Ralfor brandished his claws towards the berserker's greatsword, pushing it away from him.
The berserker took a few steps back and grunted.
"Damn it, what is this overgrown cat's deal?!" The berserker was annoyed that he was suddenly attacked by a lion even though he was just minding his business.
The berserker wore bulky armor protecting his shoulders, chest, legs with very bulky knee guards. His hair was reddish and unkempt, he had brown skin and a large physique.
"Look, I don't know. So maybe just try to distract it." The archer's arrows were swiftly approaching Ralfor, but with Ralfor's speed, he just ran away from the arrow's trajectories.
The archer, unlike having the typical lean body for agility, had some muscle mass. After all, his longbow requires 60 kilograms of force just to shoot. He wore leather gloves, light armor that covered most of his body, blue clothing under his armor and combat knives strapped to both sides of his waist. His hair is black and his eye color is black with a very faint shade of red that was barely visible. His facial structure is rigid, giving him a very serious appearance.
"Distract it?? You're using me as a meat shield!" The berserker grumbled. He saw Ralfor rapidly approaching once again, so he blocked the flaming claws coming for his head using his greatsword.
The martial artist ran towards the berserker and used the berserker's back as leverage to jump. Her fists were covered by blue flames fueled by Divinious. The azure tattoos on her body glowed wildly, expressing her thirst for a battle.
She wore iron gauntlets built for punching, iron pauldrons, a tough chestplate, iron boots and light knee guards, and chainmail protecting her stomach. She had black hair and fierce blue eyes.
Since martial artists need Divinious tattoos all over their body in order to execute their techniques and special abilities, they need to expose a certain amount of skin to absorb Divinious using their tattoos, which is fine for men, since they can just go and expose their upper body with no problem.
But for women, they had to wear some level of clothing in order for it not to be inappropriate. But despite this, even male martial artists need to wear something over their body like armor, because they're not invincible. So this inconvenience does not affect female martial artists that much during battle.
"Take this!" The martial artist's fist shot forward like a bullet and struck Ralfor's forehead.
Ralfor tightened his face muscles and retaliated with a strike of his own.
The martial artist's face was expressing pure bloodlust. She bashed her gauntlets together as the blue flames on her fists changed and began to shine with a silver light.
Similarly, her tattoos all over her body began to turn into silver Divinious markings. Two streaks of Divinious markings glowed on her face, releasing a faint silver mist.
After that, her fists increased in speed by tenfold. Despite the burning sensation all over her body, it wasn't painful, but extremely heart pumping and exhilarating instead.
"Let's see if you can stand up after this!" The martial artist, with a crazed expression, sent hundreds of punches towards Ralfor in just a few seconds.
Ralfor tried attacking by using his claws and he even tried pouncing towards the martial artist but she was just too agile and she seems to have grasped the tempo of the battle.
Her legs were slender and strong, her fists carried massive momentum that sent Ralfor a step back every time she managed to get a hit.
Ralfor knew that he couldn't keep on fighting and he was already planning to escape.
Ralfor shook his head and decided to persevere. However, the flames in the martial artist's fists turned into extremely hot white fire. Ralfor couldn't dodge in time after this power boost, so the flames struck his body so hard that he was sent flying back.
Ralfor roared and tried to gain the momentum of his fall. After doing so, he landed back on his feet with some degree of damage.
The martial artist laughed.
Her tattoos flickered on her skin. She looked both attractive and menacing. But for Ralfor, it was definitely the latter.
He wanted to run so badly, but it was his master's orders.
Ralfor swallowed his fear. He was stalling for time here. When he saw that the archer shot an arrow towards him again, he decided to go all out no matter what.
Swoosh!
However, a figure dropped down and caught the arrow with his bare hands.
Slowly standing up from a half kneeling position, Chrysos looked at the attackers with an evaluative attitude.
"It isn't nice attacking my mount like that." Chrysos threw the arrow to his feet and stepped on it.
"Is that lion your mount? Tch, it gave us a lot of trouble." The martial artist glared at Chrysos. "Just for screwing us over, I'm not going to let you off so easily."
"You can try. But I can tell you that it'll end up very miserably for you." Chrysos unsheathed his dark blue sword and took on an attacking stance.
"Haha! I've been waiting for this-" The martial artist was about to step forward when the berserker stopped her.
The berserker, knowing that conflicts aren't really the best way to go around things, decided to deescalate the heated situation.
"Look, we apologize for hurting your mount. But to be fair, it attacked us first. It's reasonable to call it self defense, right?" The berserker decided to end things peacefully instead of resorting to another battle.
"Yes, I understand… However, I want something that you guys have." Chrysos pointed his sword to the net with the blood elephant inside.
"What? You want the elephant?" The berserker showed a wary expression on his face. He was ready to move if Chrysos took any suspicious action.
Chrysos knew what the other party was thinking. He then said, "Look, I'm planning to buy the elephant. How much is it?" He was ready to take out his money pouch to buy it.
The berserker and company were surprised. They weren't expecting that Chrysos was willing to buy the elephant.
The trapmaker from the back, a thin man wearing long clothing with tools all over his body, he had black hair and brown eyes and had somewhat of a crafty expression.
"Since this is a Crimson Tusked Blood Elephant, and I'm sure you know how a live one sells for. I suggest a price of 300 gold coins." The trapmaker sounded reasonable, since an adult Crimson Elephant only sold for around 250-400. But for Chrysos, he wasn't willing to go that high.
"150 gold coins. That right there is still a baby and has limited uses for its size. Don't try and rip me off." Chrysos replied. Unwilling to spend so much for the elephant.
The trapmaker insisted. "However, it's a living one. Meaning, you can grow it and use its properties once it grows up, isn't that a good deal?"
Chrysos didn't agree. "Listen here, the supplies for food until that elephant grows up costs 1 gold for one month. And that's just for food. You also need clean water, maintenance, an area where you can keep the elephant without it escaping. And you need to pay for all of that for 7 years which will cost 147 gold coins on food alone. And because we have 21 months in a year, and all the other necessities combined will cost at least 2,793 gold coins. However, if I keep it on my property, the combined cost will only be 588 gold."
Chrysos added. "But even so, because I am keeping a dangerous non mount type animal and therefore subjecting 15% to taxes for doing so, it will cost me 83 gold and 7 silver coins. Which ends up with 671 gold and 7 silver coins spent. And now you're telling me it's fair?" Chrysos listed out the details of the costs that he would have to deal with.
The trapmaker argued, "However, the price I had to spend by using traps was also large. I am not selling the elephant so cheaply."
"Your costs of terrible procurement of this elephant does not matter to me." Chrysos subtly shook his head to silently tell the man that he didn't have to pay for his expenses.
The trapmaker smirked. "Then there's no deal. We spent a great deal of money on this. The price you're offering isn't something we can agree to."
"Didn't you hear me? Your expenses do not matter in this transaction." Chrysos repeated himself.
The berserker sighed. "No." He raised his sword and took on a defensive stance.
"Your choice then..." Chrysos knew that these guys weren't going to settle with negotiation. Since that was the case, he decided to fight them for it.
"Meiros, use these guys to train yourself." Chrysos said with a stone cold voice.
"Understood." Meiros' eyes flashed with a trace of psychic energy.
Chrysos activated "Steel Rage," "Steel Skin Hardening," extended his arm forward to use the 'Earth Fist' magic circle, sending a long earthen arm towards the berserker.
The berserker was momentarily taken by surprise, but when he regained his composure, he used a unique ability and broke the rocky arm in half using his sword.
Boom!
Rock fragments flew everywhere.
Chrysos regenerated the rock fist and sent another strike towards the berserker.
The berserker destroyed this rock fist as well. He ran forward and swung his greatsword towards Chrysos.
"If you think that a rock can defeat me, think again!" The berserker used his full strength, intending to chop off Chrysos' arm.
Chrysos dispelled the earth fist spell by detonating it, filling the nearby area with a thick dust cloud.
Because of Chrysos' advantage of having a gas mask that protected his face, the berserker had to deal with the dust by himself, unaware of Chrysos' fist that was quickly reaching his face.
Under the dust cloud, the berserker saw the fist about to hit him, but it was too quick for him to block
Bam!
The berserker was struck by a powerful force, sending him skidding down the dirt.
"Ralfor, attack him! Meiros take care of the rest!" Chrysos shouted.
Meiros nodded and relayed the command to Ralfor through 'Mind Connection' before splitting up.
While Chrysos was still looking back, he felt a slightly warm sensation behind his head, which prompted him to immediately duck down, dodging a sneak attack from the martial artist.
He sent a punch towards the martial artist, but she retaliated with a punch of her own.
Boom!
An ear splitting sonic boom sent the two of them back. However, the martial artist was sent back a further distance than how Chrysos was.
She smiled with a bloodthirsty grin. "Powerful..." She wiped the blood from her lip and dashed forward once more.
She was terrifyingly agile. Chrysos knew that if he tried attacking with a punch, he would miss and give his opponent an opportunity to counterattack.
He nimbly raised his sword and executed 'Blade Storm.'
The martial artist stopped on her tracks and used her fists to punch the numerous sword strikes from Chrysos.
Peng! Peng! Peng! ...
"What's this?? Can't you go any faster!?" The martial artist's fists blurred as she sped up her pace once more.
Chrysos knew that she was a problem to be taken care of immediately.
Caziwair Serpent Sword.
Amidst the swift slashes of his sword, it suddenly blurred and stabbed forward at an incredibly quick speed.
Swish!
The martial artist saw the sword slashes suddenly stop and stab towards her stomach. She immediately grabbed the sword using her gauntlets. And when she caught it, sparks flew out from her hands.
"Hahaha! Nice trick!" The martial artist's left hand let go of the blade and sent a flaming punch towards Chrysos.
Chrysos tried pulling out his sword but she was gripping it too tightly.
"Woman, calm down, we aren't even dating yet." Chrysos felt that his Alizuite sword was lodged between two mountains because of how immovable it was for him.
"Damn it." Chrysos saw her punch towards him, so he used both hands to forcefully yank his sword and parried her punch just in time.
Boom!
Even though he managed to parry her fist, he was still sent backwards for a few meters.
The martial artist dusted her gauntlets clean and said in a taunting manner, "What's wrong? Can't go on anymore? I'm just getting started!"
"Oh shut up.." Chrysos flicked a vial open from his chest, spewing out thick orange gas.
He activated 'Wind Slash' and sent two Inferno Mist wind blades towards the martial artist.
The martial artist lowered her head and ran forward to avoid the wind strikes. Her face was filled with pure insanity.
Chrysos flicked his wrist, his hand glowing with an electrifying magic circle. From that magic circle, a lightning bolt struck one of the wind blades that she just dodged.
The martial artist saw the world in slow motion at that moment.
The lightning struck the wind blade in the corner of her eyes. And after that, the wind arc expanded into a bright white light, engulfing her completely.
Boom!!
The martial artist's body was sent back from the explosion.
When the smoke settled, her face was half scorched and she was bleeding everywhere. She survived the explosion by using a defensive unique ability that used Divinious to make a very durable shield.
Even though she used a shield, it still consumed 85% of her Divinious reserves.
She was breathing heavily. She couldn't believe that the simple looking attack was that powerful!
"W- What was that...?" She spoke under her ragged breathing.
"Alchemy." Chrysos said as a streak of triumph shone on his eyes.
Meanwhile, on another side of the battle…
The archer was currently fighting Meiros. He was dodging the arrows so well that the archer was starting to get agitated.
As a psychic, he knew where and when the arrows were going to hit him, so he easily sliced them before they could do any damage.
It was also tricky since the arrows sometimes accelerate all of a sudden while in midair. That was because of the archer's unique ability, "Arrow Acceleration."
The trapmaker was also a threat to Meiros since the trapmaker could send Divinious strings that could snare and trap him in place. That would be dangerous to fight against, especially since the trapmaker paired with an archer.
"Boy, to stay with your arms intact against the two of us, that's impressive." The trapmaker revealed a savage smile.
"You speak of that as an impressive feat, but for me you two are just child's play." Meiros laughed tauntingly.
"You dare-! AH!" The trapmaker was startled after hearing an explosion not too far away. "What was that!?" He was about to turn around to see where it came from.
The archer was startled. He turned his head towards the source of the explosion.
Meiros' eyes sparkled. He took this opportunity to dodge and use mind control towards the trapmaker.
The trapmaker was still in a fragile state of mind after being shocked by the loud sound from the explosion nearby. This was the best time to strike if he wants to control his mind.
Meiros touched the side of his head by using his middle and index finger. Meiros then used his Divinious and he invaded the trapmaker's mind forcefully.
This time, he went all out and poured as much Divinious as he could.
The trapmaker felt that something was amiss, but it was too late.
"AHHHG!!" He screamed in pain after falling down the ground.
He saw his vision blur and he could no longer feel his body. But, he could still see and hear what's going on in his body.
He screamed on the top of his lungs. "What the hell is this!?!"
Zoom!
His eyes went blank before being replaced by a light blue glow. This glow didn't reek of negative energy, and it instead felt like genuine heroic energy.
Meiros' smile widened even more.
This was a risky play because Meiros took the opening where the archer had to take more arrows from his quiver in order to shoot him. Giving him a small window to execute his plan.
And given that he had to concentrate on one spot in order for mind control to activate, he had to stay in place which would cause him to become very vulnerable.
It was the archer's mistake to be distracted at a time like this.
Having achieved full control of the trapmaker, Meiros could feel both of his bodies and he could control them in perfect synchrony.
The archer looked at the screaming trapmaker beside him. The archer was no longer distracted and had to place his attention back to the fight. "Are you alright?" The archer checked up on him.
However, he quickly focused on Meiros once again upon seeing that the psychic was running towards him.
"Oh no you don't!" The archer pulled back his bow and was ready to shoot when a string made of Divinious snared his bow, making his arrow miss Meiros by a few inches.
Thu!
The arrow went past Meiros' head as he kept running towards the archer.
Being overwhelmed by two people, the archer couldn't adapt in time and his legs were ensnared by the strings.
"What the hell are you doing!?" The archer fell down after losing his balance. He tried grabbing for his bow when Meiros kicked him in the face while he was down.
Bam.
His nose bled as he felt a dull pain on his face. "Damn you!"
Meiros raised his feet without much of an expression and stomped on his face again.
Bam.
Bam.
Bam.
The archer fell unconscious eventually.
"That's more like it." Meiros reached his hand out for a high five. "That's our win."
"We are just one person..." The trapmaker Meiros high fives the original Meiros' hand. "Now c'mon, let's help Ralfor." The trapmaker gestured with his hand and started walking towards Ralfor's location.
"You know, it feels weird talking to myself." Meiros scratched his head as he followed behind. "Wait, we need another ally to make it even easier to fight."
"Alright." The trapmaker shrugged as Meiros used mind control on the sleeping archer. "But remember, this will give you a very annoying headache later."
"No worries, Master Chrysos has medication prepared for me." Meiros didn't mind it as he forcefully controlled the archer.
Without much of a hassle, the archer woke up with another consciousness inside the body.
On the other side of the fight, at Ralfor's location…
The berserker was fighting Ralfor and he managed to hold his ground. The fight is almost equal since the berserker couldn't catch up to Ralfor's speed, but Ralfor couldn't break through the berserker's defenses.
It was an equal battle if it weren't for the fact that Ralfor's Divinious was limited. If this battle drags on, the berserker would claim the upper hand soon enough.
Ralfor was preserving his Divinious and he attacked less frequently. He walked around the berserker, but his opponent was just too defensive. He couldn't do anything to make him attack.
While he was circling the berserker, they both heard an explosion.
"What the hell-?" The berserker was momentarily distracted, but Ralfor took the initiative and attacked immediately.
BAM!
Ralfor's charge took a lot of his Divinious to execute. He was quite low on Divinious right now.
The berserker stopped being defensive and he began attacking Ralfor nonstop.
"You think that you'll be able to defeat me! Well, think again! I was baiting you to attack!" The berserker raised his sword and swung it down.
However, his sword was suddenly snared by a string made of Divinious.
The berserker turned around and saw an arrow coming towards him.
He wasn't fast enough to block it, adding to his conundrum, his greatsword was currently being snared by the trapmaker.
The arrow sped up and hit his back.
"Agh! Lefio, what are you doing!?" The berserker angrily turned around to see his friends with an unfamiliar glow in their eyes.
His eyes switched from anger to fear. "Y- You are??"
"Yes, I'm a psychic." Meiros smiled as his eyes glowed with an eerie shade of blue.
He pointed his sword towards the berserker. A purposeful provocation with a tone of scorn. "How would you like to fight three of myself?"
Meiros said as the archer took an arrow and pointed it to the berserker.