It was… ecstatic, for lack of better definition. Flick’s heart pounded erratically, his muscles flared up, and the urge for an intense fight was controlling him as he howled in unison with Tier and Renma.

He dashed through the thick smoke ahead, towards a point in his map that showed where one of the most important opponents was stranded alone. And then, from behind the thick grey veil of haze, the tricky rogue emerged with a spinning motion.

Hilbot was not prepared for the attack, Flick’s two axes slashed swiftly at the priest. She tried to step back and get herself a bit of breathing room, but the rampaging rogue was not something she could shake off that easily.

After a few clean strikes, Flick would swiftly reposition himself behind Hilbot or the direction she was going. Then, he would unleash a few more slices and repeat a similar pattern. However, Flick was not exactly moving with that much thought.

All he did was bathe in his battle crazed instincts. Each move and attack were carried out by following his reflexes, as if his body moved even before he had the time to think.

Was it solely due to the effects of [Warcry]? Perhaps yes and no at the same time. But he was a teenager who wouldn’t spend time thinking about it and would rather enjoy the whole flow of the fight. Even without [Warcry], he had always been like this. This time, it was just a bit more heated.

Arkengrad joined the attack on Hilbot soon after. Unlike Flick, her swords were striking in a maddening rage. They were raging, brash, yet mindful. A complete opposite to the dance of blood brought by Flick’s axes.

The two dual wielders preyed in unison on the helpless priest. As the maddening bloodlust consumed them, the flow of time was not in any way necessary.

It was a few moments after Hilbot fell dead on the cold snow that Flick felt an alien sensasion struck into his being. He knew… or rather felt… everything that happened in the valley at that exact moment. Every position, movement, and presence of both friends and foes were poured blatantly to his mind.

“So… [Primal Unleash], eh?”

Flick giggled as a shiver rapidly crept up on his spine. He was not mistaken, this sensation must be the information that Tier’s brain had processed and sent to all of them using [Mimic: Orca]. Acknowledging Tier’s sheer insanity in processing so much data all at once had triggered an eruption in Flick’s heart.

Such a feat, such bravado, could only be answered by an even greater feat.

… Lyra….

“Won’t want it any other way, mate,” Flick grinned as the name suddenly appeared in his thoughts.

For a moment, he did ponder if this hint on his next target was actually being proposed by Tier or was it his own volition that came to the conclusion. Nevertheless, it was something he would gladly accept. There shall be no greater prey than the veteran shaman herself.

“[Sprint].”

“Hey, where are you going?!”

Flick ignored Arkengrad’s call and rapidly dashed towards Lyra’s position shown on his map. It was clear from the map that she was fighting Tier, who’d definitely appreciate some help in fending off melee combatants.

“[Sleek Strike].”

The rouge clad rogue twirled his axes with a flick of his fingers then grinned forward. His eyes gazed through the thick smoke. He saw nothing but a grey veil, yet he knew the exact distance of how far he should throw his axe.

And thus he did.

“Over here!”

Flick caught his axe before Lyra managed to parry it. Using his own momentum, he spun vertically to send a punishing strike at the shaman. The attack barely scratched Lyra who took a few steps back rapidly.

Flick crouched to land, avoiding a counter slash from Lyra. He flipped to her left side before performing a somersault using [Backpace].

Then, at the space between Flick’s body and the ground, the snow jaguar - who was now named Galung - dashed at Lyra and struck a slash with its claws. Before Lyra could even react to prepare another counter, the jaguar disappeared into the thick fog. And an arrow from Tier landed squarely on Lyra’s shoulder and further aggravated her. To finish it up, Flick threw some dust from his pocket at her eyes before disappearing into the thick smoke.

He didn’t choose to strike right then as he felt the maddening bloodlust had seeped away from him along with the disappearance of his awareness of his surroundings.

[Sorry, guys, I can’t keep it for long.]

[This is more than enough for me, bro, I‘ll defend Nubram.]

The chatter of his teammates in his head had agreed with Flick’s decision earlier. He saw Tier was nearby in his map and he proceeded to approach the hunter.

“We move out, mate?” he asked the now panting hunter.

Tier nodded, he looked towards one direction, “Yes, we need to assist Manna first, she got cornered by Xildur and Ikillyou. And Mal’esh disappeared from my tracking, this is dangerous.”

“Ah, the rogue is definitely not a problem for her, mate,” Flick chimed, “Yet, the other two. I can’t say much. Lead the wa…”

Flick's body involuntarily dashed backwards, enabling him to avoid the incoming flamestrike from the ground. Lyra was able to find their position perfectly, was it due to Mal’esh?

The rakhs rogue won’t bother thinking any further, he gave a glance at Tier and teased, “The rook gotta bring the queen to safety, let the knight hold the threat.”

There was no visual or audio confirmation needed by Flick. It was a clear choice for the two that Manna would be more valuable than Flick in this fight. Yet, it was not exactly a sacrifice that Flick performed now. Even without the access to [Warcry] and [Primal Unleash], he longed for this fight where he could stand on an equal ground against such a decorated veteran.

The thrill of finding out if he could in any way hold her long enough or even best her had made his blood boil.

Axes clashed as Flick opened the fight again. Unlike Flick who preferred to spin and dance around his opponent, Lyra was like a raging bull that stood her path and used her power to toss aside her opponents. Whenever their axes clashed, Lyra always pressed on to overpower Flick while the rogue preferred to avoid a contest of power and swiftly redirected the force elsewhere while moving aside.

It was a risky move due to the fact that if he was too late, then Lyra’s strike would smack him hard.

“Not bad,” Lyra snickered. “But that mentality of sacrificing yourself? You’ll be wasted as cannon fodder in Clashing Realms!”

Lyra spun on her feet then threw her two axes at Flick before waiting for any answer for her claims. Flick quickly took a step back and used [Counter Break] on her axes. However, he felt a painful jolt of lightning strike him as the axes made contact with him.

“[Molten Crash]!”

Lyra quickly recovered her axes midair, the two weapons were now covered in furious flames. Flick yet again blocked the imminent slash with his axes. However, flames bursted out from the axes and heated up his hands. His body quickly performed [Backpace] right before a molten lava burst out right under his feet.

“[Lightning Strike]!”

Before Flick could land, Lyra casted another attack. Flick's body tried to spin in the air to avoid the attack, yet without [Mirage Shift], that can be only casted when he is in position to perform rapid displacement, he knew that he would fall victim to it. And so it was.

Flick fell to his knees as the lightning quickly cut off almost a quarter of his HP. Nevertheless, his boiling blood had moved his muscles to raise up his axes and parried yet another melee attack from Lyra.

“Sacrifice?” Flick snickered. He stepped aside half squatting then casted an ability, “Who would want to sacrifice himself for some lovebirds? [Rushing Jolt].”

There was an electrifying shock in Flick’s entire body as the roar of a gorilla rang in his head. It was not the kind that stopped him, but rejuvenated every cell in his body.

The rogue quickly performed a [Backpace] to jump back to Lyra and launched a cross slash while somersaulting. As the shaman countered, he performed a close range [Sleek Strike] to disorient her and performed a nasty slash on her back. He quickly moved from one side to another several times by taking the advantage of the reduced cooldown, further pressuring Lyra to root in her place.

Then, at one point, when he was about to land the fifth clean strike, his body stopped and forced him to take cover. And so he did.

“[Mirage Shift]!”

“[Stampeding Thunders]!”

Flick dashed backwards, leaving a trail of afterimages moments before Lyra released powerful lightning shock to her surroundings. For a moment, he thought that he almost got her. But apparently, the shaman was really powerful. So powerful that even he himself might not be able to take her down alone.

And that made his blood rush to his veins passionately.

“I’m not here to sacrifice myself. I’ve been longing for this fight,” Flick said, “Since the time you attacked us in Grand Savannah.”

“I’ve duelled countless players over and over again in hopes that I could best you one day, just like when Manna did in Wicked Spirit Forest,” he continued as his grin widened. “And yet you are still so tough to beat.”

“The battle-crazed type, huh?” Lyra sighed as she stared sullenly at Flick. “Have seen so many of your type. Very easy to break once they felt their limit.”

“Oh I felt my limit,” Flick snickered, “Over and over again. But that makes it more fun. Limits are there to be broken.”

“You lot really are a pain to deal with, get over it already.”

“No, can’t do, mate!”

Flick lunged forward without thinking much anymore, his axes were ready on his hands and his muscle twitched in excitement. Lyra roared in fury as a response, lightning and flame danced around her. The two dual axe wielders clashed once more.