Lu Fei's face turned pale with shock. He quickly said, "Iron Head, dodge quickly, then use [Blade Edge] to counterattack!"
Iron Head instinctively lowered its body, preparing to spring, but it soon found itself completely unable to move!
"Wei!"
Iron Head let out a low cry.
Yet its body remained rooted in place, only managing to shuffle a few steps.
Lu Fei frowned, recalling the side effect of the [Harden] skill. After a contracted beast used Harden, its physical strength would be greatly enhanced, but its body's burden would also increase exponentially!
For the [Dual Saber Mantis], it had long been accustomed to the side effects of the [Harden] skill; the current negative impact was negligible for it. But Iron Head was different. It had only just mastered the skill, and even more absurdly, it had mastered full-body hardening.
This terrifying side effect made its body feel as if it were bound by a massive steel plate, making movement difficult.
The incoming assault was unavoidable!
"In that case, we'll just have to see whose hardened defense is stronger!" Lu Fei changed his strategy. "Iron Head, use [Seven Character Slash]! Block the [Dual Saber Mantis]'s attack!"
Iron Head gritted its teeth, its dark face showing bulging veins. Even the most ordinary movement of raising its sword was extremely arduous for it at this moment.
Finally, it managed to carve a minuscule seven-character sword arc in front of itself with great effort.
The [Dual Saber Mantis]'s attack arrived as expected.
*Bang, bang, bang!*
Sporadic sparks flew in the air.
The dual sabers met the seven-character sword arc, and instantly, a continuous metallic ringing sound echoed!
A viridian figure and a dark figure were locked in a stalemate, neither yielding to the other.
After a moment, the [Dual Saber Mantis] somersaulted several times in the air, its face filled with unwillingness as it retreated backward. Its teeth were clenched, and its face showed a hint of incredulous confusion.
It couldn't help but glance at its right arm. The collision just now had subjected its right arm to immense pressure, nearly forcing it into a stalemate, which led to its subsequent retreat.
On the other side, Iron Head was not faring any better. Although the [Harden] enhancement allowed its body to withstand the enormous pressure from the impact, preventing its tiger's mouth from bleeding again, such high-intensity collisions still left its arm numb.
Seeing that Iron Head was unharmed, Lu Fei couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He glanced at the [Dual Saber Mantis], which was poised to attack in the distance. "You little sneak, playing dirty, huh!"
Lu Fei calmly took out his Beast Taming Scroll.
"Come out! Stubborn Serpent!"
Stubborn Serpent blinked its eyes, sensing that its master's mood was not right today.
"Use [Divine Heal] on Iron Head!"
Stubborn Serpent, being sensible today, didn't argue. A sacred light fell upon Iron Head, and the next moment, Iron Head was once again full of vigor.
"Wei!"
It shouted.
With the drunkard absent today, Lu Fei no longer needed to hide Stubborn Serpent's special abilities. With its auxiliary healing, as long as Iron Head was still breathing, it could immediately recover its strongest combat state.
The [Dual Saber Mantis] was stunned. What was going on? How did its combat power suddenly surge?
After a brief moment of confusion, it pushed off with its hind legs, preparing to launch a new round of attacks! It was determined to let this arrogant young human know the prowess of a senior like itself!
The attack came again. Iron Head opened its mouth, gritting its teeth. The hardening effect on its legs slowly dissipated, and its legs regained freedom. Instantly, Iron Head's speed increased severalfold.
With a twist and turn, it dodged the [Dual Saber Mantis]'s attack!
It was now learning and using [Harden] on the fly, not yet proficient. Being able to deactivate the hardening effect on its legs was entirely due to its personal comprehension.
"Well done! Iron Head!"
Missing its target, the [Dual Saber Mantis] leaped onto a tree trunk, its toes tapping, and launched another attack!
Its eyes were as sharp as a biting wind. It crossed its dual sabers in front of its body, like the string of a crossbow!
The [Dual Saber Mantis] began to attack with skills, no longer swinging its sabers recklessly to intimidate.
[Ten Directions Slash]!
This was an intermediate skill. Its effect was to unleash a sweeping sword qi damage in front, and although it had no additional skill effects, its power was astonishing, and its attack range was extremely wide!
"Blocking such an attack with one's own body is impossible, but this attack range..." Lu Fei's mind raced, pondering a strategy to break the deadlock.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
"Got it!"
"Iron Head, use [Silver Arc Slash] consecutively! Cut through the [Ten Directions Slash] attack!"
Iron Head's arm gripping the saber suddenly exerted force!
After the previous exchange, it had gained some adaptation to the side effects of [Harden]. Although the speed of its sword swings still appeared somewhat slow, it had already noticeably accelerated!
Iron Head exerted its utmost effort, but it could only unleash four [Silver Arc Slash] attacks!
Its body was already exhausted. Under such a burden, being able to unleash four [Silver Arc Slash] attacks was its limit!
Part of the [Ten Directions Slash] attack was neutralized by Iron Head, but a large amount of damage still hit it head-on. The residual energy from [Silver Arc Slash] also touched the [Dual Saber Mantis], but the opponent easily deflected these attacks by raising its dual arms.
It couldn't even break its defense!
In such a confrontation, Iron Head had no chance of winning!
Under the effect of the sword qi, Iron Head was forced back repeatedly, and clear wounds were visible in multiple places on its body.
Seeing its opponent repelled, the [Dual Saber Mantis] proudly slapped its arms, acting exceedingly smug.
"Don't get cocky!" Lu Fei gritted his teeth.
A mere mantis daring to show off its skills. If I don't let you experience the darkness of humanity today, I'll be too lenient.
Lu Fei looked at Stubborn Serpent.
"Stubborn..."
"Wei!"
Before he could finish speaking, he was stopped by Iron Head.
Lu Fei looked at it curiously. He saw Iron Head gritting its teeth, its posture upright, and a strange, invisible halo seemed to be fluctuating around its body.
"What is this?"
Lu Fei's expression was puzzled. This was the first time he had seen this peculiar halo.
"Could it be a side effect of Stubborn Serpent's skill?"
Lu Fei took out his Beast Taming Tome and aimed it at Iron Head.
Its level had reached 15!
What surprised Lu Fei even more was that Iron Head's combat power had reached 101 points!
After all, contracted beasts within level 20 had a maximum combat power of only 150 points. Even more astonishing was that Iron Head's [Physical Attack] stat had reached an incredible 27 points!
At its level, maximum physical attack was only 30 points!
Lu Fei suppressed the turbulence in his heart and continued to look down.
He saw that a new section had appeared on the contracted beast's attribute panel. That section was called "Trait"!
And what was written in the trait section was very simple, with only two characters.
"Deathmatch!"