"Roderick, cover me." Veronica muttered before disappearing from where she stood and appearing above one of the creatures in the blink of an eye.
She held a black and red blade in her hands, and without wasting another second, she sliced down at the creature.
However, just before her blade could cleave through its neck, Veronica's sword was quickly stopped as the creature used its antlers to block the attack.
Veronica's eyes widened slightly, but with a smirk on her face, she used her sword to spin around mid-air before throwing herself and her sword to the side, allowing her to land on a nearby branch.
Holding her giant blade to the side, her eyes glowed a deep red before he body blurred, and within an instant, she was in front of the creature again as he weapon clashed with its antlers.
*BOOM*
The shockwave was so powerful that despite being several dozen meters away, Lloyd felt like he was about to lose his balance and fall due to the gust of wind that hit him like a speeding truck.
The creature was sent flying, shooting through several trees before slamming into one of the bigger ones and failing to break through it. However, unlike the tree behind it that was almost unscathed, the same could not be said for the creature's antlers.
Yet, before Veronica could go for the finishing blow, she sensed another creature closing on her.
At least, that was the case for a couple of seconds, as the moment the creature had gotten within a 10-meter distance of Veronica, it felt something sharp go through its eye-hole before everything became black.
"Thanks." She thanked before plunging her blade into the creature she was fighting.
"No problem." Roderick replied before finding someone else to support.
Everyone seemed to be doing well against the creatures that attacked them, to the point where most of them didn't have to use their abilities.
On the other hand, while Lloyd would have loved to find out what kind of ability Lachlan had to make him the leader of such a capable group, he had his own problems to deal with.
After all, he was the only person struggling and actively losing against the monster that attacked him, and the creature seemed to know that since it had a wolfish and greedy smile on its face.
'It's the weakest in its pack, so it probably would have run away if it weren't for me being here. Clearly, it's trying to get something out of this whole ordeal, and that thing is most likely my head.' Lloyd inwardly complained while holding the creature back with his katana, yet he still felt himself being pushed back.
'Damnit! This thing is way too strong!' Lloyd inwardly cried out in pain.
The creature seemed to be getting frustrated since it could not break through Lloyd's defense, and while it looked like it was about to give up, it suddenly stepped back before opening its mouth.
A green and black mist came out of its mouth and quickly engulfed Lloyd, and while he had no idea what it was, he could feel his strength leaving his body as the mist slowly seeped into his pores.
Or, that's what the creature thought at first.
Lloyd could not have been more grateful for his Void Walker anatomy than at that moment, and without wasting another second, he slashed toward the creature with everything he had.
However, despite being extremely close to the creature, it was much faster than him in, no matter how you looked at it.
In a split second, the creature had already moved several meters away from Lloyd, and the only thing that Lloyd could do was watch in shock as it disappeared from sight.
Once the creature had gone, Lloyd collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted from the fight.
"Are you okay?" Hime asked with narrowed eyes as she looked away from the two creatures she was manhandling from their antlers.
"Yeah," Lloyd replied, but the creature appeared again, yet now it was at his right rather than being in front of him.
"Damnit!" Lloyd roared while swinging his blade toward it out of anger, but the moment he did it, he knew that it should be the biggest mistake he had made during the battle.
The blade missed, and the creature retaliated with a black beam of energy that hit Lloyd in the chest, sending him flying a few meters away and onto the ground.
He knew the rest of the group was too preoccupied to help him, so instead of asking for help, he stood up again and pointed his blade toward the creature before covering himself in shadows.
[Shadow Enhancment]
As the shadows shrouded his body, Lloyd felt a current of euphoria moving through his body like a pool of cold water spilling onto his body after a long day of training.
The shadows were enhancing his strength and agility, and while it was not enough to make him a top-tier fighter, it was enough to challenge or, at the very least, allow him to defend against the creature in front of him.
And challenge it he did.
The fight lasted for several minutes, and while Lloyd could land several hits on the creature, they were not enough to take it down.
'Peak first commandment. This is doable... I think. F*ck! If only I could use my void walker abilities! They worked wonders the last time I found myself against an enemy of this scale.' Lloyd grimaced while thinking of the mosquito queen who he beat by using [Aspect of Void] against her.
However, he was quickly snapped back to reality as he barely pushed the creature back before jumping a few meters away from it.
However, despite trying to move away from it, the monster did not budge on its goal of killing Lloyd, since the instant it saw him trying to create space between them, it shot forward with all the speed it could muster, shooting past Roderick and Felix and reaching a distance of barely a meter away from its target.
But before it could strike down its opponent, it felt something deep within it scream at it to run...
Every hair on its body stood up and told it to move away, yet such a thing was nearly impossible due to its gained momentum.
[Flame Control]
A hint of orange flashed within Lloyd's eyes, while [Monarch's Aura] intertwined with Lloyd's killing intent to release an explosion of pressure that made everything freeze for a moment.
Lloyd's concentration was at its max despite not using [4-Dimensional Thought], while the world around him suddenly slowed down to a crawl.
The orange rune suddenly began glowing brightly, and before the creatures could find a way to move out of the way, Lloyd had other plans.
Mana moved through Lloyd's arm before blue and orange flames began to spill out of his palm.
Simultaneously, one word echoed through Lloyd's mind, and that word war-
[Incinerate]
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