Spirit Taming

Chapter 344: Molten Metal

As Ralph charged forward with his molten boar next to him, the two opponents smirked. "Just trying to break us up already? No one in our year can do that!" The two took one side of Ralph each and punched out at him.

Ralph was only able to block one of the punches and chose to take the girl's punch since she was easily a few inches shorter and might not have the same weight behind it. This kind of thinking was somewhat engraved in his mind from the fights he had on the streets as a kid.

The people he used to challenge were always bigger and when he fought multiple people he knew that the runt of the group would always have to resort to other methods to add weight to their punches.

This seemingly small experience was enough for Ralph to whip his hand around after taking the hit to his side and grab the girls. In a single spin he used his off balanced body to throw her to the side in to her companion. That was when the mud erupted around him.

The grotto salamander had sprung out of the mud without much of a hint that it had been there at all. But Ralph was not fighting alone. The molten boar had been close and charged right at the grotto salamander forcing it to give up on its attack. Unfortunately, the boar was not fast enough to catch the salamander as it burrowed back in to the mud.

This distraction gave the opponents Ralph was facing enough time to retreat and gather themselves. Grace had barely managed to cover a partial amount of space toward the cavern crawfish which had taken aim and fired a single shot of water at him.

In a burst of steam and a disgruntled snort, the molten boar's body became a duller color. The water had cooled it which was a drastic change to what it should be. The colder air of the north was not helping either but it was at least somewhat blocked by the barriers put up around the arenas. This was for fairness but it was far from perfect.

Ralph had to jump in to defend his partner as the two opponents targeted his boar right then. It was the best course of action since it was always best to go after the weakened opponent. Who wouldn't want a better advantage in a battle?

While this happened, Grace had continued her movements toward the cavern crayfish. She had her frost finch moving with her and pushing her arrows to keep firing faster once they were released from the bow. It was a great strategy to keep moving and attacking. The additional cold air also made the arrows slightly frosty which slightly froze the patches of mud that they landed in.

Grace knew that she couldn't stay still because the caver crayfish could easily target her while she stood still to aim. The two were in a battle where they both wanted to target the other along with their partners. Yet, it was about to be unfortunate again because neither knew where the grotto salamander was.

Before Grace nor Ralph could react, the grotto salamander had leaped out of the mud right next to Grace. Its tail whipped around and slammed in to her before she could make much movement out of the way. Even the frost finch had been slightly too far from where Grace was in an effort to properly the arrow that Grace had just shot at the cavern crayfish.

This attack would have done little damage to Ralph, but it hit Grace hard. The timing had been ideal, it was a perfect surprise attack from a beast that was great at hiding in the mud. A single sharp and terrified chirp escaped the frost finch's mouth as it realized and sensed what had happened.

Since Grace was knocked out of the arena, the referee had called her out the second that it happened. The frost finch, in its fear, rushed to its tamer's side. Any beast would do the same since it cared for its tamer. They were bound closer than any other, but this lead to the referee also calling it out.

"Damn, that grotto salamander is sneaky." Clark had expected the battle to go differently. He was waiting for Grace to begin freezing more things but the potential plan had taken a massive failure as Grace hadn't been able to reach the cavern crawfish and start closer combat. The grotto salamander had surprised everyone but the two students from Terra academy.

"Can Ralph do this?" Brad was looking at Ralph carefully. He had worry in his eyes since Ralph had frozen on the spot looking at where Grace lay on the ground struggling to stand up but clearly experiencing some heavy pain from the hard hit of the Grotto salamander.

"That does not look good at all." Isa sounded like she was a little afraid, but everyone understood why. Ralph had started to shake. The molten boar was also showing signs of change. Its body was getting red hot and more steam was escaping its body.

"That's one down."

" And one to go. Pretty easy since they were so arrogant." The Girl and boy spoke with a mocking tone. They saw that they had already messed with Ralph's head and were quick to emphasize their strength. On top of this, it was the first time that Nova academy had lost a point.

The enraged screech of metal and acidic steam leaving the molten boar's mouth made the two back off. Even the grotto salamander and cavern crayfish retreated in fear at the terrible sound. However, Clark and the others sensed the rage inside it. Ralph was showing the same anger as he reached for his second ax and brandished both.

Steam was starting to visibly come off Ralph's body too now. It was not normal at all. Many in the audience were shouting in wonder at the situation until they saw the body of the molten boar begin to drip off.

Large chunks of molten metal hair fell away revealing the densely packed musculature. It was shiny and red, unlike any metals that Clark had ever seen. To his surprise, Clark could only check the system's analysis and find what had changed.

'Due to the high amount of metal and fire energy being channeled through the molten boar with the bond of the tamer, this molten boar has awakened the unique skill, molten release. This skill is only able to be activated when both the tamer and molten boar feel powerful emotion.

This causes their bodies to channel high amounts of fire and metal energies. They can fight with extreme power at the cost of significant energy and damage to their bodies. However, they lose most reason and are more commonly known to be in a berserk state.

The best way to recover…'

This additional section of information made Clark look at Ralph completely different than before. He had teased Ralph for the crush that he clearly had on Grace. However, Clark felt he was still blind. How could he miss that he cared for Grace that much? That Ralph had truly started to become attached to the person beside him? It made Clark second guess lot about his own views of emotions.

Unfortunately, he couldn't focus on this now. Instead, he had to watch Ralph and his partner fight.

In a single roar, Ralph jumped on top of his now more muscular and streamlined molten boar. The two took off charging through the mud as if it was nothing. Flaming footprints were left behind while toxic steam surrounded them. Ralph looked like he was getting sunburned more and more but his axes were already able to swing at the two opponents.

The speed and strength behind the attack shattered the blocked gauntlets and cut deeply in to the first boy's hands and arms. He was knocked down in a gasp and cry of pain. Before the girl could even think to block she was hit by the molten boar and thrown in to the cavern crayfish. The attack had caused the girl's bones to crack while the crayfish's shell also cracked.

Feeling the heat that was rapidly drying the mud around it, The grotto salamander tried to dodge but was hit by the second thrown ax. This had all happened in seconds, stirring the audience, the Terra academy students, and more so, Clark who had not imagined Ralph was hiding such strength.

"We surrender!" The two students managed to get these words out as Ralph charged again. Before he could get close, Clark had appeared at his side. He had started running the second he saw fear in the Terra academy student's eyes. He was not going to let Ralph accidentally end up in jail. He didn't deserve to be there.

The ghostly steps had been pushed to the maximum that Clark could use in that moment just to surprise Ralph with a kick right to the head. He was not in battle with Raph and it had been a surprise attack. If he had been seen he would have had to deal with an opponent that would have turned him well out. Potentially even beat him.

Devi had secretly bitten the molten boar and taken away some of the energy it had in its soul to weaken it. This was enough to knock Raph out and the molten boar to snap back to reality before passing out itself. The cost of this new skill was brutal, the results were right there before their eyes. But with the situation, Clark couldn't say much.

Maria rushed on the arena stage too and started to heal Ralph immediately as some other healers approached with their beast to help. They started to remove Ralph and his molten boar as Clark could barely understand what had just happened. Too much at once, his body had even moved on its own to help Ralph.

"Fine then, if you want to be rivals that badly, we are rivals." This wasn't what Clark had ever imagined Ralph would be capable of. He hadn't expected that he would rush to help Ralph either. It seemed that things had changed just a little bit.