Chapter 113 : Advice & Counterattack (Part 3)
[Ahhh...Ummm, well then I shall teach you something that no one ever told you].
[First of all, this is very crucial to remember, especially fighting with a monster that is several times stronger than you].
[I must say, we are all creatures that evolved during a crisis, even I have grown this strong because I have faced many strong enemies and learned about something].
[Did you know that your enemy can evolve or transform into a stronger version of themselves?]
[Yes, that's correct...a monster can turn and evolve during a crisis, especially [Unique] or a [Boss] monsters...they are considered as dangerous because they are monsters that should be defeated in groups].
[Although one thing is, we do not know how or when they will evolve into their next phase].
[So I shall tell you this...when your opponent, a monster or a person slowly changes or transforms into something else].
[You need to do something, which is...]
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[By making sure you beat the hell out of them before they could finish doing that].
[Hm? You said that was a dirty tactic? Oh please, I'm not a [Saint] or [Hero] who would wait for my enemies to change into their much stronger version].
[If you are in the same position as them, will you say the same thing?]
[Survival is the most crucial thing, everyone could change in a moment of crisis, and that includes you all].
[So whenever you feel something changes, if you feel that you have a new skill you unlocked during the fight... make sure you do it somewhere else]
[Why? Your opponents are standing there, of course! You are a dumbass if you think they would wait!]
[So what?! Are you gonna wait for them to change as well? When you couldn't even defeat them in the first place].
[So no matter how dirty of a tactic it is, your lives are much more precious than the enemy who tried to kill you]
[You need to become the lowest of the lowest, more despicable, more cunning than your opponent so they wouldn't see it coming].
[Make sure to put on your most innocent look and use it to trick your opponents into thinking that you will fight fairly!]
[Now, I shall tell you this again! And remember about it!]
[If your opponents are trying to transform, evolve, or change into some sort of a new phase, don't let them be].
[Beat the hell out of them and tell them this...].
After he spoke the last part, it was the end of the lecture came from a certain person who led this adventurer team.
And those words rang through their heads when their opponents got struck by an arrow that came from their teammate.
"W-what did you do–!!!"
Hera, Kara, Guld, and Mira asked the same thing to them.
Of course they all recognized the arrow that struck their enemies, to think such situations happened like that.
All of them were smirking as they looked at them proudly when they remembered the words of their leader, to respond their question.
"Shut the fuck up~!"
They said the same thing, and provoked their injured enemies.
"You–!!"
On different locations, but with the same situation.
The cause of it was none other than the person at the center and the highest building in the Kingdom, where she shoot those arrows and interrupted their changes.
******
At the bell tower, Ruru was found holding her bow and accompanied by her spirit, Sylph.
"Phew, that was nerve-wracking." Ruru spoke while sweating a bit.
"You did great Ruru." Then a voice came from an orb that was next to her, Rei.
"Well, it's thanks to your training and lecture that we're able to do this."
"Huh?? What kind of lecture did you give to them?" The one who asked such a question was Eindride who was with him this whole time and helping him to walk towards the Kingdom.
"Well mostly it's about how to survive, he told us to beat the hell out of someone when they change, something like transforming or evolving." Ruru explained with a smile.
While Rei was nodding, Eindride had his disgusted look while looking at him.
"You're so low, that's so dirty."
"I mean…she did a perfect job since she's an Archer which also means it's her job to interrupt the enemy."
"But to think she's doing that while they are in the process of transforming or evolving...that is pretty low and you were the one who taught her, I thought you wanted to be a knight."
"I said that too onii-chan, but this person said..."
"What does being a Knight have to do with it?" Rei asked.
"See?" Ruru sighed.
"Eeehhh..." Eindride stared blankly at him.
"Well having to survive is much more important, you cannot complain if your opponents used something to cheat right? So why can't we?" Rei spoke matter-of-factly.
Eindride was about to deny it but he stopped since Rei had a point.
"Well enough of that...how is the situation over there?" Rei asked her through the orb.
Then Ruru's eyes glowed bright green and looked at her teammate's locations.
"They are doing great, they managed to fight against them pretty well, with the presence of Albert-sama, Fang managed to fend off one of the enemies."
"I see, so Albert came to aid him, well with his skill, Fang is most reliable when he has someone with him."
"That is true...they managed to fight toe to toe with this monster and managed to follow Albert-sama's movement."
"I guess that is the result of his training." Rei looked proud of it.
"I am more surprised that Andrew managed to awaken his element affinity aura, to think he could create lightning from it..."
"Well aura is based on the type of the holder, since Andrew had a good speed and reflexes, I already guessed he would acquire lightning for his element," Rei spoke.
"And I did said that people will slowly grow during a crisis moment right?" Rei added another words.
"Ohhh! That's amazing! You know that Andrew have that kind of ability!"
"I am not amazing, it just my speculation."
"But you are also amazing, you're contracted with the 2nd rank Wind Spirits, [Sylph]." Rei complimented her.
"Right? Isn't she strong? that's my little sister for you!" Eindride spoke proudly.
Rei could only chuckle upon hearing it, "okay, what about the enemies?"
"I managed to interrupt them, their injuries are pretty severe, two got one of their arms ripped off, one got it on the abdomen part and the last got it on some sort of a…wing. Yeah, I think that woman was turning into some sort of winged monster."
"Well, you did great, just focus on evacuating the citizens like what Fang told you."
"Roger that, but I have a favor to ask."
"What is it?"
"If we manage to fend off the enemies...will you tell us about how you fight against a Dragon?!" Ruru spoke excitedly.
"Hmm?? Heh, sure and, while we're at it...I might give you guys some sort of a reward as well."
"Ohhh! Reward!"
"Now then, focus on helping them out, me and Eindride are on our way back to the Kingdom."
"Yes sir!" After that, the connection was cut off.
Rei sighed, "Phew, this isn't getting easier." He spoke while he looked at his right burned arm.
The burnt injuries that came from using [Hell Flame], it took a toll on him who is not the user or the owner of this dark flame.
'To think such things happen when we're fighting with that Dragon, even though I want to grab and take the material...but the Kingdom is still far from safety.' Rei thought while he walked with the help of Eindride, who held his arm over his shoulder.
Rei closed his eyes, 'Make sure you win the fight....you guys.'
******
In the next second after the invaders got injured severely, they all thought the same thing.
'Chance!'
They couldn't wait any longer as they took their chance to hold their weapon.
Andrew clad his sword with his lightning aura, 'Focus them all into max!'
Erika and Dahlia immediately prepared themselves. Erika dashed towards Guld, and Dahlia prepared her lightning magic.
Then Kagura quickly gripped her dagger tightly, then dashed at Mira, who was looking confused at her right arm that was holding her sword got ripped off.
Finally, Albert clad his sword with his dark flame, a skill that came from his sword. '[Zwart Ignis].' Two kinds of energy are mixed into one, corrosion and fire.
Meanwhile, Fang clad his body with his orange aura as the two immediately dashed at Hera, who fell after she lost her left wing.
"....?!"
They weren't ready to anticipate their attack and so...
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It was too late for them.
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"DAMN YOU–!!!"
Kara got angry after his left arm was ripped off by an arrow.
"If I know who you are!! I will rip you–!!"
"Is it really the time to be distracted?"
Kara, who couldn't contain his anger, forgot one important thing in this situation…
*SLASH*
…his enemy is still there.
Andrew appeared behind him and swung his sword, slashing at Kara's back and injuring him there.
"Aghh–!!"
Kara, who focused on his ripped left arm, was immediately struck by his opponent's sword from behind and fell down to the
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*BAM*
Erika struck her fist towards Guld's abdomen, where there's no armored rock that spread around his body.
"Oghh–!!!" Guld coughed out blood, but it wasn't over yet.
*BZZZTT*
Dahlia gathered lightning magic on her staff.
'Focus on one point and...[Lightning]!'
After that, she fired her lightning at them. Erika immediately jumped back and flipped her body to dodge the flying lightning.
*ZAAPP*
Guld got the direct hit through his abdomen. Since the lightning was condensed into one point, her lightning managed to put a hole in his abdomen.
"Ugh–!!" Guld coughed out a massive amount of blood after being injured fatally like that.
Mira, who saw her comrade was felled by these two adventures, lost her concentration and forgot that she had her enemy waiting in front of her.
"Guld–!!!" Her transformation failed, of course, as her body was partially filled with these green scales.
Before she could run to save her comrade, she immediately noticed the approaching presence.
Kagura was running at her, dashing with high speed while holding her dagger that was filled with a sinister red aura.
"You–!!!" Mira then used her twin tail hair that was shaped like a snake's head. "Don't get in my way!!!"
*SHHAAAAAA*
The two snakes stretched out to bite off Kagura, who approached her without stopping.
Kagura dodged the snake's heads by twirling her body in between them and slipping away as she ignored their existence while her eyes were focused on her target.
"No...no–don't come here–!!!"
As she pleaded to stop, it was too late for her, too.
"[Kill]." Kagura accelerated her speed so fast that she suddenly appeared at Mira's back.
*SLASH*
Then, a diagonal straight cut throughout her body was formed as her blood spurted out like a rain.
"Ack–!!!"
*DROP*
The two of them dropped their bodies to the ground, lifessly.
Finally, the invaders that came from the north-western and eastern side of the wall....had been subjugated.
Meanwhile...
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At the northern side, the fight was about to finish as well.
Albert and Fang dashed in full speed at the injured enemies right in front of them.
Hera held onto the injuries on her left shoulder where her left wing were ripped off at the same time.
"Fuckkkk–!!!!" Since she is still the strongest among them, she still had a lot of energy to spare to face them.
Ignoring her injuries, she charged at them but...
Unexpectedly...
*BOOM*
Hera swung her fist straight to the ground, creating a large fissure and cracks on the ground.
Interrupting their attacks, but it was meaningless.
*SLASH*
Albert swung his sword, in such high speed to cut through the cracked grounds that got in their way, the ground turned into nothing but dust thanks to the corrosion effect from his sword.
"What–!!! You–!!!"
Then he was greeted with a fist flying at his face from Hera's right hand.
*THUD*
But Fang switched places by pushing Albert aside and swung his sword that was clad with his aura, straight down from above towards her fist.
"[Earth Shatter]!!"
Fang shouted his skill when his sword clashed against her fist, which caused a large shockwave and cracks to the ground.
*THUNG*
Hera widened her eyes when her fist flung away along with Fang's sword, but Hera still had her other fist, which she swung at him in such a position like that.
'Ugh–' Fang couldn't pull his sword back from the collision.
*THUD*
But Albert went ahead and appeared in front of him.
'You–?!' It suprised Hera to see Albert went back in front of her again.
Albert swung his sword and...
*THUNG*
Her fist clashed with his sword again, and it caused Hera to lose her balance due to her two fists being pushed away.
And it didn't stop at that...
*TAP*
When Fang landed his feet on the ground, he immediately stomped his feet harder to the ground and launched himself at her.
'You fucker—?!!' Hera cussed when Fang raised his sword again.
"This is the end!!" Fang swung his sword with all his might.
*SLASH*
A perfect diagonal slash throughout her body as Hera, the leader of the invader who was also the leader of her [Blood Rose] group.
Had finally fallen prey upon this adventurer's sword.
*DROP*
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At the same time, Kara fell on his knee with his injured back from Andrew.
It also left a burnt injury caused by the lightning effect from his aura. And finally, the two of them fell down because of the injuries they received.
When Fang looked at her on the ground, he gripped his sword tightly....
"UWAAAAAAA!!!!!!" and shouted to celebrate his victory.
"WE WON!!!!!" Then he raised his sword.
Along with the soldiers who came back for them, to see their enemy had fallen by their hands.
"WOAAAHHH!!!" The Elf soldiers celebrated as well, seeing them winning against such monsters together.
Fang slowly fell on his knee while panting a bit, "That was...tiring, is this how you always felt? Crimson." Fang muttered while looking towards the sky that slowly brightened their mood.
Albert couldn't help but smile to see that.
*RING* *RING* *RING*
Within Fang's pocket, he heard a sound and he took it out to see who was the one who interrupted them.
It's the communication orb.
*THUD*
Then they answered the call.
"Come on, don't interrupt–"
"It's not over yet!!"
Fang and Albert widened their eyes when he heard those words...
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It was at the same time as Andrew and Lena who also got the same answer.
Upon hearing that, they immediately turned their backs around.
*BAM*
Albert and Fang received a kick from behind while Andrew received a punch.
"Ugh–!!"
The three were sent flying a bit and they saw something.
Their enemies…that supposed to be on the ground managed to stand right back on their own.
Kara, who got bleeding injuries on his shoulder and back, managed to stand on his feet while his body still remained in half transformation.
"Damn you..." Kara coughed a bit of blood.
Lena, who saw him still standing, looked horrified, "You're still alive!–"
While Hera could barely stand with her injuries on her body and a wing that was still leaking out blood and also her mouth.
"Dammit..."
*SWOOSH*
The three managed to land on their feet and dashed on their enemies that were still standing without hesitation and swung his sword from above.
*SWOOSH*
But their sword didn't make any contact with their enemies and instead...
Hera and Kara immediately jump backwards to dodge their attacks.
"—?!!"
As the two of them landed on one of the buildings behind them, they...
*SWOOSH*
Began to flee from there, back towards the gaping hole in the wall.
"Stop them!!!" They shouted at the elf and Ruru who watched from the tower to prepare their bow and shot their enemies down.
The sky was covered with a rain of arrows but Hera and Kara kept on running.
"Kill them all!!" Both of them shouted until two large monsters came out from behind a building in their locations, providing cover to them.
*GRAAAAAA—*
"Don't get in my way!!!"
Andrew, Fang, and Albert shouted and swung their swords at these monsters. "Stop!!–"
As they shouted those words, they could see Hera and Kara from behind these monsters. The enemies managed to reach the hole on the wall.
They looked back at them, and they showed them a wide smirk, "Heh~ bye~"
They left
"Dammit!!!!—"
They were forced to focus on the remaining monsters that were left behind after they fled.
******
*SWOOSH* *TAP*
Hera was found jumping through each tree as she held onto her injuries to keep her from bleeding out.
"Dammit...dammit!" After a while, she rested for a moment on one of the branches and leaned her body against the tree beside her.
"The injuries....to think they have such power..." Hera muttered.
She was about to relax but stiffened when she felt a presence approaching her.
"Who–?!"
"It's me...leader." Kara showed up from the other side of the tree, his body was covered with injuries as well.
"Kara! Wait–where are the others!?" Hera wondered why he was the only one who came back.
"The others...I think they have been defeated." Kara spoke while he gripped his left arm that was torn apart and tried his best to stop the bleeding.
"How…it can't be..."
"I never thought they would launch such a dirty attack like that while I was about to transform."
"You too!?"
"Yeah...I did sense the one who shot an arrow towards me and I ended up in this state–" then Kara stopped his explanation. "Wait–you too??" He eventually realized that Hera had suffered from similar injuries as he was.
Having her left wings torn apart and left with a big injury on her body.
"What…it…impossible…." Kara looked at her injuries in disbelief.
"They did the same...when I was about to transform, I underestimated them." Hera spoke.
"Right now, we must focus on escaping and report this to our Goddess."
"Yes, leader we'll—"
Despite the fact that they had already escaped...
*SWOOSH*
They were far from safety...
When Kara was about to finish his speech…
*TWINGG* *BOOOSH*
Without even noticing it, he was struck by something that caused his body to be partially torn apart from his left chest and down to his left abdomen.
*CREAKK* *BOOM*
And a tree that was behind them fell...along with Kara who fell lifelessly to the ground.
"Lea...der."
Hera widened her eyes to see her comrade died right before her eyes. When she looked at her back, she found a spear that was stuck on the ground, creating a hole there along with the tree that fell because of this spear.
"A spear?! From where?!" Hera looked around to see where this spear came from, using her eyes that turned into sharp like a beast's eyes.
And she found the person who's done it.
Hera widened her eyes and gritted her teeth as she called the name of the culprit.
"Crimson!!!—" as she shouted the name, her voice resounded loud enough to be heard from where he was standing, far away from her spot.
Rei remained in his position after throwing that spear using his left arm.
"Ugh—" Then he fell to his knees, "Did we get her."
"Yes, we did! But you should stop pushing yourself!" Eindride nagged him.
Hera was furious, "I will kill you!!—" When she strengthened her feet, she failed to notice another presence from behind her.
"Woah~ as expected of the Adventurer that I hired, to think he could throw a spear this far." Then a girl's voice came out from behind her.
When Hera looked behind her, a rapier was pointed right at her.
A familiar girl standing on the tree branch behind the broken tree which was still a bit far from where she stood.
"You are—"
Yes, the girl was Iris who suddenly appeared right in front of her.
"Hi~ and goodbye~ Hera~"
Hera was shocked to hear her name uttered from her mouth, "How—?!!"
"Goodbye~ [Nemesis]."
Then a small orb of light with darkness within, was fired with such a high-speed from the tip of her rapier and struck right in the middle of her chest, which left a gaping hole.
"Ugh—"
Without any resistance, her body fell down from the tree.
'Ahhh...Goddess...
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My lady Minerva...
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I'm sorry."
*THUD*
Hera finally took her last breath while thinking of her master as her body fell on the ground beside Kara's body.
Iris then looked down at the two of them and smiled, "Don't worry~ I will send your master to your side...sooner or later, Hera~"
To be continued...