My surroundings started crackling with arcs made from pure energy as I activated Lifeblood. Marks appeared all over my skin, and fire-like energy covered my body as a bloody mist slowly expanded.
“…!”
The thin man quickly realized that he was at a disadvantage, but we were already right in front of each other. His palm touched my face, but my sword had already slashed his arm’s muscles before they could even contract.
Before the blood could even spew out of the wound, my next slash was already released, cutting his triceps and deltoids. In just one sword swing, his entire right arm became completely unusable.
“Get away from Melchor!”
The other guy roared, seeing that his buddy’s arm was bleeding. He raised his sword up high and dashed forward, faster than what an 8th-stage tamer could normally achieve.
When he got within range of the sword, a series of slashes came at blinding speeds. However, to me, who had lifeblood activated, it looked as slow as a slug. As if his sword was staying still in one place.
It was to the point that I even had time to observe Ember’s fight while defending against the attacks.
There were five beast-type monsters attacking Ember and the rest. All of them were at the 5th to 6th stages, making it a hard battle for the girls who were at the 4th to 5th stages.
After some exchanges, their formation quickly transformed. Ember acted as the frontline, focusing on two 6th stages alone while the rest of the girls were fighting three 5th stages. The battle power in both matchups was pretty balanced, making their fight not have a clear winner.
This stalemate situation was seemingly devised by Hekate, who was commanding from the back while using support skills to boost everyone’s battle strength. Her earlier timid appearance completely disappeared as she commanded everyone with a gallant appearance, as if she were a General in the middle of a war.
Her plan was pretty obvious, though. She was waiting for reinforcements to break the balance of their fight. In short, whichever team wins from our side would be able to clean up the rest too.
Seeing that their side was stable, I turned to Fang. She, on the other hand, was facing the same two 7th-stage space-element monsters of the tamer I’m currently facing. They were pretty agile, but Fang was even faster. Without their ability to teleport short distances instantly, they wouldn’t have lasted as long as they did against her.
“Why the f*ck are we getting pushed back by these weaklings?! It wasn’t supposed to go like this!”
The guy I was facing cried in confusion. His sword hand was slowly losing strength, as if his burst of speed and power was already over.
“Finished? Then it’s now my turn.”
As soon as his sword swing was no longer enough to threaten me, I took a step forward and went on the offensive. Each strike I made left a deep scar on his sword, and slowly but surely, it was getting chipped from the edges.
“Fina!”
Ember’s shout took my attention, making me turn to the other side of the battlefield again. There, Fina was kneeling by the side, her shoulder bleeding heavily. Did the enemy get her major arteries? This is bad.
As I was starting to panic, a gleam entered my eyes. The sword of the skeleton man was coming for my neck from the front, while the other man’s sword was lunging from the back. Before I realized it, I was in the middle of a pincer attack!
“But still too slow!”
I’m currently using Lifeblood to raise my strength to a 9th-stage, or King-level, tamer’s level. So to me, the pair’s speed right now is no longer a threat. Without even feeling the need to swing my sword, I just sidestepped to dodge the lunge coming for my back. For the other one, I curled my finger and flicked the sword, which was aiming for my neck, upward before ducking down and letting it miss. ．
Using the motion of my dodge, I lowered my stance and resheathed the sword in my hand. Energy gathered in the center of my body before spreading around my limbs and even my sword, leaking into my surroundings. The surge of energy caused another set of purplish-black lightning arcs to appear, creating a majestic scene as I calculated my sword’s path.
“[Echoing Thunderclap]!”
I didn’t let the process complete itself, though, as even the weakened version of it was more than enough to handle them. A flash spread, and everyone suddenly fell to the ground. Arms and legs flew, separating from the bodies of their previous owners. I sheathed my sword, sighing in relief, before running to Fina.
“Fina, are you okay?”
I quickly opened up the collar of her clothes, checking the state of the wound. However, her entire left shoulder was crushed, as if she had been bitten hard by something.
“Here, drink this!”
I quickly passed her a million Credit worth potion, and although with difficulty, she managed to empty its contents into her mouth in moments.
*PSSSSSSH!* *CRAAAAACK!* *CRACK!*
A sizzling sound echoed before the symphony of her bones cracking was heard. Her wound was rapidly closing up, releasing steam as it went. The injury vanished without a trace soon, only leaving a bloody shoulder and a punctured dress.
“… Uhm… Thanks, Will.”
Fina muttered as she quietly pulled her dress up, hiding her exposed mountains from sight. Ah, I was so focused on healing her that I forgot to enjoy the view!
I inspected the surroundings and found that Fang was already done on her side too. I guess only two 7th stages weren’t enough to completely stop her rampage.
The monsters that the others were facing were already out of commission, as I took them out together with the two tamers. It was on the way anyway.
After that, we started gathering the twelve weaklings and the two powerful tamers, tying them all in one large bundle using a rope that Ember had just made using her clone. It was as tough as steel while being as flexible as a strand of hair.
I dusted off my hand after finishing tying everyone up.
“What to do…?”
The thin man already divulged a large part of their background, so it wasn’t hard to guess who their true backer was. However, honestly, I don’t care who it is, but as long as they try to threaten our daily lives, then that means their remaining days as a “large” group will be limited.
Shortly after, the rhythmic sound of footsteps echoed from the main road. As soon as the sound approached the alley, a two-dozen-strong platoon of guards appeared.
“We received reports of a brawl between two powerful tamers. Are you related to that matter?”
The guard at the front asked.
Looking closely, he was the same guard from yesterday who dragged the drunkards to the guard station to rest behind bars. It seems that my memory was correct because as soon as he saw twelve familiar faces, his expression quickly turned sour.
“This… Looks like it’s a case of mismanagement on our part. Please accept our apologies for this matter.”
Well, seeing the twelve guys that they caught yesterday causing more trouble, of course they would feel responsible for it. Well, rather than the twelve, I was more worried about the ones behind them, though.
“These guys look like they were part of some brotherhood or gang or something. Do you know anything about it?”
“Gang? They’re members of the Python Guild, so maybe you mean that?”
“… Python?”
Why use a python instead of more fierce-sounding snakes like cobras or coral snakes? As if reading my confusion, the guard smiled wryly before explaining.
“The leader of the guild has a python beast as his first tame. Thus the origin of their guild’s name.”
I see, then it’s reasonable.
While we were chatting, the other guards were already dragging the tied-up assailants away. I asked what they plan to do with them, but it seems like they’ll only stay behind bars for a week. They were regulars in the slammer, apparently.
After everything was done, I moved to the girls and checked their states. Other than Fang, who had a few scratches, and Fina, who was weakened after receiving an almost fatal wound, the rest were fine. Hekate was depressed, though, blaming herself again for Fina’s injury.
“It’s not your fault but mine for letting my guard down.”
Fina soothed her, patting her head gently as we walked back. It wasn’t effective, however, as Hekate was convinced that without her commanding them, Fina should be able to dodge such an attack. Well, it’s Fina we’re talking about, who wasn’t that good in terms of physical ability. I doubt she would be able to dodge a bite from a monster several times faster than her.
As we reached the inn, we separated as we reached our rooms. I sent a message to Minerva through the link, letting her take care of soothing her sister. As we entered, I saw Igni still sleeping. I couldn’t help but smile at her snoring, so I went to the bed and lay down.
I don’t feel like moving anymore, as I was staring at the ceiling with my arms and legs spread wide. The mental fatigue from using the Administrator Privileges to fix the kids and even using [Lifeblood] and [Echoing Thunderclap] earlier took a toll on my psyche. More than what I even imagined.
But the greatest reason was probably because I was too excited for tomorrow to come. I was so excited that I went past the “unable to sleep” state and just shut down.
Soon, the fated day had come.