Seeing the barrier not act against the arrow, which managed to penetrate the forehead of the hybrid, Ryder felt like he saw a sliver of hope.

There was an opportunity to kill that thing. As long as his assumption was correct and the barrier was useless against that arrow, he felt like he could destroy that thing by attacking its weakness.

Getting another arrow ready, Ryder shot it right away.

The arrow moved through the wind, cutting it as it passed.

The Hybrid kept flying towards Ryder without caring for the attack. He didn't even care to dodge. It was as if he didn't know the seriousness of the attack and didn't realize that if the attack managed to hit the weakest part of his body, he might be destroyed.

Seeing the ignorant being ignore the attack, Ryder felt even more confident.

The arrow finally reached the waist of the hybrid and was about to strike when Ryder again saw that silverish light appear.

"The heck, not again," Ryder cursed as he saw that silverish light. He understood what it implied. It meant the Armor was again acting.

As he expected, the Armor activated. The barrier once again surrounded the thing entirely. The arrow struck the translucent barrier, only to get destroyed itself.

"This annoying barrier!" Ryder couldn't understand why it activated this time and not last time.

"Wait, could it be that it protects its weak points and from threatening attacks? The arrow at the forehead was useless against it. But the attack on its waist might have destroyed it. That's when it activated last time as well."

With a bit of thinking, he realized that something made sense. The barrier didn't give it Protection against useless attacks but gave protection against the attack that might harm it.

Ryder watched the Hybrid flying towards him. The old arrow was still inside his forehead, handing.

It seemed to be a bit late, but he once again flew upwards. It was better to be tossed back than be buried in the ground.

Once again, changing the Moon Scythe, he flew towards the incoming enemy. The scythe had been changed to a sword this time. He had already known that another punch would come towards him, but he wanted to use it this time to cut the hand itself.

It was to test to see the range of the Armor. So far, he knew that the barrier protected the weakness. But if he was going to cut then hand, was it going to stop?

Cutting the hand wasn't dangerous for this thing that didn't feel pain. And it wouldn't destroy it. But it would definitely make the thing weaker in his attack.

Without its hand, it couldn't attack. It was a risk that he was willing to take. If he failed, he was once again going to suffer, but he wouldn't die from what he had seen. The attacks weren't strong enough to kill Ryder in one strike. So the risk seemed worth it.

Failure means one more use of Nature of Healing while success means a big breakthrough.

The fist once again advanced towards Ryder's chest, but this time he also swung his sword towards the elbow of the Hybrid to cut his hand.

Smack!

The fist once again landed on Ryder's chest, making him fly back uncontrollably and crash on the ground.

Holding his chest, he once again stood up as his Nature of Healing recovered his health once again.

"Well, that was a failure," Ryder muttered as he saw the hand of the Hybrid still intact. "Is there nothing I can do against it?"

He stood up, feeling depressed. The thing he wanted was right before his eyes, but he couldn't take it. This Armor that he wanted for himself was proving to be his biggest enemy.

It was not only protecting that thing but also giving it free rein to attack Ryder without any risk of being injured.

Ryder kept thinking of a new plan about what he could do. But nothing came to his tinkering. His head was in a mess. All he could think of was to leave somehow, but he didn't want to do that. Leaving was only going to mean that he would never get his hands on the Armor and on the fragment.

He could accept losing an Armor. It wasn't a big deal but what he didn't want to lose was a potential fragment that might be embedded in the Armor. It was after a long time that he had a potential clue of a fragment.

After coming so far, leaving seemed impossible.

"But what can I even do? I don't even know much about this Armor or its weakness. I was too naive. I should have received more details from Rale about this Armor. If I had known about this, I would have asked everything I could."

"I was an idiot." Ryder let out in annoyance, but it was too late now.

The Hybrid once again reached Ryder and punched out. Instead of attacking and leaving his defense bare, Ryder focused on protecting himself while he thought of a plan.

The Moon Scythe changed its shape once again, this time changing itself to a Shield that Ryder placed before his chest to intercept the attack.

The fist again landed, but this time, the impact was taken by the shield.

Ryder was once again forced back because of the impact, but this time, his HP was safe. No damage was taken by him.

Without giving Ryder even a chance, the Hybrid once again appeared before him.

His fist again moved towards Ryder as if he was a puppet. He didn't even attack anywhere else but Ryder's chest despite him protecting it with a shield. It was as if the puppet couldn't think for himself and was programmed to attack the chest only.

Ryder once again prepared for the impact. Since he had no plan, he could only prolong the fight. As he braced for the impact while holding his shield firmly, the impact didn't come.

A frown was on Ryder's face as he saw the hand of the puppet stop only a few inches away from the shield. A hand could be seen holding onto the wrist of the puppet.

Frowning, Ryder looked to his right at the origin of the hand, but as soon as he saw the person who this hand belonged to, he couldn't help but wonder about something as his frown changed to his smile.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he gazed at the man who stood near him.

The man was dressed in a Royal Red Robe. His long hair and beautiful eyes gave him a charming look which was contrary to the angered look on his face.

Two beautiful wings could also be seen behind that man.

"Ah, Rale, you already unsealed yourself?" Ryder asked, smiling wryly.

He asked Rale, who had apparently unsealed his full strength.

He was the one who was holding into the corpse's hand.

"I apologize, your Highness, but I was... Concerned about you," Rale answered.

"It's fine, I guess," Ryder answered. "Can you take care of him?"

Rale gazed at the corpse and the Armor it was wearing.

"That's the Moon Scythe. I think it's the one that brought the corpse back to life. It's going to be tough," Rale muttered. "But every hand that moved towards you shall be cut by me."

Knowing that, Rale used his other hand to catch the Corpse by its neck before smashing it on the ground.

Clinching his other fist, he punched towards the skull of the corpse, intending to blow up.

Ryder remained curious if Rale was going to break the barrier this time? Was the barrier even going to get active since the target was the skull?

Rale's fist landed on the skull of the Corpse. The barrier once again activated since Rale's punch wasn't like Ryder's arrow. It was capable enough to destroy that thing in one blow.

The barrier stopped Rale's attack. But Rale didn't stop attacking.

"Stop one attack; I'll give ten. Let's see how long you can stop. Even in the old days, this barrier had this weakness. It can't stop continuous attacks in one place. Let's see how long it can handle me," Rale said.

"Ah? So that was its weakness. Attacking the same place again and again with overwhelming strength. If that's the case, Rale should be able to take care of it. But I do wonder how he got here?"

"I brought him here. We knew you were in danger, and now we know why."

Ryder heard a voice from behind him.

Without even having to look back, he recognized the voice. "High Duke Oris, you're here."

"Yeah. Anyway, you shouldn't worry. I know you failed the trial, but that's fine. You can try once again after three years," High Duke Oris said.

"After three years? I failed? What do you mean?" Ryder asked in confusion, not understanding how he failed.