Frustration

There were three other horses remaining, so Theo planned to kill at least one of them.

On the other hand, Alea arrived in front of them as she stomped the ground with her right hand, channeling more power from her lower half to her upper body, specifically her hand.

Swinging her sword from right to left, she struck every single horn on the horses' heads and pushed them back by using her pure strength.

She then took three steps diagonal to the right and slashed her sword before the horses could react.

'This is my chance,' thought Theo as he went in the opposite direction to kill the farthest horse from her.

Unfortunately for him, there was a reason why Alea actually positioned herself on the side. If her back faced Theo, she wouldn't be able to see his action, meaning that there was a chance for Theo to take the kill.

However, Alea had yet to allow Theo to take the kill since she wanted to rile up his ego. She thought, 'Grandfather said that someone should have the talent to lose. Meaning that if he kept losing and didn't eventually try to do something to escape from that trap and just give up, he is just a loser. That's why to test someone's potential, I need to make him feel bad first to see if his potential can truly bring him to Grand Gaia.'

Theo, on the contrary, didn't notice this reason and simply thought he needed to kill a single monster among the remaining two.

Alea smiled as a red fire gushed out of her hand, enveloping her sword. Before Theo could even reach their position, she made another swing from below and extended her own blade by using the flame.

"!!!" Theo widened his eyes, never expecting Alea to use a skill. Suddenly, he came to a realization that he had relied on his Magic Bullet and Clones so much because he knew he could kill all these monsters by himself if his master didn't ban the usage of the two skills. No, he had realized it… he just underestimated the scale.

Alea smiled, turned around, and stared at Theo, who halted his steps. "I didn't say I wouldn't use a skill, right? You're free to use your own skill and try to get a single kill while I'm here."

Without waiting for his reaction, she already touched the horses and grabbed all the cards they dropped.

She then headed to the buffalos they saw earlier. "Come on. I'm going to leave you behind, you know."

Theo shook his head and followed her before four buffalos came into his vision.

Just like how coordinated the buffalos Alea killed earlier, the four of them divided into two groups and tried to hit Alea from two different directions.

Alea checked Theo's position, smiled, and jumped to the right, heading toward the two buffalos. 

Right before the buffalo hit her, she leaped above them and struck the left one's head.

Unfortunately for her, the buffalo blocked it with its horn and threw her into the air.

Little did the buffalo know that Alea turned out to have predicted this move and used that momentum to spin her body and extend her blade again to cut the first buffalo.

She landed on the grass, jumped backward, and miraculously stood on top of the buffalo like it was nothing. She even took that chance to see Theo's expression and gestures.

The buffalo knew they would crash into each other, so it turned to the left while the two in front of her went in the opposite direction.

Alea didn't allow such a thing to happen and kicked the buffalo's neck strong enough to force it to run toward the right, ending up crashing with the two buffaloes.

The two buffalos slipped and fell to the grass on top of each other while the one Alea rode managed to stay on its track with only slowing down its speed to avoid falling.

On the contrary, Alea had jumped off his back and stepped on the two bulls before cutting their necks simultaneously.

Theo saw this as a chance. Not only was this the last buffalo, but its balance had also been thrown off by Alea. He needed to end this in one strike before Alea could make another move.

Due to the distance between them, the buffalo managed to recover a bit and charge at Theo.

"Pierce."

Theo thrust his spear toward the buffalo, albeit as one would expect from an Elite Rank Monster, it blocked Theo's spear with its horn.

He suddenly remembered what Alea said about him not having enough power to handle the buffalo from head-on. Theo clicked his tongue as he was so disappointed in himself.

'Kh!' Not wanting to give up, Theo clenched his teeth and pulled his spear, so the buffalo could come closer. 'I need to calm down. I am not done yet.' 

Taking a small step behind him, he threw a punch from the left.

"Monkey Fist."

"Mo!"

'This is it,' thought Theo as he planned to thrust his spear, albeit Alea's voice resounded in his right ears. "Thanks."

The buffalo was indeed hit and moved slightly to the right, but more importantly, Alea took advantage of it and killed the buffalo in a single strike.

"Oi." Veins started bulging on his forehead since he thought Alea would just let him kill this one.

Alea confronted that anger with a serious expression as she stretched her hand. "As I said earlier, try to kill a monster in my watch. You're free to do anything."

Shrugging her shoulders, she started getting all the dropped things from the buffaloes, ignoring Theo's anger.

Alea's constant provocation truly annoyed him as he planned to pay her back. However, he needed something to allow such actions, so Theo tried to calm his heart down.

"With the way I am right now, I won't be able to keep up with her. Even if I come from a different direction, she will be able to spot me with her Awareness alone. She will just see me right after to ascertain my intention," muttered Theo while looking at Alea back. "Is this the gap between us? No, Master said Normal and Elite Rank difference is like between normal people and athletes. It's still possible to beat her. That's why I need to find that something…"

Meanwhile, Alea, who got the constant stare from Theo, gulped down and thought, 'Have I actually pushed him too much?'