Before long, the wind around the group went abuzz, lifting the light flakes up before washing them to the sides. They briskly prepared themselves, three people standing behind Pofrei on each side whilst he raised his staff ahead of him.

  Despite the faint gruntles, Remen still guided his mana, stopping the mounts from getting outside of the group. Meanwhile, Lutiel swiftly ran up to the carriage, watching with fully opened eyes as the cape of Pofrei fluttered deeply, the glimmering stone atop his staff chanting profuse shades upon the world, all whilst shivering and threatening to break apart.

  Still, the monster didn’t turn away. Seeing the seven gathered in front of it, it lowered itself on the legs further, pushing deeper into the ground. However, unlike before, it raised its arms from the snow, sprawling the claws out.

  Getting lower on the knees and putting the sword up, Lutiel’s breath hastened after staring at the magics displayed ahead of him. Watching a sphere of water hover above the staff before attaining the purple glimmer from the air, it swiftly spun around, whistling as it formed the head of a lance.

  His white hairs swaying away from the force of the wind, the human barely kept himself on the ground. Clenching his flesh whilst putting an arm up to fight the gales, his vision waned, but there was nothing else he could do.

  Positioning himself to watch the leader better, his eyes widened abruptly. Watching the magic, despite no longer so heavy on the mind, it disappeared anyways.

  Though, Lutiel’s sight went beyond Pofrei, seeing the elemental spell pierce through the air whilst creating wafts as it advanced.

  Heading right at the monster’s chest, the group turned deathly silent as they watched the attack arrive within the same breath.

  In its large, dark flesh, the purple waters landed, seemingly drilling through the creature as it went deeper inside. At least, Lutiel thought it did.

  Quickly hearing the disappointed breaths coming from the front, his eyes froze up. The attack that meant to go through the monster dispersed into a purple mist, easily mingling with the snow before leaving faint traces.

  “No good,” Pofrei muttered, briskly slamming his staff before parting an area of the snow underneath. Similarly, the others no longer mumbled about. Instead, they raised their arms, igniting a plethora of magic contained within themselves.

  Two other cloaks manipulated large bodies of water above them, one of them mutilating it into small, cusped needles, while the other lowered the volume of their sphere.

  Meanwhile, three people tore off chunks of the ground, briskly bonding them into one, large boulder of a decreased size. Unable to keep stationary, the boulder rotated slightly, however, it didn’t seem to matter. Going to the center, where the one with yellow hair stood, Lutiel watched her do nothing. Despite her cloak fluttering the most out of all, she didn’t release anything similar to them.

  ‘She must be wielding wind,’ mused Lutiel, keeping steady around in front of the carriage. Albeit targeting him as well, he beat the air, tightly pressing against the snow.

  However, suddenly clenching his jaws, he felt the wafts grow even stronger, only to plummet down completely as the spells were released. Cutting through the space, all five of them arrived at the monster quickly.

  Yet, as soon as they entered the varain’s range, the beast opened its mouth fully, a shriek scattering through the space. Revealing the beaten road before bending the trees around, the groups’ ears had been assaulted before their breath could fully fall out.

  “UGH!” Lutiel groaned, quickly catching himself by the head. Regardless, ignoring the growing and pulsing pain, he steadily watched as the monster was once again unharmed, the magic coming towards it dispersed immediately after screaming.

  ‘What is that thing?’ He thought to himself, seeing the staggered figures of his group. They were unable to harm the creature, despite wielding magic of the second level. Simultaneously, as he immersed himself in the thoughts, Lutiel’s eyes widened, realizing it was finally coming forward.

  Running directly at the group with no care in the world, it suddenly disappeared from the place, evading the third wave of spells coming at it before reappearing behind them.

  “Kanth! Do something!” Haness swiftly released a plea, under the halted sight of Lutiel.

  ‘What am I supposed to do?!’ A thought thundered through his head, watching the beast raise one of its arms after already getting to him. Swooping through the snow, the ground scattered apart when the claws dug through, Lutiel’s heart hesitating to beat at the sights.

  ‘I’m gonna die,’ he thought to himself, staring wide as the claws penetrated the road right in front of him. Changing his grip ever so slightly, his eyes closed as soon as he felt the tip pierce through something.

  Immediately, he felt his body become enveloped. Flying away as the monster threw him out, he prepared himself for impact, constantly aware of his awake state.

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  Yet, no matter how many breaths he took, the wind still brushed through past his face, nothing ever meeting his body. Quickly, he opened the eyelids, widening his eyes further than before.

  Grasped by the monster’s right hand, he saw himself hastily getting away from the group, the carriage in the distance disappearing as the beast stole him.

  ‘So I was your interest, huh? Not that artifact or whatever?’ He wondered to himself, briskly gazing down at the large fingers covering him. The sword was still in his grasp, and from what he was seeing, it dripped with the monster’s blood, penetrating through the dark skin.

  Feeling the squeezing force surrounding his body, something flashed through his eyes as Lutiel flinched momentarily. Glancing at the furry ears of the beast beginning to dash between the trees, he raised his arms up and down in a brief breath, before the monster could realize its hand was cut off.

  Falling down before rolling on the ground roughly, the man’s chest heaved from the pain, trying harshly to catch a breath. However, before he could truly do that, Lutiel quickly scoured around, hearing the hushed roars of the monster.

  Grinding through its fangs, the varain’s mouth lingered with dripping saliva as it growled away at the human. Retracting its figure slowly, it moved beyond the trees, Lutiel turning adamant in raising himself before going to the side.

  Jumping away, his mind staggered, hearing and feeling the brisk gales from one of the trees coming at his previous position. Taking down tens of pines in its path, it was unable to graze the human, however, making the monster gnaw through the ground with its claws.

  Tossing the chunks of soil right at the fleeting human, the man finally got up to his legs, moving nimbly through the forest and evading the object. At the same time, his expression changed. ‘You might be strong in magical aspects, but you’re much softer than that bear,’ he pondered, keenly focusing on the beast.

  Watching as the other, uninjured arm started to descend at him rather than throw the ground, a light flashed through Lutiel’s eyes, stepping forward whilst slashing down.

  “GRUUAAAAAHHHH!” The beast roared out, jumping away before its back crashed into one of the pines. On the other side, Lutiel walked towards the monster, calm demeanor spelling through him as blood washed over his gray blade.

  Stopping in his tracks, he brought the sword up, watching the beast stand on its legs before bending them down. Growling incessantly whilst digging through the snow, it pounced straight at him, opening its mouth wide.

  Aiming straight at the man’s torso, all the human did was step to the side, letting the monster come to him before thrusting with his blade, right in the middle of its chest.

  Immediately, his sword reverberated, something inside the monster bursting before its figure stumbled through the space. Unable to catch the human, it fell on the ground, the snout reaching a tree before it stood up on the wobbly legs.

  Nonetheless, despite moving around, it was anything but composed. As the blood dripped steadily to the snow, the varain’s body bounced off the trees, making the snow atop fall down on its fur.

  A few breaths later, it finally stopped, the light in its dark eyes dying off before Lutiel approached the creature. Although he had countless questions, firstly, he came close to it, scooping the beast from underneath before flipping it around to lie on its back.

  Staring at the streak of blood coming from the middle of the chest, he promptly took his glove off, raising the sleeve before pervading his left arm through the departing warmth of the monster. The blood splashed out as he broke apart the flesh and bone further, however, his squirming brows searched for something.

  A few moments later, he finally took the drenched arm out, steaming and dripping with crimson blood. Scrunching his nose slightly, Lutiel swiftly cleaned it off with the untainted snow, together with the red rock he took out from the center of the heart.

  “So it was you I struck,” he muttered out, smearing off the blood to witness a mellow, blue glow from the crystalic material. Symmetrical in its rhombus shape, the smooth surface made him glance at the rock for a few moments, only to finally raise himself and toss it inside his bag.

  Clearing off his left arm similarly and putting the glove back on, Lutiel cleaned and sheathed the blade before eventually turning towards the road back again. ‘They must think I’m already dead bait. Nor would they go down this road again,’ he mused, quickly starting to warm his blood up whilst running through the trees.

  Reaching speeds higher than when he chased the bear, finally, his breathing started to hesitate. Steadily starting to lose breaths when he got onto the beaten tracks, he didn’t stop in the least.

  Trying even further as he finally saw the carriage turning back in the horizon, he steadily witnessed it turn bigger in size.

  Catching mouthfuls of air as he gave it his all, finally, the man guiding both horses in the back turned around, having heard the noises faintly. Immediately, his eyes widened away.

  “What the fuck?” Remen called out fiercely, catching the attention of all, especially the leader.

  “Damn it, is it going after us already? Huh?” Pofrei shouted the question immediately, only to fall silent after feeling Lutiel approach them from the back. Staggering a response before decisively halting their horses, no complaint fell from his subordinates, they themselves puzzled curiously.

  Finally, seeing the carriage slow down, Lutiel eased as well, eventually standing still whilst glancing up at the sky. His chest heaving dangerously, he could only swallow the breaths whole before supporting himself with the knees.

  Slowly, after a while of hastened breaths, he raised his head, watching as they gathered before his figure.

  “What the hell was that speed?” Remen muttered out silently, summoning the human’s gaze for a brisk breath before he once again turned to the others, who stared at him with eyes wide open.

  “How are you still alive?” Cagmin spat the words out, swiftly igniting the awry looks around his companions. Despite speaking what they all wondered, his tongue was simply too brash in their glaring eyes.

  Still, letting out mellow sighs, they stared back at Lutiel, Pofrei keeping the glances on him ever since he had come back. “What happened there?” He asked instead, the cloaked man finally parted his lips, the respires calming down vehemently.

  “I killed it,” he spoke out slowly, letting the words ruminate in their minds. Realizing his sentence only after another breath, the eyes widened.

  “What?” Pofrei spouted to himself, glancing beyond Lutiel for a moment before settling around him anew and putting on a solemn expression. “What do you mean you killed it? How?”