The four armored lieutenants moved in a disturbing symphony.

They didn't charge just like for a mindless sake of attacking, which the grunts were already doing.

They were not frantic or desperate, as if they knew that they were superior.

Their chitinous armor, which seemed dark and was gleaming under the cold light of the Silver moon as if it was covered with oil residue. Their chitinous legs even clacked rhythmically against the bridge as they ran— It produced a sound of impending ruin.

"Korg! Switch!" Mateo roared, abandoning the bisected corpse of a grunt to pivot towards the new threat.

His greatsword, currently shimmering with the dense, dull grey of lead, shifted instantly. Mateo's knuckles whitened as he activated his skill, that allowed him to alter the properties of matter to a certain extent.

The blade's color changed, lightening to a silvery and translucent hue as he altered its density to something impossibly light in order to prioritize speed over impact.

"Ishiki! Julien! Peel the trash off us! Don't let the small ones interfere!"

"On it!" Ishiki hissed, ducking under a wildly swinging bone spur.

The battlefield had become a claustrophobic arena of blood, mist and slippery golden blood mixed with some kind dark material which mostly didn't let the traits of the golden blood saw themselves.

Ishiki didn't like it at all. All the beasts he had seen so far had golden blood, that was a common trait among them. These abominations too had golden blood... but there was something else, much sinister too.

He moved through the chaos not with the brute force of a soldier, not that he could with his small body.

A grunt lunged at him from his right, its distended jaw unhinging to reveal rows of needle-like teeth. Ishiki didn't panic and let the beast come close, and at the last moment he activated [Ghost Blade] and simply stepped to the left.

The beast simply bit at the air and looked around in confusion. The human was nowhere to be found. The movement was so subtle it looked like the beast had attacked at stationary air.

As the creature stumbled past him not able to sense its death standing just besides.

Ishiki's hand moved with precision. He wasn't a great swordsman, nor did he had any kind of training... his skills were all honed by his survival in the Crimson Canopy for months. He didn't have a form to his swordsmanship... it was just a brutal mix of movements specialized in delivering a satisfying end.

The cheap steel sword in his grip hummed as its effectiveness was increased by the skill.

Shing.

He severed the beast's hamstring with a single cut. The creature collapsed, shrieking as its legs failed its weight. Before it hit the ground, Ishiki reversed his grip and drove the blade down into the base of its skull, cutting off its shriek instantly.

[You have Slain a Rank 2, Blighted Forse]

He ignored the notification. There was no time to celebrate small victories.

To his left, Korg roared as he caught two of the armored wretches on his shield. The impact sounded like a pile of bones hitting against metal. The force was enough to drive the massive man back by a full meter.

"Little help!" Korg bellowed, veins bulging on his neck.

"Mateo!" Sarah yelled from the back, her crossbow singing as she pumped bolts into the melee and shot. The arrow pierced through the air like a bullet and hit the chitinous body of one of the abominations attacking Korg.

But it was destroyed at impact and didn't even scratch the beast. "I can't effect them."

"I see it!" Mateo gritted out, dancing between the other two lieutenants, his blade was a blur as it reflected the silver light of the moon.

"Sarah... attack these fat bastards, I will help Korg." Julien bellowed as he ducked left from one of the grunts running to back up Korg.

Ishiki finished off another grunt with a bored stab to the eye and glanced at the carnage around him.

'This is taking too long,' he thought with a little bit of irritation spiking. 'I have to meet Yuki. If I am late, I might run into her brother, and I absolutely don't want to talk to that weird prick.'

He looked past the melee to the monstrosity that stood back, watching its minions do the work. It looked... smug.

Can a eyeless monster with a weird face look smug? Yes, yes it could.

'Look at it,' Ishiki thought, wiping golden blood mixed with sludge from his cheek. 'Just standing there, menacingly. Does it think this is an anime? Get in the fight, you lazy blob.'

Then a very irrational thought surfaced in his mind. He looked around once again... Korg and Julien were having a hard time against the two chitinous bastards. Mateo was stalemated and Sarah was desperately trying to keep the grunts that were trying attack Korg and Julien.

If this continued on they would be overwhelmed sooner or later.

'if I can somehow kill the leader.'

It was a reckless thought, suicidal, even. The bastard look tough even for Mateo to take on, let alone Ishiki or any other member of their squad.

But Ishiki looked at the bridge, stretching endlessly into the fog. He looked at Korg's trembling legs and sighed.

"Screw it."

He activated [Ghost Blade] in full force and moved. His presence vanished momentarily from everyone's perspective. Ishiki ran past the lesser mob beasts and even the chitinous wretches... straight for the boss.

As Ishiki closed the distance to the monstrosity, the sludge on its body hissed and it suddenly shifted its eyeless pits in Ishiki's direction.

It smelled him.

'Tenacious bastard,' Ishiki gritted his teeth, launching himself into the air. He aimed a slash at the abomination's neck, putting his full weight behind the blow.

CLANG.

His sword bounced off the creature's hide like he had hit a heavy metal armor with a spoon. The shock traveled up his arm, jarring his shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?" Ishiki groaned mid-air. "What the hell is your skin made of?"

The beast on the other hand didn't even flinch. It just swung a massive, sludge-covered arm in a lazy backhand.

WHAM.

The blow hit Ishiki like a freight train straight into the chest. He flew backward, tumbling through the air before crashing into a pile of rubble near the bridge railing.

"Holy... shit!"

He lay there for a second, staring at the grey sky with a wince.

"Okay," he wheezed, spitting a glob of blood. "That thing is too hard. Also, I think I broke a rib. Again."

"Ishiki! You idiot!" Mateo roared from the frontline. "Its a Rank 4, Do you have a death wish?"

Ishiki sat up, dusting off his coat and clutched his chest which was already starting to heal, slowly. "I mean... not yet. I am a virgin still, for crying out loud."

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