Knowing that he couldn't stop, Shiba decided to use his swords, but going melee against that beast was suicidal, so he decided to use his skills, and then he threw the swords using all his strength.
The first time it had a good effect since the Soul-eating Eagle didn't expect it. The beast was even a bit injured, but far than enough to inflict any damage that would lessen its battle prowess.
After that, although Shiba was still able to hit the beast several times, it wasn't injured.
However, at least he was managing to made it remain static in the same position.
As for the swords, they were broken far too easily.
Those swords were top quality in the Mortal Rank, but against a beast that was at the Novice Rank, they weren't enough. That was also why the guard leader didn't find it strange that Shiba asked for a lot of weapons since it was highly possible that the Soul-eating Eagles would have surpassed Mortal Rank the day they reached Border Town.
If Shiba were wielding them normally, they would last a bit, but throwing them like disposable objects made them break far more easily.
Those swords were worthy of a fortune in Border Town, but Shiba needed to sacrifice them, or he wouldn't be able to stall the Soul-eating Eagle for enough time.
"The last ones. I can't throw them."
After a while, Shiba only had two swords left, one suited to Earth Blade and another suited to Wind Blade.
Shiba didn't know how much time Eini needed, but he was already forced to start a melee battle.
He put Earth Armor on all his body and ate the last recovery pill to be able to endure it.
That would be his last clash with the beast. If Eini hadn't finished after that, there wasn't anything else he could do. He didn't expect that Eini would need so much time to prepare her skill.
The Soul-eating Eagle didn't hesitate to attack Shiba, who used his swords to block the attack, but after the beast attacked several times, the weapons broke, and Shiba received the hit.
After receiving the attack, blood came out from Shiba's body. If it hadn't been for Earth Armor, he would have a huge hole in his chest.
Shiba reached his limit after that last attack that sent him to the floor. He couldn't move or use any other skill.
However, the Soul-eating Eagle wasn't going to let off just because he was exhausted. Since Shiba had been the one attacking without stop before, the Soul-eating Eagle wanted to eat him.
"Inferno Flame!"
As Eini shouted, a tornado of fire surrounded the Soul-eating Eagle when it was about to rush to eat Shiba.
That skill was her trump card, but it needed too much time given her level.
However, it was strong enough to kill someone at Rank 2.
As long as an opponent didn't reach Rank 3, Eini was confident that Inferno Flame could kill it.
Of course, the main problem was having enough time to prepare the skill in front of such powerful opponents.
After several seconds, the flames disappeared, leaving a charred corpse on the ground. Nothing of that corpse would be useful given the state it was. However, the danger was over.
It was a pity that such a valuable beast was wasted, but they couldn't kill it in any other way.
"Are you alright?"
Eini descended to the ground to check Shiba's injuries.
Although Earth Armor absorbed almost all the damage, Shiba's injuries were still quite serious. Although they didn't threaten his life, he could have problems in the future if he weren't properly healed.
"I have been worse."
Compared to his injuries when he met Master Liye, he wasn't that bad, but Eini felt that he was just trying to not worry her.
"Wait. I will heal you right now. Water Healing doesn't work very well in areas so devoid of water, but it shouldn't be a problem healing your injuries. Eat this pill first."
Before Shiba could reply, Eini threw a pill to his mouth before, she ate one herself.
Those were also recovery pills, but they were far better than the ones Shiba obtained in Border Town.
It wasn't that the boss of the shop was stingy, but that Eini's ones were obtained somewhere else. There weren't pills of that quality on Border Town.
Eini had also drained all her power with that attack, so she needed to recover her energy before healing Shiba.
Although she liked using skills of the fire element, since her sister was so good with the water element, she also tried to learn some, so she was quite proficient using the water element. However, her control of elements wasn't as balanced as Shiba's earth and wind.
Given her abilities, Eini couldn't do too much damage using the water element unless the area had a lot of water, but she had put great effort into Water Healing since it was a very useful skill, so it was by far her best water skill.
Shiba would heal naturally after a while using the energy of Master Liye that remained on his body, but it was still better if that were saved for increasing his power or recovering in a situation there wasn't any other way.
After a while, Eini sighed in relief.
"I am done. You are lucky I know Water Healing. Elemental healing is far better for recovering injuries. The natural healing skills only accelerate the normal recovery and in your state that would have left you with too many sequelae."
Shiba had been so injured to win time for her skill, so she couldn't allow him to suffer problems later due to those injuries.
"Thank you."
Shiba managed to stand up without problems after being healed.
"Do you think it is possible to heal the people in the town?"
After seeing how Eini had healed him, Shiba felt that it would be good if she could do the same for them.
"This... For normal injuries, it shouldn't be a problem, but this area is too poor in the water element, so it would be difficult restoring limbs and lost organs."
If they were beside a lake, she believed in being able to heal them all quite quickly, but the arid zone was bad for Water Healing.
She hadn't learned any other elemental healing, so there wasn't any other way. Although she also learned some natural healing, that couldn't regrow limbs and organs, and if she used it, elemental healing wouldn't work later.
"The people in this town have a water artifact. If you use it, do you think you will be able to save them? I also have some water on the spatial ring."
Shiba wasn't too sure about how Water Healing worked, but if it was a matter of water, he knew that the town had that artifact.
"Normal water won't be enough. As for the artifact, I won't know without seeing it, but I may give it a try. Let's go, each second is important to save them."
The water from a water artifact was far purer in water element than normal water.
Given the lack of water element in the area, the only way was to rely upon the artifact.
At that moment, a lot of people in the town had died, and most of the others were injured. The less injured ones helped to stop the bleeding of the heavily injured ones, so they managed to reduce a bit the mortality rate.
"Bring me to those in more need of healing. Also, bring the water artifact, I need it to cast Water Healing properly given how severe are the wounds."
Although they didn't know who Eini was, they saw her fight with the Soul-eating Eagles, so they obeyed her instructions.
"He is the one in the worst condition. Please save him."
A woman said while signaling to a man without arms that seemed to be on the verge of death.
"This is serious. He is remaining alive by pure willpower."
Eini was really surprised that the man remained alive in his condition.
"Here is the water artifact."
A kid ran with the water artifact in his hands. It was quite small, despite how powerful it was.
The weakest of the town had tried to hide while the others battled, so most of the kids were still alive.
The ratio of deaths on men was also far higher than on women since most men at least trained some martial arts before, so they were the ones to battle.
"Activate it, and don't let it stop. It doesn't matter if there is a flood. I need everything possible."
The situation of that man was far too bad, she was decided to give her all, but she still wasn't sure about being able to succeed.
"Stop..."
At that moment, the wounded man spoke.
"Don't waste your efforts with me. I am already dead. I endured only to say something before dying."
He knew his situation perfectly. Although he didn't know if the girl could save him or not, it was obvious that it would require a lot of effort, and others could be saved using that time.
"Shiba, I knew that you would become someone strong. Thank you for coming to rescue us. It was an honor having helped you to train. If there is a next life, I hope we met again."
After speaking, he smiled.
"He died."
It was just as the man said, he had only endured because he wanted to say thanks to Shiba.
Eini didn't know that man, so although it was a pity that he died, she just went to help other people that needed it.
Although the others weren't about to die in seconds, it was better to heal them as fast as possible, or they would also die.
On the other hand, Shiba had tears on his face.
He never felt too attached to the other slaves, so although he was furious that they were all killed and planned to avenge them, most of it was because it was also a personal grudge.
However, the people of that town treated him very well, and he felt really sad seeing that so many died.
In particular, he spent the most time training with that man, so he felt like a big brother to him.