"STAY ALERT!" I told Mitro. But he already knew that.
"What is it?!" Phitol asked.
"ABOVE US!!!"
The branches moved as if someone was jumping over them. We could hear the sound of the branches fade as if whoever was above us was escaping.
"Abort the mission! If it's not Beal Cynthus, then it could be one of the Raprets!" Phitol commanded.
"Gather at the edge of the forest! We'll ask our Eco user to break a breach within the barrier!"
"Roger that!"
We sheathed our swords and started running.
We ran and ran to our designated location. The tables have turned for us. We're the prey now.
However, we ran into a problem.
"Keep looking. Those intruders must be anywhere." One of the guards of the Excendi Familia spoke.
"But did they even get in?" Guard 2 asked.
"Huh? Did you even study at the Lipral Academy?"
"I…. did…"
"Don't fucking tell me…"
"T-That doesn't matter right now! It was just a silly question!"
"I'll report this to the headmaster once we're done here."
These guards look tough. We might be in a pinch here…
"Ummm…" I whispered to our comms.
"We ran into a problem…"
"What is it?" Pithol asked.
"The guards. They're patrolling the area!" Mitro whispered.
"Describe them." He asked, but he sounded out of breath.
"Tall, big-looking guys. One is scary, one is stupid."
"Should be easy enough?" He said.
"You expect us to go against TWO big guys? And why do you sound like you've run 5 miles already!"
"It's because I'm carrying my axe and this gorgon slut! The Cynthus familia is one of the most terrifying but kindest familia than most! They'll care enough for a single maid!"
"Do you have a death wish?! They're the 2nd most powerful familia in existence! We're nothing to them whether we threaten their maid or not!" One of our guys responded.
"Then we can use her later once we're back!"
"For what?!"
"…" Pithol was silent. It took us a while, till we understood.
"That's fucked up. Just let her go, man." Mitro said.
"Fine." Pithol said as he dropped the maid's body to the ground.
Well then..." I said and looked at Mitro, and then he nodded.
We unleashed our swords and launched at the guards.
I went for the dumb one, who, surprisingly, could actually fight.
Damn! "I thought this one would be easy, but he's impressive!
I couldn't block his blade with mine. His swings are so strong that I'd cut myself if I block it head-on.
Thankfully, however, he's slow. His big muscles couldn't keep up with my speed.
So I sliced the back of his left knee, causing him to lose balance and scream in pain.
Then, I stabbed his back, straight to the heart. Ending the fight.
I panted for a few seconds before I looked at Mitro, who was incredibly injured.
I didn't hesitate to jump into the fight.
But even though it was a 2 v 1, the guard was able to defend himself from our attacks with his round shield, which was small enough to make him agile, unlike the other guard.
Not only that,
He was strong and fast! His swings were precise and the force he exerts is strong enough to cut a limb clean off!
Mitro was already aware of this, but he was so injured that it hindered his speed.
"Back away! I can handle this!" I yelled at Mitro. He looked at me for a second as I fought, but he didn't run. He kept trying to attack the guard before he got hit in his waist. Thankfully, he was able to dodge before he could get cut in half.
"I'm the one you're fighting now!" I yelled. Because he was focusing on Mitro, I was able to slash his back.
But that wasn't enough. He stood tall and unfazed. He turned around and swung his sword. I attempted to block the attack by rotating my sword so it wouldn't cut me, but his blow was so hard it broke my blade into many pieces and launched me against a tree.
"HELP!" I yelled.
Suddenly, vines grew out of the ground and wrapped around the guard. Its spikes cut through his skin like a razor blade.
And then, a sharp gust of wind split him in half. The vines dissipated soon after.
"Puny. You two were losing to this feeble ant?" Our Eco user, Mika, said as she levitated in the wind. She had bottles on her belt. Her pink, cherry blossom twin tail floats across the air like it's defying gravity.
She has pride in her Eco prowess and she sees those who can't use magic in battle as inferior beings.
"Thanks for the help, but what are those?" I asked as I pointed at the bottles in her waist.
"Healing agents." She said as she landed on the ground and handed us a bottle each.
"Heal thyself."
She leaned against a tree with her arms crossed.
"Shouldn't a maiden like you do it?" I asked before she snapped her fingers, using her an Eco magic to conjure a strong gust of wind aimed beside my head, which was a tree. It engraved a deep, long cut in the tree's bark.
"Unless you want another bottle, I suggest you shut that snout of yours." She said as she stared at me with an angry look. Her eyes wanted to see me burn to death.
I rubbed the healing agent in my wounds. They were small cuts, so it didn't hurt as much. After that, my wounds started to close.
Except for Mitro, who was struggling to put it on due to the pain. His cuts reached deep into his body. I didn't realize this until now, but a quarter of his waist was split open, revealing his large intestine.
"You'll need a surgeon if you don't close it up." Mika said mockingly.
"I KNOW!!!" Mitro yelled. The pain and horror was in his voice. His hands won't stop shaking. He poured the healing agent in his hand and reached slowly into his stomach.
"I-I can…"
"Ahhh.. AAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!" He screamed as he spread the healing agent in his large open wound.
I turned away and covered my ears. His screams frightened me. The sound of pain is something I can never stand.
After a minute or so, he sighed.
"Phew!"
"How do you feeeeel?" Mika asked.
"Fucking awesome…" Mitro said as he ran out of breath.
"Great. Now let's keep moving!"
"Hold up." Mitro said as he continued applying healing agents to his other wounds.
"All ready!"
"Well then, let's go!" Mika said.
As she was about to fly, a small figure jumped in.
It was holding something.
A weapon.
Then it went,
"BANG!!!"
The sound echoed through our ears. We instinctively closed our eyes, but immediately opened it again as we realized.
SHIT WE'RE IN-
I saw Mika's body drop to the floor.
She was bleeding on the floor, crying.
"ARGH!!!"
She was missing her arm.
The figure who did it to her…
Was none other than Beal Cynthus.
Mitro and I grabbed our swords and pointed it towards her.
But she looked different.
She still had the stature of a 5-year-old.
However, she was wearing some sort of green armor that covered her entire body.
And her helmet had a transparent visor where she could see through.
W-What is she wearing…?
As she pointed her weapon to us, Mika used Eco magic to grow vines from a tree and capture her.
"FUCK!!! HELP ME PUT MY ARM BACK ON!!!" Mika ordered. Mitro immediately went to her, grabbed her severed arm, smothered it with the healing agent, and reattached her arm back. Though it was missing a few bits, the healing agent helped close them up.
Beal struggled to free herself from Mika's vines.
Out of spite, Mika conjured up a strong gust of wind in the shape of an arrow and aimed it at Beal's stomach.
"Maybe this time you'll learn!" She said as she fired the arrow at Beal.
Out of nowhere, the weapon that Beal was holding changed shape. It turned into a sword with a blade of a thousand teeth and slashed through Mika's vines and Eco magic.
"What the fuck?!" Mika yelled.
"We have to go now!" I yelled.
Mika used her Eco magic to levitate us.
But before we could fly away, Beal's weapon changed shape again.
It was a bigger weapon.
Then, its barrels started to spin.
Then it fired.
Her weapon began to flash as tiny rocks shoot out from the barrels, hitting Mika and injuring her legs.
WHY IS SHE AIMING FOR…
SHIT! SHE KNOWS WHO TO TAKE DOWN FIRST!!!
If Beal wants to win, she needs to kill the strongest in the group, who was Mika at the time.
And not just that, she was aiming at Mika's waist, where she had the bottles of healing agents attached.
However, even though she was heavily injured, Mika persisted on escaping.
So she uses her Eco magic to throw all 3 of us far away from Beal.
Soon after, we landed at a nearby park. Though it was far away from the others, it was far enough from the Excendi's party.
The park was surrounded by trees like a small island surrounded by the ocean. Far away from land, stranded.
I looked around and saw Mitro, who helping Mika.
But Mika was missing her legs.
Her face looks like she just ate a lemon. She tried her best not to scream since if she did, Beal would surely find us.
"How'd she even lose her leg?!" I whispered.
"Cuz we went so fast her legs fell off, idiot! Not just that, that brat aimed at the healing agents!!!" Mitro answered.
"Fuck!!!" I said as I slammed my fists on the ground.
"We have to move! She knows the direction we went! She could be here any second now!" I whispered.
"I know! But I'm low on mana! The farthest we can go is a few yards! It won't be enough to-"
"Bang!"
The grass beside Mika turned black as if it had just burnt.
We looked in horror as we saw Beal emerge behind a tree, holding another weapon. This time, it has 2 barrels.
Beal reloaded her weapon, making a distinct sound.
"CH-CHKT."
She's found us.