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Jūgo had great confidence in his own strength. His fist could shatter stone, but when this punch landed on Garaga's tail, it felt like striking a thick, hardened steel plate. Not only did it fail to harm the tail, but a sharp, aching numbness shot up Jūgo's arm and spread throughout his body.
This is bad!
Cold sweat beaded on Jūgo's forehead. Just as he prepared to put distance between himself and Garaga, the serpent's tail swept horizontally, striking him squarely and sending him flying. He crashed through three large trees before finally coming to a stop.
"Ugh… cough…" Jūgo lay on the ground, spitting up several mouthfuls of blood. Struggling to his feet, he saw the battle between Midorima and Garaga still raging.
Compared to Garaga, Midorima was at a clear disadvantage in terms of raw power and size. Moreover, due to Garaga's immense length, his attack range was vast, making evasion difficult and even approaching him highly risky.
Additionally, because Garaga's attacks covered such a wide area, Midorima, even while maintaining distance, nearly got hit by a glob of the serpent's petrifying liquid.
"You dodge and dart around like a flea! Can't you stand still like a proper opponent?" Garaga roared.
"I'd like to, but you haven't stopped attacking either. How about you stop first…" Midorima replied with a smirk.
Garaga fell silent, but the mist in the air thickened, and the serpent seemed to vanish completely.
Midorima held his breath, listening intently. Garaga's presence was gone entirely; not even the sound of scales scraping against the ground remained.
He left?
The thought flashed through his mind but was instantly dismissed.
If Garaga could be thwarted by attacks of this level, how could he possibly be such a nuisance to the Great White Snake Sage?
Was he feigning a retreat to attack elsewhere, or did he have another strategy?
As Midorima pondered Garaga's next move, Jūgo's sharp cry pierced through the dense fog.
Damn it!
Midorima whirled around, but the fog still enveloped him, and Jūgo was somewhere within it as well.
Not long after, Jūgo suddenly burst from the mist, but he was already in a berserk state. His speed was so great that the unprepared Midorima found it hard to defend.
Seeing Jūgo's eyes filled with malevolence sent a chill down Midorima's spine.
After all, Garaga was nearby. No one knew when he might strike. Now, having to face an out-of-control Jūgo as well, the pressure multiplied.
"Shunkan!"
Without a second thought, Midorima activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
He expected to instantly create distance between himself and Jūgo. However, his body only shifted back two meters. While it dodged Jūgo's attack, he remained well within Jūgo's striking range.
Why such a short distance?
Previously, using "Shunkan" had allowed him to shift at least ten meters or more. It had never been this short…
After a moment, he guessed the reason.
The range of "Shunkan" wasn't fixed; the maximum teleportation distance depended on his line of sight.
In conditions of extremely low visibility, the effective range of "Shunkan" was drastically reduced. The reason he could only move two meters just now was because that was the farthest distance visible within the fog.
So the Mangekyō Sharingan's ability is countered by fog… If someone used the Hidden Mist Technique, I'd be in serious danger.
A cold dread settled in Midorima's heart. This trip to the Ryūchi Cave had unexpectedly revealed a weakness in "Shunkan."
Fortunately, he used his Mangekyō Sharingan sparingly and hadn't become overly reliant on it.
Just as Midorima adjusted his stance, Jūgo charged out of the fog once more.
This time, Midorima didn't panic. While dodging backward, he performed "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet," temporarily halting Jūgo's advance.
Seizing the fleeting moment of respite, Midorima performed "Great Wind Technique."
A powerful gale swept through, dispersing the thick mist.
But at that very moment, Midorima heard a faint sound behind him. He turned quickly to see Garaga, mouth agape, spewing a stream of petrifying liquid directly at him.
Midorima didn't dare be careless. He activated "Shunkan" again. This time, he put over thirty meters between himself and Garaga, confirming his earlier suspicion—"Shunkan" was indeed affected by dense fog.
"For such a massive serpent, resorting to a sneak attack… have you no pride?" Midorima extended his thumb towards Garaga, then pointed it downward.
"Pah! Humans dare to lecture me? In the past, I faced all enemies head-on; none were my match. But now… the longer I'm around humans, the more deceitful I've become."
"How pitiful. Your contractor abandoned you, and your own kind sees you as a scourge… What exactly did you do to make so many despise you?" Midorima spread his hands, staring at Garaga while keeping Jūgo in his peripheral vision.
After the series of attacks, Jūgo had also stopped. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself, his throat emitting low, guttural sounds as he struggled mightily to suppress the urge to kill.
"Let me think… you're not the only serpent from the Ryūchi Cave to form a contract. Why were you alone betrayed by your contractor… Could it be you did something to wrong him first?" Midorima said with a faint smile.
Though he said this, it didn't mean he agreed with the sentiment.
The "blaming the victim" fallacy was a particularly despicable rhetorical tactic.
But when facing a ferocious serpent like Garaga, his only option was to provoke it—creatures in a state of rage often make irrational choices.
Sure enough, upon hearing Midorima's words, Garaga was so enraged he nearly reared up, lifting the front half of his body as he roared furiously at Midorima.
"You're saying… it's all my fault!?"
"If only your contractor betrayed you, perhaps you weren't at fault. But when the entire Ryūchi Cave detests you, what else can I say? Could it be that the whole world is wrong, and you alone are right?"
"Hah… That's right! It's not me who's wrong, it's the entire world!" Garaga exploded into motion, attacking Midorima with renewed ferocity.
Midorima formed hand seals, preparing to perform a ninjutsu, but Garaga's attack was already upon him.
At that moment, Garaga's body suddenly froze for an instant. Then, a dark shadow was sent flying by the serpent's tail, crashing heavily into a nearby stone serpent statue and lying motionless.
Jūgo…
Midorima's brow furrowed as he sped up his hand seals.
Jūgo's intervention had only bought him six or seven seconds, but it was enough. Midorima successfully completed the signs for "Yellow Swamp"—a large patch of ground beneath Garaga suddenly transformed into quicksand-like mire, and the massive serpent began sinking rapidly.
Furious, Garaga tried to swallow Midorima whole, but the more he struggled in the mire, the faster he sank.
Just as he was about to be completely submerged, Garaga opened his mouth and spewed his petrifying liquid in all directions. The mud rapidly solidified and turned to stone. Before long, the serpent was firmly trapped, encased within the hardened earth.
*****
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