The shadow came behind Pouf very smoothly.
When the time was right, Moses decisively exchanged positions with the shadow.
Swoosh!
Moses, who had poised for a long-range strike, suddenly teleported to Pouf's back.
At the same time,
Moses in Pouf's sight suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a shadow that used In to eliminate its Aura.
"Wha…?!"
The sudden change made Pouf's heart tremble.
Before he could react, the Aura fluctuations that had been condensed behind him had already exploded.
The next moment…
Pouf only felt a powerful impact on the back of his head.
Moses, who is now in melee range, had drove his black sword point-blank into Pouf's head with crushing force.
The close-range collision between the two immediately caused a surge of Aura to burst out, blasting out in all directions like a stellar ring.
Faced with this unexpected backstab, Pouf was completely unprepared and unable to resist the penetrating force of the black sword, so he plummeted like a meteor.
In the blink of an eye, Pouf's body slammed heavily into the palace's open-air corridor.
Boom!
The powerful impact caused the corridor's buildings in the area to shatter, stirring up a large amount of gravel and dust, which instantly submerged Pouf's body.
Moses still maintained the thrust posture and slowly fell from the air.
Ignoring the obscuring debris, he hurled the black sword in his hand downward!
[Super Speed: Gun]
With the sudden burst of Aura, the black sword was like a bolt of lightning falling from the sky, slashing into the smoke and dust, causing another violent explosion.
Such a loud noise inevitably attracted the attention of other people in the palace.
But whether it was the members of the Chimera Ant extermination team and Youpi in the front yard, or the King and Netero in the central hall, none of them had the extra energy to care about the source of the huge noise.
Three war zones were now divided the palace.
And Moses was obviously the one who scored first.
…
After swiftly linking his attacks with Super Speed, Moses landed steadily on the ground, then expressionlessly turned his gaze toward the mostly destroyed open corridor.
Dust settled and dispersed, revealing Pouf rising from the rubble.
Half of his head was missing, and a bowl-sized hole had been torn through his chest.
However, despite such severe injuries, he wasn't dead. Instead, he managed to stand up.
And within a second or two after he gets back on his feet, the missing part of his head and the gaping wound in his chest visibly regenerated at an astonishing speed.
It was as though he possessed an extreme regenerative ability, and no matter how severe the injury, he could fully recover in a short time.
When Moses saw Pouf recovering as before, there was no ripple on his face.
'It looks like a clone, so... where is the main body hiding?'
Moses emotionlessly observed the dust-covered Pouf.
'If I remember correctly...'
'When Pouf uses his ability, he could split his body into nanoscale clones, but the limitation was that his main body had to remain at least the size of a bee.'
'In other words, his body should currently be about the size of a bee, and it is hiding in a relatively safe place, or perhaps stationed near the Chimera Ant King'
Even though Pouf's main body, which was the size of a bee, was so fragile that it could be killed with just one finger, it would be meaningless if it could not be found.
However…
Moses didn't mind continuing to attack the clone.
Because he knew that while Pouf's clone could use his cells to reconstruct his body, every injury would lead to a decrease in the total number of cells, thus gradually weakening his overall strength.
This mechanism was like an HP bar that couldn't passively regenerate...
By keep chipping it away, it would eventually empty.
So for Moses, even if he couldn't find Pouf's main body, as long as he could deal damage to the clone, it would still count as harm inflicted upon Pouf's main body.
'Your fatal flaw... is being too hesitant.'
Moses held the black knife in his hand and walked gradually toward Pouf, who stood amidst the ruins, silently muttering in his heart.
He doesn't know if it's because of the evolution of his accumulated combat experience, or because of the enhanced overall perspective brought about by the trip to the Dark Continent…
But from the moment he cut off Pouf's hand with a single slash, Moses felt an almost clairvoyant clarity.
Not only could he instantly grasp the flow of battle, but he could also faintly foresee its outcome.
In his opinion, if Pouf had slightly abandoned some of his obsession of protecting the Chimera Ant King and confronted him with his main body instead…
The direction and final result of this battle might have been far less certain.
But Pouf lacked such resolve.
As a result, Moses didn't feel any pressure at all.
In comparison, Youpi had done a better job.
The red monster with magical beast's genes in its body had no such mental restraints once he entered combat mode.
He focused solely on the battle in front of him, driving out and kill all the enemies in front of him...
That was the only thought and concentration Youpi had in battle.
But among the three Royal Guards, Pouf was the one who most resembled a human.
So under certain circumstances, the distinct human nature that exists in Owl Yapf's genes has caused him to tie his own feet.
And so, under specific circumstances, the prominent humanity embedded in his genes became shackles that bound his own feet.
Pouf's clone was being locked in the killing Aura from Moses, and this feeling was shared by Pouf's main body, who felt a surge of emotion in his heart.
"It's just a few tricks, don't get so full of yourself!!!"
A ferocious look appeared on Pouf's main body's face.
Moses's relaxed attitude, as if he was about to win the battle, infuriated Pouf beyond measure.
However, the problem was that he lacked the means to confront Moses head-on in battle.
Whether it was [Beelzebub] or [Spiritual Message], both were support-oriented abilities, which are ill-suited to counter Moses's sharp, aggressive combat style.
'If it were Youpi facing him instead...'
Pouf shook his head violently.
'No… I couldn't afford to lose composure.'
'Even if I didn't have any combat abilities, I was still stronger than this damn human in terms of my Manifested Aura!'
At worst, Pouf believed he could abandon tactical play and revert to primal claw-and-fang attacks.
As Moses steadily advanced, Pouf quickly steadied his chaotic thoughts.
But he doesn't know why…
For some reason, although he had sorted out his thoughts, he still had a vague sense of uneasiness.