Douluo Dalu 2: Heavenly Eyed Douluo

"Roooo!!"

Loud terrifying roars echoed through the forest, shaking the very trees with their sheer intensity. The Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear charged forward, its massive frame crushing anything in its path. Each step it took cracked the ground, leaving deep footprints behind.

Its crimson eyes gleamed with extreme focus as it stopped for a moment and sniffed the air, the golden mark on its forehead glowing.

'There.' As a ten thousand year old soul beast, the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear's intelligence was equal to a human child and could think of a few human words.

How is that possible? Just nature being strange. Or was it...?

"Roo?" The Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear paused in its strides, taking a deep sniff, it recognized the scent of a human near it. It hesitated for a moment before charging towards the location of the human scent.

Although humans entering the forest isn't rare, even in the hybrid region, but it understood through their own experience that they wouldn't typically be out on night while all on their own.

'Clue!' Its eyes gleamed with bloodlust.

The Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear used all of its brain cells to come up with the idea that since its target were humans, and there was a human near it, wouldn't that mean that human might be one of its targets?

Although it was large and bulky, the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear revealed unexpected speed and nimbleness as it traversed through the forest with ease, its massive claws digging into the ground for traction. Trees bent and snapped in its path, yet it maneuvered between them with surprising agility, leaving behind deep gouges in the earth.

"Rooo!"

A middle aged man wearing a brown cloak widened his eyes in fear. "W-Why is that terrifying beast coming after me?! The princess and the others are camped on the direction behind me, I have to lead this monster somewhere else!"

Clasping his hands together, a strange cloud mist-like form exuded and spread from his body to 50 diameters, swiftly blending into the surrounding forest and darkness; appearing like a fog. His soul rings quietly appeared beneath his feet: two yellow, three purple, and three black; he's a Soul Douluo and his martial soul is "Cloud".

His sixth soul ring lit up, a dark glow enveloped his cloud and his figure flickered, becoming hazy and indistinct, as though vanishing into the very night itself—Sixth Soul Skill; Phantom Cloud. It creates a dense, illusory mist that disrupts perception, making it nearly impossible for enemies to accurately pinpoint his position.

Within this fog, he weave in and out of existence like a ghost, his presence flickering between reality and illusion as he ran near demonic the bear and started taunting it.

"Hey stupid! I'm over here!" He shouted, his voice echoing strangely within the mist, making it impossible to determine his exact location. He darted between the trees, his figure phasing in and out like a specter; heading towards a direction that lead to the outer region of the forest for the safety of himself and his group.

He hopes that he could lose it in that region; there was no way he could win against that monster! That's a Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear! And from what he had observed, it was probably ten thousand years old. That soul beast could rival an ordinary 100,000 year old soul beast!

'I have to keep it away from the group, while also making sure to lose it on the way as well. Damn it, what kind of rotten luck is this?!' The middle aged man gritted his teeth, his mind racing as he continued to weave through the forest. His heart pounded heavily in his chest, adrenaline coursing through his body as he hoped and prayed that—

"Roooo!" There was a loud bear roar then followed by five golden claw projections that rends through the air, earth and space. A large area of 10 meters was quickly ravaged by a single golden claw attack; the special attack of the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear, its Terror Claw!

"Aggh!" The man barely managed to react, his instincts screaming at him as he used every ounce of his soul power to fully maximize his sixth soul skill and was sent flying by chunks of the earth and vegetation—having barely escaped the scope of the attack.

'No, no, no. Get up. I have to hurry and run!' The man struggled to his feet, blood dripping down his forehead and a gash across his right arm.

"Rooo!"

His eyes widened as he felt a huge presence bearing down on him like a mountain. The large bear soul beast was just a few dozen meters away from him, its crimson eyes gleaming like red lightning sparking.

The sheer bloodlust radiating from the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear sent chills down the man's spine.

'It's too fast! Too strong!'

The beast's crimson eyes locked onto him, filled with murderous intent. It raised its massive claws, its golden claws lengthened by a few meters flashing ominously, space bended right before the man's eyes, as it prepared to unleash another devastating strike.

'I can't dodge in time!'

Desperation surged through the man as he instinctively gathered his remaining soul power, his seventh soul ring shining, trying to activate his Martial Soul True Body—

'—Ice?' The man blinked.

In the blink of an eye, the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear and a wide area around it was engulfed in a thick layer of ice and snow. A layer of crystalline ice spread across the ground and the trees, freezing the very air itself while the bear looked like an ice statue.

'Did Mu Xue...? No, her snow wouldn't be strong enough to freeze the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear and the environment around it in an instant. Plus,' He outstretched his hand and a single snowflake landed on his hand. In an instant, it completely froze his palm. 'This isn't ordinary ice or snow.'

He then felt another presence coming near him.

"Who—!?"

"If you want to live, I suggest you keep running." A cold, indifferent voice spoke from behind.

The man turned his head sharply, his body still tense from the near-death experience.

Time seemed to slow down as a figure emerged from an icy-mist. He was dressed in all black robes, with jade-white skin that could make women jealous and handsome facial features that wouldn't mistake him for a girl but would make almost any woman fall for him.

With long silver-white hair slightly swaying behind him and piercing reddish-golden eyes that seemed to pierce through the night and see through the man's soul.

Black flames and black ice exuded from his body in a mesmerizing yet terrifying display, intertwining like two serpents dancing in perfect harmony. The sheer contrast between the chilling frost and the consuming flames made the very air around him distort.

'W-Who is he?' The middle-aged man felt an unnatural chill seep into his bones, not just from the cold, but from something far more sinister. His instincts screamed at him—this was not an ordinary young man. 'No, what is he?'

Even as a Soul Douluo, he found himself frozen in place, his soul power circulation slowing unnaturally. His Phantom Cloud skill, which should have concealed him perfectly, flickered and faltered as the oppressive aura surrounding the figure weighed down on everything in its path.

He felt as though the mysterious youth could kill him with a single glance.

That wasn't his experience talking, but of the vast difference between their spiritual power!

As most soul masters, he never had the opportunity to cultivate his spiritual power and was around the same level as his soul power.

And standing before him was a genius that had a spiritual power at the same level of a Titled Douluo with special properties of the Ultimate Ice-Fire attribute. The difference was like comparing heaven and earth.

Huo Yuhao calmly walked past him and said, "What are you waiting for? That ice won't hold that bear for too long."

"Huh?" The middle-aged man blinked and suddenly, there was an intense shaking.

He sharply turned back towards the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear incased in ice, shaking violently as deep cracks formed along the frozen prison.

The bear's blood-red eyes reignited with intense killing intent, its body trembled wildly as an oppressive aura surged outward, distorting the air around it.

Crack!

A jagged fracture split across the ice, and in an instant, the entire frozen structure exploded outward, sending shards of razor-sharp ice in all directions.

"ROOOOOOAAAA!!"

The Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear roared with unbridled fury, its massive frame trembling with undulations of soul power. Though its body was covered in wounds from the ice's brutal encasement, they were all merely flesh wounds and it remained standing proudly, blood dripping onto the forest ground, steaming in the cold air.

The middle-aged man's breath hitched. 'It survived that?!'

"As expected of a ten thousand year old Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear, even being completely encased in Ultimate Ice couldn't deal much damage to it.' Huo Yuhao calmly smirked at the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear and raised his hand, performing one hand seal.

"Ice-Fire Release: Beast Slaying Entrapment."

The ground covered in ice beneath the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear trembled and several sharp black ice spears and black flaming spears erupted from the frozen earth, piercing through the massive frame of the soul beast.

The Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear let out a pained howl but gritted its teeth, swiping one of its claws, it shot off a terrifying golden claw projectile towards Huo Yuhao and the middle-aged man.

Huo Yuhao grabbed onto one of the man's shoulders and they both blurred.

"W-Wha?!" The man sputtered, his eyes wide in shock. What the heck was that speed?! For just a moment he couldn't follow the speed Huo Yuhao was moving.

"Go." Huo Yuhao didn't spare a look at the man and was completely focused on the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear.

The Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear trashed around, breaking apart the ice spears but the black flames stubbornly stuck to its body and spread throughout in and out of its body; causing inexplicable amount of pain to the bear.

But it ignored the pain. Its eyes stared at Huo Yuhao's face and the golden mark on its forehead shone brightly.

'Target! Found!'

Its mouth widened to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth, gleaming with intense joy that it finally found its target. Powerful undulations soul power exuded from its body, taking on the appearance of a golden aura around its body; halting the advance of the Amaterasu in its body and numbing the pain.

Its golden claws lengthened to a full twenty meters, a dark-golden glow shrouding the tips.

Hup Yuhao narrowed his eyes, he smirked and his soul rings came to existence: white, black, black, black.

"Let the hunt begin."

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2/3 chapters of the week