'Y-Young man... don't you think you've tested them long enough?'
The old man's worried voice echoed in Kyran's head.
A few hours had passed since the latter left to 'hunt for his food' and left the group to protect the supplies. At the moment, the group was not looking that good.
Kyran ignored the old man and gazed down from his location to where Hilam and the others were.
They were battling two ferocious beasts that reminded Kyran of Theihorns. The only difference was their whole body was covered in black scales, and they were not using Wind magic but Ice. The old man called those beasts Glyves, and were normally found in this part of the land.
Hilam and another Eidum were engaged with the one at the front, while three others fought with the one at the back.
The remaining fighters remained with the two healers protecting and shielding them along the supplies.
Yalen and the other healer kept casting support spells to increase Hilam and the others' speed and strength. They would also cast heal spells every now and then.
Still, looking at their pale and sweat-filled faces, it was evident they were close to their limits.
Hilam and the other fighters were not fairing well either.
Even though they had only received some healing, they were breathing heavily, and their hands holding their swords were already shaking from exhaustion. Some had blood dripping on their hands from gripping them too tightly while fighting the Glyves.
Kyran looked away after watching for a few seconds and resumed what he was doing.
'O-Oi,' the old man called again when Kyran ignored him.
Going back a few hours ago, after their short talk, Kyran never really left the tree. He only sat there and started checking out the things he had taken before coming to the first town.
'One of them will seriously get hurt if you don't step in now,' the old man continued to persuade Kyran to help Hilam and the others.
'You spoil them too much,' Kyran replied indifferently. 'If I did not help them earlier, they would have already been digested in those beasts' stomachs.'
'T-That is such a graphic way of making your point.'
'Thanks.'
'Y-Young man! Truly, they will not be able to hold any longer. The healers will exhaust themselves, and when that happens, the frontline will crumble.'
'That's strange; how could the backline fall before the frontline?'
'Please do not play mind games with me...'
'I am not,' Kyran replied with a shrug. 'The backline will only fall when the frontline falls.'
'But the healers—.'
'A true melee never relies on a healer's assistance all the time,' Kyran cut the old man midsentence. 'They should be able to fight their enemy with minimal support.'
'They are only apprentices.'
'You said they already graduated.'
'Well... true.'
'Then treat them as rookies of the 'adult' world.'
ƥandasnovel.com 'I... Yes, you are right. But...'
The old man paused and tried to peek at what Kyran was doing, 'What are you doing anyway?'
'Experimenting.'
'At a time like this?' The old man exclaimed in disbelief. Then he thought of something, and his complexion paled. 'You... are you telling me this... you are actually experimenting on their current situation?'
Kyran's face darkened, 'What do you take me for? Can't you see I am doing something else?'
'That could also be part of it.'
'What I'm doing has nothing to do with their situation,' Kyran assured him. Then he paused before adding, 'But it is beneficial after they are finished.'
''After they are finished? What are you saying? From how things are looking, they are the ones who will be finished!'
'Argh...' Kyran rubbed his ears, 'You're too noisy, old man. I really need to complete this experiment. I'm cutting off the projector.'
'O-Oi!'
Kyran cut off his connection with the orb and continued with what he was doing.
Occasionally, he would look down at Hilam and the others before resuming his experiment.
Hilam successfully dodged the Glyve's swing and rolled to the side. He followed up with a swing of his own using his sword and aimed at the enemy's calf. Because he did not manage to regain his balance before swinging, there was not much weight on it, and he was forced backward from the collision.
"Ugh!" He winced, feeling the brunt of that collision shook his forearm.
Hearing Hilam's grimace, Yalen gathered her energy and prepared to cast another healing spell, but instead, she fell and coughed out blood.
"Lady Yalen!" The two fighters with them paled after seeing her cough blood.
"Yalen!" Soria, fighting the other Glyve at the back and two other Eidums, got distracted after seeing this.
RAWRGH!
As if the two Glyves were aware of the sudden change in the situation from the Eidum's side, they pounced more ferociously.
RAWRGH!
The Glyve at Hilam's side turned toward him and roared, releasing a powerful gust of icy wind that froze everything it touched.
Hilam struggled to stand and evade while the other Eidum summoned firewalls to stall the approaching icy wind.
While Hilam's side managed to escape the worst-case scenario, Soria's side was not that lucky. Instead of summoning an icy wind, the Glyve swiped its claws at Soria.
Still distracted by what happened to Yalen, Soria barely brought up her sword to block the beast's claws. However, the beast's claws grew in size and broke her sword in one clean swipe.
"Ugh!" Soria shouted in pain as the beast's claws dug into her shoulders and upper arm.
Then the beast raised its hand, dragging Soria with it.
"Soria!" The other two Eidums paled at the sight of a bloody Soria being raised by the Glyve.
One of the two raised its sword and dashed forward, wanting to slice the Glyve's wrist to free Soria. At the same time, the other one summoned fireballs and aimed at the Glyve's face to distract it.
RAWRGH!
When the two Eidums thought they could save Soria, another Glyve appeared to their left. It sprinted at such speed that the Eidum, who planned to save Soria, was rammed to his side and was sent flying.
"AARGH!"
"NO!"
The other Eidum shouted angrily, summoned more fireballs, and aimed at the newly arrived Glyve.
RAWRGH!
The newly arrived Glyve ignored the fireballs hitting its body and pounced at the other Glyve, who got Soria.
It was as if it wanted to steal the other Glyve's prey.
On the other hand, Hilam, who was still evading the Glyve's ice attacks, looked at their side; his blood turned cold after seeing the sight of a Glyve jumping, with its mouth, which was full of sharp fangs, opened and about to bite Soria off the other Glyve's grasp.
Time seemed to have slowed around him. He then recalled how Kyran warned them about a beast waiting nearby. He did not believe it and even accused him of lying, but then he said:
"You don't really think we are lucky because we did not encounter any ferocious beast. You probably heard the rules of the forest before: The stronger one rules over the weak."
The rules of the forest Kyran talked about was a famous saying in Somuli among beast-likes. Complete beings only snorted when they heard it because they knew their magic was stronger than any beasts.
Alas.
Today, Hilam and the others are about to learn the harsh truth of this rule.
The other Eidums could not bear to watch Soria getting eaten and close their eyes.
Only Hilam and three others managed to keep their eyes open.
However, because of the fear and the feeling of hopelessness that crept into their hearts, their movements slowed, and the ice attacks of the other Glyve hit them.
It was especially true with Hilam, who the Glyve was pursuing.
A huge sharp icicle came at him at an astonishing speed. There was no way he could dodge it.
'I should have never said those things... I should have offered to share my food instead of letting him hunt for his own....'
These had been Hilam's thoughts before the sharp icicle pierced his back.
"I was only gone for a few hours, and you're already in such a mess?"
Crackle! Sizzle!
Before the sharp icicle pierced Hilam's back, a purple sphere appeared on its way. Instead of passing through it, the icicle seemed to sink into it. It even looked as if it was disintegrating.
RAWRG— BAM! BAM! BAM!
The roar of the Glyve was cut off by three sounds of solid mass being flattened.
Thud!
Hilam fell to his knees. His back and forehead were covered with cold sweat. He gaped in front at the shadow that suddenly appeared on top of the Glyve's hand that held Soria. He then watched as that shadow effortlessly cut off the Glyve's hand and lifted Soria to his arms. After that, the shadow jumped. The Glyve, who got its hand cut off, was about to roar, but then the shadow appeared and stomped on its head.
In an instant, the Glyve's head was flattened to the ground.
Then the shadow vanished before reappearing above the next Glyve, who had not processed what had happened and met the same fate. After that, the shadow vanished again, and Hilam heard another flattening sound and knew the third Glyve also suffered in the shadow's stomp.
Finally, the other Eidums who closed their eyes opened them to see what caused those sounds.
They were shocked to find the three Glyves on the ground with their head busted, blood and brain matter flowing on the ground.
The 'shadow' stopped before Yalen, who was too weak to react, and saw it was none other than Kyran.
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