Eryndor and his two Epic beasts were surrounded.
On one side was Zack, a knight capable of manipulating blood.
On another was Roran, who seemed to command dozens of deadly, heavenly-like swords.
And then there was Zaroth... and his summon, Luna.
Just from her presence alone, anyone could tell she was the biggest threat.
There was no need to even look at her—just the atmosphere around her seemed to bend and change, as if struggling to exist near such an unbelievably strong entity.
It felt as if the world stopped for a moment. The wind died down, and the trees stopped swaying.
All life forms in the vicinity had long since fled, sensing the scale of the battle that was about to erupt.
Then, the ground shook.
Luna immediately transformed into a giant dragon made of bone, her menacing green eyes glowing as she launched herself toward a bird-like creature with terrifying speed, ready to tear it apart.
Zack dug his foot into the ground with such force that he cracked it, then exploded forward toward the three-headed beast.
With each step, the ground beneath him shattered into dozens of pieces, debris scattering in every direction just from the sheer force of his movements.
At the same time, dozens of swords flew toward the three-headed beast.
Their speed surpassed that of arrows, and their sharp tips seemed capable of slicing the atmosphere itself.
Finally, Zaroth, gripping his sword tightly, took a deep breath and dashed toward Eryndor—the only enemy left for him.
Silverfang finally managed to rise to his four feet, grunting as he lunged at Eryndor from behind, supporting Zaroth.
Zaroth's core burned as he felt his mana draining at an alarming rate. Keeping Luna in her dragon form was a monumental task, not to mention the additional strain of keeping his wolf summoned.
On top of it all, he was pushing his body even after it had reached its limits, exhausted and broken.
Ignoring the pain, he gritted his teeth, tasting iron, as he was no doubt bleeding internally.
"Eryndor! You are mine!" he shouted.
This was the only thought keeping him going, helping him push past the unbearable pain.
Killing that son of a bitch.
Zaroth knew he had little chance of defeating Eryndor under normal circumstances. Despite being a Beast Master like him, Eryndor seemed to possess some kind of blessing that allowed him to move like a knight.
But that was only if they fought one-on-one.
Silverfang, being faster than Zaroth, reached Eryndor first.
He opened his massive jaws, saliva dripping from them, and brought them down onto Eryndor's leg, closing his mouth with enough force to shatter his bones.
"You fucking dog!" Eryndor muttered as the bone in his leg cracked.
But he didn't have much time to cry out, as the next second Zaroth was already upon him, slashing with his sword as his eyes shone with menacing green color.
He looked like a hunter about to devour his prey.
Eryndor, seeing that his two beasts were locked in combat of their own, gritted his teeth.
Then he smiled, using his arm to tap the sword Zaroth was swinging, making it miss him by the width of a hair's breath.
"Let's see you try! Let's see who is the more worthy Beast Master to live!" Eryndor shouted, clenching his palm into a fist before punching toward Zaroth.
The punch moved with inhuman speed—it was evident that Eryndor's blessing seemed to enhance his physical capabilities.
Naturally, Zaroth wasn't able to see it coming…
Or, he should have been, but without panicking, he moved his head just enough to the side so the punch missed him by a centimeter.
"What—" Eryndor seemed surprised that the opponent who was supposed to have inferior physical abilities had managed to dodge his punch.
But Zaroth didn't seem surprised by his own achievements. It looked like he was lost in thought.
Because in that moment, as he approached Eryndor, there was nothing else in his mind—not the dragon fighting a giant bird-like beast in the sky, nor the fact that his two friends were fighting a massive three-headed beast.
All he could sense… perceive, was just him and his enemy.
At that moment in time, Zaroth had managed to do it again, he replicated the thing he had been trying to achieve for two weeks now.
He had reached his peak.
*****
An earth-shattering roar erupted from Luna's massive jaws as she fired a deadly inferno of green flames aimed at the giant bird-like beast.
Without hesitation, the giant bird used its metal feathers and passed right through the deadly flame.
It only took a second, but it seemed the feathers were able to withstand the terrible heat Luna was producing with her breath…
For now.
As the deadly inferno Luna had unleashed landed on the ground, it ignited in flames.
Zack dashed with staggering speed, reaching the leg of the three-headed beast. Raising his sword, he slashed, splitting the air in two.
The beast sensed that being cut by the sword was bad news and instinctively moved its body, just barely dodging to the side.
Then it felt an unbearable pain in its side. Shifting its gaze, it saw Roran carrying Lily's injured body, as dozens of golden swords rained down toward it.
Not only that, but due to the fight happening in the sky, it seemed as if the sky itself was beginning to go into flames.
Suddenly, the third head of the beast—the one closest to Roran—grunted.
It seemed to have gotten an idea for how to deal with the deadly threat.
The beast opened its jaws wide, sucking in a staggering amount of air in an instant.
No, not just air, but the green flames in the sky as well.
Ignoring the fact that the inside of its mouth was burning, the beast's eyes shone as it took aim and redirected the inferno toward Roran.
At the same time, it bent its tail at an unnatural angle, aiming for Roran again.
No, not Roran, but the person he was carrying.
It seemed that the three-headed beast had decided to first kill the current weakest member of the enemy's squad,
Lily.