his body, many lightning snakes attacked the skin and bones around Qiao Xuan's left wing, destroying the tissue in that area and consecutively delaying that green energy from taking effect. But now that he had one less wing, his speed decreased considerably.

After the Elf Queen's Evergreen Wind-Rend was executed, the whole valley had been split into two. Arwen had been studying techniques like these, since after the incident at the Elven Kingdom. She noticed she was in desperate need of more offensive or specialty techniques after battling against Allannia, and looking at what had happened till now at this fight, made her realized she was right.

Not only the terrain had been destroyed, but the clouds that were unstoppably spewing thunderbolts were thoroughly cleared too. Even the sky was regaining its normal color, after the weather had been cleared, but that green line that divided the world, refused to leave from the space anytime soon.

Just as he finished dealing with the Evergreen Poison on his wound, Qiao Xuan infused his paws with lightning. He had no more support from the clouds above and was missing a wing, but his physical prowess was still practically the same and since he was in his bestial form, Arwen was physically incapable of competing with him in terms of raw power and speed.

With his lightning infused paws, that golden lion easily approached her, covering the whole terrain in just a few seconds. His golden claws were drowning in that golden lightning, ready to rip Arwen's body apart. Actually, Qiao Xuan's golden claws still retained their shape after the transformation; however, they were infinitely bigger now.

Each one of his frontal paws had a golden claw like that and together with the rest of his armor, it completed the whole golden set. Only because he was wearing that set, his physical prowess had been enhanced to a level where he was able to evade Arwen's Evergreen Wind-Rend. But now that he had entered at a close-range combat with her, the armor would be able to display its full strength.

Roar!

Both his paws struck the ground when he was still approaching the Elf Queen, since he wanted to generate a small earthquake to destabilize her, before he dealt the final blow.

Arwen felt the ground trembling and saw the golden lion coming at her, but she was unable to stop it from approaching and was forced to take flight into the air, else she would be at a disadvantage. But that was the movement Qiao Xuan was expecting her to make.

In a flash of yellow light, the beast accelerated and made a swipe motion with one of his golden claws, trying to hit Arwen's small body.

Unfortunately for the Elf Queen, after using an ability like the Evergreen Wind-Rend, she was only able to use some common shielding techniques in that short window of time, and before she even knew it, her shield had already been broken and a golden paw finally hit her for real

There wasn't much the Elf Queen could do in a melee fight against a beast focused on raw physical power and speed. Now that Qiao Xuan had reached her, she was left with the only option of protecting her own body with her Mana.

Bang!

Arwen was sent flying through the air like she was a shooting star. The impact she had suffered was so strong, that a Profound Mana Realm cultivator would have been turned into a pancake, with all the bones on his body thoroughly broken.

But the Elf Queen was not a normal cultivator, but a really strong Mana Sovereign middle-stage Realm entity. While still flying through the air, she activated her affinity with the wind element, making it stop her and support her body. But even though she quickly recomposed herself, there was a line of blood coming out from the corner of her mouth.

The impact was so brutal, that it had made some of her internal organs shift places, causing some internal injuries. Other than that, there were some fractures on the bones of one of her arms, but with her powerful Evergreen Essence and Sovereign Mana, she was able to put everything together.

Instead of trying to chase her, Qiao Xuan used that time to accumulate power inside his lion beast mouth, rapidly generating a lightning cluster. When he opened it, a laser made of electricity was discharged towards the Elf Queen, bringing destruction to where it passed.

Just after Arwen was able to recompose herself, she saw a yellowish laser rapidly approaching her. At the speed that the laser was moving, she instantly knew it would be impossible for her to evade it. But in case she was hit, it would be unlikely she would be able to leave out of this unscathed.

For that motive, Arwen suddenly decided to push herself to the limit, using every single bit of Mana she was able to gather with all her efforts, to once again use her Evergreen Wind-Rend.

Using it two times in a row, could cause some major damage to her health, but she disregarded anything and chose to do it anyways. It was a choice between life and death after all.

She held her jade sword firmly and made a cutting motion towards that golden laser. Another deep green line abruptly ripped the space off, cutting the laser into two. Qiao Xuan wasn't expecting the Elf Queen would pull another strike that was very similar to the last one so quickly, and was caught totally off guard.

However, this time, Arwen made sure to separate the world horizontally and not vertically like before. That deep green sharp line severed everything in her line of sight, going as far as ripping even the air. In a single second, Qiao Xuan felt both of his frontal legs being severed from his massive body, his golden armor was useless on containing the force behind that skill.

Roar!

The Lion King roared in pain. It was the worst pain he had ever felt in his life. Losing both his frontal paws while transformed, meant that he had lost both of his arms while in his human form. However, he didn't know that he had been immensely lucky, since after ripping both of his frontal limbs, Arwen's Mana wasn't able to damage his hind two legs. However, it was pretty much a death sentence for him.

Pah!

Arwen suddenly spat a great quantity of blood and felt her strength leaving her body. That was the backlash of forcefully using that super overpowered skill twice in a row. Even though she was a Mana Sovereign Realm cultivator, it didn't mean she didn't have any restraints. If restraints didn't exist on an ability like that, she would have long dominated over the whole continent.

Just like how Qiao Xuan couldn't maintain his transformation all day long, Arwen wasn't able to use that skill like that either. That's why this time, she had damaged her life essence to accomplish something like that.

For the Elf Queen, things were kind of rough, but for Qiao Xuan, it was like he had just stepped in hell. Not only he lost his left wing, but he lost both his arms as well. On top of that, the poison that was still present inside his body flared up, joining hands with the new poison that had infected him.

ROAR!

Qiao Xuan couldn't believe nor he could accept that he, the Lion King, was suffering from a fate like this. But everything that had happened, was not considered the worst for him. The worst part of it all, was that his prideful demeanor was screaming for him, that he couldn't lose like this.. It was screaming so loud, that a golden light of madness passed through his eyes.