‘I need to deal a decisive blow,’ Leo thought as he ran around the shaman, looking for an opportunity to land a blow that would completely turn things in his favor or maybe kill the shaman.

While it wasn’t going to be easy, Leo was certain that he could do it. All he needed was to put the shaman in a situation where he would be unable to react.

As he looked at the shaman, Leo’s mind moved quickly as he went through various scenarios that could help him put an end to this fight.

First, any skills that would enhance his attributes were excluded. So, surprising the shaman with a sudden burst of power wasn’t possible. He could also try to drag the shaman in the air. That way, the shaman who didn’t know how to fly would be unable to exert his power and would be at Leo’s mercy. With his wind magic, Leo had plenty of ways to keep the shaman in the air for a few seconds at least. That should be enough to achieve his plan.

‘If that didn’t work, and I doubt it won’t, I can just try to set a situation where he would be unable to defend himself,’ Leo thought, ‘I can try to stun him with an earth-shattering stomp or trap him using quicksand.’ Now, all that remained was to put those thoughts into action, and hopefully one of them would work.

“You are annoying,” the shaman said. Right now, he was cutting quite a sorry figure and from his expression, it was easy to see that he was getting seriously pissed at Leo. ‘Since you want to play like this,’ he said, then stopping, he turned and glanced slightly toward the place where Celia was recovering. 

There was no need to say more after that. That simple glance was more than enough to make Leo clearly understand the shaman’s intentions. 

‘Why did he have to be so shameless? Why can’t he just be a straightforward orc and fight without any tricks?’ Leo complained as he felt like cursing the shaman’s whole ancestry. He had to admit that it was annoying fighting this kind of person. Though, all jokes aside, the shaman’s decision was a good one. If he decided to go after Leo’s companions, he could force Leo to clash with him head-on.

It was like he was telling Leo, ‘since you don’t want to let yourself be beaten up obediently, I would go after your friends. Let’s see where you can run now.’

Acting as if Leo didn’t exist, the shaman raised his hammer and dashed toward the crowd that was fighting against the unknown orc.

‘It is a good idea, but I won’t let things go as you expect them to,’ Leo thought as he was still able to keep his calm despite the dire situation. Though the shaman’s strategy could force Leo into a direct confrontation, Leo had zero intention to block in front of his friends.

As he saw the shaman quickly move toward Celia and co, Leo first activated spirit halo. Until now, he had been avoiding spending too much of his mana. His regeneration was barely able to keep up with the curses’ effect. But now he couldn’t really care about that.

The moment spirit halo was activated, he could feel his mana flow and elemental control get smoother. Then, he cast shadow spike and dozens of shadow spikes spurred on the shaman’s path, threatening to skewer him

‘You don’t have to make it so easy for me,’ Leo said, a small smile on his face as he saw the shaman jump up to avoid his attack. Then, unwilling to waste this opportunity, he bolted toward the shaman while gathering wind to spend him further in the air.

However, something unfortunate happened just as he reached the shaman and was about to unleash his attack upon him.

‘Not now,’ Leo cursed as he felt his mana and the wind he gathered slip from his control. As his spell was canceled, Leo was assaulted by a slight headache and paused for a slight second. Still, that single second was enough for the shaman who was able to land safely and attack him.

‘Fuck,’ Leo cursed, feeling really unfortunate as a fire-wreathed hammer was smashed against his face and he was sent tumbling in the air. Then, before he could recover his balance, the shaman attacked him once again. It was clear he wasn’t planning to waste this opportunity to take the upper hand.

‘This sucks. Also, I am starting to run out of mana and stamina,’ Leo, who just used a shadow jump to escape from the shaman’s attack, muttered as he tried to ignore the pain he was feeling at the moment.

“You really deserve my respect, gru-gru,” the shaman said as he looked at Leo with some admiration. He was sincerely impressed by Leo’s resilience. To be able to last this long despite being severely weakened and constantly tormented by the curses was something even he wasn’t sure he could do the same if he was in Leo’s position. He knew how difficult it was as he was the one to cast the curse.

‘Respect uh. So, what about fighting against me fair and square,’ Leo thought bitterly as he saw the shaman dash toward him once again. He had to admit that he also respected him a little. After all, he knew that there weren’t many people at that level that could corner him so much.

‘Well, the world is big, so there should actually be many people that can,’ Leo thought, laughing at his own arrogance. It was dumb to think that there weren’t people who were better than him out there.

‘Earth shattering stomp,’ he thought as he stepped hard on the ground, destroying it completely. Then the shaman who had just entered his attack range was blasted in the air. Even worse for him was that the slight probability of him getting stunned was triggered, leaving him at Leo's mercy.

‘Look like it is over,’ Leo thought, suddenly feeling that luck hadn’t completely left him.

‘Wind steps. Fatal strike.’ He thought as he spent all his remaining mana. In an instant, he vanished from his position and appeared in front of the shaman. In a last struggle, the latter wreathed in a sea of fire hoping to protect himself. However, acting as if he couldn’t feel the hundred degrees fire burning him, Leo opened his mouth wide and bit the shaman’s head, cleanly and brutally tearing it off his body.

‘It is over. Finally,' Leo muttered as he felt a wave of relief wash over his body. However, just as he was feeling relieved something unexpected happened. He suddenly started bleeding crazily and he fell on the ground as all strength seemed to have left his body. Then it was his consciousness that slowly drifted away, falling toward the eternal darkness.

‘Wait, I am dying!!!’ he muttered as a scary thought occurred to him. He couldn’t be more familiar with this feeling. He just experienced it a few days ago. Horrified, he quickly tried to activate Tireless while he was still able to. That was the only solution he could think of in such a short time.

‘Hopefully, it will work,’ he thought as his body fell beside the shaman’s headless corpses.