On the contrary, Alfraed relied solely on straight forward speed and power. He did not possess an element of surprise like his enemy. Regardless, every strike was immensely heavy, capable of breaking apart a dragon's hides, and more than made up his shortcoming, leading his inhuman opponent to incur detrimental damages.
The metallic melody caused by their lethal exchanges scattered throughout the area, altering its terrain, and anyone who witnessed the scene, would know better not to get involved, even a dragon would refrain from engaging either of them in battle.
....After some time, the creature thrust its claws toward Alfraed with a frightening precision. A lethal, yet monotonic attack, and having already used to its speed, he evaded the incoming claws and parried the arm that housed those claws. The creature staggered, losing its balance. Not wasting an opportunity, Alfraed launched a splintering front kick, cracking open its abdomen, while simultaneously pushing away the creature far away from him.
"…Haah…hah…hah…" Alfraed's body was full of wounds and bruises that could make normal person collapsed. Fortunately, for him, nothing severe.
The more pressing issue was stamina. In succession, he had been running for hours to reach this place, dealt with a horde of beasts on his own, picking up hundreds of materials, and now had to face this deadly creature that knew nothing of fatigue. Despite his bottomless stamina, Alfraed was far passed his limit by now. Nevertheless, he took a fighting stance, ready to face the creature again.
"….Hah…hah…" Alfraed kept his attention on the creature while doing as best as he could to make his irregular breathing back to normal.
...…However, even after a good amount of time, the creature had not shown any attempt to make a single move, like a doll that had its strings cut.
'This is my chance!'
Alfraed was hoping for a moment like this to come. Immediately, he took two bottles from his utility belt, and drank it one at a time.
On a journey, Alfraed always bought five potions and an antidote. Until just now, he had never used them, because usually his healing magic could deal with his injuries and abused stamina.
The first bottle contained a Medium Grade Health Potion, the efficacy was swift, and within a minute, injuries on his body healed. He intended to take a High Grade Potion to fully heal the injuries, but, the bottle that contain that potion shattered. The second bottle, was a Stamina Potion, similar to the health potion, it took effect within a short amount of time, and his stamina replenished.
"I am ready for another round! Though.... I hope there's no more round to be readied for…"
Alfraed did try to consume potions during the brawl earlier. But, simply could not do so, as the creature's assault was too erratic, and did not give him a chance to take them.
'Speaking of which, I've been too focused on selling only Health and Mana potions. I have other products to offer. I should try offering Stamina Potions to the Association also, it should be popular with adventurers. Yes, lets do that!' even in this gripping situation Alfraed could still think about his business, and how to expand it.
'One more reason for me to come back from this place alive'
Finally, the creature stood up, displaying its broken body that seemingly could fell apart at any moment. And, there was an obvious opening on its abdomen, nothing could be seen aside from a pitch black darkness, as if the creature was a mere shell and not even a living being.
Then, bleak lights shone inside the creature's hollow eyes. It's head wildly twitched, a crevice appeared on the bottom half of its skull face, and spread consistently to form what appeared to be a mouth.
That newly-formed mouth was steadily being opened as wide as its face could permit.
"…Wha…??!!"
Suddenly, and abruptly, Alfraed heard an agonizing sound echoing directly in its head.
He tried to block the sound by closing his ears tightly with both hands. But, it was in vain, because the creature's mouth did not actually produce an actual sound. Instead, it emitted magic that generated torturous sound directly in its prey's head. Killing them from within. Furthermore, there was no way to defend against it.
The loud sound intensified even further by each passing second. The ringing pain was unbearable, Alfraed hunched over in pain, blood started to flow from his ears, followed from his eyes and nose, and lastly his mouth.
"...Damn...it...!!!"
Not just Alfraed, the land near him was tearing apart as well, and any solid objects within the unknown range of the sound disintegrated.
"I'll..survive… thisss!!!"
Alfraed activated his dampened healing magic, pushing the magic to its limit, and the effort enabled him to considerably minimize the damage taken from the intangible attack.
No matter who performed it, there was no such thing as an everlasting magic attack. A limit existed! So, it was a contest between Alfraed and the creature about who could last longer.
...At this moment, the thought of attacking the creature did not even occurred in Alfraed's mind, as he could only persevere by withstanding the pain and continuously healed himself. Then, a blinding light engulfed the entire area as the creature's body exploded…
The sun had just set, and Alfraed just decided to leave this place to find another place to camp.
"…Ha…?" he frantically looked around, founding the lush area was no more, only a barren land as far as his eyes could see surrounding the shrine ruin.
….Was all of it just a dream? Hallucination? No, apparently not, because his outfit had many slashes on it. The potions he brought was already consumed too. So, the brawl -should be- real.
How about the materials he collected before the brawl started? Miraculously, it was all there, safe inside his backpack.
Alfraed could not understand what just happened, and maybe there was no answer. He bowed to pay his respect to all the things he experienced and learnt in this area, and quickly left before something outlandish appeared again.
-------
In a distance, the creature was looking at its opponent's back that could no longer be seen. Then, it looked up, witnessing the two moons who ruled the night sky shining brightly with indescribable countenance.
Slowly, it faded away…