Losing all your Hit Point doesn't mean death. It means you're stripped off your ability to fight, and most often result in loss of consciousness, with the exeption of an Overkill hit. This is one of the reason why it's recommended that you fight Soulbound creatures in parties. Soulbound creatures only feast on their preys after all of them have been nullified, so a single standing member can save all the remaining members if they triumph.

Excerpt from "Battle Stats and How to Interpret Them"

Azra Kolkov

"Thank me later, Captain," says Eugene.

He knocks the creature so far off, I can't see it without turning my head. When I do, I see it stuck between the groves, charging itself to burn the vines off its feet.

"You like the move? I call it the World's Most Amazing Sword Flick." Eugene puts his hands on his hips; his chin up, his lips curl, and a rankling grin on his face.

"That's quite a mouthful for simply dabbing a little," I say.

"Yeah, in the database, it's simply called Sword Flick," says Lek.

"Enough talking." I swing my whip at his direction. "You're the ambush aid, not a gladiator. Hole up!"

Eugene runs off, his grin still plastered on his face. The beast returns, ramming its paw on the floor, and the forest rattles along with its steps. Its growls suggest that it might not be too fond of being ambushed.

"Remember!" I call out to Eugene. "It's on its third Supercharge."

"I know!"

The bolthound gawks at me before dashing in. I activate Temperate Summoning, and thin redwood trees shot up from the ground, two at a time. The hound slips through the gap between the trees, spleening from side to side and avoiding all the attacks from below. It's too fast for my summoning speed.

I can't catch it. But I can time its movement.

The hound closes the distance. In a second, it goes from ten trees apart to only three.

Patient.

Then two.

Patient.

Then one. As expected, it goes for a serpentine leap.

Got you.

A newly sprouted tree stab straight into the underbelly of the beast, tossing it into the sky. From above comes an exuberant yell, "World's Most Amazing Sword Flick!" I look up and see Eugene jumping from tree top to tree top before lunging into the beast on the air. He stabs on the hound's neck and thrust it to the ground. The beast hits the grass with a wallop, lightning splashes around its body like fireworks.

Then it jolts up immediately, its eyes fizzle with sparkling bolts and crackling explosions.

"The bolthound's life total dropped from 46,000 to 41,000," says Okra. All those overly melodramatic moves only did 5,000 damage to it? This beast is one tough cracker.

The beast lunges in again, and I keep it busy with my constant summonings. Each time the creature manages to close the distance, Eugene whizzes past it, delivering sneaking hits on the sides. His slices are well-timed and precise, and he always hit on crucial parts: the abdomen, then the head, then the lungs. The beast grows more confused with each of Eugene's attack. When it gets slashed on its right lung, it immediately turns aside, but Eugene has already vanished. A second later, the beast gets slashed on its left lung.

While Eugene's moves do barely any damage, he distracts the hound just enough for me to find openings.

As the hound turns to the side to find Eugene, I fling barrages of wooden spikes to where it's standing. The spikes lodge to its neck, and golden blood seeps out from the wounds, echoing crackling sounds as they drip to the grass. The beast howls and barks at me before an enormous log of wood flies towards it and knocks it off its feet.

"The bolthound's life total dropped from 41,000 to 34,400," declares Okra. My hits do too little when its Energy type directly counters mine.

Bringing Eugene along was a correct decision. His presence is a game-changer. The boy may boast about his speed a ton, but he has the right to be proud. I've seen plenty of speedsters before, but he's among the best. Now his LV 100 speed might look nothing compared to my nearly LV 300, but that's why stats can be so misleading. People actually get slower as they level up their strength, but this is never quantified as numbers on the interface. In order to actually avoid wonking around with chunks of muscle and a Ping 30000 reaction speed, we have to both try and level up speed and strength at the same time. That's not to say a higher level Speed attribute says nothing on its own, though, A Level 300 Speed + Level 300 Strength fighter might be slightly more agile than a Level 200 Speed + Level 200 Strength, but will have a hard time keeping up with a Level 250 Speed + Level 200 Strength.

And Eugene's speed stat doubles his strength. It even doubles his overall level, which should have been the limit for normal people leveling up.

In a world without flair, this boy would've been sought after by mercenaries all over the lands.

My offensive abilities are on cooldown, so I have to raise a barrier and whip out my weapon while regenerating. The bolthound tries to speed up its attack, switching from Lightning Swerve to Surging Voltage back to Lightning Swerve, but I can tell the self-overload from my last Curse of Aokigahara severely hampered its skill usability. After another round of sneak attack from Eugene, I've finally gathered enough reserves for my second curse. This should disarm every bit of flair it still has access to, and force the creature to fight me flairless. And flairless means harmless.

The hound lets out a painful, piercing howl that causes all the birds to fly away from the trees, then lurch at me for its final, desperate attack, leaving charred trails after each step. From the thickets of redwood to my right, I spot Eugene galloping out of the groves. If the boy can knock the creature off-balance, I will be able to restrain it with my Vinestrap Hawser.

"Now!" I scream.

The boy emerges from the woods in a speed equal to a one-wheeled racebike. I can barely catch a glimpse of him, only the the reflection of the sunlight on the tip of his bloody blade, and sound of his voice as he yells "World's Most Amazing Sword Flick!" I wish he didn't have the need to scream out what he's about to do right before he's about to do it.

The hound finally sniffs the danger and turns back. But it can't be fast enough. No way it can react faster than Eugene.

However, it pounces at the boy and shoves him to the ground. The boy is sent sprawling, groaning as he gets up by pushing his elbows on the grass.

In that split second, the bolthound was faster that Eugene.

"Four Supercharges completed. Ethereal Tirade enabled," Okra announces in a wavering voice.

The hound twists its body and jumps at the boy scrambling on the ground. Eugene feints then rolls off a few rounds, but the hound quickly catches on. The bolthound opens its snout, aiming for Eugene's neck.

With this difference in level, a single Lightning Swerve can knock Eugene unconscious on the spot. I can't let it happen.

I grab on its hind leg with my vines. The creature's leg lights up, parching my plant into ashes. Still, it was enough time for Eugene to disappear into the woods.

I keep attacking restraining the beast with the vines, but it's of no use. I employ every type of flora, from moss to mushrooms to hardwood burgeon from the ground, but the beast easily wriggles past them. I can't keep it busy much longer.

The tirade is coming. There's nothing I can do to stop its release, but there's a reason I gave Eugene the Bloodweep. He can farm away the static charges with his lifesteal hits, then I can lock it down with my Curse of Aokigahara and end this for good.

He has to time it right. If he doesn't, I have three second to set up a barrier, or we'll be taking 1888 damage plus 20% counter bonus and get stunned if we're unlucky. That's only one-fitth of my total health and won't drain away all Eugene's HP, but I absolutely cannot let it release an Ethereal Tirade.

A Tirade will set the forest on fire.

Then Eugene emerges again. Blood drips from the corner of his mouth, and he licks it off. Sword stretched skyward, he ricochets to the sky and crosses his hand in a X-shape. Fire of determination sparks from his eyes.

From the ground where Eugene jumped up, Lek cries, "You have one chance, Eugene. Don't scream!"

"Speeding Bullet!" Eugene roars as he storms down from the air.

That adrenaline-packed knobhead has to pick this exact moment to screw it up. He shouldn't have screamed. Now the creature might spot him from above.

And spotting him is exactly what it did. It lowers its body and bares its teeth. Then it jumps.