“Blood magic! One of them uses blood magic! They turned all the water inside into blood! Quickly—”

Ezekiel wasn’t able to finish his sentence before Kayden was forced to undertake a journey into the stars. It happened so quickly that even Ezekiel, who could see the attack come beforehand, couldn’t react in time, and that small mistake was costly.

He promptly pulled out his bow and fired multiple arrows into the hole in rapid succession, each detonating consecutively and filling the hole with flashing lights. Unfortunately, Ezekiel was a hundred percent sure that his attacks were ineffective, and quickly put some distance between the hole and himself.

Slowly rising up from the depths of the pit was a glossy, red ball that oozed thick blood, trickling down as if it was a faulty tap. The stench of blood was instantly overpowering, and as if that wasn’t enough, ripples began to form on the surface of the sphere as tiny, red needles formed across all sides of the sphere, forming a shape that looked like a spherical cactus.

In the next moment, without warning, the spines shot out in all directions, piercing deep into the ground, trees, and basically anything it hit. Ezekiel swung his blade in an attempt to deflect it, but its size wasn’t nearly enough. Several needles made it through his guard and hit various parts of his body, which included both his arms and legs.

With his legs bleeding profusely and in intense pain, he couldn’t keep himself standing for any longer and collapsed onto the ground, leaving him in a vulnerable position.

As he writhed in agony on the needle-ridden ground, the blood orb did not show any mercy, and red spikes began to sprout from every part of its surface. This time, they were longer and sharper than before, and Ezekiel could only watch, helpless.

Another torrent of needles short forth, impaling the surrounding environment until every surface looked like it had been attacked by a red hedgehog.

Ezekiel had his eyes shut tight when the attack started, and his whole body tensed up as he braced himself for a bad time.

A few seconds passed, and nothing happened.

Hesitantly opening his eyes, Ezekiel was pleasantly surprised to see what had transpired, and his face flooded with relief. Standing over him was a large, metal block that was undoubtedly Conner, who had easily tanked the volley of needles.

Before he could even utter his thanks, a stream of concentrated flame streaked overhead and struck dead center on the sphere. Blood evaporated into steam, fouling the air even further.

“You all right?” Alice called out as she stepped behind the metal block, getting ready to fire off another ray.

From the same direction she came in, the rest of the party revealed themselves one by one from behind the skewered trees, each holding up their own weapons and rearing to fight.

Ezekiel smiled weakly. “Took you long enough.”

“S-sorry mister Ezekiel!” Cathy apologized as she made her way towards him, “We ran into some trouble— Ah! Bell, can you heal him?”

“Righto!” Bell pointed her finger at him. “Heal!”

A gentle, green glow began emanating from his body, and the needles that were embedded into his skin were being pushed out by themselves. In a short span of time, he was needle-free capable of standing up again.

He uttered a brief thanks and quickly activated his clairvoyance and checked up on the enemy. However, what he saw dumbfounded him. They didn’t even move a muscle! It was like as if they had purposefully waited for them to heal up…

“Are you guys done?” A snarky voice called out. “I don’t have all day, you know?”

Zhang was taunting them. He had a carefree demeanor with a bored look on his face, as if the situation that was happening didn’t even faze him at all. Even his weapon, a large metallic crossbow, hung securely on his back, and he looked like he had no intention of drawing it.

Aisha, spotting this, took the chance to initiate a conversation. No weapons drawn was usually a sign of peace, after all.

“Zhang, what do you want? Why have you chased us all the way here? Surely it can’t be worth all this effort?”

The bored look on his face was immediately replaced with one of frustration and anger.

“You know why I’m here! You ruined everything! It was supposed to have been a fair race where the strongest party gained the most loot! But you ended up with everything!”

“That doesn’t give you the right—”

“Nope! Stop talking!” He interrupted, “I’m not going to listen!”

He slowly raised his right arm and was clearly about to order his party to go on the offensive.

Beads of sweat began to roll down Aisha’s face as she tried her best to salvage the situation.

“Hold on! If we clash, there will be unavoidable causalities on both sides! Do you really want to do this?”

Zhang paused momentarily, and then began laughing maniacally. With his raised hand, he pointed upwards at the sky, where the crimson full moon hung, showering them in an ominous, red light.

“Do you see that? It’s the moon! I’m not called the ‘Moonlight Ghost’ for no reason! The night is my domain!”

His laughter stopped, and he gave a wide grin. Opening his mouth, he gave a shout, and declared his intentions.

“Destroy them!”

And the battle began.

***

Kayden has just suffered from a nasty fall. He was smacked right out of the sky, and if it weren’t for the trees breaking his fall slightly, he might already be dead.

Unfortunately, that meant that his body was now filled with cuts and bruises from the sharp tree branches that he fell upon. In his state, he found it hard to even move.

 

“This is… Huff… bad…” Kayden winced after taking one look at his stat page, and winced again when he tried to move.

“[He’s coming! Move!]”

‘You have to be kidding me!’

He heard the sound of creaking trees, followed by a deafening impact that shook the earth. Ryan had arrived, forming two craters at where he dropped down on.

As the cloud of dust cleared, Ryan opened his eyes to see an injured Kayden, desperately waving a puny knife at him.

“Come on! You big, fat lizard! You aren’t anywhere close to being strong enough to beat me!”

Ryan stared at him blankly, before bursting into laughter. His laugh sounded deep and raspy as it echoed throughout the forest.

Then suddenly, without warning, his right claw balled into a first and swung at the empty air beside him.

[-24!]

Kayden’s illusory figure dissipated into thin air as his true body revealed itself out of thin air, slamming into a tree. His body slid down the trunk, leaving a trail of blood on its surface.

“W-wha…” Kayden coughed violently, blood splattering upon the cold, hard dirt. “H-how can you see me…?”

Ryan looked at him with a smug, toothy grin.

“Spell orbs, son. They grant me Erene’s power to see through illusions. Surely you guys must have anticipated this? I mean, your party isn’t the only one in the world capable of using them, you know?”

Seeing the shocked look on Kayden’s face, Ryan laughed even harder. With slow, menacing footsteps, he took his sweet time approaching him as he exuded an air of malice.

“[Bad news. He has a large number of buffs on him. You can’t take him on a head-on battle!]”

Kayden didn’t need Hel to tell him twice, but the message only truly sank in when Kayden saw the appraised information on Ryan.

 

“Ha…ha… Reasonable, my ass…”

 

 

 

Kayden visibly deflated as he continued reading all the information Hel gave him. He was utterly doomed.

Then, a shadow loomed over him. With his blurry vision, he could just make out Ryan’s reptilian features as he stood just a few inches away from his slumped body.

“Hmm? Where did all that bravado go? I’m nowhere strong enough to beat you, right?”

Malevolence laced his every word. Perhaps this was what the appraisal meant when it said that the user gains increased physical ability at the cost of rationality. He didn’t recall Ryan ever being so wicked.

“W-what do you want?”

“Hmm? Your death, of course! Why ask something so obvious?”

Kayden grimaced. Negotiations had broken down instantly, and he didn’t know what else to do.

“W-why?”

Ryan raised his eyebrow.

“You really have to ask? You have been a huge pain in my ass during the recent events. Honestly, if it weren’t for your borderline-cheating ability to turn invisible, I wouldn’t even have bothered to try making a deal with you. Now that you can’t escape, I can finally put an end to this goose chase.”

They both stared at each other in deathly silence as none dared to move a muscle. Neither could tell what the other was thinking, but eventually, Ryan broke the stalemate and spoke,

“Well then, any last—”

Kayden shot up from his position and pounced on Ryan. Black tendrils shot out from behind him as he did so, wrapping around his entire body, and transforming him into a bear standing two meters in height.

Kayden raked his claws across the lizard’s chest but was dismayed to find that it merely sparked off the tough scales. However, he didn’t let up and tackled him with his full weight behind the attack.

“ROAR!”

Ryan was pushed back by a few meters, but other than that, it didn’t affect him much. He reached out and wrapped his herculean arms around the brown bear before pulling it in for a tight hug. As Kayden struggled to pull himself out of the grapple, Ryan squeezed.

The sounds of ribs cracking were drowned out by both the bear’s deathly cries and the lizard’s laughter. Black tendrils wrapped around the bear again, and a bird flew out of his arms, now free from the grapple with its smaller size.

Just as Kayden was about to move out of arm’s reach, a forked tongue shot out of the lizard’s maw, wrapping itself around him and forcefully pulling him in.

Kayden had no choice but to turn back into human form. But just as he did so, Ryan used the momentum generated to land a punch squarely onto his face.

The thief was knocked back into another tree, but he didn’t stay down. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, and Kayden could feel his heart beating wildly. He knew he couldn’t give up. Not right now!

A decisive roar sounded out as he turned into a bear again, but he was quickly met with a jab to his gut and a claw to his face. He had the wind knocked out of him, and Ryan didn’t give him any opportunity to breathe. With a strong kick, Kayden was sent flying back, his condition even worse than before.

“It won’t work. It’s impossible to beat me in my current state.” Ryan said matter-of-factly.

But Kayden still stood up. Turning back into a bear, he charged forth with all he had.

“You sure are a man of many talents, huh? Illusion and transformation… Not many people have your kind of potential…”

Kayden was sent flying with another punch, back to a human. Yet still, he turned into a bear and stood up once more.

“It’s a shame, really… If only you hadn’t messed with us. If you had just obediently given up all your money as we asked, things could have been much better for you.”

Kayden didn’t stand down. Even when blood began pouring out of his eyes, he still went on the offensive, not backing down.

“You’re not thinking of stalling for time, are you? My buffs will last for over an hour! Do you understand? No matter what you do, you will still die!”

Kayden grinned. He had injuries all over, and several of his teeth are missing. But yet, he still grinned, for in his hand he revealed an elixir!

“Huh?” Ryan was confused. It glowed a luminescent green, just like the potions he made himself! He looked at the pouch on his side and was surprised to see it open.

He smacked himself on the forehead and laughed.

“Sure! Go ahead! Drink it! See what good it does you!”

Kayden didn’t hesitate. He downed the potion in a single gulp, and already, his wounds started to close rapidly. He could feel his body flush with relief.

“Hmph! But don’t think you can do the same thing again!”

Ryan took out all the remaining potions he had and threw them on the ground. With his left foot, he stomped on them until they all shattered into shards and the green liquid was no more. He wasn’t going to take any chances, even if it meant destroying days of hard work.

He looked up at the thief with a wide grin, excited to witness his despairing expression. However, reality did not meet expectations. Instead, what he saw was a grin equally as wide and menacing as his.

“What are you smiling at?”

“Hehehe…”

Kayden giggled like a freak, leaving Ryan in a state of confusion. It didn’t take long for Ryan to figure out what was so funny, however.

His muscles were visibly deflating, and his tail shrunk until it was nothing. Slowly but surely, he felt the borrowed power inside his body fade away, leaving him with nothing but his original self.

Then, realization dawned on him. He stared at the broken pieces of glass on the ground.

[Target has used spell orb: Dispel Magic]

“Hehehe… Hahahah… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Only the sounds of Kayden’s maniacal laughter could be heard, echoing throughout the forest.