For a mont I caught a glimpse of the young man fighting the gate guardian while I leaped through the air. I didn’t have the ti to study him closely, so it was brief. But it was enough to notice that the person was fighting the Spirit Beast with his bare hands.
That alone was baffling. The guy was lithe, tall but certainly not up to six feet. The creature he was fighting was twice his size, and yet he was contending against it with nothing but his fists.
I didn’t think much about it. I simply landed between both of them and exploded waves of [Emperor’s Presence] outward to instantly weaken them. I didn’t think it had much effect on either of them, aside from making them more aware of my arrival.
It did, surprisingly, have an astonishing effect on the strange creatures that ford the darkness clinging to the walls.
But they were not my concern right now.
I muttered to myself as I straightened amidst the cloud of rubble.
"How satisfying."
Opposite to my right was the young man with white and black hair. Kohen, I believe the lady had called him. And to my left was the gate guardian, a creature that looked like what would happen if an elephant got a severe heartbreak and decided to hit the gym.
Except this wasn’t an actual elephant. This one was a massive lion-bodied predator clad in overlapping plates of dark slate-colored stone hide, like natural armor forged by the earth itself.
Its face and heavy mane were made of jagged white crystal, pale as bone. Two enormous antlers of blackened iron-stone swept upward from its skull, scarred and chipped from centuries of battle.
Those antlers were now facing . The creature fixed with a ferocious look, smashed its hooves against the ground, and lowered its head.
"Careful, Black Snow new boy. When he gets like that, he becos unstoppable."
Kohen said this with a small, dangerous smile on his face. He stood casually, watching with cold calculation hidden behind the ease of his narrow eyes.
’I know people like you.’
I was not able to complete my thought before the beast lunged towards , driving forth with its antlers.
I rolled over it in the air and spawned a chain that wrapped around its neck. As I landed behind it, my muscles strained as I pulled back with all the strength I could muster. The chain bit into my palms and the beast’s montum dragged my feet through the stone, carving grooves into the floor before I found my footing.
Kohen’s mouth went round with surprise as he witnessed this. Then he furrowed his brows almost imdiately.
"Oh no... can’t have that. We are not supposed to let you defeat it."
He lunged forward with terrifying speed. One mont he was standing across from . The next he was upon . I don’t know whether I expected him to seize the opportunity I’d presented, to take down the guardian so that the two of us could be alone and battle this out properly.
But that isn’t what happened. He vanished from my view, and less than half a second later he reappeared at my flank.
I sensed him one mont before the blow landed on my ribs. Sothing cracked through my torso, not just force but a shockwave that rattled my bones and emptied my lungs in a single violent pulse. My grip on the chain slackened and the guardian imdiately surged forward, the sudden lurch nearly ripping the links from my hands entirely.
This was more than a punch. It was as if he had packed raw concussive force into his fist and simply detonated it against my side.
I groaned, still holding the chain with both hands. I could have reeled from that attack. I expected to. But I dug my feet into the ground instead, hauled back on the chain, and felt every muscle in my arms scream as the guardian strained against like a mad bull trying to tear itself free.
I managed to regain my grip and released a ring of fire that rolled outward.
Kohen leaped back and flew into the air, dodging the waves of fla. He landed in a crouch on scorched ground, touching the blackened stone with one hand while embers drifted around him. That sa interesting smile sat on his face.
"Ehhh? This is quite amazing. I thought you were rely an F rank? How is it that you managed to withstand my Impact Wave?"
’Impact Wave. So he’s a bloodline user then?’
A flicker of relief washed through , and that relief itself made uneasy. Bloodline users were considered weaker than Summoners, but only because of the Summons themselves.
I had to quickly remind myself that I was a Summoner without any Summon right now.
The guardian strained against my grip and I had to pull back even harder. The chain groaned with the effort.
Right now I was contending against the might of a twelve-foot Spirit Beast pushing forward with everything it had, blasting steam from its nostrils and intermittently baring vicious rows of teeth.
And on top of that, there was now a bloodline user who considered killing in this state a better option than killing the guardian first.
’Damnit. I thought he would take the bait.’
I turned to him with a sharp, reproachful glare.
"Aren’t you a senseless one? Should you not be killing this beast right now? With the window I have provided you?"
He froze for a mont. Then his head turned to the creature that was leaning forward, pushing itself step by step against my pull. He turned back to , pointing at himself with a blank look in his eyes.
"?"
The chain jerked in my hands as the guardian surged again. I braced and held.
He waved his hand with a polite smile.
"No no no no no, all you’re being is a hindrance. I need to make sure you don’t defeat that thing. Besides, you’re restraining it like this to make create an opening for you. After I fail, you’ll slip in, and who knows, you could decide to unleash it just when I get close. Huh? Aren’t these things obvious? Why would I go and fall for them? Would you?"
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