"What's that?" James widened his eyes in surprise as he looked towards the wall of fire. From within the flames, a figure was thrown out.
"That's my brother," Lewis sighed in relief. She felt reassured now that the battle seemed to be over. Her brother appeared a bit dazed and slightly injured, but overall, he was fine. It was best not to interfere when everything was becoming clear, as getting involved in a battle was strictly forbidden.
As the large pillars of fire began to shrink and extinguish completely, both of them could clearly see Liam standing tall amidst the small flickering flames. His clothes had been almost completely burned away, revealing his intact muscular physique, not a single scratch on him, combined with the crude red gloves that made him look like a demon born from fire.
"Force energy is amazing. It left him without a single wound," Lewis remarked as she carefully observed Liam.
"Of course it is," James snorted proudly, glancing at his friend.
***
"Aaah!" A painful grinding sound escaped from Liam's mouth. He furrowed his brow in discomfort, then pulled out a new set of clothes from his space ring—a short outfit that was just enough to make him feel less hot.
"If I hadn't used skill [Formation], who knows what kind of disaster would have happened," Liam turned to look at Matthew, who was lying in the distance. Currently, Matthew seemed to be in a lot of pain and was trying to get up, but all of his efforts were futile against the reactions of his body.
"Goddammit!" Matthew screamed in frustration one last time before completely giving up his attempts to stand.
"Phew. The result is clear. I'm the winner," Liam sighed, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
"Well done!" A shout came from the other side of the battlefield. Liam turned to see James waving from afar. He smiled before turning and walking forward.
But no one expected that this very action would trigger a series of events. Suddenly, Liam's heart began to race, and a chilling sensation spread across his body, causing him to shudder. It was rare for him to feel this way unless he was facing monsters.
"Is there a monster?" He anxiously scanned his surroundings. The sweat on his body increased as the feeling grew stronger, but there was no sign of any monsters around. This was really bad because the most dangerous thing is the one you're unaware of.
"It's clearly daytime," he tried to focus on every detail around him. Then his gaze stopped on one person—Matthew.
"Why?" Liam couldn't believe that this feeling was coming from Matthew.
Matthew was still lying there, then he slowly forced himself up, but now there was a small change. His figure had grown larger, standing about two meters tall. His face was slightly distorted, still holding human features but no longer looking the same as before. Matthew's mouth began to open, revealing jagged teeth. Flames started to engulf his entire body, a fire larger than anything Liam had ever seen
"Why did you turn your back?" The voice was shrill and soft, but with Liam's Force energy ability, he could hear it clearly.
"Why?"
Liam's instinctive fear increased with every second as he heard that question. He clenched his teeth, pulled out a rainbow potion from his space ring, stuffed it into his mouth, and then shouted.
"James! Get over here and help me!... Hurry!"
Hearing his friend's shout, James didn't hesitate, immediately rushing over. He understood that this wasn't good, as the mana radiating from Matthew was increasing rapidly, approaching the [E-]rank threshold.
"Did that guy use something to temporarily boost his strength?" James furrowed his brow as he looked at Matthew, who was clearly losing control.
"Don't say that! My brother's probably about to reach [E-]rank, and that's why he's unleashing his true power," Lewis approached, refusing to let this situation escalate without her intervention.
"Really? I don't think so," James scoffed at Lewis's explanation.
Lewis fell silent, feeling a bit upset. She understood the situation better than anyone—there was clearly a problem. However, as a sister, she still stood by her brother.
"I think you should go to the town center to find help for us. With the combined strength of the three of us, we might not be able to contain him," Liam added, while the energy around his fingers formed a solid layer, gradually taking the shape of rough, red, crude gloves.
"Hurry! We'll try to hold him off as long as we can."
Lewis hesitated. A part of her was apprehensive about her brother and wanted to stay to help Matthew.
"What are you talking about? Even if he's an [E-] rank, we should easily…"
Before she could finish her sentence, a massive fireball, as big as a house, flew from Matthew's direction, heading straight for them.
Liam frowned, glaring at Lewis angrily, and shouted, "Move!"
Lewis froze for a moment, staring at the gigantic fireball coming at her, making her shrink back in fear. Then, she immediately dashed away, moving at full speed.
Both James and Lewis had underestimated Matthew, but Liam's instincts didn't deceive him. Stomping hard on the ground, Liam jumped aside and sprinted quickly to avoid the fireball. However, Matthew's large attack radius still affected him. He rolled on the ground like a rag doll, trying to extinguish the flames on his back.
"That hurts!" He yelled in pain.
The burning sensation was much different now compared to before. If the previous fire had been 100 degrees Celsius, this one was now 200 degrees.
Liam gritted his teeth, trying to get back up, and what came into his view from afar was Matthew's distorted face, grinning maniacally at him.
"Damn it! It looks like that guy wants to torture me."
Liam saw that James was still standing in the distance, clearly in better shape. Realizing that Matthew's sole target was himself, Liam thought of an idea.
"James! That guy won't attack you! Support me!"
Without hesitation, Liam ran straight into the stone forest nearby. Facing Matthew head-on right now would be foolish—he'd be incinerated before he could even touch him.
"Hahaha… Are you running? Smart move, go ahead," Matthew laughed maniacally. His voice had changed, both creepy and strange, as his vocal cords were deformed like that of an animal.
"That voice… you're Vecna!" James shouted in shock. But before he could act further, Matthew had already dashed into the stone forest, chasing after Liam.
James's face turned tense and horrified, but he was wise enough to handle the situation. Taking a deep breath, he steadied his emotions and immediately entered the stone forest.
"That guy didn't attack me after discovering my identity. Perhaps this was his plan all along."
''I need to back Liam up in the fight!''