Face of Fear

Three-Eyed was a monster, so he was like the others looking for ways to get stronger, but he was one of those who believed that the best path to do so was to find a strong opponent and his choice fell on Zayne.

'That look... Fine, that's definitely what I need.' Zayne inwardly muttered slowly stepping forward as his mouth corners lifted slightly, 'He gives me the creeps, but I have to see him in combat!'

Whooooooooooosh.

Zayne rushed forward clutching the blade tightly in his hands. He moved quickly, keeping his eyes on Three-Eyed, who could attack him at any moment.

"What...? He decided to attack first?" Harald muttered with a dazed look, "This is a mistake! Strong monsters like this one always have different abilities! He should have waited for the right moment to do this... Shit, he's too inexperienced!"

Three-Eyed, as if hearing his words, smirked and waved his hand. At the same moment, many small crystals appeared on the monster's skin that flew forward at tremendous speed like hundreds of needles, heading straight for Zayne.

'Fast!' Zayne's pupils narrowed as he jumped aside, at the very last moment since several crystal needles hit his coat, ripping off part of it.

Seeing that Zayne was able to dodge, Three-Eyed grinned broadly as his tail began to swing faster from side to side.

"Damn... That was pretty dangerous." Zayne glanced at his coat with a slightly frightened expression, "If those needles hit me, I could hardly continue fighting. He's fast and can attack from afar, so I just have to get close, don't I?"

Zayne's gaze swept across the battlefield as a plan immediately appeared in his mind. He wasn't a professional fighter and didn't like to take much risk, so he was going to use what had already helped him win once.

"Hmm...? What is he doing?" Harald muttered in disbelief staring at Zayne.

Zayne bent down so that the tip of his blade touched the ground and ran forward, raising behind him a massive cloud of dust that grew larger with each step he took. If the enemy had a weapon you didn't have, you just had to make it useless, like Zayne.

Three-Eyed grimaced since he realized what Zayne was going to do and couldn't let it happen.

"Roooaaaarrrrr!!!" Three-Eyed rumbled as the crystal blades on his arms glowed brightly as if ready to explode at any moment, then Three-Eyed swung his arms launching two horizontal energy blades at Zayne.

The blades were headed toward Zayne at great speed, one aiming straight for his neck as the other intended to cut off his legs. In a heartbeat, Zayne realized what was about to happen and a chill of intense fear ran down his back.

Fear was like chains that could bind anyone, but in Zayne's case, something strange happened as he suddenly felt a fire ignite in his heart and a powerful surge of energy filled his entire body. Zayne had been waiting for this, he wanted to feel fear again like in his first fight, so it made him stronger, sharpening his senses, seemingly time slowed down for him as the blades almost stopped.

'If I don't dodge now these blades will cut me into three pieces... I can't get rid of them both, so which one should I risk taking damage from?' Zayne pondered as memories from his last fight flashed through his mind, 'Right, legs... I can't do anything without them, but unlike my neck, they're strong enough to defend themselves.'

Whoooooooooosh.

The moment the energy blades should have slashed Zayne, he jumped slightly as the lower blade flew under his feet, then Zayne thrust his weapon in front of him causing it to collide with the energy blade.

"Wow... That's incredible..." Harald muttered with a dazed stare looking at Zayne before whose piercing gaze flew red energy particles.

Zayne's feet touched the ground the moment the lower blade reached the cave wall.

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

A part of the cave shook violently, making everyone feel a shiver as a few stalactites fell from the top, in the spot where the blade had hit.

"Damn... I really could die. His attacks are indescribably strong." Zayne muttered looking at the debris from the destroyed stalactites before lowering his gaze, "What the hell...?"

Zayne's eyes went wide since his legs trembled intensely, like that of a prey frightened to death in front of a predator, but his mind didn't feel it at all.

'Well, all that doesn't matter, as long as I can move I'll fight!' Zayne inwardly exclaimed as he plunged his blade into the ground and took a full spin, raising a massive cloud of dust around him, making himself almost invisible. His dark silhouette gradually disappeared, leaving Three-Eyed in the dark.

"He wants to wait out a lucky moment? Well, that's a good decision." Harald muttered with a slight smile as suddenly his face turned pale as Three-Eyed closed his eyes, concentrating fully on his other senses, "No... If he keeps standing there, it will just tear him apart!"

Whoooooooooooosh.

Three-Eyed smirked and rushed forward as his silhouette blurred due to the immense speed. He couldn't see Zayne, but he could smell him by the bright scent that separated him from the dust, so upon reaching his goal in the center of the cloud Three-Eyed swung his arms cutting across everything in front of him with his long claws.

There was a loud cracking sound as if from bones as well as red liquid whipped out covering part of Three-Eyed's body.

"NO!!!" Elin cried out with desperation in her eyes as a shiver ran through her body, "No way... Zayne...you too..."

Three-Eyed grinned broadly, about to go on and devour Zayne, but as soon as he stepped forward his grin disappeared and was replaced by puzzlement since in front of him was not a wounded Zayne, but a torn basket of food as well as two broken health potions.

At the same moment, a silhouette with a blue blade appeared behind Three-Eyed.

"Hey, that was a gift from Old Man Jafa, you'll have to pay for what you did!" Zayne said with an ice-cold look waving his blade from top to bottom.

"ARGH!!!" Three-Eyed roared in pain as Zayne's attack left a wide bleeding cut on his back.

Three-Eyed quickly turned around swinging his crystal blades, but Zayne predicted this as he ducked and clutching his blade tightly swung from bottom to top rushing towards the monster's head. In a panic, Three-Eyed brought his hands closer to himself because he knew that if he delayed even for a moment, he might lose his head.

"What the hell...?" Aron's eyes went wide as goosebumps ran down his body at the sight of two flying fingers from the monster's hands.

'Shit! I screwed up! I've got to try again!' Zayne inwardly exclaimed, about to attack again.

Whoooooooooooosh.

Suddenly Three-Eyed's tail came into motion and like a whip collapsed into Zayne's stomach, throwing him aside with a painful expression.

"Fuck!!!" Zayne exclaimed, holding onto his stomach, trying to take the pain away as trickles of blood flowed from the corners of his mouth, "That was dangerous, but it looks like you got a lot more than I did, doesn't it?" Zayne smirked.

The monster's body was covered in blood, dripping slowly from two wide cuts, and one of his hands was now considerably weakened without two fingers which drove the monster mad.

Three-Eyed frowned and thrust his tail into the ground, then out of the ground came spiky vines that ran across his tail to his back, turning into two massive creepy wings with little red buds spreading the smell of blood.

"Well, looks like it's time for round two, isn't it?" Zayne smirked, removing the blood with his hand.