Kyle's body grew, while the lobster just watched.
Within a second, Kyle's body reached a humongous size of 100 meters, which was his limit.
If he grew any bigger, his power would drop.
Humans couldn't grow as much as beasts, but they could still grow quite a bit.
At this moment, a gigantic, armored titan stood in the water below the lobster.
The size of the black titan's hammer was just as big as the lobster.
'Can't enter your attacking range, eh?' Kyle thought. 'Well, what if I simply outrange you?'
A huge red flame appeared around Kyle as he shot towards the lobster again.
This time, he swung his hammer first.
Fire appeared around the hammer, and the ocean around them turned into steam.
Kyle gritted his teeth as his hammer struck the lobster's body with all of its power.
BANG!
The hammer hit the lobster, and it was pushed to the side.
But the next moment, the lobster moved for the first time.
Its tail hit the water behind it, and it shot towards Kyle.
When Kyle saw the lobster, his eyes widened.
There was not a single crack on its exoskeleton!
At that moment, Kyle knew that the lobster had to know the Fragment of Bones or Skin on top of the Fragment of Nerves.
Kyle had used up all his kinetic energy in the strike, and the lobster quickly reached him.
CRACK! CRACK!
Both of its stingers shot forward, breaking past his chest plate and burrowing into his chest.
At the same time, its other legs surrounded Kyle's torso, keeping it stuck to him.
Kyle felt the stingers moving around in his chest, and he gritted his teeth.
An impossible amount of Ether gathered on the pick of his hammer, and he changed his grip on it.
Instead of holding his hammer by its handle, he held the head like a big rock, with the pick pointing at the lobster's back.
Then, he rammed into the lobster.
Yet, just before the pick reached it, the lobster suddenly pulled its stingers out and moved downward.
The pick would bury into Kyle's own chest.
'I knew it!' Kyle thought as he angled his hammer downward.
Kyle knew this lobster was smart, and he had expected that it would not lose its cool.
He knew that it would avoid the strike so that Kyle would hit himself.
After all, that's what he would have done in its situation.
CRK!
The side of the pick scraped against Kyle's chest plate, and its horizontal momentum changed to vertical momentum.
The hammer's pick followed after the lobster, which was skillfully scurrying around Kyle's legs.
BANG!
Kyle's eyes widened in horror as the lobster's tail just slapped the hammer away.
At the same time, the lobster quickly scurried up Kyle's legs and stuck itself onto Kyle's back.
CRKSH! CRKSH!
Kyle felt the two stingers of the lobster stabbing into his back.
He couldn't attack it from that angle!
He also couldn't grow smaller since that took a while, and even if it were instantaneous, he would just end up between the lobster's many legs, which could all also be viewed as stingers.
He already had issues dealing with one stinger while small. What if he were in range of ten of them?!
'Fine!'
The next moment, Meteor Ether gathered on the back of his armor.
BOOOOOOM!
Kyle's armor exploded as all its Metal Ether transformed into Fire Ether.
The explosion was so intense that the lobster was forcefully pushed off.
At the same time, its shell turned a bright red.
When the explosion vanished, a blackened and burned human was revealed.
Kyle's entire body was burned.
Together with the four deep holes in his chest, his body had its work cut out for it. It needed to recover a lot.
Kyle's recovery was quick, but such devastating injuries still needed a couple of seconds to heal.
A couple of seconds was a long time in such a battle.
When the lobster saw that Kyle was still alive but weak, it charged at him again.
This time, Kyle didn't wear any armor.
A single strike of the lobster could bisect him like a hot knife going through butter.
Kyle's mind was going wild.
This thing was too much for him!
He would die!
But then, Kyle remembered something.
During his first fight with a Metal Elemental, he had also thought about retreating.
Back then, Theodor had just shouted a single word.
"Attack!"
Kyle gritted his teeth and readied his hammer.
The lobster approached.
Kyle's hammer was slower than usual since his body was severely injured.
His muscles just couldn't use as much power as before.
While the lobster could deal with the flat side of the hammer, the pick felt dangerous to it.
Its tail slapped the water beneath it, and it rose.
The hammer would miss.
But then, the dark-red Ether around the hammer changed shape.
Its speed suddenly shot through the roof.
The lobster noticed it and wanted to react.
However, higher reaction speed only helped when one could also move fast enough. CRACK!
The pick rammed into the side of the lobster's tail and unloaded an ungodly amount of Meteor Ether into its body.
BANG!
The lobster attacked the hammer's hilt with both of its stingers, punching it away.
Its tail had a hole in its side, but the hole was not very deep.
Thanks to its quick reaction, it managed to dispel all the foreign Ether in its body, but it had used over 60% of its own Ether to do that.
The small hole closed in almost an instant, and the lobster immediately continued shooting at Kyle.
Kyle's attack had already passed, and he couldn't launch another one in time.
He quickly went through his options.
He could use his improved Meteor Ether to retreat and recover, but that would also allow the lobster to recover.
'Attack!'
Kyle let go of his hammer and moved his hands forward.
CRKSH! CRKSH!
The two stingers shot through Kyle's hands.
And Kyle clamped his finger around them.
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