He was able to avoid the first attack, but he couldn’t avoid the second swing that Loki did by rotating his body and bringing the claymore around for another swing when the first one missed.
The problem was that Simon couldn’t see him very well because it was nighttime and it was dark everywhere. Only the snake could see Loki.
But Loki didn’t seem to have the same problems that a human should have in the dark. Thanks to the Tracking Ability of Fenrir, he was always able to see Simon and keep track of his movements.
This was why Loki was able to make informed attacks on Simon’s position. As for why his movement with the sword was so smooth and seamless, it was all thanks to the Sword Heart Metac.
Simon couldn’t dodge the second attack, so the snake had to intervene to prevent him from being cut into two from head to toe. The snake blocked the sword with its tail, and as the claymore clashed with the tail, something unexpected happened.
His physical power was at 2(Telekinesis Metac) × (0.7(Body) + 2(Exoskeleton)) × (2(Body Lever) + 2(Living Armament)) × (110% Overdrive), which is at 23.76 units.
But thanks to the enhancement of the Sword Heart Metac, the power of his attack shot through the roof by becoming (2(Telekinesis Metac + 2 (Sword Heart)) × (0.7(Body) + 2(Exoskeleton) + 5 (Dao Heart)) × (2(Body Lever) + 2(Living Armament)) × (110% (Overdrive)), which is at 135.52 units.
Just because of a single Sword Heart Metac, his power exploded by more than ten times. This is absolutely abnormal. Even a bona fide sword cultivator won’t be able to achieve something like this at his level.
He can achieve it because he is using the Core Metacs of two pathways together to elevate the power of his cultivator. He can do this because all four Core Metacs have fused with him. So only someone like him can achieve it.
On the other side, the power of the snake was 2(Status) × 3 (Cultivation level) × 3(Body) × 2(Beast Enhancement) × (200% Overdrive), which is 72 units.
The snake is a rank 3 beast. That’s why the power of its cultivation and the power of its body were at level 3. As for the enhancement of the level 2 status, the rank 2 Beast Enhancement Metac, and the 200% Overdrive, they all came from Simon.
Simon is a beast tamer, a kind of Enslavement Path cultivator. This is why he brought a snake to a sword fight and why he can enhance the power of the snake.
So the power of the snake was the combination of the snake and that of its master. Simon wasn’t giving it his all, but he expected that this should be enough to defeat Loki and bring him down.
He would have been right to think this if Loki had one pathway. After all, Loki is supposed to be a new rank 2 Cultivator. Even a veteran rank 2 cultivator like Jim could only produce an attack of 16 units.
With an attack that was three times greater than that of his peers, Simon was sure of victory. But Loki was an abnormality, so what happened was that the Claymore cut through the snake’s tail as if the snake’s tail wasn’t there.
Simon couldn’t see what was going on, but he heard the hiss of pain from the snake. This shocked him to the core, but he had to move immediately because the snake was saying, "Run. Too dangerous."
He was surprised, but he still decided to listen to the snake. So he turned around and ran immediately.
He also slapped his beast pouch and released a wolf. Then he jumped onto the wolf as he shouted at it, saying, "Run. Run now!"
The wolf began to gallop, but Loki wasn’t willing to let him go. Loki attacked again. He used the same movement where he turned around like a top and brought the Claymore swinging for another round.
He was like a whirlwind, determined to shred everything in his way. So his claymore quickly arrived behind Simon’s head. This forced the snake around his neck to defend again.
But this time, the snake used one rank 3 Metac to improve its strength and another one to improve its defensive power. So its power became 2(Status) × 3 (Cultivation level) × 3(Body) × (2(Beast Enhancement)+ 3(Python Strength) + 3(Python Scales)) × (200% Overdrive), which is 288 units.
With this kind of power, the snake was finally able to block his sword. Instead of his sword slicing through what was left of the snake’s tail, the two of them clashed, and sparks flew through the darkness of the night.
Loki was able to recover from the failed attack and rebound for another attack. In fact, he was confident in winning as long as he could tie down Simon because the Siphon Ability had already taken effect. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go his way.
As strong as his offensive power was, his physical power wasn’t that impressive. Of course, a physical power of 23.76 units is impressive compared to someone like Jim. But compared to a rank 3 wolf, who had the support of a beast master with a status, Loki’s physical might wasn’t that impressive.
Because of that failed attack, Simon was able to get onto the wolf. Once he did, Loki lost all hope of catching him. So Loki used a mental attack on Simon while he still could.
His mental attack smashed into Simon’s mind with the power of 48 units. But Simon had a mental defense of 2(Status) × 2 (Cultivation level) × 2(Soul) × 3 (Beast Soul) × 3 (Dao Heart), which is 72 units, so the attack didn’t work on him at all.
If he didn’t have a status of level 2, even if he was using the rank 3 Beast Soul Metac to protect his mind, Loki’s attack should have crippled him. Unfortunately for Loki, Simon is even worse than Slav in being privileged.