One of Nox's teammates had just died, and in a way that could only be described as foolish. But Nox understood his choice, he understood his feelings. After all, if that monster had eaten Tilda, he wouldn't have been able to think rationally. Kael and Garett were close friends, and it was normal and legitimate to get angry or want to avenge a friend's death.

Nox's eyes were cold and indifferent before this scene of horror, not by choice but by duty. He couldn't waver at such a moment. Even if it hurt him, as a Captain, he had to be calm and rational. He had to do everything possible to save as many people as possible. He had made them that promise and he intended to keep it, regardless of the circumstances.

As for the rest of the team, they were horrified and dazed. The fact that this monster could take one of them without them noticing was terrifying. But was it a move by the Exsanguinator or the Chimeric Cleaver? No one knew, and they didn't care.

"Disperse! Now!" Nox commanded, his voice imbued with mana to pierce the terror that paralyzed the others. "Johan, take the left flank! Sarah, fall back! Don't stay grouped, or you'll end up as mash like Kael!"

The Chimeric Cleaver roared, a sound that made reality itself tremble (Cataclysmic Roar). The roar was charged with energy that destroyed matter all around and disrupted the activation of magical skills. Even the surrounding mana disappeared within a 100-meter radius. The ground cracked, and magical crystals burst forth from the earth, seeking to impale the Guardians.

If Johan and the other mages managed to survive this attack, it was only thanks to a few sword-wielding Guardians in the group who protected them.

Nox, for his part, immediately after the scream, had leaped backward with superhuman agility, narrowly avoiding an amethyst crystal spike that surged where he had been standing a fraction of a second earlier. Face tight, sword in hand, he activated his Mirror Dimension skill once again.

This time, the dimension did not materialize as it had during his fight against the humanoid crow. Instead, he simply duplicated himself into three.

Sword in hand, he was thinking of a way to finish the fight without too many losses.

"Analyze, Nox," he thought quickly.

The rider and the mount were in perfect symbiosis. The Cleaver was the brute force, the wild magic, while the Exsanguinator was the brain, the strategist. If Nox wanted a chance, he had to break that synergy. As he was thinking,

The Exsanguinator raised a clawed hand. Kael's blood, still floating in the air as a mist, began to gather, forming solid crimson lances (Hemogenesis).

"You... are... entertaining," the monster articulated, its voice changing to become more guttural, more befitting its nature.

With a gesture, it propelled the blood lances toward Johan and the other Guardians.

Very quickly, the tank of the group raised his shield, activating his ultimate skill, Steel Fortress.

CLANG! CLANG!

The lances struck the shield with the force of a cannon shell. Kris, the tank, slid back several meters, his boots carving furrows in the rock. He held firm, but blood was already running from his ears and nose due to the impact.

"He won't last two minutes at this rate," Nox analyzed coldly.

While Nox had sent one of his reflections at the Exsanguinator and the Chimeric Cleaver to draw their attention, on the other side, a droplet of blood that the Exsanguinator had sent had just touched Kris, the tank, before Nox could intervene.

"Boom," the Exsanguinator said with a teasing smile.

Kris had just exploded into a meat paste of a thousand pieces. The blast of the explosion also hit a number of members who, in turn, exploded. Johan, who was faster, protected the others by stopping the damage with his spatial spells. The Exsanguinator, satisfied with its work, turned back toward Nox's side, taking Kris's voice.

"This is all your fault, Nox," it screamed, sounding angry.

Nox tensed at hearing those words. On reflection, he was starting to believe that all this was his fault. Perhaps he should have refused the mission by finding pretexts. Like it or not, he was leading every one of his men to their doom.

"Nox, use all your skills. The rest of us who are still alive are counting on you. Count on us for support too. If someone dies, it's not your fault," Johan shouted, seeing Nox who looked guilty from afar.

These words had their effect on Nox. He inhaled deeply, channeling his aura. He could no longer hide behind the mask of the merely talented Guardian. If he wanted to survive two S+ ranks, he had to reveal some of his cards.

"Hey! You pile of meat!" Nox shouted, a predatory smile on his lips, contrasting with the desperate situation.

The Exsanguinator slowly turned its gaze toward him. The Cleaver's multiple eyes also fixed on Nox, changing color to an electric purple (Lightning Magic).

"You think you're at the top of the food chain because you have a big dog and you know how to do blood magic tricks?" Nox provoked, his muscles tensing, ready to explode. "Get down from there, so I can teach you what a real predator is."

The monster did not seem insulted. On the contrary, a glow of interest, almost amusement, shone with a black light.

"Arrogance..." the Exsanguinator hissed. "I will... taste... your arrogance."

The Chimeric Cleaver disappeared.

No, it hadn't disappeared. It had moved so fast that the human eye couldn't follow it.

Predator's Dance.

Nox felt the air shift to his right. His instinct, sharpened by years of survival and the system, screamed. He didn't try to parry. He dropped to the ground, sliding prone.

A gigantic crystallized claw sliced through the air exactly where his head had been a millisecond earlier. The wind from the blow cleanly cut off a few strands of his black hair.

Nox wasted no time. As he slid under the belly of the bestial titan, he plunged his aura-infused blade into the Cleaver's abdomen, seeking a flaw in the natural runes.

Crisshhh!

The blade bit, but the skin was diamond-hard. However, Nox's sword, being an S+ rank magic artifact, penetrated it with ease. The Cleaver roared with rage and bucked, nearly crushing Nox, who rolled to the side to get back on his feet.

He had managed to hit them. He had drawn their hatred.

The Exsanguinator, who had seemed jovial from the beginning, finally became annoyed by Nox's actions. Initially, its plan was to rely on the crow's memory to have fun, which it had obviously done by making a mockery of Nox and his teammates. Which it had succeeded in doing.

But then, when it came to the part where it had to instill fear in them, make them disorganized, and then kill them as slowly as possible one by one, it faced a problem. Even if the team could be overwhelmed by fear, their leader could not. The fact that Nox remained unwavering despite the death of his comrades and did not seem to flinch easily was driving it mad.

The Exsanguinator leaped from the back of the Chimeric Cleaver. Then, before its feet even touched the ground, it let out a piercing scream—it was the Coagulation Cry, one of its skills. A shrill howl that froze the victims' blood in their veins, causing paralysis and slow death.

Unfortunately for it, Nox, who had foreseen it, executed the second phase of his sword technique: Obliteration, in a single movement destroying everything in its path. The carnage of the Obliteration was such that the Coagulation Cry was muffled. Debris from ruined houses flew up, creating a screen of dust cloud.

The Chimeric Cleaver had managed to endure the strike somehow. As for the Exsanguinator, it was hit head-on.

"Johan, take the mosquito!" Nox roared in the heat of the action, his senses still on alert.

"Spatial Isolation," Johan whispered in sync with Nox.

Without realizing it, the Exsanguinator had already been trapped.

Nox sighed in relief, impressed by Johan's speed of execution. The only way to defeat these two monsters was to separate them and face them one at a time.

But even to separate them, they had to be careful, after all, the Chimeric Cleaver was a natural enemy of mages. Thanks to its magical resistance and its skills, no mage, regardless of their level, could triumph in a fight against it without paying the price.

Which was the complete opposite of the Exsanguinator. Even though it was very dangerous, anyone could fight it without a real handicap.

Now trapped in the Spatial Isolation, the Exsanguinator was no longer free to move. From now on, Nox could face the Chimeric Cleaver alone in a one-on-one.

"Little thing, you think this barrier can stop me? Don't be naive. From what I see, you won't even be able to maintain this thing for fifteen minutes," it said to Johan while it was regenerating from the damage caused by Nox's Obliteration.

"It's draining your mana heavily, isn't it? You're just delaying the inevitable; you're all going to die anyway. But if you let me out, I'll grant you a quick death, without suffering, unlike your friends," it continued.

Johan ignored the monster's words. But he knew that what the Exsanguinator had told him was true. This skill was sucking up a huge amount of his mana; the maximum time he could maintain it was about half an hour.

By then, he had to find a way to defeat this monster without waiting for Nox.

"Let every mage prepare their magic. My barrier will let attacks pass from the outside to the inside."

A/N: Spatial Isolation was a skill of Johan's that allowed him to create a confinement space where he decided the parameters according to certain criteria.

Spatial Isolation blocks any attempt to exit from the inside to the outside after confinement. The user of the skill decides who or what could enter.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.