Her eyes lit up when she heard the sound of a crack, thinking she had penetrated their crystal. But when she looked up, she saw that her sword was lodged into the exoskeleton of the shadow ant.
Her eyes widened, shock written all over her face. Before she could properly analyze what had just happened, Aren attacked from behind, unleashing a Claw Strike. She yanked her sword free from the ant, spun around, and cut through the strike, but Aren was already in motion, his fist driving straight toward her.
She blocked the punch, but the force pushed her back several feet. Even then, her form didn’t falter. Her eyes stayed locked on Aren, who was already charging at her again.
’How is he capable of doing all this? He’s competent in both ranged and close quarters, and he can summon beings to fight,’ she thought, parrying his next attack and immediately countering. Aren shifted to the side, and her blade grazed the insect armor he wore. Sparks flew, but that was all.
Both of them leaped back, putting some distance between each other.
"Your team is pretty strong," Aren said. Through Shadow Sense, he could see the battle clearly. Her group was overwhelmingly dominant, and the only reason they were holding on was because of a few strong fighters on their side.
She smiled when she heard that. "You too have some heavy hitters. Sadly, only one team can survive."
She launched forward again. Aren unsummoned his wolf and ant, preparing to keep things hand-to-hand, but his Shadow Sense suddenly picked something up.
The person who had fired the first arrow nocked another one. Still hidden inside the hole in the wall, he pulled the bowstring back with all his strength and released.
The arrow ripped through the air with a sharp whistle, its tip glowing bright orange as it spun like a vortex. Aren’s head snapped toward it. For a brief moment, everything seemed to slow down.
He raised his wolf guard as fast as he could, his hand meeting the arrowhead.
The instant they collided, there was a millisecond of silence—
BOOOOM!
The blast knocked his arm back and sent him flying. He crashed through several fighters before slamming into a wall, the impact crumbling him to the ground.
The silver-haired lady glanced toward the hole and gave a short nod to her partner, the boy who had fired the arrow. He was small and slender, with sharp eyes and pale skin.
His cheeks flushed slightly when she nodded at him, and he couldn’t help but smile.
With everyone knocked out of her way, the lady walked confidently toward the crystal. She raised her sword into the air, ready to strike—
BOOM.
A gravity attack slammed down on her from above, forcing her to her knees instantly. Her body trembled under the crushing pressure. She stabbed her sword into the ground, teeth clenched as she struggled to stand.
She lifted her head, searching for the one responsible.
There—Elena.
Elena was facing three enemies at once, completely dominating them, yet she had still managed to launch that attack and stop her.
The sight infuriated the lady. She bit her lip hard until blood seeped out.
"Arghhhh!" she growled in anger. Using all her strength, she forced herself back to her feet. Her lips curled into a defiant smile as she took a single step forward—
—and was immediately met with a blast of black lightning.
Pinned by gravity, she couldn’t block it. The attack slammed straight into her chest, blasting her out of the gravity field. She bounced across the floor violently before finally coming to a stop.
"Tsk. That Elena might be the single worst person I’ve ever met," Aren muttered as he walked forward. "But she genuinely has good strength."
The damage his armor had taken from the arrow was already repairing itself.
Turns out the armor was self-repairing, and that was an insanely good perk.
Beside him walked the lightning wolf, followed by several other shadow wolves.
"I think I’ve played enough," Aren said. His eyes turned cold as he stared at the lady pushing herself back to her feet. "And I’m freaking hungry. I need something to eat, and you’re in the way."
The wolves lunged forward at full speed.
Her eyes widened. "He... he has multiple?" she said, her voice shaking slightly.
A voice in her head screamed for her to retreat, but her stubbornness drowned it out. She clenched her teeth and tightened her grip on her sword.
"I’ll cut them all down," she said.
The boy in the hole saw the situation and rushed to help. He fired an arrow at the wolves. It slammed into the ground and exploded, catching several of them in the blast and kicking up thick dust and smoke.
From within the smoke, the lady charged forward, sword raised. But she was met head-on by a massive bolt of lightning. She lifted her blade to block it, yet the impact sent her skidding back several meters.
"I can see your every move," Aren muttered, charging in as he unleashed a barrage of Claw Strikes. She was forced to block and dodge desperately as he closed the distance.
The archer prepared to fire again, but the lightning wolf raised its head and unleashed a blast of lightning breath toward the hole. Panic overtook the boy as he scrambled deeper into the cave just as black lightning smashed into the ceiling.
BOOM.
Rocks crashed down, striking the spot where he had been moments earlier. The shockwave knocked him to the ground mid-run. He turned around, eyes trembling as he sat there, frozen.
If he had stayed even a second longer, he would have died.
Fear overwhelmed him. He didn’t want to die. But when he thought of his crush, the lady fighting below, and remembered how she had said she needed him before this attack, he gritted his teeth.
Grabbing his bow and arrows, he rushed back toward the cave entrance and leaped out.