It was enthralling. An emotion that felt alien to Luvi.
With the shield up in the air guarding his front and Idhant under his elbow, Luvi backed up while maintaining a stable footing in case of the attack.
'No eyes, they are attracted by sound.'
These half dead cows were dangerous, but only when they pinpoint your location. Before it, they would try to use their remaining senses to find their target.
So Luvi backed off, going silent and wondering only one thing.
'Fucking Idhant… his state is too wrong. Probably their way to slow me down.'
How it happened and why, it was not important now. For now, Luvi has to hold these cows back, until help arrives.
And the shield in his hand was perfect for it.
FIX: The shield I will be hiding in the equipment room might seem normal, but it can read the enemies and auto-defend against their attack. Just remember, it might jerk your hand a little bit. You might even dislocate your shoulder if you are not ready for it.
FIX: So even though it does most of the work. Without proper preparation, it might just break your arms due to its erratic movements when it defends you.
Luvi knew from this fact alone that the shield in his hand might be sold for millions at least. But that was needed to assure his safety during this fight.
'First I need to deal with this baggage before confronting these beasts.'
He still needs to maintain his act. So he can't act as if he was ready for everything from the start.
Though, it would still look odd, considering how he was not screaming for help in the arena. People might get suspicious. And if not for the auditory detection of these beast, he might have done so already.
But once was enough and for now, an emotion of worry and panic was all that was needed.
'The hill or the trees?'
'I can't climb a tree, not with my baggage on me anyways, the hill would be perfect place to keep him.'
Elevated areas in the marshes were given to provide brief respite from the beast attacks or for the participants to plan for ranged attack if they needed.
But Luvi was going to use that for a single purpose. And that was to transfer the baggage and nothing else.
'Around 10 mins… I need to survive for 10 mins."
There was no need to rush, he just needed to reach the hill.
Then…
*Dipple
A sound made by Luvi's leg falling into a water hole whose surface was originally covered with algae, making it look solid.
A sound that attracted the three mushroom cows.
"This shit."
He ran after putting the shield on his back. So if these bastards rammed him from behind, he can depend on the shield to cushion some of the blow.
Though, his speed couldn't match these cows who were made for marshes.
His legs, which were making clopping sounds as they tried to rushed toward the hill, drained too much energy and were a lot slower.
'Fuck, I should just abandon this cunt.'
Luvi thought, but he abandoned that thought in a second, instead of abandoning Idhant.
'I am not my family.'
He said to himself.
He was not his family, not in front of the world that is.
He needs to maintain his dignity, show that he is different from the family that nurtured him. Again, just in front of the world.
So without further ado, and knowing that holding back would be nonsensical in this situation, he used the mana in his feet, to enhance his steps, making it easier to run.
And as the size of the arena was not too big to begin with, he reached the hill and gently put the body of Idhant on the side of the boundary, while equipping the shield on his left hand, as well as the stiletto on his right. Ready to face the first beast that came running towards him.
"I always wanted to do this."
And just as the beast came rushing towards him, Luvi tried to stab at it with his small knife, not succeeding as the shield in his hand automatically put itself in front of Luvi and defended against the tackle.
'Fuck, I forgot in panic.'
Yes, the shield would auto-defend. Luvi needs to go with the shields flow when attacking, instead of the other way around.
'The climb is narrow, there might be space for two to climb up, but their intelligence and beastly instincts would probably cause them to maintain some distance.
Luvi thought and as he expected, it was harder for three of these beasts to climb together, they could only come one at a time making it far easier for Luvi to handle these beasts.
"But this was his limit.
The shield might be superb and able to take a beating on its own, Luvi's arm still felt some concussion whenever the shield was hit. And no matter how many times he tried, he couldn't stab the beast besides giving it shallow slashes that barely registered on its skin.
Which easily got healed due to the mushroom cow's innate ability.
'This won't do… closing the auto defend option would also be foolish.'
There was no way to get around it, he was not trained in combat like this and his arm was getting sore after constant beating of the giant cow that tried its best to take Luvi down.
If not for his White Star physique and inhuman reaction time granted to him by his feline senses. Luvi might have already lost his footing, becoming a victim to these cows.
'Hmm.'
So there was only one thing that was left to do at this point.
Throwing the stiletto to the side, he made up a fist. 'Its time.
The amount of mana he wasted to reach the hill had recovered. So even though this small stiletto didn't provide much help to him, it still did its job of letting Luvi get used to the timing of the auto-defense of the shield and the cows' attack.
"Come!!" Luvi shouted, as the cow came from the front and rammed the shield, the same moment Luvi sent a punch directly to the cows neck with all his strength. Making it stumble to the side for a bit.
The beast was stunned, with blood flowing form its mouth. But knowing these beasts, it would take a few minutes for them to heal the serious damage.
But that's if it gets the time.
So before the other cow can approach him or this cow recovers, Luvi uses his shield to tackle the cow to the side, throwing it off the hill. "How does it feel like to be on the other end, you bastard."
If it was someone else, even if they were White star, it would have been impossible for them to throw a beast of this size and weight off the cliff.
But this was Luvi, a man with huge size as well as momentum. And Luvi knew his advantages clearly.
"Mooo~~" The cow cried, then fell down.
Breaking its front legs as well as neck under its own immense weight from this height.
It was still not dead. It would take just a few days for this beast to recover to walking state.
Though for this current fight, this cow was out of the battle.
"Come on! you bastards. Face your daddy."
And these beasts were not smart, so even after seeing the state of its compatriot, the cow behind it still rushed to ward Luvi, with full intention of spreading the same fungus.
But what it faced was just a shield.
'Collect a bit more mana, for full force attack.'
In truth, Luvi can maintain his top form during fight easily for 10 mins. But that when he is not conserving any energy.
Considering this was an attempt on his life. It would be foolish for these people to not plan something else for him.
Which in turn forced Luvi to conserve most of his mana and use it sparingly until the real opponent arrives.
Not to mention he was just wasting their time, as they were planning to waste his energy.
"Come now you fat bastard… let me send you to your fatass mummy."
The cow rammed again and Luvi started to wait for his turn once again.
As long as the status quo is maintained, it won't be long before he takes down all three of these beasts alone.
Of course, if the situation remains the same.
"??"
"FUcK!"
The moment he bashed away another attack from the beast, something pricked him in the back. Something he felt through his feline sense, but couldn't react to due to the lack of time as well as the need to defend against the beast in the front.
And turning around, Luvi found someone very familiar holding a knife in his hand with blood dripping out of it.
"You… "
There was no time to think, with the cow coming from the front for an attack once again and the enemy on his back. Luvi understood that he was surrounded.
There was no chance to face the cow as the injury in his abdomen was deep and it would be harder to maintain balance.
He can already feel warm blood flowing from his back.
"Well played."
WIth those words, instincts took over his reasoning and Luvi rushed to the side of the hill and jumped off of it.
"Good play Idhant… good play."