*CRASH!*

The basement door blew open and Ralph rushed out followed by Aldred and Skaal. The basement was too small. There wasn't enough room for Ralph to unleash his more powerful attacks. Once they were outside, Ralph faced towards the two opponents. Aldred seeing his enemy stop, dove towards the ground once again.

"Earth Giant Stomp!" Ralph roared as he struck out with his right foot. The ground that was hit shook and cracks appeared as the earth split apart. The rumbling caused Aldred to stumble. With the ground split, it was difficult for him to maneuver underground.

Aldred continue to rush towards Ralph as he slashed here and there. The disadvantage of his Fist Techniques was that it was new...there were no special attack moves as he had not invented or perfected any yet. As Skaal rushed in high and pierced with his tail, Aldred attacked from below as he tried to decapitate Ralph's legs.

Ralph dodged the low attack from Aldred and jumped high in the air. He had experienced Aldred's claw attacks earlier and its prowess so he felt a little threatened towards the young boy than towards the Razortail. While in the air, he looked towards Skaal and raised his right arm. "Stone Skin! Earth Enforcement! Rock Armor!"

After consecutively casting the three Earth-type spells, his arm turned a gray, rock-like texture. Earth formed on his arm as well, giving it a brown hue. Then, small rocks gathered at his arm, forming a layer of rock armor. Ralph met Skaal's stinger attack with his right fist.

*BOOM!*

As the collision occurred, pieces of rock flew outwards. The strength of Skaal's attack, though powerful, could only penetrate through past the second layer of defense. The Stone Skin was cracked...but it was still able to block the stinger. Ralph sneered as he saw Skaal's surprise. Having his attack blocked, Skaal was completely defenseless at that moment. Ralph knocked Skaal away with a roundhouse kick and activated another Earth-type spell.

"Quicksand!" Ralph roared causing the ground where Skaal collapsed at to suddenly become fluid-like. No matter how much Skaal struggled, he would sink even farther. Skaal had a dejected look on his face. Is he going to die? He's still too weak to break free by himself and Aldred...why would that young child help him? Skaal's distrust of humans was still lingering. After all, demonic beasts and humans have a long history of hate and slaughter. Though they were fighting together, this was just a temporary truce. The young boy had no reason to help him.

Seeing that the Razortail was immobilized, Ralph turned his attention towards Aldred. Aldred lunged towards Ralph with his claws out. He enveloped his Qi around his whole body in order to provide some sort of protection. Aldred started slashing all over the place in a random fashion as he tried to get a few strikes in. Ralph dodged the attacks and sneered at the young boy's useless attacks.

"Hmph! All you know how to do is swing your arms around aimlessly. There's no way you can hit me with just that! Plus, with the ground split, your movements are cut by half."

"Shit...he's right...what can I do?" Aldred muttered as he cursed inward.

However he did not let up his continuous barrages. It was true that the ground was split into uneven pieces, it had only meant that he could not dive below. However, with the training he did while cultivating the Earth God Cultivation Technique, his balance was top tier. He could still maintain his speed even on such rough and uneven ground. Using his fastest speed, Aldred instantly appeared at the enemy's side and he thrust his arm out with his hand like a spear. Ralph narrowed his eyes before forcefully rolling to the side. He luckily escaped a mortal wound, but his side still ached as three shallow holes appeared below his ribs. So close! Any slower and he would have been pierced through.

"FUCK! You bastard! Earth Shackles!" Ralph roared as vine-like earth rose up from beneath Aldred and bound him in place. "Hmph! Go die! Rock Crush!"

Hundreds of large rocks flew towards Aldred from all directions crushing him. Whew! Ralph thought. Finally got rid of this nuisance. When Ralph turned around to face Skaal, he noticed a slight disturbance in the rock pile. Upon closer look, he saw the pile tremble. Suddenly, the rocks flew outward as Aldred freed himself from the encasing. Aldred tore away the Earth Shackles and stepped forward.

"Impossible! How did you survive?!"

Aldred chuckled. If it wasn't for his Qi Armor, he would have been severely injured. It was extremely fortunate of him to break through to Core Condensing. But no time to think, he immediately dodged to the right as a Poison Arrow flew towards where his head was.

"DIE! Earth Needle! Poison Arrow! Toxic Shrapnel!" Ralph screamed as he continuously fired different attacks...just how much mana does this guy have?

While Ralph was focusing on Aldred who was skillfully avoiding all his projectiles, Skaal crept behind Ralph. Suddenly, Skaal lunged at Ralph with his left claw and grabbed a hold of him. Skaal's pincer dug deep into Ralph causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.

"H-how?!" Ralph stuttered...how did the Razortail escape from the quicksand?

"Hmph! With my intellect and power, it was simple for me to escape." Skaal arrogantly replied. He too was surprised at his strength. He did not know that in his act of desperation and willpower, he would be able to brute-force his way out of the trap.

"Brag...keep bragging!" Ralph grunted but he groaned in pain as Skaal squeezed harder. Ralph channeled some of his mana to his sides and formed an incomplete Earth Armor. With some breathing room available, Ralph raised up an Earth Wall from below Skaal. The wall shot up, slamming the Razortail upwards and knocking the wind out of him. Skaal grunted...he's been having his breath knocked out from him so many times today...was this a sign? Or pure unluckiness? During this development, the scorpion dropped Ralph from his grasp. Skaal collapsed onto the ground, his mind stunned to confusion.

"Ooooo...look at all them...pretty little female Razortails...dancing around me...." Skaal tried to speak as his mind continued to daze.

Ralph turned towards Aldred and deflected the young boy's arm. Then, he smashed his fist - enhanced with Earth Enhancement - into the boy's stomach, sending him flying backwards.

"I need to take out that scorpion first!" He muttered. He turned back towards Skaal again and raised his arm upwards. "Stone Blade!"

A giant Stone Blade formed from above his raised palm. He looked at the unmoving scorpion once more before bringing his arm down. The giant stone blade dropped down along with his arm and towards the direction of the Razortail. Skaal so the incoming stone blade and grimaced. He didn't want to die as there were still many regrets. He closed his eyes and awaited his death...but none came...only a feeling of his body being pushed. Skaal opened his eyes and saw...the young boy...Aldred.... He had pushed him out of harm's way. But, in exchange for saving his life, the young boy...had lost his left arm.

"You...!" Skaal was stunned.