Chapter Thirteen

Brandishing his sword, Karan lashed out to the red-eyed creature.

His sword was met by sharp claws. Although faltering, the creature managed to stop his blade from touching its body.

Immediately, the creature bent its body in order to retaliate. With a loud crack, it redirected the sharp blade to the left—letting the sword hit the ground below them.

[Boom1]

Karan was caught off-guard and he didn't manage to retract his weapon. With a loud boom, the blade hit the ground—leaving a deep gash on the stone surface.

The single-handed creature roared and thrust its sharp claws towards Karan.

In a fluster, Karan dropped his sword and leaped backward. He abandoned his weapon without hesitation in exchange for his safety.

As Karan leaped backward, Kyle dashed towards the red-eyed creature. The arrogant youth recklessly went forward because he believed that his companion would be able to assist him.

This was the faith he got from the short period where they fought together.

Ignoring the aches throughout his body, Kyle propelled himself from the ground and swung his right foot towards the creature's head.

The creature bent its body and tried to block his foot using its claws in response.

With difficulty, the red-eyed creature managed to stop his attack and counterattacked—is what should have happened.

A few meters away from them, Karan snapped his fingers—detonating the force he had stored from earlier.

The unsuspecting creature suddenly felt an overwhelming force hitting its claws. It was shocked by the force that had hit it, but managed to bent its body to disperse the effect.

Unfortunate for it, Kyle was not going to let this chance slip from his foot. The sharp edges from his shoes managed to connect with their opponent's head.

"Nice!" Karan shouted as an encouragement.

But the red-eyed creature wasn't going to fall that easily. Even though Kyle had managed to puncture its head, it quickly bent its whole body to follow the direction of his attack.

This wouldn't change the fact that half of its head has been wrecked, but it managed to barely keep its life.

The glow on its remaining eye became brighter, and it roared loudly. It thrust its arm towards Kyle's foot, forcing him to pull away from the creature.

With one of its arms and half of its head gone, the red-eyed creature was covered in its own blood and flesh.

But it still managed to live even in that condition.

Looking at the bloody scene, the baby-faced man's eyebrows twitched.

"I know that all of these creatures have extraordinary vitality, but this 'corrupted' is just pushing it too far."

Raising one of his eyebrows to that keyword, Kyle replied with confidence.

"It doesn't matter, we will kill it anyway."

At this moment, victory felt closer than ever, but he still kept his energy cycling to its peak.

Having experienced this corrupted's strength, the arrogant youth still kept his guards up for the worst-case scenario.

"Heh, you're right. A slash to its neck and it would fall like most of them," the baby-faced man laughed as he tried to draw his sword, before remembering that it was still stuck on the ground.

He put his right hand on his hip and acted as if nothing happened.

Of course, Kyle was too busy observing their opponent to care about Karan's blunder.

The single-eyed and single-handed creature was struggling to keep itself from falling. It appeared that this creature doesn't have the regeneration ability the hunched creatures owned.

The youth felt slightly unwell from all the blood and chunks of meat sticking to the creature's body, but he didn't show it on the outside.

He contemplated for a short moment before calling out to his companion.

"Kill it," he lifted his chin to their opponent's direction.

The baby-faced man sighed as if he had expected this to happen. He walked in tipped-toes and exercised his energy to the maximum, in case something undesirable happens.

Thankfully, the red-eyed creature seemed to approach its death. It tried to attack Karan to only have itself trip and fall to the ground.

In response, Karan approached it vigilantly and struck it in the neck as hard as possible. After making sure that it wasn't capable of being a threat, he took his sword from the ground and severed the creature's head—ending the battle that Kyle started.

After the round object became independent, both men simultaneously relaxed their energy. Kyle sighed in relief and repeatedly shook his legs, attempting to relieve the pain.

The baby-faced man inspected his sword before putting it to the sheath, eyes slightly dropping. The blade was uneven on its edges, perhaps from its heavy slam to the ground.

Dressed in his red and brown uniform, Kyle tidied his clothes and looked around. He scanned the battlefield for a person bearing a blue cloth on his elbow.

He had traveled quite the distance from where he started the fight, losing sight of both the medium-sized man and the three-headed creature.

Kyle searched around for a while before finally stopping his eyes at a bluish red cloth—its owner was covered in layers of crimson.

Under his surprised eyes, one of the creature's heads bit the person's left shoulder.

Earlier, Kyle saw how the creature ripped one of its heads from its body. But for some reason, three heads were present on the creature's shoulder.

The medium-sized man screamed in pain. But before he could free himself from the creature, the creature bit the man using its remaining heads—on his head and right shoulder.

Immediately, the man's opponent ripped his body into pieces—directly killing him in the process. But even though it appeared to have won, the creature lost its balance and kneeled on the ground.

Shortly after, the three-headed creature vomited huge amounts of blood. It writhed around in pain while clutching its chest.

It died while vomiting its insides.

"Uuhkp!" Kyle looked away and pressed his palms on his lips, that battle was too stimulating for him. The youth managed not to throw up, but he felt nauseous and sick to the core.

Perhaps not observing their battle carefully was a blessing, he would've reacted harder if he managed to see it clearly.

Karan saw his abnormal state and pulled out a bottle from his pants. Walking up to Kyle, he offered the bottle to him.

"Here you go."

"Ugh, thank you," Kyle accepted without hesitation.

He opened the bottle and saw clear water contained inside the bottle. The youth lifted his head and drank from it, purposefully from a distance so his lips won't touch.

In front of him, Karan sat down while massaging his sore shoulders. His eyes, however, were observing the battles around him.

Seeing the bloodbath around them, he tried his best to recover some of his strength.

The arrogant youth returned the bottle to its owner and sat down as well. In this situation, he wouldn't mind getting some blood and dirt stuck on his uniform.

Both of them kept their silence, perhaps lost in their own thoughts.

Unexpectedly, Kyle broke this silence first.

"What do we call those hunched creatures again?"

"…Hunched, our ancestors were really creative in naming some of them," he spoke sarcastically.

Kyle chucked in response and lifted his head, staring at the dark sky. It felt stuffy and depressing down here, unlike the air of academy he was used to.

The arrogant youth basked in his memories before having a sudden thought. He swung his head and stared at the sheath on Karan's waist.

"Your sword… can I look at it for a moment?"

Without a word, Karan unbelted the scabbard and threw it alongside its contents.

Kyle caught it easily and unsheathed the blade, it was slightly uneven and covered in blood. Frowning, he stood up and swung the blade around—trying to shake off the blood.

Now at a slightly more presentable state, he lifted the sword in front of his eyes. The sword was quite reflective, enough for him to use.

He was curious about the identity of the body he was inhabiting. Was he intruding on another person's life? Or was he here as himself? To gain some clues, he wanted to see his reflection in a mirror.

The reflection was murky and slightly crimson, but he could barely see the face reflected from the metal surface.

"Huh, I am still the same, I suppose."

A silky-smooth skin with a slightly ill expression, a pair of cold black eyes that sucks you in, a slightly messy black hair­, a white skin tone, and the lack of flaws on his face, all of this combined to create a youthful and mysterious face.

Kyle's face surely qualifies as one of the handsome people.

After confirming that his face was still his own, he sheathed the sword and threw it back at the baby—faced man.

Tying the sheath to his belt, Karan stood up and stretched his body.

"Now that we've rested, let's help our friends, shall we?"

Although their battle was over, the war hasn't stopped.