'CLANG!'

  Spearhead and beastly cws met. Garret and the beast jumped around, appearing and disappearing in Tristan's eyes. The lightning magician was clearly struggling far more than the beast from his clenched teeth and furrowed face.

  He narrowly avoided the beast's attacks. Here and there it would graze him, spraying some blood on the wall, but his eyes never lost focus, staying on the creature the entire time, not even blinking.

  The ncer ran at the beast, ducking under its long arm and sshed it two times, but leaving no mark, bouncing out of the way of the creature's attack. He jumped back, into the air till his feet touched the stone.

  For a moment, he was standing perfectly parallel to the ground.

  Garret jumped off the wall, turning into a lightning bolt, and thrust his spear at the beast. A light graze to its shoulder left no mark. The beast tried to get him, but in that moment Tristan whipped the cws away. Garret didn't even bat an eye. He continued to dash from one wall to the other, unching himself forward every time and slowly building up speed.

  He hit the arm.

  The leg cshed with the spear.

  The sharp metal head tried to ssh the beast's shoulder.

  Garret repeatedly hit the beast, each time just barely touching it; however, that was all he could do because any closer, and he would lose a limb. This way, he at least kept it on its toes.

  The creature couldn't avoid the attacks completely. Chasing Garret around like an annoying mosquito. Just as it thought it had him, he slipped away, leaving no wounds, but it stung regardless of that. So, rather than continuing to entertain the lightning thingy, which continued to hop around, it curled into a ball.

  And then it rushed at Tristan, taking a swing with its long arm. Garret appeared in front of it, his shaft impeding its nails with a thunderous explosion.

  Both fighters lost their footing, but the beast was quicker to recover. It smacked Garret with the back of its muscur hand, sending him flying into the wall.

  The impact cracked the stone as he smmed into it before he fell and started coughing blood.

  While the beast focused on Garret, Tristan ran toward it. He compressed the water that looked like a whip into a cover for his short sword.

  [Water Style: Flowing River]

  His sword sshed gracefully, and his body followed. The bde struck the beast's stomach just as Tristan ducked under its arm. He took two more steps before dancingly turning around and parrying the creature's attack at the same time before he attacked again. His bde tried to cut creature's arm muscles and belly, nevertheless, they were too shallow. Tristan's form created a flowing river around the beast as it continued trying to grab him or punch him.

  A naked eye would realize that Tristan was significantly slower than the beast, but his sword knew what the creature would do every time. It would parry and block, it would pull Tristan with it to avoid the attack. He seemed to have overwhelmed the beast. However, Tristan's eyes started to bleed. With each beautiful movement, more crimson color came from them. This was not something he could have continued to do. It was only a matter of time before it happened. His arm flew into the air after the creature sshed down with its cws.

  He stopped himself from letting out a scream by clenching his jaw as hard as he could. He rolled in between the beast's legs and performed one st side ssh, the water around his bde expanding again, the top of it going across the beast's body.

  A thin blue line appeared on its torso. The creature pced its palm on the chest before looking down. There, on its paw, was a thick blue liquid of awful smell that evaporated after a few seconds.

  It took damage!

  Tristan chuckled a little, trying to stand up. Instead, he vomited blood and his knees remained glued to the floor.

  The creature observed him for a moment before letting out a booming roar and furiously stomping forward; but when its leg hit the ground, a blue glow appeared beneath it, and before it knew what was happening, two water tentacles tangled its leg. In a fsh, a sharp metallic top coated with lightning hit its face, making it fall to the ground.

  Its head darted toward the source of the attack and growled at the man who threw the spear before it looked at its leg. It raised its arm before it sshed it off with a resounding howl.

  Two men stared at it with dited pupils. Their thoughts completely stopped as some air got stuck in their throats.

  Using that moment, the beast leaped at Tristan, but luckily, Garret was fast enough and got in its way. This time his stance remained stable and with another explosive spell, the creature got knocked back but once again recovered quickly. It reached out its arm to grab the lightning magician, still; he was ready once again and ten lightning spears fell out of the sky, making the beast sm into them.

  The bolts were creating a barrier between the two warriors and the undead creature, not unlike the prison bars. The beast realized it couldn't get through after the initial impact, instead, it moved left and right, slowly, with enraged air exiting through its exposed teeth, its eyes never leaving the pair.

  Garret knelt down next to Tristan and pced his hand on the white-haired man's shoulder before lightning sparks enveloped him. The pce where his arm used to be closed, and some color returned to his face. After a few seconds, Tristan got up, seemingly fine at first, though he coughed some blood into his hand just a moment ter.

  "How bad is it?" Garret asked through ragged breaths.

  "I'm fine." Tristan's answer came before the question had fully nded. "This is going worse than we anticipated. At this rate, they won't even be able to escape."

  Garret unwillingly shifted his gaze forward with a desperate sigh. "Yeah. Even if they started running as soon as we blocked the path, it wouldn't have been enough… You have any ideas?"

  "Hmm… I could try using [Tidal God's Ballista]."

  "Absolutely not!" Garret didn't even give it a thought. "Your body wouldn't be able to handle it."

  "So?" Tristan argued back. "We will die anyway."

  Garret took a deep breath through his nose before clicking his tongue. "Damn it!" He smacked his spear into the ground. "Yeah, I guess you are right… How long?"

  "Two minutes."

  "Start right away, twenty more seconds of [Sparky Prison] over there." He said, walking up to the lightning bars. "Why did I let Aveline name it again?" The man mumbled under his breath.

  "Do you need any healing?"

  "Oh, please. Just focus on powering up your attack. I am just fine." He responded while cracking his back. He gargled some saliva in his mouth to clear the blood before he spit it out.

  A miniature ball of lightning formed in his hand, which he then dissipated by opening his palm. The air became heavy, sparks continued to appear everywhere, while Garret got coated in lightning.

  He took in a deep breath and took a low stance, the storm around him becoming even more powerful, lightning swirling all around him. "Let's go rotting puppy."

  … 3…

  [Unicorn's Lance]

  … 2…

  [First Form]

  … 1…

  [Dauntful Stab]

  Garret moved explosively from his pce and thrust his spear forward. It went between the cws of the beast, grazing one, which caused it to change direction slightly and move toward the creature's eye. However, it managed it dodge it in the st moment.

  Tristan… in your condition and with your body…

  It swung its other hand toward him, but Garret had already disappeared from its sight. He was already behind it. His speed was incomparable with how he moved earlier. He sank his feet into the mud, his eyes shining blue as sparks flew out of them.

  [Unicorn's Lance, Second Form: Rainbow's Impaler]

  His spear thrust upward, aiming for the creature's rib cage, but once again, it wasn't strong enough to pierce through it. It just bounced off the beast's belly.

  There is no way you will survive using that attack.

  In the next second, he was in the air, behind the beast again. Using the creature's lower agility due to the loss of its leg. Now he didn't have to csh with it head-on anymore and risk dying with each of his attacks. Yet, if this was a living creature, this tactic would make it harder to kill in a single strike, though Garret not being able to pierce it made that fact irrelevant.

  [Unicorn's Lance, Third Form: 23 Raging Horns]

  His hand moved so fast that it created an illusion. Twenty-three spears came down on the beast at the same time, hitting its head and body. It raised its arms into a guard to defend as much as possible.

  This scene created a smirk on Garret's face.

  Pain? So I can hurt you, ey? Keke. Tristan. We can win this.

  Garret's eyes glowed even fiercer as his feet dug into the ground.

  I won't let your sacrifice be for nothing. You, who is the only one with any ambition past this group.

  Just as cws were a dira away from his face, Garret vanished and appeared behind the creature again.

  [Unicorn's Lance, Fourth Form: Rainbow Ssh]

  Before the beast could even begin to turn around, he made a swift attempt to cut it down.

  'Ssh,'

  Thick blue fluid flew out of the beast's back.

  It tried to backhand him, but Garret was quick to get out of the way.

  Yes, not you. I can still remember the first time we met. You were thrown away in the street, all malnourished. You weren't even an adult yet. I was so surprised when you told us you went to the Holy King's Swordsmanship Academy, keke.

  He parried the beast's attack and dodged another one before jumping on the wall and unching himself straight forward, cutting the creature's cheek.

  And I was furious when you told us they threw you out because of your body.

  Garret stopped at just the right moment, making the beast's attack just short of reaching him before hitting its chin with the butt of the spear.

  You, who is the most hard-working person I've ever seen, training for hours upon hours every single day without exception. We have others that went to the academy here, yet none of us come even close to your dedication or motivation.

  He stuck the top of his spear into the ground and threw some mud into the beast's face before avoiding its blind attacks and positioning himself.

  [Unicorn's Lance, Fifth Form: 22 Colorful Cuts]

  Simirly to before, it was as if his spear came from multiple different directions at the same time, each reflecting the light from the sun in a different color, though it was barely visible from the lightning surrounding it. Each was sshing toward the undead beast, leaving shallow cuts, but cuts nonetheless.

  And to think you had to end up with Saignemort's body. To think that because of it, you wouldn't even be able to perform one sword form without spewing out blood. You can't even fight for that long. And why? All because the damn academy expects kids to do missions on a level of high-css adventurer groups alone.

  He clenched his teeth while zipping around the beast and tainting it every time he got behind it.

  It's just not fair.

  In a swift move, he leaped onto the beast's head, using the full length of his spear to strike the beast's back before dismounting, a maneuver that caused the beast to inadvertently strike its own head.

  And now you are here, sacrificing yourself for me, your senior. You wanted to be the strongest swordsman in the world; you wanted to bear the mark of the dragon's cw but because I am too weak, you can't.

  "Screw holding it back! We will kill this bastard right here!" He screamed atop his lounges while he flew into the air behind the said bastard.

  [Unicorn's Lance, Final From: Illusionary Spear]

  "Raaaaaagh!" He raised his arm, summoning all of his strength.

  But, in that moment, something struck his body, sending him flying into the wall.

  The beast had swung its tail and got him at just the right moment.