He barely managed to shift to a guarding stance in time, his sword catching the [Gemstone Beast’s] extended claws on its sharp edge. An unpleasant grating sound echoed out as his blade’s metal clashed against the gemstone claws, but neither material seemed to be able to penetrate the other, especially not without Jack utilizing [Qi Blade].

Ultimately, the [Gemstone Beast] was strong, but Jack had far more muscle mass and his strength stat had also reached an acceptable level. With a grunt, he increased the pressure exerted through his sword, sending the beast flying back for a dozen meters, but otherwise unharmed.

He used that short moment to take a glance at Sarah, the fight taking place behind him having gone eerily silent. He was just in time to witness her driving her spear through the [Gemstone Beast’s] face, impaling it to the ground with a guttural scream. Blood had pooled at her footsteps, but in the next second, a brilliant golden light enveloped her. Jack relaxed, knowing that the golden light signified a level up, which meant that her wounds would be healed. She had managed to close the gap and reach cultivation level 5, but did she reach level 5 in her [Spear Wielder] class too? That would mean the addition of a new skill, that was likely ranged in nature.

Focusing his attention back on his quarry, Jack braced himself for the beast’s second charge, which he knew was coming. [Qi Projection] required more than a few seconds to fire off, and the beast seemed to understand that aspect after seeing his companion perish from that very attack.

Jack almost didn’t notice it until the beast was within five meters, as it charged with its head angled downwards; its open mouth was once again bathed in azure light, the cunning animal trying to utilize its charge as a feint before blasting him in close range. Sweat trickled down his forehead as Jack tensed his leg muscles, desperately tracking the beast’s every movement down to the smallest twitch. Roughly three meters away, the beast twitched its neck.

Jack dove leftward at that instant, preempting the beast’s actions while shouting out “Beam!” to caution Sarah just in case he was within its blast radius. Combat rolling onto his feet, Jack felt a burst of cold air pass by him, but this time he had managed to cleanly evade it. Pivoting on his right foot, he charged at the stationary beast, perhaps feeling the effects of firing off another powerful attack.

[Qi Blade] flared in Jack’s right hand, the beast identifying his approach and beginning to backtrack its steps, clearly wanting to retreat. But Jack was not in the mood to give it any more chances, the beast was deceptively intelligent, far more than it let on— had he not spotted the feint, it was likely that he would have a hole in his torso right now.

With a furious swing, Jack’s sword landed on the beast’s forehead, penetrating a few inches before stopping. If his strength wasn’t enough to kill it, then he would rely on speed. Retracting his sword, his right hand turned into a flurry of motion, hacking at the beast from every angle he could like a lumberjack of olden times, each strike leading to a small laceration that only worsened with subsequent strikes. The beast continued to retreat with every step, but its emotionless ruby eyes seemed unmoved by the assault, showing no sign that it felt pain of any kind. Jack felt his Qi drain at alarming rates, knowing that he couldn’t keep it up for much longer.

Channeling every inch of strength he could muster into his right arm, he swung down with a brutal downward slash, striking it at the top of its skull. The next instant the beast shattered into thousands of gemstones, letting him breathe a sigh of relief.

His arm almost felt sore from the exertion, as he turned around without pausing to loot the dead [Gemstone Beast], only to see a very interesting sight.

If Jack’s [Qi Projection] skill could be described as a crescent slash of azure energy, Sarah’s was closer to a gunshot than anything else. She channeled [Qi Spear] at the very tip of her weapon, before thrusting outward and letting the conical shape Qi with a penetrating point fire off into the distance, striking the [Gemstone Beast] in its abdomen and leaving a large crater shaped scar. The devastation brought on by her attack was close to the aftermath of a shotgun slug fired at close distance– while Jack’s crescent slash could cleanly lacerate a man’s head off, it was instant and painless. Sarah’s version, however, was far more brutal and bloody.

Sarah followed up with another long-range attack that sent the [Gemstone Beast] tumbling to the ground, and then walked up to it and finished it off with a few thrusts to the wounded areas.

They were both on guard, waiting for a new batch of [Gemstone Beasts] to come to life, but nothing happened. The next batch was separated from them by twenty or so meters, so they relaxed, for now, figuring it was triggered by proximity.

“That was far harder than expected. You okay?” Jack asked, still lightly heaving from the exertion brought by the close fight.

Sarah just fell onto her behind, completely spent. Her midriff was peeking out from behind three lacerations, her leather vest torn shredded through cleanly but still maintaining structural integrity. Her skin was light pink, raw, from having just received a bout of healing.

“If I hadn’t figured out their weakness, I’d be a goner,” Sarah finally replied, her voice shuddering as she involuntarily recalled the events that had just transpired.

“They came out of nowhere….,” Jack muttered bitterly, a guilty expression on his face as stood next to Sarah, maintaining guard while she was recuperating.

“I managed to sidestep the beam that was fired at me after I broke away from you, but the other beast just snuck up on me, and I….. I just froze……,” Sarah’s voice started breaking near the end, as she remembered how close she had been to dying, merely inches away from having her throat snapped.

Jack remained silent, as Sarah continued. He would let her speak her heart out because he wasn’t sure what else he could do.

“Before…. When we fought the Guardian, and then k..k–killed the people that came after us, I managed to do things that I never imagined possible because…. even though I knew it was real, it was all so new, so surreal, that I could trick myself into believing that this might still just be a dream. That I could wake up, brush my teeth, and go to work on my boring, normal job, as long as I didn’t let myself die in the dream,” She explained, the facade of confidence she had wrapped herself around cracking, leaving only honest, heartfelt emotions behind.

“.....But with each passing hour, it became harder and harder to lie to myself. More than twelve hours have passed, but I haven’t even felt the slightest need for sleep. I’m never going to wake up to my normal life, am I?” Sarah asked, with tears in her eyes as her upper lip started quivering.

“What saved you?” Jack asked, instead of offering sympathy or comforting words.

Sarah looked up at him with a confused expression, her sight obscured by the tears pooling in her eyes.

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice uncertain.

“You froze in the middle of battle. Most people, even trained professionals, would die in that situation. So what kept you going? What saved you?” Jack asked again, his voice calm, but gentler than usual.

“I…..,” Sarah tried to reply, but for a moment she seemed lost. Jack patiently waited for her to collect herself, and she didn’t disappoint.

“The first thing that came to my mind was my father, and what it would do to him if his only daughter left the world young. But… it was more than that. I…., even after I’ve done such terrible things…. I just don’t want to die, Jack. Even if the world has gone mad, I still cling to life like a parasite. Am I a terrible person?” She asked, before breaking into light sobs, burying her head into her shoulders as she sat with her knees held up high.

“You’re not a terrible person…” Jack said with a melancholic sigh, almost reminded of his own past struggles.

“Just human, Sarah. Just Human,” He wistfully added, sitting down next to her after ascertaining that no hostiles would pop out of gemstones to ambush them, and extending an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close.