"Tsk! What an annoying pest."
Standing right in front of Layland, on the neck of the Wyvern, Iorael couldn't help clicking his tongue in annoyance. That had been the perfect opportunity for him to slay Arieda, but Layland had jumped in at the right time.
"What about moving somewhere?" Layland suggested as he saw Genelos flying at him from his peripheral vision.
"Hmph! Don't act as if you mean something, Demon!"
Just as Genelos reached the Wyvern Vibiane and Arieda were riding, Iorael pointed his rapier down, and stabbed the Wyvern's neck. The rapier discharged a burst of Mana, instantly cutting it, thus killing the Wyvern.
Iorael jumped off as the dead Wyvern was falling down. Layland instructed Genelos to catch Vibiane and Arieda before also jumping off.
Whoosh!
As Iorael glided through the air with the help of Wind Magic; Haletha, who had been waiting for the opportunity to attack him, sent him five pairs of hands made of tree roots. He, however, managed to dodge all of them, albeit closely.
As Iorael was busy dodging all of the hands, Layland was waiting for the perfect time to strike. When he saw Iorael already had his attention focused on Haletha, he swung Rexorem as if he was lashing a whip, sending out a curved Mana Sword.
The hair on the back of Iorael's neck immediately rose. He knew something dangerous was coming at him, so he turned around, and sent his own Mana Sword.
Slash!
Much to his bewilderment, his Mana Sword, which he took pride in, was instantly cut in two. It could barely even hamper Layland's or alter its course.
Reacting quick, he summoned a big trunk out of the ground, and blocked the Mana Sword with it. The trunk was cut—he could even feel the shockwave of the clash—but it had fulfilled its role, which was "destroying" the Mana Sword.
Thud!
"Ah! They tricked me!"
Just as Iorael thought he could have a sigh of relief, his head hit the trunk of the tree behind him. It was really embarrassing for him, but his embarrassment didn't hamper his reflex at all.
Immediately putting his palm on the tree trunk, he stopped his fall. He was already 30-feet away from the ground at this point, meanwhile Layland and Haletha were looking up at him from the ground.
"It doesn't matter if you act mighty now," Layland exclaimed. "You have lost your right to look cool after bumping your head to the trunk earlier."
"Shut your hole, insect!"
"Says the one latching on to the tree like a cicada."
"This annoying bastard..."
Iorael was annoyed and slightly bemused. He was sure they were in the spot that was covered by his Guardians, but no one had shot any arrow towards Layland and Haletha even though they remained static in their spot.
'They're all dead? What happened?' It wasn't until he spread his Mana Sense did Iorael realize there was no more alive Guardian in their surroundings.
A second after the realization dawned on him, the air above him got hot instantaneously. This phenomenon, of course, alerted him greatly.
Like anyone would do in that situation, he looked up, and found Genelos, who was now ridden by Vibiane and Arieda, shooting his fire breath out at him.
"Accursed lizard!" Trying to jump off the tree trunk, Iorael found his limbs that made contact with the tree trunk swallowed by it. "What kind of farce is this? Haletha!" He immediately knew who made it happen.
Burst!
As Genelos' fire breath engulfed Iorael whole, Haletha scoffed disdainfully. She was amused by how easy it was to distract his attention, but still didn't let her guard down regardless; she knew he would survive.
"Thank you for the amazing assistant," Haletha remarked. "Though, I need you to tell your Wyvern it is already enough. Pissing that bastard off is not worth burning the tree."
Waving his hand lightly, Layland stopped Genelos. "Go, look for another thing to burn!"
Said Wyvern immediately obeyed, prompting Layland to focus on Iorael again. When the fire died down, however, Iorael could no longer be spotted on the trunk.
"Well, at least he knows how to fight."
Layland nodded his head in appreciation. He couldn't sense any Mana fluctuation earlier, so he couldn't tell when exactly Iorael had escaped.
"Beware of your surroundings," Haletha warned.
"Don't worry. I have been sweeping this area with my twenty thousand cherry blossom petals," Layland casually replied.
"What is that?"
"A quirk of mine."
Layland swiftly turned his head to the sky, and swung Rexorem upwards at the same time. A curved Mana Sword was produced and it was sent to Iorael, who was rapidly falling on them while being encapsulated in a sphere entirely made of roots.
Slash!
The Mana Sword cut the sphere in half, but did no harm to Iorael. He was descending even faster than before—his rapier was shining as it was emanating an overwhelming killing intent.
Haletha, reacting quickly, stomped the ground once, causing it to rise. The rising ground was heading towards Iorael, diverting his attention while she and Layland got out of his attack range.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Iorael rapidly thrust his rapier thrice. The raised ground was nothing in front of its insane penetration power; it didn't only completely obliterate the raised ground, but also created three big holes in the ground.
Crisp!
"Hm... It is burning the ground," Layland commented. "He doesn't care so much about the environment, does he?"
"We are fighting inside a forest—what do you expect?" Haletha retorted.
"Yeah, what do you expect?"
Layland's sarcastic remark brought Haletha to a realization. She had momentarily forgotten about her commenting on Layland's choice to set the trees on fire, so now that she had remembered it, she couldn't help but be embarrassed.
"Running! Is that the only thing you can do?" Iorael shouted as he hovered above Layland and Haletha.
"It seems to me you have a twisted perspective, literally," Layland said in amusement. "Considering how it has been, you are the one running away from us."
"... Shut it!"
Iorael was irate; he never had someone talking back to him, let alone played him like Layland did. What made it even more outrageous, though, was the fact that he found most of the things Layland said true.
Dash!
As soon as Iorael landed on the ground, Layland immediately kicked the ground, and rushed at Iorael. He wanted to engage in a close combat battle with Iorael.
Layland and Haletha had agreed to not concoct a complicated plan to defeat Iorael. They had just agreed to do their role to the best they could: Layland as the close combatant, and Haletha as the range combatant.
Clank! Clank!
Despite so, things were going well.
While Layland was suppressing Iorael with his swordplay, Haletha sent her Spells to Iorael. In result, said Dark Elf couldn't focus on just one opponent—if he did, the other would completely obliterate him.
'This guy doesn't have the necessary skill to use a rapier,' Layland mused. 'He relies too much on his agility rather than his swordplay. Look at these moves—it's just downright bad.'
Instead of thinking that he had an exceptional swordmanship, Layland thought Iorael was bad at using a rapier. Iorael, absolutely, wasn't, but Layland wouldn't know it because he wasn't aware of how good of a swordman he actually was.
What he considered decent was actually amazing in this world's standard, and what he considered good, which was his swordplay, was already extraordinary. With this mindset, he often found himself bewildered by how "sucked" his opponent was.
"Are you mocking me, Demon?" Iorael felt the look Layland was giving him, and couldn't help feeling insecure.
"Well, rapier is just not your weapon," Layland replied as he deflected Iorael's rapier. "I am using a greatsword, but I still can match your speed. That is really saying something about your skills, considering how heavy my greatsword is."
Irked, Iorael overwhelmed the tip of his rapier with Mana, and thrust it swiftly at Layland. He put a quite significant amount of Mana into it, so Layland was immediately launched to the back as soon as he blocked the thrust.
"Eat that, you cocky Demon!"
"Layland!" Haletha shouted in worry.
"Don't mind me!" Layland yelled in the middle of his launch.
Thud!
His launch was stopped by a sturdy tree. The trunk of said tree immediately caved in, assuming the shape of his back, which showed just how powerful Iorael's thrust earlier was.
Smirking as he thought he had finally removed the nuisance, Iorael immediately blinked his eyes as soon as Layland stood up straightly, and cracked his neck as if nothing happened.
"Well, that was a good exercise," Layland said mockingly as the power he received from his power-up coursed through his body. "This has only been the second time, but I am quite glad about what I have got so far."
"How in the Mother Earth's blessings is that possible?"
"Yo, Iorael. Why don't you get a little bit more serious? It is tiring to play with you."
Iorael was as annoyed as he was bewildered. "The audacity of this bastard..." He had heard Demons had a fast regeneration speed, but he was sure it wasn't supposed to be that fast. "This Demon might be more troublesome than Haletha."
As soon as he noticed Iorael had decided to get serious, Layland couldn't help smirking in glee. With Haletha on his side, he would be able to take on every one of Iorael's attack without fearing of dying.
He would get a lot of power-ups from Iorael.
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