Despite how things looked, Marcus wasn't actually burnt by the spell he cast.
Although it did hurt his entire body, making him feel a bit uncomfortable, the damage it did to him was minuscule.
Whether it was because he cast the spell or because of his Five Elements Arts cultivation, Marcus didn't know why, nor did he care much at the moment.
He raised his head, and his sight became blurry. His ears were ringing a bit, making it hard for him to hear anything.
That hit from the male chameleon's tongue really did some damage to him.
In his blurry vision, he saw a humanoid figure wrapped in faint golden light running towards him.
And then suddenly, his sight cleared up, and his hearing returned.
"Lord Marcus!" Logail called out as he rushed forward.
Marcus frowned and quickly sat up. "What are you doing!? Return to the other chameleon and deal with that one first! Floki and Joshua might die! Just two of them aren't enough to kill that one!"
Logail hesitated.
"That's an order! Return!"
Right at that moment, the female Four-horned Chameleon broke free from the wood tentacles that were restraining her.
The moment she regained her freedom, an arrow, with a head made from Marc Steel, shot through the air and pierced her eyes.
It went through and even smashed against the back of her skull, slightly missing the brain.
The female chameleon screamed in a beastly way that caused the ground to shake. The pain could be heard in her scream.
Simultaneously, Floki had already jumped onto her back and raised his sword.
Just when he was about to bring it down, he felt the beast's body vibrate.
And faster than he could blink, her skin turned from a fine leathery texture to rock-hard steel.
Ding!
His sword fell on top of her skin, and although it sliced into it, it didn't go deep enough to draw blood.
The recoil from the attack sent Floki stumbling off her back.
From a few feet away, Joshua had already nocked another arrow on his bow and shot it at her other eye.
But she seemed to have noticed it and quickly closed her eyelids.
Ding!
The arrow hit and could only pierce a few inches into the skin of her eyelids.
Light from the moon slipped through the clouds, illuminating the chameleon's skin.
It looked as though it had been covered in layers of dry mud.
"Steer clear! Don't let her hit you." Marcus warned.
When he saw the chameleon's skin, the first thing that came to his mind was the 'Hardened Charge'.
The effect of the ability could be inferred from its name. And after being on the receiving end of just the tongue of this Prowler Beast, Marcus had sustained quite the injuries. Even with his strong physique.
What would happen if one of his men got hit by the charge?
Instant death.
We need to leave this place fast or kill them.
The first option felt like the safest, and yet, Marcus wasn't inclined to choose it.
Rather, he wanted to kill them.
Hadn't he been searching for Prowler Beasts that he could hunt?
Didn't he choose to train under immense pressure by hunting them?
Though they were in danger, this was what Marcus had been looking for.
Damn it! If we play this right, we might be able to take these two down. They're not necessarily apex predators.
Thoughts ran through his mind, and his eyes darted around.
"What are you standing there for? Go help them!" He said to Logail.
"Yes, sir!" Logail gritted his teeth and turned around. The yellowish glow around his body intensified for a bit.
At that moment, the smell of cooking meat reached Marcus's nose.
As soon as he perceived it, Marcus dived to the side, dodging the invisible tongue attack.
If I'm going to do this, then I have to deal with this one as fast as I can.
Bringing up his stats to gauge what he could do, Marcus saw that he barely had 1200 points of Mana left.
And since he didn't want to absorb the Mana within the forest, replenishing his Mana reserve was out of his options. This placed more pressure on him.
Marcus's first thought of action was to mix a combo of close and ranged attacks.
One to startle and catch the beast off guard, the other would seal the deal… or at least bring him closer to doing so.
Perceiving the meat smell again, Marcus estimated its direction and dived out of the way again.
Tsk!
Marcus clicked his tongue.
"I also have to take into account that Hardening ability."
Marcus was surprised that his Marc Steel weapons didn't cut through them as easily.
Though he took other factors into account.
For example, the force behind Floki's strike. If it were any stronger, it would have easily sliced through the chameleon's hardened skin.
But was Floki capable of producing the force required to achieve that?
Marcus didn't think so. He didn't even think he was capable of producing the force required himself.
This was a Prowler Beast they were battling against. Marc Steel had already given them some advantages, but sometimes, in the face of greater foes, there's only so much a good weapon could bring to a fight.
Suddenly, an idea came to mind.
If striking it from the outside is going to be difficult, what about the inside?
A crazy idea it was, yes, but very feasible if one was mad and quick enough to go through with it.
But Marcus frowned.
"The 'how' is easy…" but the process was going to be painful.
Calculating that he could still use ignite two to three times if he pushed himself.
Swoosh!
A strong breeze grazed Marcus's side as he moved away from the invisible tongue.
Boom!
A tree that was behind him was struck by the tongue before snapping in half.
From the successful dodges, and also inferring from what he had seen of the female chameleon's tongue, Marcus was able to estimate the size of the beast's tongue.
The Four-horned Chameleon male attacked a few more times, sending its invisible tongue out, each time faster than before.
And with each dodge, the tongue got dangerously close to hitting Marcus.
Broken trees riddled the floor, and leaves danced through the air. Some of them landed on the body of the male chameleon, giving away its position. But Marcus acted like he didn't see it.
He didn't want to alert it yet.
The young lord dived once again and rolled on the ground before ending up back on his feet. His chest heaved up and down heavily, and sweat formed on his forehead.
He then unsheathed his sword and turned around slowly, as though he was trying to look for the beast.
And then he perceived the faint smell again; this time, Marcus made sure to jump out of the way completely.
Also, he activated his Pulse Points and braced himself for some impact.
Jumping backward, Marcus calculated the limit of the chameleon's reach from its position. This way, the impact from the tongue at the end of its stretch would be less.
Thwack!
Marcus felt that sticky and wet sensation on his body again. And while he didn't feel like he had been slapped by a wall, the force behind the tongue still caused him to cough out blood.
But he didn't lose his focus.
The chameleon, unlike before, didn't wait for its tongue to travel back with Marcus; it jumped forward as its outstretched tongue shot towards its mouth.
It was aware that this prey it had chosen was a tricky one.
Snap!
Silence ensued.
But it only lasted a few seconds
"Ignite!"
Boom!
As though a small bomb went off inside the chameleon's mouth, a muffled boom echoed, and smoke came out of the corners of its lips.
At the same time, Marcus regained his freedom, free from the stickiness of its tongue. Though the space was cramped and heavy on him, it even smelled to the point where he had to force a vomit down, he didn't relent.
He held his breath and pushed forward.
Before the chameleon could react any further or spit Marcus out, a sword pierced through its upper jaw.
"Die!"
Marcus bellowed as the veins in his hand swelled.
The sword tore through the chameleon's head from the inside, from the upper jaw to the lower one.
The young Lord didn't stop there. He slid down to its throat and spun as fast as he could with his sword stretched out.
Like a hot knife going through butter, he cut through its flesh and decapitated the beast.
Thud!
Splurt!
The head fell to the ground and blood sprayed out of its neck like a fountain.
From the fallen head, a bloodied figure crawled out.
The first thing Marcus did was to gasp for air and wipe the chameleon's blood away from his eyes.
It took a second for Marcus to process what he had just accomplished.
A sense of achievement filled his heart, and he was just about to smile when he noticed it;
[+450 Achievement Points.]
Even the system had rewarded him for killing the Beast. And this was the first of its kind.
Now the sense of accomplishment settled in, and he felt a bit proud.
Though this Beast wasn't the best or most powerful Prowler out there, it was still a lot more powerful than him.
It was already at a level where several Peak Radiant rank warriors would have to work together to take it down.
And yet, he had done it alone.
Marcus was just about to sink into it when the tremors coming from the other chameleon awakened him from his thoughts.
The female chameleon just sensed the death of her mate, and she roared out in pain.
Not the type of roar from physical pain, but rather, one that came from the soul.
She ignored the three knights she had spent those last few minutes running and narrowly dodging her charges, and ran towards where Marcus was.
The female chameleon quickly went into a frenzy, and her aura wavered between powerful and weak.
And then a thought hit Marcus. Is this the Bonded Dependency weakness?
He wasn't sure, but suddenly had an inkling that it was.
Regardless, Marcus didn't fear this beast. Perhaps because he had just bested one on his own, his morale and adrenaline were at an all-time high.
Marcus gripped his sword tightly in his hand and charged forward.
"A visible target is easier to exploit than an invisible one." A smile appeared on his face.
And what a bloody smile it was.
Using what little Mana he had in his reserve, Marcus immediately cast a spell of light and made sure its spawning point was right in front of the one functioning eye of the female chameleon.
The moment the light appeared, it stunned the beast, forcing it to come to a skidding stop.
That was the last thing the chameleon saw.
Marcus had already dived through the light he created, with his sword thrusting forward.
He sliced through the beast's eye and drove his sword into its brain. He didn't stop there.
Marcus twisted the sword, inflicting more damage on it.
With a loud grunt, he finished with a roundhouse kick that sent his sword shooting into the spine of the beast through its head.
As the chameleon's skid came to an end, so did its life.