Eric, Noam and Zane prepared with their swords infused with their respective magic. They were ready to attack while Herris was still standing.
The three remembered that Herris always took time to move after being hit by Eric's lightning magic. Although the time she needed was shorter than that of her two comrades, the three of them wanted to take advantage of that gap.
"We'll attack together."
With a small nod, the three of them darted out to attack Herris, who was still lying motionless. Even the small sparks of lightning from Eric's attack were still visible on his body.
Realizing that another attack was coming his way, Herris immediately forced her body to move. The result was not very good as his body still moved slowly.
With shaking hands, he grabbed the small knife in his pocket and stabbed his thigh. The three boys were surprised by Herris' sudden action, but they did not stop running.
Despite the distance, the three did not want to give Herris time to dodge. At the same time, they slashed their swords in the air and their magic quickly shot towards Herris.
Unfortunately, because Herris was injured, the pain forced him to move faster than before. He jumped back just before the three magics hit him.
A loud explosion sounded as the three different magics hit the ground where Herris had been standing, causing Hana and Rose to gasp in shock. The smoke from the explosion slightly obscured their view.
Arion gasped in shock as he covered his small ears, 'The effect of those three magics is incredible. And that was just an attack by a child who had just awakened her magic. What about an attack by a trained person? It must be more powerful.'
Hana watched the battle between her brother and her friends with admiration, "Their attacks are amazing!"
Rose nodded in agreement, "For someone who has just awakened their magic, their attacks are very powerful indeed."
As the smoke cleared, they could see a rather large hole from their attack and Herris standing far away from where he was before. Now not only his back, but also hia thighs were injured, but of his own doing.
Herris grunted in annoyance before roughly pulling back the knife that was still piercing his thigh until more blood came out. But his face did not look disturbed or in pain. Instead, there was only anger and irritation.
Noam shuddered in horror, "He's crazy! Does he even feel pain?"
Noam even flinched when Herris pierced his own thigh. It took courage and determination to do this. Noam couldn't even imagine doing it himself. At least for now.
Zane grimaced unhappily, "He felt it. He just doesn't seem to care."
Herris growled angrily as he clutched at his injured thigh, not caring that his grip was only drawing more blood.
He looked at Eric sharply and vengefully, "That brat again!"
Noam elbowed Eric and whispered to his friend, "Looks like he's got more of a grudge against you than either of us."
Eric snorted, not looking surprised, "In case you forgot, he's been struck by lightning magic many times. Either by me, Nova or Emily. It's just more embarrassing when it's my attacks that hit him because I'm so much younger and my experience is so much less than his."
Zane nodded in agreement, "For someone like that, she must have very high self-esteem, especially in the area of strength. It's no wonder he focused all his anger on Eric."
Noam chuckled softly, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere between them a bit, "You're very unlucky today."
"Shut up." Eric clicked his tongue in annoyance before elbowing Noam so hard that he groaned in pain. Zane just shook his head in resignation, but was a little grateful to see the duo's behavior ease his tension a little.
But they couldn't relax for too long as they saw Herris preparing to attack again. His hands were clenched into tight fists. He seemed to be concentrating his strength in his legs as well.
Herris grinned cruelly, "My turn!"
Without being able to follow his movements, Herris was suddenly in front of the trio, fists ready to smash.
"Dodge!"
Another explosion went off where the three boys were standing. Fortunately, Eric reacted quickly and pulled his two friends out of the way. Had they been any slower, their bodies would have been destroyed by a single blow from Herris.
Dean whistled admiringly for the umpteenth time, "How interesting."
He couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. He wanted to test the boys himself. Just imagining it excited him with a maniacal grin on his lips.
Dean hummed, "Hans, take care of these servants. I want to test their magic." Hans turned his head toward him so quickly that his neck almost snapped.
When Dean saw that Hans was about to protest, he quickly cut him off before he could say anything, "In case you forgot, it's one of the tasks the boss gave us, me to be exact. You don't mind, do you?"
Hans bristled with anger before clucking his tongue in annoyance, unable to respond to her words, "Whatever. If you can get past that woman, so do it."
Dean chuckled as he started jumping up and down to relax his legs, "In case you forgot, I'm the fastest of the three of us."
Nova, guessing what he was about to do, immediately gathered a large amount of lightning magic in her hands. But this time it was not an attack, but rather a barrier for the two intruders.
Before they could stop himer, Nova stomped both hands on the ground, "Lightning Magic: Barrier Wall!"
Instantly, all the lightning she had gathered formed a barrier behind her, successfully blocking their path to the children and Herris on the other side.
Eric and the others gasped in surprise as a wall of lightning separated them from Noam and the two intruders. Even for Eric, he knew he wouldn't be able to break through this wall of lightning easily.
The smile on Dean's lips soon disappeared and was replaced by an angry scream. His entire plan had been foiled once again.
"What the hell!" Dean yelled angrily, something he had never done before. All this time he had only put on a calm expression or a small smile that was not pleasant to the eye. It seemed that Nova had managed to make him show a different expression.
Nova snorted and grinned at them, "You may be the fastest, but lightning is still faster."
Hans glanced at Dean, who was quickly in a bad mood. He frowned deeply before he snorted and straightened up. Dean looked up and closed his eyes, making Hans instantly wary.
"Okay, change of plans." Dean's sudden remark caught Hans off guard.
"Hans." The cold call from Dean made Hans shudder in horror before he hummed an answer.
Dean looked sharply and coldly at Nova between his fingers, "We'll use that."
Hans looked at him in surprise, but after that he just snorted in amusement, already used to Dean's cold look that rarely came out, "Are you sure? Earlier you were against it and said it wasn't time yet."
Dean gritted his teeth in annoyance and gave Hans a sharp look, "So what? I changed my mind. This is my order as your leader. We destroy them all now. Especially those kids, at least let them almost die. I want to do a little experiment."
Dean grinned sharply as Nova's expression changed from confident to angry. Of course, she was listening to their conversation the whole time. Dean didn't even try to hide it.
Hans shrugged indifferently, "I don't mind. But what about Herris?"
Dean snorted and rolled his eyes lazily, "That fool will use it eventually, with or without my consent. He's always been a bit of an ass. But at least the results are always satisfying."
Hans chuckled before reaching into his pocket to search for something, as did Dean. When they found what they were looking for, they both grinned cruelly at the same time, giving Nova a premonition of bad things to come, much worse than before.
"Shall we start another round?"
The energy blast on the other side of Nova's artificial barrier made Eric, Noam and Zane gasp in shock. They turned their heads to see what was happening, but their view was blocked by the lightning wall.
Noam's brow furrowed in curiosity, "What is that energy?"
Zane looked up slightly to feel the amount of energy that had suddenly appeared, "It's powerful."
Then he glanced doubtfully to Eric, "It can't be Nova, can it?"
Eric shook his head, "No. It's not lightning energy."
Even though he had just awakened his magic, he and Hana could already feel the energy of lightning magic because their father had said it was important and would be useful with or without magic. With this training, Eric could tell the difference between lightning magic and no lightning magic.
Herris' giggle made the three of them alert again. While Herris didn't pay much attention to the three of them as he was busy grinning, "So they finally used it, huh? Looks like the old maid managed to make Dean lose his temper."
Herris' grin widened as he began to reach into his pants pocket for something, "Then I won't hesitate to use it either."
Eric, Noam, and Zane immediately got a bad feeling. Did the intruders still have a secret weapon?