At such close range...
And while they were both in midair, where WereGarurumon had nowhere to gain additional leverage...
There was no need to think about it.
This Ice Beam should land perfectly.
Of course, Articuno had unleashed the attack in a moment of desperation.
Neither the energy it had gathered nor its physical condition had been perfectly prepared.
Naturally, the attack couldn't compare to what it could unleash at full strength.
But even so...
It was more than enough.
After all, Articuno was a Third-tier Legendary.
Even a casual attack from an existence of that level would be extremely difficult for another creature of equal strength to deal with at such close range.
At this moment, Belotti, who was standing below, finally let out a long breath of relief.
In his eyes, WereGarurumon's surprise attack had been perfectly neutralized.
However...
What happened next was something neither Belotti nor Articuno had anticipated.
The freezing beam did indeed shoot directly toward WereGarurumon.
But unexpectedly—
Under WereGarurumon's powerful slashes, the crimson blades of energy directly tore through the Ice Beam!
The beam shattered into countless tiny ice crystals.
They scattered through the air and drifted toward the ground.
And those razor-sharp slashes...
After cutting through Ice Beam, they didn't lose any momentum whatsoever.
There wasn't even the slightest sign that their power had diminished.
How was that possible?!
Belotti's face was filled with shock.
The same question screamed endlessly inside his mind.
He hadn't expected WereGarurumon's physical strength to be this outrageous.
But after thinking about it...
WereGarurumon had been able to leap to such an incredible altitude after only briefly gathering its strength.
Perhaps unleashing such powerful slashes at close range wasn't that unreasonable after all.
Then, reflected within Belotti's rapidly widening pupils, he clearly saw—
Those razor-sharp slashes struck Articuno's body head-on!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
A faint sound rang out, almost like ice and snow melting away.
Upon closer inspection, the slashes had easily torn through Articuno's body.
Several bone-deep wounds appeared across it.
Crimson blood began dripping downward.
The spectators couldn't clearly see what was happening inside the battlefield because of the raging wind and snow.
However, they could still watch everything through the enormous screen overhead.
They stared at the bone-deep wounds across Articuno's body.
They watched the blood dripping from those wounds.
At this moment...
The entire stadium fell silent.
Nobody had expected the battle to begin in such a brutal fashion.
Originally, everyone had assumed that WereGarurumon, being unable to fly, would suffer a considerable disadvantage in this battle.
But instead...
The instant the match began, WereGarurumon had delivered Articuno a devastating warning.
With a single swipe, it had torn open several enormous wounds across Articuno's body.
It was astonishing.
After remaining silent for a while and finally processing what they had just witnessed, the spectators erupted into thunderous cheers and applause.
The atmosphere inside the stadium once again reached its absolute peak.
And it wasn't only the ordinary spectators.
Even the senior officials sitting in the VIP area, who knew Shiko's true identity, were stunned by WereGarurumon's performance.
Nobody had expected a creature incapable of flight to simply leap into the air and unleash such a powerful attack.
With a single strike, it had severely wounded Articuno, a Third-tier Legendary.
It was truly astonishing.
High above the battlefield, the force of those razor-sharp energy slashes sent Articuno flying backward for a considerable distance.
Articuno looked down at the wounds covering its body.
Then it opened its beak and exhaled a stream of freezing air.
The wounds immediately froze over.
By doing this, it managed to stop the bleeding.
It could continue fighting.
"An opening!"
Belotti's eyes lit up.
He suddenly shouted excitedly.
Immediately afterward, he ordered Articuno to seize the opportunity and launch a follow-up attack.
(End of Chapter)
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