"So, you want to play? Then let's fucking play!"
'Shit...'
Though we had made a good offensive play on the monster, it had ultimately created a situation that was less than desirable. The reason for this was that Arthur was now on the other side of our opponent and I had been left vulnerable.
And sadly, our enemy wasn't blind to this as he charged toward me. "[Flowing Aegis]!"
Conjuring four new shields, while dropping my connection to the ones I made earlier, I steeled myself to meet him head-on, knowing that my speed was nowhere near sufficient for me to run away.
*Bam!*
Even with stacking all of my shields, the one in the front couldn't endure the hit, making water explode outwards. Not allowing me time to think of a solution, the monster's other three arms also got going.
*Bam! Bam! Bam!*
Before I knew it, another fist was now racing towards my undefended face, though it looked like it would most likely smash half my body due to its size. Still, I knew that I didn't need to worry much. Because a certain hero was already swinging his sword at the arm that wanted to obliterate me.
*Sching!*
"[Arc of Light - Strengthened]!"
"Gah!"
Noticing the danger, the monster tried to stop his attack and retrieve his arm, but it was too late. Quickly jumping back, the red beast inspected his now severed arm, and I wiped some of the blood that had inadvertently covered my face.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. But maybe we should try and get help from..."
"We ain't dragging my friends and Sophie into this. Also, do you really think that thing will just let us go?"
'It was worth a shot, I guess...'
While we were talking, smoke once again emerged from our enemy's wound, and in a matter of seconds, his severed arm was back in action. This time, however, he didn't just charge forward. Instead, he took a moment to think about the situation, and I felt as if I could see his face twist a bit.
'He knows he is on limited time...'
It appeared that the thing in front of us knew better than us what kind of time limit he was on, and if he had to calm down to make sure he started finishing things up, that time limit shouldn't be all that long.
"Arthur, we just need to stall for time. It shouldn't be long until someone from a guild or the like gets here."
"How would you know..."
"Trust me, I just know."
Sadly, even if I was now sure that this was the right move, there was a certain hero that had immediately activated his trump card, a trump card that also created a situation where we were on limited time.
Not having much choice but to accept my words, he dashed forward, this time acting a bit more careful as he danced around our enemy, who tried his best to crush him while at the same time keeping his attention on me.
"[Orb of Water]!"
*BOM!*
This time, his arms started glowing slightly when he defended against my spell, ending up in him not taking much damage at all. 'What rank is he? I don't think he is more than [A-]-rank, but how is he so strong then?'
Arthur should also be quite close to the same rank with ascension active, but somehow it still felt like they were so far apart in strength. Seeing Arthur try his best to cut apart the big body and fail to inflict any serious wounds, I could only come to one conclusion.
'It's not him that is overly strong, it's that Arthur isn't a true [A]-ranker...'
Even if he could increase his overall rank, his stats were still lagging behind, and his entire core skill just about made up the difference in rank. In other words, I should have already realized that he wouldn't be able to fight against someone who was a real [A]-ranker and therefore had a core skill on top of that.
"[Flowing Aegis]!"
Seeing Arthur in another tight spot, I sent my shields to his side, who quickly jumped in front of another punch that threatened to smash his body. "Not this time!"
Suddenly, his red fist started glowing bright red, as he either activated some kind of skill or a very potent version of enhancement. And right there and then there was no doubt that my shields wouldn't be enough.
*BAM!*
"Gah!"
This time, I didn't have time to catch the hero as he quickly collided with the wall, his mouth spraying out blood from the impact. Not allowing him the time to recover, our enemy was quickly making his way toward him, ready to end the fight once and for all.
"[Rebirth]."
A golden light shone from Arthur as he activated his healing skill, fully recovering from all the wounds that our enemy had inflicted. *BOM!*
The huge fist went into the wall, making debris explode out into the air as the hero dodged to the side. Now, a bad feeling started to grow in my stomach as I realized what kind of situation we were in.
If Arthur was alone, he might not have had to go on the offensive so much, but because I was here, it was necessary for him to keep fighting to make sure I didn't get targeted. And sadly, at this point, if I left him alone, he would no doubt die when his skill ended.
'Shit! Do I have no choice but to let Zero come out?'
The little boy inside of me was still screaming with anguish over seeing all the dead bodies around us, but I was holding firmly onto control, as I had no idea what he would do if I let go of the reins.
For me, this didn't matter much as I could just transfer my main mind to sub-me, who was currently waiting on our bed at home, and I sure wasn't about to die to save Arthur. But at the same time, I couldn't risk leaving him to his fate when there was so much on the line.
*Tang!*
Their fight had started once again, and as I was starting to run low on mana, our options were now extremely limited. In the end, I decided to try my best to avoid having to use our special skill, not wanting to worsen the condition of our body any longer.
"[Orb of Water]!"
'[Detonate].'
*BOOM!*
"GAARGH!"
This time, because he was too busy dealing with the persistent Arthur, I managed to get a clean hit on the backside of his head and was left with the only option of praying. Because that was the last bit of mana that I had left.
[Flowing Aegis] was an incredibly potent skill as long as the shields didn't get shattered, but now after having them blown up three times already, it had been detrimental to my mana pool.
So now I could only hope that Arthur could somehow stall enough time for us to get help, or allow my body to passively regenerate enough mana for another spell. Even now, I could feel a tangible sensation of mana getting absorbed from my surroundings as [Bottomless Vessel] was doing its job.
With the monster screaming its lungs out in pain, Arthur saw his opportunity and dashed forward.
"[Arc of Light - Strengthened]!"
I could feel how he used every single last bit of his own mana as well, and I couldn't stop myself from yelling loudly, "ARTHUR! STOP!"
*SCHING!*
"GYAAARGHHH!"
A huge gash was made across our enemy's body, and his internal liquid once again sprayed out into the air, quickly coloring the hero's hair red. However, if there was something we shouldn't do, it was to fool ourselves that we could end the fight on our own.
"You fuckers!"
*BAM!*
Arthur was sent flying through the room, unable to react to the huge swing of our enemy without any mana in his body.
A moment later, the hero who should never falter was lying unconscious next to the wall he had collided with, blood trickling out of his mouth. With his smoky regeneration, it didn't take long until the red monstrosity was fully healed, and he turned his eyes to me.
'Shit! Do I run back and try to get help from those bodyguards? But then I don't know if he is going to kill Arthur... Fuck! You stupid hero!'
This was what happened when a person thought he could do everything by himself, even going as far as to look past logic and facts. In the end, I could only resign myself to my fate, and blame my earlier self for not understanding the entire situation.
If I had just allowed myself to trust my instincts that we just had to stall for time, there was so much more that we could have done. Sadly, hindsight wasn't going to save the situation now.
"Haaa..."
'Go get him, Zero...'
*DON!*