Roarrr! The monster cried. It was loud enough for it to emit sonic waves from its mouth up in the sky. Suddenly, something jumped out of the dust cloud in front of it and got alarmingly closer in a blink.
"Deal with me, monster," Alan said with a smile when he was almost two meters away from its chest. He had pulled his arm behind his shoulder to punch it with all his strength.
As he was about to strike its chest, it covered its front body from all four of its arms as a reflex action. He still punched and uprooted it from its feet. It got pushed back from the hit it received.
Grr… It peeked between its arms and glared at him after groaning. Alan did not waste time and jumped ahead to close the distance between them.
It was difficult for Doomster to use its tails when he was this close. That was why it tried to maintain a distance from the people it fought.
"You won't get away this time," Alan said, inhaled deeply, and punched again. Doomster blocked it again but got pushed further than the last time. It looked at its arm and growled which meant the punch hurt it.
Before it could react, it received a hit on its knee. Waa! It cried and sat on one knee after Alan kicked with all his might. He didn't stop just with that. When it sat on the ground, its altitude lessened and it was the perfect chance for him to strike its head.
"You will know what we mere students can do." He pushed his feet on the ground and jumped up and followed it by a hook kick in a horizontal curve. A loud thud was heard when he hit it just below its ear.
"Huh?" He noticed the creature didn't even budge. "It had no effect?" He thought in surprise. Suddenly, something wrapped around his body and lifted him up.
It was one of the monster's tails. The monster looked right into his eyes with its bloodshot red eyes when he tried to struggle.
"Damn, it hurts." The spikes on its tail pierced his skin in multiple places. He winced in pain when it tightened its grip. "Ah!"
It moved him closer to its head to look him directly into the eye from up close. "Your breath smells of crude oil," Alan mentioned and grimaced. The creature did not react and just glared at him as if it took him as a potential enemy. Alan noticed the monster smirked for a second.
"You think you have won?" He asked while taking heavy breaths.
Suddenly, someone erupted out of the ground. "Yaa!" Marya jumped out of the ground while screaming. Doomster was assured of its victory but it did not expect someone to just erupt out of the ground. It did not have the time to react to this surprise attack.
Marya had the two daggers in her hands which Alan had. She poked one dagger into its eye and pushed it further when a whitish aura covered her body.
The monster cried in pain but the pain increased many folds when a fire covered the dagger's blade and burned half of its head from inside. It somehow grabbed her and threw her away, but the dagger was still stuck into its eye socket.
The grip on Alan loosened, and he slipped down to free himself. The monster got a hold of the dagger and tried to pull it out.
At the same moment, someone jumped out of the dust cloud with a war-hammer in his hand. He was Convex with one arm. His entire body got covered in the orange aura and mostly concentrated around his arm and the war-hammer.
"Take it, you monster!"
Bam! He hit the monster on the chest which made it go immobile for a few seconds.
"This is the chance," Alan said and thwarted punches after punches on its chest. It hurt doomster as it puked a slimy substance out of its mouth after getting pushed back a few steps. Its tongue hung out of its mouth and eyes rolled back up just like it happened earlier.
Its tails fell on the ground and spread like a spider's web around them.
"I won't let you get up this time," Convex said with a frown and gave a solid hit on its chest when it fell on its knees.
"Once more! Together!" Alan said and took his standing beside Convex. He pulled his arm and aimed for the right side of the chest while Convex aimed for the left side.
Bam! The hard substance covering its chest cracked.
"I will break it open," Convex said and gave another tremendous hit on its chest. Alan punched at the same time and the hard substance covering its chest broke.
The pieces fell and scattered on the ground. The monster's back bent after receiving such heavy hits and its face faced the sky hopelessly.
"Now we just have to get its core," Alan said. At that moment, Gunther jumped out of the dust cloud and pierced its chest with the war-scythe. "Aa!" He screamed when he sliced the chest from top to bottom.
A shiny object came into view right at the center of its chest when Alan tore apart the chest from his hands. It was as big as someone's skull and shone like a bright star. It was hexagonal.
"It must be the core," Alan said and pulled it out from of his hands.
"Did we win?" Gunther asked with an unbelieving face. Alan looked at him with a smile as an answer. His face lightened up when he understood they defeated the creature.
Convex held the monster's neck with a frown on his forehead and gritted his teeth. "What happened, huh? You were the boss just a while ago. What happened now? Wake up and fight me!" When the monster didn't react, he turned to Alan and said, "See, it is so scared it could not even dare to fight me. This is what you get for messing with mighty Convex."
He looked at Marya who just arrived. "One should keep in mind before messing with me. This could happen to them as well," He said and walked away with his head held high.
Marya did not react to him and looked at Alan when Convex went away. "How did you know it had a core?" She asked while panting. She received a lot of damage in the battle.
"It is a long story. I will tell you later," Alan answered.
Marya noticed the drops of blood dropping on the ground from the back of his palm. "You are bleeding." She noticed he bled from various places of his body, mainly because of the spikes when the creature wrapped its tail around him.
Alan looked down at his hand. "Ah, it is nothing. It is nothing compared to what Convex lost," He said casually with a smile.
"Hey, guys, I am here too," Gunther said as he felt ignored.
"I admit it is because of you we won this battle," Marya said and looked at the creature. "We might have died."
When Alan saved her from the monster's claws, it was revolving around her eyes. He said the same thing that her father said in her memory.
She turned and said, "Just because you helped us defeat this monster doesn't mean you could do whatever you want. You will spar with me after we fully heal." Alan smiled at her words.
She suddenly felt dizzy after speaking. She held her head when she was about to collapse.
"Marya?" Alan threw the core aside and caught her just at the moment she was about to fall. She still had not fully passed out and could see his face with her blurred vision before closing her eyes.
"She lost consciousness," Alan said and looked at Gunther. "It would be better to leave from here." Gunther nodded.
Alan looked at the part of the forest where the researcher talked to him. He wanted to go there and capture him to know about the secrets of the Nigrosian research facilities.
Suddenly, he felt some movement behind his back. His eyes expanded when his lips blurted, "No way." He threw Marya aside and shouted, "Gunther, run!" He turned and saw the monster glaring at him.
Gunther stood stunned when he looked at it. "How?"
Just at the moment, it was about to cry, its head sliced up and separated from its body. White slimy fluid sprayed out of its neck instead of blood. Amidst the spray, Alan could see a silhouette of someone with a large build-up, and his eyes expanded in disbelief and surprise when he saw his face.
"Victor," He said in his mind and gritted his teeth.
"How are you, boy?" Victor said while looking down on him with his blood-red eyes.
"I will kill you," Alan said in his head.
"It would be better if you rest. You must be tired after such a fierce battle," Victor said before a wide diagonal cut wound opened across Alan's chest and blood sprayed out of it.
"Huh?" Alan could not comprehend what happened. How did he get the wound? He collapsed on the ground and passed out with Victor being the last person he saw before closing his eyes.