Deep red blood is gushing out of Zharyx’ stomach. A piece of stone bullet hit, piercing through right side of his abdomen. Earl Spade immediately runs to his aid along with his yashou. Spirha is a unicorn-looking yashou with spiral shaped horn. Its horn glows while glittery forms of mana baths Zharyx’ body.

“C-call back… Vic n-now and… attend to the w-wounded.” Zharyx grits his teeth. He is using his remaining strength to at least sit up and get a good look at their situation.

“VIC!” Earl Spade shouts while looking after Zharyx. “Vic, retreat!!!”

Victor looks at Al Duran one more time before retreating back to his group as fast as he can. It seems that his sonic rage dealt heavy damage but not enough to kill it. The demon will probably remain stunned for the moment.

“B-barrier… Lift… the barrier.” Zharyx continues to give commands despite his situation.

“Stop talking. Keep quiet.” Earl Spade says while helping him sit up. Both his voice and hands are visibly shaking.

Lillian activates dimension lock as soon as Victor returns. “I’m sorry; I couldn’t put up the barrier on time.” She fixes her teary eyes at the buried projectile while Azalea rests on her arms.

“Don’t get too stressed out about it.” Azalea answers regaining her strength a little, and then she slowly stands up calling her staff for support. “We’re not done yet, I’m sure Al Duran will attack again. Victor, how long has it been since he stopped moving?”

“A little more than thirty seconds.” Victor responds while keeping track of their situation and Al Duran’s responses. “We must keep the barrier up as we heal the wounded. That stunned effect won’t last long.”

The plan was to deal continues damage on Al Duran and weaken him as soon as possible. Once the demon’s defense is weak enough, Azalea will be able to finish it with one of her strongest spells. Within the four-minute mark, they should be able to keep repeating the attack pattern that they did just now, while avoiding the bullet stones. However, a slight miscalculation in timing gave Al Duran space to activate the skill. Just a quarter of a second of delay in their reaction could lead to such tragedy.

“What’s the plan? Retreat?” Earl Spade inquires while Spirha continues to heal Zharyx’ wounds.

“Given this damage, that would be the most logical option.” Azalea answers. It is the next step that she prefers they do.

“I’m sorry. I must have made a mistake.” Victor says softly lowering his head.

“It’s not your fault,” Lillian pats his shoulder. “I was late in activating the barrier. Those projectiles weren’t supposed to hit us.”

“This isn’t the time to be pointing fingers.” Azalea interferes. “It’s about time you realize how dangerous this hunt is. Let’s decide what plan of escape we should use.”

“No.” Zharyx disagrees. He pulls the projectile that is buried in his left arm and then clenches the wound on his stomach. “We will amend our strategy, right here, right now.”

Azalea raises her left eyebrow fixing her sight at him. “You’re crazy.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.” He grits his teeth while sitting up straight. He pulls a cunning smile on his face. “I told you, we’re not that weak. We’ll finish this battle now and then you’ll come with us.”

“Really? You like me that much?” She touches the projectile buried in her right shoulder. She scoffs. “Getting drenched in your own blood doesn’t make you cool.”

Lillian looks worried but could not say anything.

“Are you really going to extend this hunt by retreating?” Zharyx asks wearing a smile crooked from the pain. “Or are you just planning to let us escape while you take the demon down on your own?”

“I’m not worth risking your life for, but if you got that much resolve then it’s a waste of time trying to talk you out of this.” She clicks her tongue and then she turns away. “I just wish this little shit isn’t this smart at reading people. Damn it.” She mutters while gripping her staff tighter.

Al Duran blasted a roar, resounding farther into the forest. The roar that shakes the marshy ground around alarms them of the incoming danger.

“What are we going to do now?” Lillian asks while clasping her hands together. She turns her eyes to the furious demon that is fixing its attention back at them. “He’ll attack again.”

“Don’t worry; we’re inside your barrier now.” Azalea calmly says then she effortlessly pulls the projectile out of her body. “We have less than four minutes now. If we still can’t kill him with that time, we are going to retreat and recover.”

Al Duran exhales loudly before launching an attack of simultaneous bullet stones, which turns out to be a different kind of skill called Lapidem Storm. It is composed of 70-120 pieces of bullet stones.

“I agree with her, there’s no point risking our life here.” Victor says after giving their situation some thought.

“Don’t worry.” Zharyx answers unruffled. “I do know when to give up too. This is just not the right time.”

“Alright, alright. It’s a deal.” Azalea says while ignoring the deep wound around her shoulder. “Lillian, how long can you keep the barrier up while we recover?”

“I can keep it up until we all run out of air to breath.” Lillian answers then she taps Azalea’s left shoulder. “Are you okay with that wound? Earl Spade could heal you both at the same time.”

“I can heal myself.” She answers with confidence while touching Lillian’s hand to convince her. “It’ll help us more if the overconfident idiot focuses his ability on Zharyx alone.”

“Did she just insult me?” Earl Spade’s brow twitched. “She just insulted me, didn’t she?”

“Calm down and concentrate on your job.” Victor glares at him.

The lapidem storm continues to smash into the barrier’s wall that remains unshaken despite the seemingly powerful impact it shows. They are keeping their composure while they observed the pattern of the demon’s attacks. It is as if everything outside the barrier is shaking. The hot mud splashes around the barrier like little ocean waves. They are all standing with the barrier’s protection inside. They have their eyes fix on Al Duran, meticulously analyzing its every move until the attack calms down.

“Situation report!” Zharyx calls out.

“Three seconds after Al Duran’s Lapidem Storm.” Victor responds immediately.

“Vision all clear.” Lillian follows; a drop of sweat falls from her forehead. “The target is not moving. There is no indication of any incoming attack.”

“Vic, keep the watch of the time. Yan, don’t take the barrier down.” He continues taking command.

“Your wounds are now closed but the internal repair is still ongoing.” Earl Spade reports while he continues to heal him with Spirha’s ability. “Hey, mage-sprout, you’re next.”

Al Duran roars loudly.

“Everything’s fine here.” Azalea replies turning around to face them. “I have this passive spell that heals me automatically.” She says while pointing at the little glowing magic circle under her left collar bone. “There isn’t any need to worry about me, focus on yourselves.”

“Wow. That sounds very convenient.” Earl Spade says.

“Yan, watch out for the second wave.” Zharyx warns.

Then another barrage of lapidem storm smashes into the barrier that still remains unshaken.

Azalea peeks at the place where she is wounded. There are still magic circles that simultaneously appear and disappear overlapping at one another around the area where the projectile’s wound used to be. “These circles show that the wound isn’t fully healed yet, even though the wound had closed. As long as this spell is here, I won’t die.” She reminds herself.

Zharyx looks around and then he rubs the wound that had closed in his stomach. “It seems that we can continue on with the fight. Vic, how long could this attack last? How long is the cool down time?”

“Lapidem storm last for about twenty seconds. The cool down time is ten seconds.” Victor reports while keeping his eyes fix on Al Duran.

“We’ll proceed with our attack after the third wave.” Zharyx gives the order with firm voice.

“Wait, both you and mage-sprout over there haven’t fully recovered yet.” Earl Spade worries. “What are you planning this time?”

“The plan is for us to recover for at least thirty more seconds and bring Al Duran down after that.” He replies casually. “We will gamble on that last second opportunity before he strikes with his fourth wave and on that twenty seconds of lapidem storm where he won’t be able to move as he casts it.”

“I see, that’s pretty neat.” Azalea compliments his plan. She is looking so confident however she cannot hide the drops of sweat forming on her forehead. “It would have been better if we had another person in the team with strong offensive type of ability.”

“We were supposed to have another one.” Earl Spade replies with gloomy expression.

“Ivanryd is a Ki Master with high level of mastery.” Zharyx adds. “It’s a shame he wasn’t able to accompany us due to his extremely busy schedule.”

“That’s a shame indeed… but that doesn’t mean we can’t make do with our current team. I’m a genius after all.” She bluffs as a drop of sweat rolls down her cheeks.

“How conceited, to call herself genius.” Earl Spade mutters.

Lillian breathes in and out to calm herself. “I will make sure to lift the barrier in time so that no time will be wasted. This time…”

“It’s been more than two minutes since I blew the fog away.” Azalea recalls analyzing the situation while she is desperately keeping her concentration.

The third wave of lapidem storm is launched raining and smashing on the barrier. Azalea prepares the same spell she casted before. She points her finger like a gun at Al Duran and then a magic circle forms in front. The circle glowed and then another one starts forming, followed by another until there are five circles visible. Those circles are staying at a fixed distance from one another in front of Azalea’s finger.

Meanwhile, Zharyx, Victor, Earl Spade and Lillian change their stance into a ready-to-dodge posture. Their watchful eyes examine every bullet of the projectiles slamming and bursting into tiny pieces outside. As soon as the last piece hits the barrier, they all keep count of the cool down time without making any move. Once they reach the count of eight, Lillian removes dimension lock and then they all rapidly jumps away in different directions. The moment Al Duran roars and then attacks the same spot, they are no longer there.

“Spade, we’ll assist Vic. Create an opening for him to attack.” Zharyx orders while running around towards Al Duran’s back.

Earl Spade follows while mounting Spirha. At the same time Azalea, Lillian and Victor run around the opposite direction to get at Al Duran’s back. Zharyx continues to blast fire balls at the demon’s impregnable armor while moving around to confuse it more. The raging demon focuses its attention on him the moment its attack ended.

At that time, Azalea shoots Al Duran with the spell she prepared earlier. Fire Pistol is a compressed form of air and mana producing 1200 degree Celsius of flaring heat moving in the speed of a bullet. Her attack hits Al Duran in a blink. Unfortunately, it only burned the outer armor. It is unable to get through the flesh. The demon’s anger is then directed to Azalea, Lillian who is beside her, and to Victor who is standing a few meters away behind them.

The moment Al Duran shows any intent to attack; Lillian quickly activates dimension lock around the three of them. Victor stands prepared to attack at any moment while they watch the demon go berserk with its lapidem storm banging on the barrier.

While the demon remains unable to move at the moment it is still using its skill, Zharyx finds an opportunity to keep on attacking from behind. He shoots a wave of fire balls with his almost depleted mana while Earl Spade stands as support, keeping up with his healing. However, those fire balls are only able to weakly burn on the surface of its tenacious armor. His seemingly impractical attacks only annoy the demon.

Because of the dimension lock’s strength, Al Duran turns to direct its aggressiveness towards another nuisance behind him. When Azalea notices it, she then casts Speed Boost on the three of them. The moment the series of bullet stones stops storming on them, Lillian removes the barrier then they both swiftly run away from the demon’s line of sight. As soon as Al Duran turns its attention to Zharyx who keeps on with his futile attacks, Victor surges on the demon’s side releasing a wave of Sonic Rage.

When Lillian and Azalea is close enough with Zharyx and Earl Spade, dimension lock then activates around each pair. Thanks to their smooth coordination, Victor is able to attack without any worries. Al Duran receives a clean hit on its right lungs, blowing its air sacs; damaging it severely. The injured demon with its creaking armor and blood flooding out of its mouth hidden behind its helmet, still musters strength to throw its fist at the nearest person in front. The force of the demon’s punch is enough to send Victor flying and breaking few of his bones.

“Victor!” They shout, terrified.

“Spade, hurry!” Zharyx could not hide the tremble in his voice. He tries to keep his calm by clenching his fists.

Victor’s body comes down crashing on the muddy ground, splashing on the soft moist soil, leaving him unconscious. Earl Spade rushes mounting Spirha to increase his speed. While he goes and grabs Victor pulling him onto his yashou, Azalea casts another speed boost on the three of them. They retreat and distance themselves away from the furious demon. They have one minute to re-assess their situation and decide what to do next. They set back, twenty meters away from Al Duran.

“His left arm is broken, along with few ribs… and heavy internal bleeding.” Earl Spade reports, his voice shaking. He gulps, staring worriedly at Victor’s body on his arms. “I’m not sure if I could keep up healing this much damage. I might not be able to return him to his normal healthy state after this.”

Zharyx grits his teeth. He hangs his head low in pain. “Our attacker is down.”

“I’ll put up dimension lock while we recover.” Lillian bites her lip. Her hands are shaking, her sight down on the ground.

“It’s been more than four minutes since I cleared the fog. Maybe we should fall back now.” Azalea ponders. She looks around; her team is now exhausted and injured.

During the time when Lillian is about to set up the barrier, she starts feeling dizzy enough to make her fall on her knees. The same feeling envelopes Zharyx and Earl Spade but it is not enough to make them kneel. The sudden surge of uneasiness alarms them.

“Zharyx, take everyone!” Azalea as agitated as she maybe tries to take a step towards her companions. “Tactical retreat now! Fall bac--!!” Her uneasiness grows as her perception of the surroundings changes into a familiar view.

It is as if her view of the surroundings suddenly becomes a smudged picture that warps into an entirely different environment. The stunning familiarity of the scene made her feel like her heart stopped beating for a second. A sudden freezing sensation erupts from within.

Feeling restless and all, someone grabs her hand from behind. “What are you doing, Azalea? Lunch had been prepared.”

When she looks back to see whose familiar voice just rang behind her, she is taken aback. She feels like she forgot to breathe the moment she recognize the image of a person before her. “Wait- No way… Samie?..”