69. The Rage State Of The Sword Art

Izumi, Luffy, and Kuroneko were near the location of the quest. Izumi asked them not to make any noise which would later attract the attention of the two beasts they were after.

Izumi couldn't hear or feel any shaking from the battle. And the probability was that those two beasts had stopped fighting temporarily. Maybe the two of them couldn't bring each other down so their battle would never end.

The manticore has a scorpion's tail, its sting can even kill anyone instantly and its body is also resistant to magic. Moreover, it could even speak like a human.

On the other hand, the griffon has tough skin, its body is resistant to any poison. So even if the manticore's tail pierced the griffon's body, it wouldn't kill it.

The two monsters have almost the same strength, which is why until now the battle between the two is still unclear.

In his opinion, the manticore was far more dangerous since its hit could even kill people instantly. And Izumi suggested that Luffy and Kuroneko should fight together against Griffon, meanwhile, Izumi will face that manticore. Since Izumi has intangible elemental abilities, it would be safer for Izumi to fight the manticore than Luffy or Kuroneko.

However…

"No! I will make that monster my pirate crew!"

Then Luffy immediately ran forward by himself, ignoring Izumi and Kuroneko.

"Oi!!"

"This guy always acts on his own!"

Kuroneko was dumbfounded when she saw Luffy dash forward while ignoring them. While Izumi just shrugged as if he had expected Luffy would do that.

"Let's catch up with him!" Izumi suggested.

Kuroneko glanced at him, then nodded. Both of them rushed forward to catch up with Luffy, worried that he would do anything stupid.

"Where is that monster, where is that monster?" As far as Luffy's eyes could see, he didn't see any sign of a monster like Izumi mentioned. He looked in the trees, in the bushes, behind the rocks. However, it annoyed him that he didn't find anything.

*Bang*

Suddenly, someone knocked him from behind.

"Of course, you didn't find anything, you idiot!"

And the culprit was none other than Kuroneko with an annoyed face due to Luffy's behavior.

"Ouch. What the hell are you doing, Neko? And it hurts, even though I'm a rubber human."

Luffy rubbed his head because he felt pain after being hit. He looked at Kuroneko's hand holding the divine sword.

"How can that sword neutralize my Devil Fruit power?"

Luffy naturally knew that his body was vulnerable to sharp objects. But Kuroneko didn't slash him with the blade of her sword. So he wondered why the sword could hurt him.

Kuroneko herself was a little surprised that her sword was effective at injuring Luffy. She didn't know how to find the right answer. So, she said.

"Think of my sword as a sea stone!"

"Oh…"

"Well, you don't have to think about it Luffy! The most important thing is now. You don't need to rush to find the monster you want to make your crew. Just wait here! It will appear soon." Izumi appeared from behind while saying.

After around an hour of waiting, they finally heard a screech and a roar from those beasts. Izumi instantly knew what he heard was the sound of those monsters. He turned his head toward Luffy and Kuroneko.

"Let's go!" After saying that, Izumi swiftly went to the location of the beasts. Luffy and Kuroneko followed behind him.

After he thought their distance was decent enough, Izumi told them to stop.

"Wait for a while, we should let them fight first!" Izumi carefully observed the fight.

Izumi frowned.

Seeing how the griffon was fighting the manticore, it didn't look like it was fighting for territory, but was protecting something.

When Luffy wanted to dash forward, Izumi grabbed his collar to stop him.

"Wait, Luffy!"

If he remembered correctly, Luffy seemed to be able to communicate with the Intelligence beasts. So, he decided to try.

"Luffy, you said you wanted to invite that human-headed monster to be your crew. What about that eagle-headed lion?" Izumi pointed at the griffon.

"Wouldn't it be better to have both?" Luffy tilted his head.

"Think about it, Luffy! Take a good look!"

Then, Izumi pointed out that the manticore didn't care about the surroundings as if it just wanted to destroy. Meanwhile, the griffon was protecting something.

"Try to get the eagle-headed to communicate with you."

"Communicating about what?" Luffy was confused.

"Well, just befriend it! Can you do that?" Izumi asked. Luffy didn't respond right away, so Izumi added.

"If you can let that be your friend, I will cook the meat menu after this is done."

Luffy's eyes shone after he heard what Izumi said.

Luffy excitedly dashed toward the griffon, then Izumi turned his head toward Kuroneko.

"I'll hold that manticore and let Luffy tame the griffon first. If possible, you should follow him to prevent him from doing stupid things!" Izumi asked Kuroneko.

Izumi swiftly moved toward the manticore's direction, leaving Kuroneko behind. He silently drew his sword from his back.

That Manticore was in mid-air, but it doesn't matter to Izumi. With his Devil Fruit power, he could even fly after completely controlling the wind.

Usually, Devil Fruit users will adapt long enough to use their Devil Fruit powers. That's because many Devil Fruit users don't understand what kind of fruit they eat. In contrast to Izumi who had understood it even before he ate the Devil Fruit. So he was able to adapt quickly.

Izumi flew straight at the beast without making a sound. However, animal instincts cannot be underestimated. As soon as Izumi's distance was close, the manticore noticed Izumi's presence and immediately flew higher to avoid Izumi's attack.

Suddenly, the sword he held let out cold energy. He slashed forward swiftly, unleashing a barrage of hail at it. It was his sword art, Snow Sword.

The manticore noticed his attack, but it was too late to dodge. Its body glowed for a moment as if its body was imbued with magic power. Then, the hail attack was repelled by its body.

The manticore who was known as a cruel and dangerous creature glared at Izumi with a wild look as if it was ready to pounce on Izumi at any moment.

"Hehe, let me use you to perfect the sword art I just bought from the Dimensional Shop." Izumi grinned.

The manticore suddenly attacked Izumi with its tail. The tail is the most dangerous because of its deadly venom. However, that would have absolutely no effect on Izumi's intangible body.

The tail passed through Izumi's body, then he swung his sword to cut that tail.

*clank*

A clash of metallic sounds was heard. Izumi had expected that the tail would definitely be the hardest part of its body.

Izumi flew a few meters back, readily using another technique. Then, he dashed forward leaving a faint afterimage. A crossing slash was released toward the Manticore, it made the Manticore freeze for a moment.

With that opening, he stabbed forward using his sword which gave off ice energy.

*clank* *stab*

The stab was almost repelled by its thick skin. But then, Izumi pulled his sword and took a stance. He repeatedly swung the sword in a clockwise direction, and a snow hurricane formed afterward. The Manticore who just got out of a frozen state trapped in the middle of the tornado.

The hurricane he created unleashed slash after slashes of cold energy on anyone caught within. And coupled with the burst of cold energy, even the thick skin of the manticore was affected.

As soon as the tornado disappeared, Izumi could see the manticore was in a state of mess. He could also see the cut through the skin along with the blood that had frozen.

The manticore furiously roared. It was ready to fly at Izumi at any moment.

Suddenly, Izumi felt something that wanted to burst out within him. It was the Rage State of his sword art. It seemed like he could activate a rage state when a condition was met. He didn't know what the condition was, but he was sure he would find out another time.

Izumi took a deep breath. He tightly gripped his sword while taking a stance. Then, a blast of cold energy surrounded him along with the appearance of a domain that created a blizzard within, with Izumi at the center.

"A domain expansion? Interesting." Izumi murmured with a grin.

The blizzard within the domain slowed the manticore down. Basically, the domain locked up its 5 senses, so the manticore couldn't do anything once it was trapped inside the domain. One would guess, Izumi's strength had already far exceeded the manticore, so the domain suppressed it completely.

Within the domain, Izumi was not affected by cold energy at all. What's more, he felt a fluctuation that was familiar to him.

Suddenly, he disappeared from where he was standing and appeared elsewhere in the domain. It was something he didn't expect because he could use the power of space within the domain he created when activating the rage state of his sword art.

Izumi held his sword, he tried to randomly swing his sword with all his might. Suddenly, his figure disappeared and then appeared behind the manticore with a slash. Then, he disappeared again. Not even a second, Izumi reappeared from a different position with a slash and disappeared again. He kept doing it over and over again, making the manticore unable to move, and in the end, the manticore's body was chopped to pieces.

Izumi let out a sigh, and the surrounding blizzard domain disappeared when the battle was over. He didn't expect the rage state could be this powerful.