First blood

'Am I really that appetizing' Kei cursed as he barely dodged a lethal strike from the blade limb.

The monster was still invisible but now at least Kei could see the vague silhouette of the creature allowing him to not die, the instructor was coming in to intercept the monster again and another arrow was shot at the monster. 

But it seems the monster wasn't going to let them off easy, it put his hand up to catch the arrow with its palm the arrow lodged into the arm of the monster but didn't do much damage. It used its other hand to claws at the approaching instructor, and using the other two limbs that ended with blades to attack at Kei, the monster was pressuring the three humans on its own.

The instructor was using his barrier ability to conjure a staff that looked like tinted glass, he was using it to effortlessly strike at his opponent using multiple thrusts and sweeps, using footwork and a combination of spinning strikes and changing his grip to deflect and dodge the claws and blades of the monster.

It seemed like they had reached stalemate, neither the monster or the instructor seemed to gain an advantage, but at least now the monster's assault shifted to instructor so Kei got a little breathing room.

Kei glanced to the side to see how far the Sentinel was, he was already halfway to them, the moment he joined the battle would shift against the monster, the had to hold on until then.

The monster also knew that the battle had reached a stalemate and it would be bad for it to continue this for long, so it disengaged again this time it didn't disappear it was already invisible but the dirt was still on his body so the vague silhouette could still be seen, instead the creature took a deep breath and when it blew, a huge amount of smoke came out from its mouth, it completely enveloped a few meters around him essentially blinding Kei, Ayumi and Instructor, now the advantage was back at it's hands.

As the veil of smoke engulfed the three, a sudden scream reached Kei's ear, it was a familiar voice, it was the instructor's scream. It seems like the creature got him, Ayumi was already out of the picture as she couldn't shoot at the enemy anymore, so it seems, it was only him and the invisible creature now.

As Kei tried to calm down he sensed movement in the smoke, Kei didn't wait for the enemy to come close and pre-emptively took several steps back, he was on the run Kei knew by now that the monster had some kind of infatuation with him so it would probably avoid the other students and come straight for him, so he would welcome it, and lead it to the Sentinel. 

Kei turned around and ran towards the Sentinel, he remembered where the Sentinel was at the moment so all Kei had to was dash towards that direction, and as he predicted he could feel the bloodlust coming from the creature closing in on him.

Kei dashed towards the Sentinel, soon he broke through the veil of smoke and could see the field again, the Sentinel was a few meters away, as he dashed towards him the Sentinel suddenly shouted and fling his Warpick towards Kei's head.

"Get down!!!!" he shouted, Kei didn't disobey his command as there was a weapon coming to mince his head.

as he ducked the warpick flew past his head and he heard an inhuman shriek, the monster was almost upon Kei its blades only a few centimeters from slicing his head clean off, but he saved last second by the Sentinels axe throwing skills.

When he looked back, he saw the creature staggering back he had one of its blade limb torn apart which dropped to the ground in front of Kei. The monster wasn't dead or seriously wounded it seemed to only lost a limb. Still it was enough to buy a few moments which was all the Sentinel needed to rush in and melee the creature. 

The creature used its claws and the remaining blade limb to land a barrage of attack at the Sentinel, the Sentinel let the attacks pass through his guard to land on his armour, the armour took the hits well seemingly losing a few chunks of silver steel but was relatively intact, the armour was not impenetrable by any means but had enough defense to mitigate any serious damage that the monster could do, which allowed the Sentinel to use his kite shield as a weapon instead using it to bash the monster with its rim.

The monster took a step back as if realizing that he was not a match for the human in silver armour, but the Sentinel was not going to let it go he reached out his hand seemingly trying to grab something in the air and in the next moment the warpick flew back into his hands, which he the proceeded to use it to strike the monster, the monster blocked the warpick with its blade limb and and was now in a power struggle with the human, the sentinel pushed at his warpick which made the monster kneel on the ground it seemed like it was over.

However, like a dying beast in desperation it pulled out one last trick, like how Kei had hurled dirt at the creature, the creature picked up a handful of dirt with its claws and hurled it inside the visor of the Sentinel's helmet, the Sentinel staggered back he was momentarily blinded. It was the perfect chance to launch a attack through the sentinel's weak spot or potentially retreat.

But the monster chose neither of those options and simply passed the sentinel and launched at Kei, it as if the creature had determined if nothing else at least he is taking Kei down with him,

"What the" Kei never thought someone would be so attached to him, he didn't know if he should feel happy or not.

[ - Attribute (sword novice) is active ]

Kei had picked up the torn piece of limb blade from the ground and was now currently holding it, he had a few months of practice with the sword he had the confidence to at least defend himself.

NO, he was confident he would kill this creature, Kei didn't like the fact that it was relentlessly pursuing him like a crazy ex, something about the creature rubbed him the wrong way.

Kei wasn't just dodging and running all this time he was also learning about the creature its strength and weakness. He concluded that the monster was intelligent and dangerous but it was weaker than regular Monsters as it had to rely on its invisibility and cheap tactics, its fight against Instructor also solidified that statement. That's what Kei could use, it was still stronger than Kei but not overwhelmingly so he had a chance. He used all the knowledge he gained in the academy and put it all in one strike.

Kei charged his blade towards the maw of the monster seemingly unbothered by the barrage of attacks coming his way, the claws sliced his chest giving him deep wounds while the other limb sliced his leg. But But Kei pushed on, driving his blade deep into the creature's maw. The monster let out a deafening cry before its body shuddered, then slowly crumpled to the ground, lifeless.

Kei slumped to the ground dead tired he was hurting all over the body, the adrenaline was wearing off so the pain could be felt vividly now.

As he lied on the grass a message popped up 

[ -You have slain a Rank A Monster, Aberrant Stalker]

'huh stalker fitting name'

[ -You have received a Item, Culling Jian]

Kei was really exited to see what kind of item he had received, but the pain was unbearable and he was slowly starting to lose unconsciousness, the last thing he saw was the Sentinel calling to one of his party members probably the healer.

Then Kei fell asleep, little did he knew the item he received was going to come in very handy very soon.