SSS Ranked Transmigration: Taming Beauties and The Beasts! - Chapter 210

Chapter 210: Advantage
Meanwhile, Nix created swirling shards of frost with his [Ice Storm] skill, forcing the other wooden bear to seek shelter.

Gradually, their tactic of dividing and conquering took shape. Each wooden bear could only rely on the faint synergy they had in common as they had similar wood-based techniques.

But it was nowhere near as practiced as the synergy of the Reaper Wolves or War Lions. Separated even slightly, the bears found it harder to cover each other’s flanks.

Crack!

One of the wooden bears pounded the ground with its paw, releasing a spiky wave of roots that shot out in spirals, aiming to entangle Nix from a distance.

In response, Nix battered the wave aside with a swirling cone of freezing breath, shards of ice colliding midair with snapping roots in an explosion of organic splinters. The wooden bear roared, outraged by Nix’s defiance, and stomped closer.

Just then, Little White let loose a triumphant snarl. He had circled behind his designated opponent, punishing it with a slash of [Lunar Slash] skill. Moonlit energy arced in a silver crescent, biting deep into the barky armor of the bear’s hindquarters.

The beast howled in pain, twisting to retaliate with a flurry of vine-laden strikes but the nimble wolf rolled beneath its sweeping limbs. Quick as a flash, he found an opening to rake his claws along the beast’s exposed underbelly.

From above, Ashvara noticed the shift in momentum. With the bears no longer coordinating well, Nix and Little White seized more territory on the makeshift battlefield, forcing their foes into narrower pockets.

But the fight was far from over, as the wooden bears were not to yield lightly, even under the sting of repeated injuries.

Both beasts let out guttural snarls, as their greenish sap oozed more freely, indicating damage while also inciting their rage.

Nix recognized that the next step required them to push the advantage before the battered bears gathered themselves anew.

He roared, expanding his wings and pounding the ground with a quake of chilling air. The sudden temperature drop robbed the wooden bear in front of him of precious agility, bark stiffening under the creeping cold.

That was Little White’s cue. He dashed across the clearing, bridging the short gap between him and Nix’s opponent. Capitalizing on the beast’s slowed reflexes, he lunged at its flank with [Silver Fang], biting down hard where ice had weakened the bark.

A tortured cry ripped from the bear’s mouth as it flailed, thorns protruding from its arms in an attempt to shake the wolf loose.

The second wooden bear, seeing its companion in distress, roared and tried to rejoin the fray. Hooves hammered the ground in thick, resonating booms, setting off root bursts as it sprinted.

But Nix hopped sideways in a swirling wave of [Ice Spike] skills, creating a short barrier of spiked columns. The beast had to slow down, stumbling slightly. It veered away in confusion, unable to quickly assist its ally.

Both Nix and Little White capitalized on every moment of that confusion. In a synchronized push, they hammered the pinned wooden bear with a barrage of combined techniques, as Nix unleashed a cold barrage from his jaws while Little White raked the beast’s bark plating with savage intensity.

Over the wild roars that echoed through the clearing, the bear’s thick armor splintered under repeated strikes.

Yet these were no feeble foes. The pinned wooden bear summoned an act of desperation. Its eyes gleamed bright green as it unleashed an ear-splitting bellow as it used its [Nature’s Wrath] skill, causing fresh bark and roots to surge, forcibly pushing both wolves back.

Vines clawed out of the ground, wrapping around their feet and tails. Nix hissed as the tough organic tendrils tugged at his limbs, while Little White struggled to slash them away with [Lunar Slash] skill.

A second later, the other wooden bear, finally regaining composure, tore down Nix’s ice spikes with a furious [Timber Crash] skill, slamming massive paws into the frozen pillars until they shattered in a shower of splinters.

It rushed to its companion’s side, vines quivering in preparation to spring at the nearest target. For a brief moment, it appeared that the momentum had reversed.

But Nix refused to be cornered again. Twisting his serpentine body, he activated his [Mirror Ice] skill, creating a reflective barrier that briefly absorbed the brunt of the advancing beast’s blow, deflecting the majority of the vine-laden force back at itself. The beast reeled from the surprise, stumbling a couple of steps.

At the same time, Little White exhaled sharply, funneling the last burst of [Moonlight Empowerment] he could muster in broad daylight. He severed the entangling roots with a savage flourish, bounding backward into a safer position near Nix’s left flank.

Slowly, the synergy they had built over the fight began to crystallize into fluid action as Nix covered Little White’s lapses, Little White reinforcing Nix’s flanks. Their once-clumsy maneuvers were smoothing out, each wolf reading the other’s intentions with growing intuition.

Breathing raggedly, the wooden bears seemed equally astonished and enraged that their foes would not break.

They parted from each other by a few meters, adopting a defensive posture, panting heavily. Sap oozed from cracks in their bark-like plating, dripping onto the scorched, ice-pockmarked ground.

During that brief pause, the sunlight glinted off the dried blood and sap that coated the bears’ bodies, a grim reminder of the intensity of the confrontation. For a brief moment, all was quiet.

Then the tension snapped once more: the wooden bears shared a low, thunderous growl, as if acknowledging that they must adapt or face defeat.

From high overhead, the mighty shape of Ashvara hovered, casually blocking the peak-level Conqueror Rank wooden bear from interfering.

The massive beast roared in frustration, but the Infernal Sun Crow answered with only a wry caw, rising in plumes of obsidian flame.

In that unspoken standoff, Ashvara effectively sealed away the strongest threat, leaving Nix and Little White free to handle the lesser two.

With their synergy steadily blossoming, Nix and Little White began cornering the two wooden bears in the grassy battlefield.

The battered bears panted and bled thick, sap-like fluid from multiple wounds, but they refused to yield. Overhead, Ashvara circled, making sure the largest threat, the Peak-level Conqueror Rank Wooden Bear, stayed out of the fray.

From atop the plateau, Cain’s clone observed the battle, eyes narrowed with focused anticipation.

Everything had been proceeding smoothly as Nix and Little White’s synergy improved by the second, and the lesser wooden bears were now fully on the defensive. Yet Cain knew that cornered prey often made the most desperate moves.

Suddenly, the massive, bark-armored form of the Peak-level Conqueror Rank Wooden Bear let out a booming roar, reverberating across the mountain range.

The smaller wooden bears echoed it with guttural growls, and their eyes flared with renewed purpose as if drawing strength from their leader. Vines twitched and crawled across their limbs, ominously foretelling a final push.

Ashvara flared his wings in challenge, molten gold feathers radiating a shimmering heat. The gargantuan wooden bear locked eyes with the Infernal Sun Crow, clearly wanting to intervene in the fight to save its kin.

Bark and vines rippled along its colossal frame, and the beast stomped the ground, sending a seismic tremor that shook loose small rocks from the slopes. But Ashvara soared higher, answering the tremor with a mocking caw.

As though in silent command, the peak-level bear charged forward, vines exploding from the soil as it barreled toward the ongoing skirmish. Some of the creeping roots latched onto cliff edges, pulling the beast along in a momentum-building sprint. It was determined to break past Ashvara.

In response, the Infernal Sun Crow unleashed his [Corona Blaze] skill, a cascade of swirling flames that rained down to block the giant bear’s path. The monstrous wooden bear roared angrily, swiping at the inferno with its mighty claws, incinerating a portion of bark in the process. Despite the pain, it continued thrashing, forging a path through the flames.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Ashvara screeched and dove as his talons ignited with molten fury. Lightning-fast swipes of his flaming wings hammered the giant wooden bear’s back, scorching through bark and causing it to bellow in agony.

But the beast was relentless. It roared again, summoning a swirl of energy from the roots deep beneath the earth, which briefly mended some bark and siphoned nutrients from the soil. Earthly tendrils sprouted to grab at Ashvara’s wings.

Fire clashed against creeping vines in an explosive demonstration of power, flinging embers and sap-laden debris across the clearing.

Even as the sky tore itself apart in that violent clash, Nix and Little White pressed their advantage on the smaller wooden bears. Tasting victory, the wolves coordinated a pincer assault, driving the beasts back against a rocky ridge.

The battered wooden bears snorted in frustration, painfully aware that their leader struggled in his own fight and couldn’t come to their aid.