When Marvin saw the distance between Austin and himself was narrowing, he was overjoyed. In an attempt to upset Austin, now and then, Marvin taunted him.
'Wow! Marvin is one persistent guy!'
Austin determined. Since he couldn't change it, he ignored Marvin completely and focused on escaping instead.
"Boy, you won't get away! You should just give up. If you hand over the earth spirit fruits now, perhaps I'll spare your worthless life."
"You want my earth spirit fruits? Then go get them yourself!" snapped Austin over his shoulder as he leaped over a massive row of thorny undergrowth. After landing on the other side, Austin realized that his body's vital energy would be depleted soon.
There was a loud bang from behind Austin which sent thick twigs and leaves flying through the air as Marvin began trudging through the brambly thorns!
Thorny branches and twigs that blocked his way, shattered, whizzing into the sky when Marvin's potent vital energy collided past.
As he made his way through the underbrush, a long passageway right down the middle was created.
"Crash! Crush! Smash!"
Rather than go around the boulders blocking Marvin, he slammed into them!
The large stones instantly disintegrated and dusty rubble was all that remained.
"Hey, you don't need to be so desperate, do you? It's no big deal! Just a few fruits!"
Austin called out over his shoulder as he continued trying to put more distance between himself and his fearsome pursuant.
A few steps more and Austin saw a swamp come into view ahead of him.
He quickly scanned it with his spiritual sense and then, overjoyed, Austin beamed. He had a brilliant idea.
Picking up speed, Austin rushed at the swamp in the distance.
"Brat! We'll just see how much further you can get!" jeered Marvin, gnashing his teeth and drawing more vital energy to speed up.
In a flash, Austin was in the swamp.
"Ssh!" the noise of metal scraping leather reverberated as Austin unsheathed his sword.
There was a swoosh, when his vital energy imbued blade cut through the air as Austin thrust at floating driftwood.
He struck the wood with only one strike. Then, he turned and darted to the forest without glancing behind him.
Heart pounding, as his adrenaline raced through his veins with his blood, Austin ducked behind a towering cedar tree in the blink of an eye before continuing to flee farther into the forest.
"You should slow down, enjoy your run!" shouted Austin right before he vanished.
Behind him, in the swamp Austin had left a surprise for Marvin.
"Roar!"
A low, dense, rolling noise from the bowels of the swamp, met with the water splashing followed by a grumble which made every leaf quiver, from the swamp to the forest.
Water and mud flew in every direction as the wood sprang to life and rose up.
Thick layers of sludge dripped from the wood, slowly revealing an enormous lizard.
Its large and formidable tail swept across the surface like a steel whip, making the entire swamp quake.
Splattering ooze whipped up by the tail, rained down everywhere.
The lid of the lizard's left eye was bleeding. A tell-tale sign of where Austin's blade slashed into it.
There were only a few places on a giant rock lizard that were weak, and the eyes happened to be one of them.
Blood gushed from the injured eye because of the force of Austin's impact, and the lizard was in a great deal of pain.
Flailing wildly, the cold-blooded reptile burned with rage.
Flames of fury danced in the reptile's eyes.
This was Marvin's greeting as he got to the swamp.
Whipping his head toward Marvin, the incensed giant rock lizard locked eyes on him.
Hunching down into the mud on its four stumpy legs, the lizard roared, baring a mouthful of razor-like incisors.
Unexpectedly, the monstrous lizard sprang up, and with mud splashing, it pounced on Marvin.
With Austin long gone, the lizard naturally thought Marvin was his attacker, and the wounded creature lashed out.
The pent-up anger from the ambush that the lizard suffered wasn't the only reason it was left needing to vent.
A few days ago, the lizard was deceived by a vexing young man, which left it infuriated.
So, the enormous lizard unleashed its fury for the old and recent grudges at the same time.
Detecting the giant rock lizard's spleen, Marvin went slightly pale in the face. He didn't dare take the power of the ferocious beast lightly.
He howled as he swung his vital energy infused fists at the huge lizard.
"Crack!" the sound of his fist pummeling into the thick, hard, uneven scaled skull of the giant rock lizard reverberated through the air.
Under the force of his fist slamming into the lizard, Marvin was thrown back several feet and the wind was knocked from him.
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