Mash pushed the staff toward the Lord, who raised two hands to block the blow. The impact shook the whole cave, but the Lord stopped him. Small rocks fell from the ceiling, and the lord caught the staff in his hands. The man grinned; his eyes filled with an arrogant glee. Mash ground his teeth. His left hand screamed in pain, but he ignored it. He tightened his hand on the staff and pushed. One step forward caused the lord to stumble back. His arrogance from a moment ago vanished. The difference in strength was noticeable now, and Mash pushed again. His slow steps turned into a run. Each step struck the ground harder than the last, and he left a trail of cracks as he forced the lord out of the room.

Mash ran pushing the lord further and further from his throne. From the flame that he used as the basis of his power. The man responded, his own clothes of flame expanding into a raging inferno of fire. It scalded Mash’s skin. If not for the pain tolerance built into his body, he was sure that his body would seize from the burns.

[Stop! You need time to recover. You can heal, but you need to heal.]

Priscilla’s advice barely registered, and Mash continued to run. The Lord is trapped by Mash’s raw strength. The Lord couldn’t dodge anymore if he tried to move then he would just get impaled. In the same way, Mash felt like he couldn’t stop. Priscilla was right, he needed to heal. At the same time, he was just as certain that the Lord would kill him if given the chance. If he stopped this fight, additional stats would bleed out of him, and he wasn’t sure if he would survive that. Priscilla was probably right about his healing, but Mash couldn’t be certain.

That left him to continue the charge. Flames grew around the lord expanding into a miniature sun. Mash’s clothes ironically faired the best. When was the last time he checked the path? He would need to see what changed later. Mash pushed and ran; his speed grew as each second passed. Mash charged through the cave entrance exploding out of the cave. A snowstorm had started at some point, but it turned to rain around the Lord.

There was a slight cliff just past the cave entrance, and he tumbled over it. They both went spiraling through the air, Mash relishing in the snow as it cooled his burned body. Even through his clothes, Mash could tell that his skin was singed. The snow helped, and he quickly pushed himself to his feet. He leaned on the staff a little. Mash saw that his left hand wasn’t healing properly. Most of the arm had healed, but the hand was still numb and charred. Priscilla’s next message urged him to move.

[That was foolish. End the fight.]

Mash didn’t need to be told twice. It wasn’t hard to spot the lord as most of the snow was burned around him. The thick snow partially blocked his vision, and it strangely bothered his domain too. The thickness of the snow actually made it harder to use his domain. Not so much that he couldn’t see the lord though. The lord snarled; his voice now matched that of a bestial roar.

“You dare push me from!”

Mash didn’t let him finish. He jumped at the lord, swinging his staff around to strike the man’s head. The lord raised a hand to block in surprise, but Mash just pushed through it. This time he definitely heard a breaking noise, and the lord toppled. He practically spun; his head struck the dirt roughly. Mash followed up. He brought the staff down where the Lord’s head was when the man’s body expanded. The flames that had been his clothes blended with his flesh and he grew. His body warped, and Mash downward strike the shoulder blade of a much different creature.

The man had transformed into what he had claimed to be. Now an orange tiger with orange marks, that made its coat resemble fire lay on the ground. It was also considerably larger than Mash, and it rose in a sudden shoulder tackle. The tiger form was a lot stronger, and Mash was sent crashing through a nearby pile of snow. It erupted into a shower of snow that quickly got mixed with the storm. Mash’s bones didn’t break, but he was in pain nonetheless. The tiger managed to stand, but one of its front legs was broken, and its shoulder was bleeding a little. The damage didn’t heal, and a broken leg was far worse than a missing hand.

Mash grinned despite his own injuries and was surprised to taste blood. That hit had done more than he thought. If the class system was working, he could see how much damage he had actually taken. Fighting without it was odd and risky.

[You are not doing well. The last strike shook some of your organs. Once you regain mana, I will work on making your organs more resistant to force.]

Priscilla’s message was a small relief. If it was really bad, he was certain she wouldn’t be talking about the future. That means it felt worse than it was, and he really considered what that meant. A numb almost completely charred hand and organ damage no longer constituted as life-threatening huh? Yeah, he was definitely a monster. Even more, than this cat man was.

The tiger leaped at Mash; its fur danced in the storm seeming to turn into a living flame. It was certainly hot enough to be one. His staff met the creature’s body. Not in a strike but, he used it to deflect the creature and spun the weapon with the momentum of the impact. The staff struck the tiger as it landed in the snow beside him. The teeth on the weapon ground into the creature’s ribs and it growled as Mash sent it tumbling through the snow. He didn’t let up rushing at the tiger. His domain let him notice the sudden change in temperature before his eyes, and he instinctively jumped away. He narrowly managed to dodge it as fire erupted from the creature’s fur.

The heat melted the snow far beyond the flame's reach. Mash felt the water on his skin dry up for a moment. The snowstorm never let him remain dry, and it quickly chilled his body. He was really lucky for the storm. It was helping him resist the flames considerably. He let the cool wash over him for a moment as it eased his pain. The tiger jumped on him, this time going for a savage bite. Mash turned thrusting the staff against its side. This time it pierced through the tiger’s flesh, but it bit into him. It did manage to tear through his shirt, and its teeth sunk into him. Piercing his shoulder blade and chest, but not deeply enough to kill him. Nor was it able to get through his bones. What had Priscilla done to his bones? He pushed through the pain, pushing the staff deeper as the tiger’s body rapidly heated.

Another burst of flame would not be good, and Mash had few options to stop it. He did something cheap and disgusting. He bit the creature back. Mash knew his teeth were strong, but he didn’t take any risks. The Tiger’s head was just beside his own, and he aimed his bite. His bottom teeth dug into the beast’s eye. The monster’s skull broke under his teeth too and it leaped away in genuine terror. Mash had taken its piece of flesh though. He swallowed and smiled at the monster; his teeth made red with its blood. Or maybe that was his own blood. It didn’t really matter. He felt a rush of power that could only be from his skill. He had known that one would work already, but he still hesitated when it came to taking a bite out of a person. A tiger wasn’t a person though.

Mash’s shirt was stained red with blood, and his left arm was basically useless at this point. The burns had been one thing, but the bite had gone through the arm as well. Blood ran down his arm and stained the snow beneath him like syrup. The thickness of his blood was unnatural. The tiger stared at him with one eye. Human or not, Mash could read the expression of fear. And intended to capitalize on it. He ran at the tiger; his speed and strength were even greater now. The tiger might be stronger than his human counterpart, but not by enough. With the bonus from the eye he had just swallowed, he was more than the tiger’s equal in strength and far superior in speed.

Mash closed the distance in an instant. He swung the staff around, bringing it through the unbroken front leg of the tiger. It tried to dodge, but fear had delayed its reaction. The staff broke the creator’s leg and it fell forward; its head bowed as it couldn’t stand. Mash didn’t have the luxury of hesitation in this instant. He plunged his staff down through the monster’s skull. With its head in the dirt, it felt like an execution. The staff punched through the creature and stuck the ground beneath. It didn’t move.

Mash slumped forward onto the creature. Its body was still hot, but not to the point of scalding him. He rested against the creature. The fight was over.

[Eat. Mash you need to eat it. You are too low on energy to heal without doing it.]

He groaned at the idea of eating the creature but did as he was told. His mind felt like it was barely working, and he wondered how much he had been relying on the adrenaline and his skill. Not that the attributes were decreasing, and the fight was over his mind lost the heightened sense of focus. He tore into the creature's hide like an animal himself. One-armed, he couldn’t really tear pieces of the creature out easily. His teeth were strong enough though, so he ate it like a monster would.

He took one bite. It empowered him, and he realized idly what was happening. It was a familiar feeling, and he took the next more eagerly. Blood, meat, and fur filled his mouth. The meat was tough, the fur was hot, and the blood was like iron. He ate it ferociously. It fueled him and gave him the power to keep eating. At some point, his arm healed. He didn’t know how or when. His body was filling with more power than ever before. More than a creature like this should give. And he felt it a connection to the forces within himself.

He knew it was time. His focus drifted from the monster, from the snowstorm, from the very world itself, and it drifted inward. He felt the power of leveling and advancing.