What should we do, Jered? Escaping is not an option anymore," Kaelen said, contemplating every possible way to escape.
"You should escape while you still can," Jered replied.
"No, I'm not leaving you behind," Kaelen was adamant about staying.
"You can return with help, idiot," Jered reprimanded Kaelen.
"What do you want me to return for? Your corpse? You won't even survive a hit, let alone a few minutes," Kaelen insisted on staying.
"Alright then, don't blame me if you die," Jered said with a serious face.
SENSE
Jered used a skill, boosting his senses and readying himself for combat.
Kaelen gulped a bottle of quick mana recovery potion and cast LIFEBLOOM twice on Jered, increasing his defense by 20 percent and providing continuous healing.
The monkey-like monster was about to throw another rock, but this time the duo was prepared.
Kaelen picked up the sharp feathers on the ground, blinked right in front of the monkey-like monster, and thrush them into its eyes, blinding the monster. With another blink, he appeared beside Jered.
The monster, now in pain, growled and hurled stones in every direction. Yet, with zero accuracy, the duo found it easy to dodge and counterattack.
Jered charged at the monkey monster and slashed its feet, intending to off balance the creature. But it was futile; his fire sword burned the hairs of the ape but left only a white scratch mark on its foot.
The other two monsters did not stand idly by. The bird sent down another barrage of feathered arrows, while the third monster, a feline, tried to sneak up on Kaelen, finding him an easy target.
The duo found dodging the barrage of stones and feathers relatively easy, as the monsters were significantly lacking in accuracy. Until the feline monster joined the fray; it was nimble, very nimble, like an assassin striking from the shadows. They were not able to react in time, but thanks to Kaelen's LIFE VEIL, they were managing somehow.
Both parties were stuck in a stalemate, either side unable to attack the other. The boys were too slippery, while they didn't have enough damage to counter the monsters as well.
As time went on, it was clear that the monsters were superior in terms of dexterity.
There were no wounds on either of the two boys, but they were clearly exhausted.
"This can't go on, or we will die of exhaustion before the monsters can finish us," Kaelen said to Jered.
Jered, taking a deep breath, sighed, "Do you trust me?"
"Of course, that's why I am still here," Kaelen replied.
"Then get away from me. It will last only ten minutes; make as much use of it as possible," Jered said. Without waiting for Kaelen, he took a potion with golden liquid in it.
DALLAS FURY [Unique]
After consuming the potion, the user gains a 200% increase in all stats for 10 minutes.
The pride of the Dallas family.
It was the well-known berserk-type potion of the Dallas family; every family member would always carry one with them. Their motto was to never back down without a fight.
As soon as he drank the potion, his hair, which was naturally brown, darkened in shade. His skin looked fairer, and he seemed a bit taller than usual.
With a taunting smirk, he looked at the monsters, "Ready for round two?"
The monsters, sensing their prey becoming stronger, growled at him, charging forward.
But Jered looked calm, very calm. Actually, he was not calm at all, but the technique he's about to use needed a lot of concentration.
He conjured his fire blade again, but this time it was not just one; he summoned a total of 12 swords.
It was yet again another legacy technique of the Dallas family, known only to the main family.
The technique was to raise the quality using quantity.
The 12 swords paired up in groups of three, merging together.
But the monsters wouldn't let him finish whatever he was planning to do. The ape monster's fist came crashing toward his head, but Jered was still deep in meditation, merging the swords.
Seeing this, Kaelen had to step up. He blinked in front of Jered and used LIFE VEIL, negating the blow. And using the feathers as daggers, he skillfully tried to parry all the incoming arrows. Yet, even with his extraordinary sense and black system, his level was nowhere near enough to stop all the arrows; he only parried the arrows aiming for vital points.
His deepest worry was that the feline would ambush his friend, yet nothing of that sort happened.
Before he could take a breather, the ape countered back with another blind blow which hit him right at his chest. Kaelen blinked to escape, yet the fist still scraped a big chunk of flesh from his chest, and his breastbone could be seen. He almost fainted on the spot, but he gritted his teeth and used every ounce of mental power to keep himself awake.
He was barely awake, and swoosh; that despicable feline monster came rushing for his throat.
Kaelen saw his life flash before him, and when the monster's claw was about an inch away from him, the feline monster suddenly jolted back with unprecedented speed, and a blue light flashed between them, drawing a scorching line.
Jered then looked at Kaelen, "You can rest now; I'll take care of this."
But Kaelen wasn't convinced at all.
Jered was trying to merge the 12 swords into one, but his mastery was too low, only being able to merge six swords as one. He now held two fire swords in each hand, blazing with blue flames and higher intensity.