Both sides were moving towards the injured pullumskāl. Kurushimi’s goal was to use her skill, ‘Fangs’, to suck its blood and heal herself. If she could get the HP reset, she could easily kill the pullumskāls one by one, keeping herself alive with the healing she got each time she defeated one.

But the pullumskāls, even though they didn’t know she could heal herself, wouldn’t easily allow her to get to their fallen comrade. As monsters working in a pack, they naturally wouldn’t want the enemy to get close to their injured friend and potentially finish them off.

The Lvl. 9 pullumskāl, who ran first after seeing through Kurushimi’s ‘Short-distance teleportation’ trick, was naturally the first to get to the injured pullumskāl. But most importantly, it got there before Kurushimi. Kurushimi clicked her tongue.

The Lvl. 9 ran past the injured pullumskāl towards Kurushimi. Its goal seemed to be slowing down Kurushimi before she got to the injured pullumskāl until the other pullumskāls caught up. Then it was likely they would surround her and kill her. Kurushimi knew her chances weren’t good against 4 pullumskāls. Especially when they started using ‘Camouflage’.

The Lvl. 9 pullumskāl jumped at Kurushimi. Its claws were sharp and its serrated teeth looked even worse. Kurushimi couldn’t allow herself to get any more wounded or her chances of getting to the injured pullumskāl and using ‘Fangs’ would be even lower than they already were.

But even in the face of the Lvl. 9 pullumskāls attack, Kurushimi didn’t slow down one bit. Rather, everything began to slow down.

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 2』!》

Kurushimi ran straight-on and made sure not to move until the very last second. Then just before collision with the pullumskāl was about to go under way, she stepped to the side. Now at the side of the pullumskāl, she pushed off its back and used its own momentum to send it flying behind her.

The pullumskāl, surprised by the lightning-fast movement, could only helplessly crash towards the ground. Unable to land properly, it inelegantly rolled across the floor.

Kurushimi continued running towards the injured pullumskāl. At this rate she would make it to the injured pullumskāl just before the other two did.

《Used skill: 『Fangs Lvl. 2』!》

She bit down into the injured pullumskāl. Still alive, it screeched in response as it lost its blood to Kurushimi’s fangs.

《Used skill: 『What’s yours is mine Lvl. 2』!》

《Gained +5 HP, +5 STR, +5 END, +7 SP +7 AGI, +5 MP!》

Kurushimi slowly stood up, straightening her back. As more system messages appeared in the background, Kurushimi dismissed them and stared at the two pullumskāls with intense bloodthirst.

“I said this before but… The taste of blood is quite addicting~”

《Used skill: 『Shadow magic Lvl. 2』!》

The pullumskāls staggered for a second. Taking this opportunity, Kurushimi caught one of the pullumskāls with a shadow tendril. She ran towards the rooted pullumskāl and time began to slow down again.

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 2』!》

The free pullumskāl beside the rooted one had launched itself from a tree. Its jaw was wide open and its sharp teeth aimed for Kurushimi’s throat. Kurushimi pulled on the shadow tendril and swung the rooted pullumskāl towards the incoming pullumskāl. Their bodies crashed into each other like dominos and the pullumskāls attack was quickly thwarted.

The three pullumskāls gathered themselves again and stood before Kurushimi. The Lvl. 9 was slightly wounded from their first encounter but had seemingly recovered a bit since then. The other two were yet to take any damage themselves. As for the fourth one…

-Wait, where is it? There’s only been these 3 but I’m sure there were 4 other than the injured pullumskāl!

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 2』!》

Time began to slow down again as ‘Evade’ activated. With the 3 pullumskāls infront of her and the injured pullumskāl incapacitated, it meant the only one who could be attacking her now was the 4th pullumskāl who disappeared at some point. Kurushimi figured that it must have used ‘Camouflage’ at some point to get around and flank her. If it wasn’t for her ‘Evade’, she really would be dead at this point.

-I’m gonna have to just dodge in a random direction and hope it doesn’t hit me, aren’t I…? If I’m lucky, I dodge it entirely. If I’m unlucky, I get hit.

But Kurushimi knew that getting hit was better than getting hit in the vitals, where the flanking pullumskāl was most likely aiming to strike her. Kurushimi jumped to the side and time immediately resumed its original speed.

The pullumskāl flew past her, ripping the surface of her left arm in the process. Kurushimi quickly looked over at the position where the other 3 pullumskāls should be. Kurushimi sighed as she failed to find the pullumskāls.

-I suppose this is where the hard part starts…?

4 pullumskāls, all using ‘Camouflage’. She knew from the very beginning that this would eventually come and, to her dread, that was now.

But Kurushimi, knowing this would eventually come, had planned in advance for dealing with this. Kurushimi’s shadow began to thrive and split apart. Slowly, thin strings spread throughout the area around her.

《Used skill: 『Shadow magic Lvl. 2』!》

《Skill proficiency reached. Skill: 『Shadow magic Lvl. 2』 has become 『Shadow magic Lvl. 3』》

“It's these that seem to level my abilities the most, huh? At least I can get something good out of them. But I still rather they didn’t happen so much as it isn’t very good for my heart…”

Kurushimi sighed. Kurushimi felt like she had been sighing a lot recently. Grasping onto a pile of shadow strings, she looked around herself. She couldn’t really see any of the pullumskāls yet. But Kurushimi knew that all she had to do at the moment was wait.

-These strings I’ve set up are quite thin and aren’t actually solidified because I can’t really do much more with Lvl. 3. But when they come into contact with the pullumskāls they will be moved about. And when they do, one of the strings in my hand will be tugged on. With this, I can tell what direction they are coming from! This way I can eliminate one of the biggest weaknesses of ‘Evade’!

Now that she knew the direction they would be coming from, Kurushimi could not only successfully avoid the pullumskāls attacks, she could also counter attack afterwards.

-This one is inspired by the 20 metre emerald splash! Though it’s not quite 20 metres wide, as long as the pullumskāls can’t stop time, it should be just as effective!

But even with all this preparation, Kurushimi was still a little worried. Though it countered the ‘Camouflage’ skill, it wouldn’t do much if the pullumskāls decided to just jump her all at once. So she couldn’t get careless just yet.

TWING.

Suddenly, one of Kurushimi’s strings twinged.

-So they finally decided to begin?

Kurushimi gulped. In a few seconds the pullumskāl would attack. Kurushimi held her hand up to her left arm and began to conjure mana. Slowly, a knife made of blood crystallized in her hand. Well… It was more of a sharp stick as Kurushimi couldn’t create a proper knife just yet.

《Used skill: 『Blood magic Lvl. 3』!》

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 2』!》

Finally, as Kurushimi had been expecting, time slowed down again. Without hesitation, Kurushimi turned and thrusted the knife into the incoming pullumskāl. Kurushimi's eyes met the confused and startled eyes of the pullumskāl. Grabbing the pullumskāl’s neck for support, she ripped down the pullumskāls body with her knife. A giant hole was opened along the pullumskāl’s frontside.

“That’s one, three to go!”

TWANG. TWANG. TWANG.

Immediately, three strings twanged one after another. Kurushimi threw the pullumskāl at the ground behind her. A pullumskāl that had gone for her leg, in an attempt to incapacitate her by taking out her leg, was hit by the pullumskāl before it even came out of ‘Camouflage’.

《Used skill: 『Blood magic Lvl. 3』!》

The large amounts of blood from the thrown pullumskāl exploded out among impact, impaling the pullumskāl. The shish kebab of pullumskāls toppled onto the ground.

“Alright, two more!”

Kurushimi turned to meet the other two pullumskāls. But because ‘Evade’ had stayed activated the entire time, Kurushimi didn’t know how close the other two pullumskāls would be.

“Ah shit, this might be bad…”

The two pullumskāls were incredibly close. Kurushimi realised she might have been a bit too cocky after all. One pullumskāl claw plunged into her stomach and the other plunged into her neck. Large volumes of blood sprayed out.

《HP: 5/38》(Currently under ‘Heavy bleeding’ status effect. 1 HP will be lost every 2 seconds until the status effect is cleansed)

《HP: 4/38》(Currently under ‘Heavy bleeding’ status effect. 1 HP will be lost every 2 seconds until the status effect is cleansed)