It was a full red moon in the sky. The night had turned crimson, casting bloody shadows in the forest. The atmosphere looked so terrifying that it felt like hell had descended on Vyoman.
Yet there was something more crimson, making even the moonlight of the red moon seem dull — my bloodied body kneeling before the absolute presence of the Goddess.
She was levitating in the sky, her remaining two tails waved behind her body emitting a thick, unnatural purple aura.
Her eyes gazed at me as if I were an insignificant insect.
My heart was beating faster and faster; every breath took a toll on me. I couldn't put enough strength into my legs to get up.
"Where—where is my sword?" I blurted between breaths, struggling to speak. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novel-fire.net
"It must have been swept away by Jambavan's attack," Vyaghra said. "You should rest for a bit now. If you die, then no one will be able to cure the Queen."
"He is right," Nymeria interrupted. "Lord Jambavan and I are basically unscathed, and Lord Vyaghra only has minor bruises. Let us take it from here."
I wanted to argue, but I didn't have the strength for that.
"Alright then, I will stay back for the moment," I said as I raised my foot to step back.
The instant I turned, a sound rang out.
One of Gumiho's hands, which was coming for my head, was being held by Nymeria's sword and Vyaghra's daggers, while the other was caught in both hands of Jambavan.
"Leave him alone, Yer Grace," Jambavan mumbled. "We'll play with ya."
Gumiho growled at him, putting more force into her claws. The group began to be pushed back, the ground beneath them splitting.
"Jambavan, there's no point holding back," Vyaghra shouted, his hands trembling as he tried to hold Gumiho's claws. "It's time to go all out."
"Ay was waitin' for ya to say that," Jambavan responded, his face laced with a smirk.
Both of them roared, their bodies began to grow larger, and fur sprouted across them. The clothes they wore expanded along with their bodies.
Jambavan's nose stretched forward, his face reshaping into that of a bear, while Vyaghra's whiskers flared and his face molded into the predatory countenance of a tiger.
They clutched her hands and rotated their bodies at the same time, hurling her into the sky.
As she tumbled through the air, she expanded her palms behind her back.
In an instant, a wall of purple plum blossoms appeared behind her, catching her midair.
The moment her footing returned, she struck her hands forward with a thunderous clap.
All the petals beside her bolted toward us like a tornado.
Jambavan immediately grabbed me by the pants and threw me backward, out of the crater.
"You monstrous bastard!" I shouted while airborne. "Can't you see I am fucking injured?"
Coincidentally, I fell on a pile of dirt, which reduced the impact significantly.
Meanwhile, as the petals approached them, Nymeria swung her sword vertically, froze the petals ahead of them, and split the remaining into two paths, each heading for Jambavan and Vyaghra.
Jambavan opened his mouth and sucked the air in as his chest began to bloat.
He blasted it out like a jet, sending all the petals backward.
The blossoms landed on the ground hundreds of feet ahead of them and exploded like a volcano.
I shouted, throwing an empty fist,
"Now we're talking—cough... cough—Aaghh, I shouldn't scream."
Gumiho shrieked, baring her fangs, and formed another cluster of petals in her hands.
"Doesn't she get tired?" I muttered, lying on the dirt, being a side character in my own story.
Before she could launch the attack, a slice mark appeared on her face, and a drop of blood came out of it.
She stopped for a brief moment, looked around her body, and then, after failing to find any presence, raised her hand again.
The petals began coiling into a spherical ball, rotating intensely in her hand.
Yet again, the moment she was about to throw it, a deep cut slashed her shoulder below the neck, and her arm fell freely, swinging like a dead weight.
"Haha~! I can never forget this annoying ability. The hunt has begun," I scoffed, pushing my head slightly upward to witness the battle.
In no time, more and more marks began appearing on Gumiho's body.
She started throwing her hands randomly while screaming, trying to attack the opponent that couldn't be heard or seen.
I chuckled, seeing her lose her temper. "I had felt the same. It's frustrating, isn't it?"
While Vyaghra kept her distracted, Nymeria whispered something to Jambavan. They were quite far from me, so I couldn't decipher what they were scheming.
However, judging by the smug look on their faces, one thing was sure—whatever their plan was, Gumiho definitely wasn't going to like it.
Nymeria raised one arm and leveled her sword along it, mimicking the motion of drawing an arrow from a bow.
Her sword began to glow white as particles of ice materialized, swirling around it in a spiral like a strand of DNA.
She loosened the grip on her sword and slowly removed her hand.
Yet the sword didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it started revolving opposite to the direction of the ice around it.
She stepped back, one of her hands still pointing at the blade, guiding the flow of ice.
Then Jambavan moved forward, clenched his fist, drew it back, and shouted at the top of his lungs,
The sword shot forward at a speed even my eyes couldn't follow, aimed directly at Gumiho.
Still, Gumiho sensed it coming and immediately moved her hand forward to block it.
But the speed was too extreme, and the torque with which it was rotating added several levels to its lethality.
It pierced through her hand and stabbed into her stomach. Crystal ice spread from the point of contact, covering her entire body.
"Is it really over this time?" I muttered as she began to fall from the sky.