"I'm sure this monster won't be able to move as fast as earlier now that it's leg is wounded right?" Michael said as he retreated to gain distance. Just because the Sun Crow was injured doesn't mean it was the time to get cocky.
The Sun Crow let out painful screeches every few seconds as the blood leaked from it's leg non-stop. Tempy already began casting another fire spell in case the crow tried to rush at her again and Liam was forming another curse.
"Fireball!"
"Low-Ranked Curse Art: Withering!"
Thanks to Dean's buffs, the two were able to finish their attacks much quicker than earlier. As they launched their attacks, something unexpected occurred.
Since the attacks were so close together, they began intertwining with each other until they completely merged together and what became of the two attacks was a dark purple fireball that gave off a fiery and decaying aura.
The entire group stared in shock at what became of Liam and Tempy's attack. The power of the fireball was strengthened once and accelerated at a terrifying speed towards the crow who also noticed the sudden attack.
The crow still maintained more than half it's speed so it was able to dodge the fireball, for the most part. Only a quarter of the fireball came in contact with the crows foot but it let out a pain screech louder than the rest as its foot turned black at a terrifying speed along with the sudden burst of dark red and purple flames.
The crow's regenerative powers were just barely able to counter the fireball's power, although it didn't do much for the crow's foot which was beyond saving at this point. The crow's foot was visibly withering even though it was trying to heal.
The Sun Crow became enraged from the pain and launched multiple slashes of pure solar energy at it's enemies. The slashes of energy creating long and deep cuts in the ground as they drifted by with extreme speed. Faint traces of solar energy could even be felt from the slashes in the ground.
"I don't think I can block this attack completely." Dean said while sweating and a nervous look plastered across his face. The others retreated quickly in case Dean wasn't able to successfully fend off the attacks.
Within a split second, the crow's slashes came into contact with Dean's shield and sparks of solar energy flew in all directions.
'Tch. I expected no less from such a troublesome monster!' Dean said as he grunted and clenched his teeth while standing his ground. After a few seconds, the slash from the crow showed signs of dissipating.
'This crow is truly terrifying! It's attacks lasted more than 10 seconds without fading away!' Dean was having a hard time fending against the crow's attacks but luckily they were almost gone. Just as he felt the pressure lessening, he saw another 3 slashes coming towards him in a straight line. His face went pale from fear and anxiousness. Since he was the only tanker, he had to bear the brunt of the crow's attack on his own.
Although he was blocking the attacks, the others weren't just sitting there hoping for Dean to hold off the attacks. Tempy and Liam were preparing the same attacks again hoping for the previous situation to occur again.
"Fireball!"
"Low-Ranked Cursed Arts: Decay!"
This time Liam used a different curse intending for the attacks to fuse together again. Although the group didn't know how it was possible, they didn't care as it increased the power of their attacks. Liam watched as the attacks moved incredibly fast until they started to spin around each other.
The attacks rotated around each other with incredibly speed until finally, they merged together creating a fireball with a dark black and purple color that exuded a terrifying aura of rotten flesh. The attack flew past Dean and left him shivering more than the Sun Crows attacks and in shock.
Noticing the incoming attack, the Sun Crow successfully dodged it but to it's surprise the aura around the fireball still effected it's already severely wounded leg. The Sun Crow howled in pain unbefitting of a crow before unleashing a flurry of attacks.
"Retreat!" Dean yelled as they ran further away from the Sun Crow in hopes of being able to dodge it's attacks. Dean and the rest of the group managed to run around 100 meters before one of the crow's attacks pierced him in the back, causing his speed to plummet.
"Agh!" Dean exclaimed as he shouted in pain. The solar energy that hit his back caused immense pain and an unbearable burning and searing pain.
The others looked back at Dean in surprise. Without hesitating, Michael hurriedly rushed over and picked Dean up and tried his best to carry him further away from the crow. Lisa looked at Michael thankfully.
"We can't let you reveal your strength too early now can we?" Michael said as sweat rolled down his face. He was right, they couldn't let the crow witness Lisa's strength yet or it would ruin the chance of catching it off guard. This entire time Lisa acted like she was using support skills so the Sun Crow didn't suspect anything.
The group found a cluster of trees and quickly hid behind them for a minute before the Sun Crow's attacks finally stopped. Although they could still hear it's pained screeches in the distance.
The group peaked from behind the trees to check the location of the crow when suddenly, they heard a 'caw' from behind them.
They all turned around quickly as they thought the Sun Crow had found them, but to their surprise it was the wounded Moon Crow staring at them. They were all extremely surprised that the Moon Crow managed to conquer it's fear of the Sun Crow and approach the area of the fight.
The party was in a dire situation right now since Dean was injured. They didn't have a support that could heal so Dean had to sit out of the rest of the battle.
"Take a rest for now." Liam said to Dean. The previous stuttering was absent and there was only nervousness and sweat rolling down his face.
After catching their breath, the group left Dean with the Moon Crow and sneaked their way through the trees and sharp bushes trying to locate the Sun Crow.
After crouch-walking for a few minutes, they could hear the furious 'caws' coming from the Sun Crow again. They all assumed their previous formation again and sneakily approached the Sun Crow's location.
"We have to be extra careful now since Dean is basically out of commission." Michael said with a worry filled voice. The others quickly nodded before focusing on the distant 'caws' ahead of them that was getting closer by the step.
Just as they began focusing on the Sun Crows 'caws' again, Liam felt a terrifying pressure coming from his left and before he could even look to see what it was, he felt an unbearable pain on the entire left side of his body and sensed a familiar energy. Solar Energy!!
"S...Sola Solar E...Ener-rgy!" Liam said before fainting due to the unimaginable pain he felt in his body. Although the flesh wound was excruciating, the pain that the solar energy itself was causing to his insides made him cough up blood. It felt like his organs were twisting and stretching to their limit while also burning as if being cooked in a pan of filled with oil.
The other members of the group looked back in shock and fear as Liam fell to the ground in pain. They could see the solar energy sparking on the wound it caused and could also smell a nasty burnt skin smell that caused their stomach's to churn.
Michael reached out to Liam while shaking intensely. Liam's wound was way more sever than Dean's by an incomparable margin, mainly because of the fact that he had such a small frames with little to no muscles on his body to protect him from the slightest bit of damage. He was basically a walking sand bag or glass window that could be broken at any time, or in this case, die.
Liam could feel himself losing control over his body as his eyelids grew heavier by the second and his breathing slowed with every breath he drew.
"Am I...going to *cough* die? Right *cough* after finally...making friends for the...first time *cough* in 18 years...?" Liam said solemnly as he coughed up big portions of blood along with small specks of solar energy, it seems like the energy invaded his entire body, there was no way he'd be able to live after such a heavy blow to his body.
All of a sudden he could feel drops of unknown liquid fall on face, although it caused him even more pain. He struggled to move his eyes towards the source only to see Tempy holding his head with her hands. She was apparently crying and the previous tiredness that visible was completely gone and filled with extreme worriedness and sadness.
"Y-You're gonna be fine Liam. Just hold on! We're not gonna abandon you just for the sake of some stupid test!" It was surprising for everyone to see Tempy so emotional, especially Lisa as Tempy hardly showed any facial expressions.
"I...don't even have a...family to worry about...as I'm laying here dying...pathetic..." Liam softly said. There was barely anymore blood to cough up thanks to the solar energy evaporating most of it.
"Please...don't kill y...yourself tr..trying to avenge m-me *cough*..." Liam just barely managed to say before coughed up a huge blob of blood that seemed to have mushy bits of unknown material in it.
Tempy gasped as she saw this and began crying even more. Michael couldn't hold back his tears any longer either while Lisa looked down at Liam with a blank expression, seeming indifferent to the current situation.
"No...N-No, keep your eyes open!" Tempy exclaimed as she cried, her eyes flooded with tears.
"I..." Liam's eyes closed and didn't open ever again as he drew his last, pitiful, pathetic, and helpless breath. He could faintly hear Tempy's heavy crying before...nothing.
...
When Liam opened his eyes...wait...he opened his eyes?
Liam opened his eyes and found that he was standing in a completely dark space with no sound or anything to see at all...except for a giant screen in front of him with words on it. The words on the screen read,
[Conditions for '99x Experience Multiplier' to awaken have been met.]
[Condition 1: Learn a skill/art.](Achieved)
[Condition 2: Live until the age of 18.](Achieved)
[Condition 3: Die.](Achieved)
Liam was dumfounded as he read the words on the screen in front of him.
"Conditions have been met for...99x Experience Multiplier...?" Liam was confused as he read the words on the screen but soon realized what it meant.
"But...But what's the point of this thing if I'm already dead..." Liam's face was grim and filled with sadness until another screen appeared.
[You will be resurrected in 3 days.]
It was a straightforward and direct message that filled Liam with extreme happiness and made him jump in the air out of joy. He was even crying. The only reason he was happy was because he made friends and they actually seemed to care about him, at least everyone except Lisa who stared at him with such a strange expression.
It was as if she didn't care about him.
'I guess I should just wait for my resurrection? Although it is strange that this screen can somehow resurrect me...Oh well, maybe I will find out in the future what this mysterious thing is.' Liam said as he gazed at the giant screen in front of him.
--3 days later--
Tempy was carrying Liam's body wrapped in a cloth with a stressed and tired face along with even worse looking bags under her eyes. As she was walked, she felt a movement from within the cloth that surprised her at first but was quickly thought of as a hallucination, until another movement was felt. And then another, and another, until the cloth was torn apart from the inside, revealing Liam's unusually healthy face.