Five figures with massive frames stood around the grade two summoner, facing the descendants with a devilish look.
Towering. Broad. Black-skinned and glistening with coiled muscle. Their heads were small and blunt, their bodies emanating raw power.
There was no way Malakai could ever forget them. He had fought and luckily survived a battle against just one not long ago.
“Grade One Enhancers.”
Each one released a guttural roar that made the entire hall tremble.
The gazes of the descendants shifted instantly, each one leaping away from the others and facing the new threats.
The darkness knew no allies. No foes. Once birthed, their only goal was to cause carnage and multiply.
The darkness creatures locked onto their targets, each one selecting a descendant, then shot forward, tearing through the air like living missiles.
Everyone scattered.
Malakai’s eyes widened. His body moved before his thoughts could catch up, hurling himself to the right and rolling across the ground.
Boom!
The wall behind him exploded into fragments and dust as the creature slammed into it with terrifying force.
Malakai raised his arms to shield his face from the debris. But the dust hadn’t even cleared before his spine tingled.
The feeling of death came crashing onto him.
‘It’s coming!’
He slammed his left hand and leg into the ground, jerking his entire body to the side just as a massive frame crashed down where he’d been, shattering the hard floor.
‘It’s too fast.’
Malakai’s mind raced as fast as his limbs. His body ached, intense pain radiating through every inch, but he pushed it all down.
At this point, it was do or die.
And Malakai had no intention of dying.
Using the momentum of his roll, he spun and sprang to his feet, but he didn’t stop. He didn’t look back.
Malakai bolted.
He sprinted at full speed, forcing every bit of strength from his battered body.
The darkness creature was chasing him. He didn’t need to look to know, the rumbling ground made it obvious enough.
‘I have to rely on that feeling.’
In his current situation, there was no room for hesitation. He was slower than the darkness creature; he needed every bit of speed he could get. Even a glance back would slow him and end in his death.
So he relied on instinct.
On that creeping, bone-deep sense of death that he always felt when the darkness was close.
The ground trembled beneath him.
The air tore behind him.
Still, he didn’t stop. Didn’t look.
Then, he felt the chill crawl up his spine.
‘It’s here.’
Malakai’s eyes narrowed. He shifted his center of balance to his right leg, then pushed.
His body shot to the left, and a crushing fist slammed into the space he had just left.
Malakai rolled, dirt and dust whipping past his skin, before springing back into motion without hesitation.
Another second passed. Another chill crawled up his spine.
He reacted immediately, darting away just before another blow could connect.
Again. And again.
Malakai repeated the same maneuver, dodge, roll, sprint, over and over again. Each time, he escaped by a hair’s breadth. But as he rose to his feet once more, one thought echoed in his mind.
‘I can’t keep repeating this.’
He was glad the creature was too dumb to find a way around his plan, but his body was reaching its limit. Every second he spent dodging the darkness creature was draining what little stamina he had left.
‘I need a plan.’
His mind worked quickly, going through his options.
Killing the darkness creature outright wasn’t an option. Summoners were restricted by how many summons they could control at once, not by how many they had in reserve. It was possible the summoner still had more creatures on hand.
If he wasted energy taking this one down, it would only be replaced.
‘I’ll be wasting my limited energy.’
He needed another approach.
Evading one more strike, Malakai’s eyes swept across the battlefield, looking for something, anything.
Then, they narrowed.
‘That’s it.’
His gaze locked onto Grunde, who was currently locked in a brutal exchange with his own darkness creature. And a plan formed in his head.
Swoosh.
Malakai evaded another strike and suddenly bolted toward Grunde.
Grunde noticed immediately, and his eyes sharpened. “Hmm…?”
He was confused, but unfortunately too focused to dwell on it. The darkness creature in front of him gave him no breathing room, launching bone-crushing blows that forced him to duck and parry nonstop.
Still, Grunde didn’t like this. He could feel it, Malakai was planning something.
His lips parted. He muttered.
[Bloodflow.]
The veins on his neck and face throbbed violently as his blood flow surged harder. His speed peaked.
Grunde dipped under a heavy punch, his sword thrusting forward
Crunch!
The blade pierced through his beast’s skull, its form jerking slightly before it collapsed instantly.
But before it had even hit the ground, Grunde turned sharply toward the approaching Malakai, a savage grin spreading across his face.
He launched forward, sword raised, descending with lethal force.
But then, his grin vanished.
Right before he could reach him, Malakai had flicked a small circular object to the side and raised his gun toward it.
Click.
BOOM!
The explosion burst between them, the force shoving Malakai sideways and out of the path of the descending blade.
Grunde’s eyes widened in shock.
‘What the hell was that?!’
He had never seen the gun and bomb in his entire life.
But there was no time for him to process anything.
Suddenly, a shadow appeared behind the spot Malakai had just occupied. Then…
Fwoooosh!
A monstrous fist came barreling toward Grunde, launched with terrifying force.
His crimson eyes widened.
He had just landed from his previous attack, and as such, he couldn’t dodge. Couldn’t even guard.
CRACK!
The punch impacted his face with brutal force, sending him flying.
Grunde crashed into the far wall with a resounding impact, stone and dust collapsing around him.
However, Malakai didn’t hesitate.
Even before the first explosion that shoved him out of the way had settled, he was already moving. His hand flicked, tossing a Vita-charged mine toward the confused darkness creature.
He pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The blast rocked the beast’s face, engulfing it in flame and smoke.
But Malakai didn’t follow up. He had only wanted to distract it, his focus wasn’t on it.
He was already sprinting, not toward the creature, but toward what he considered the real threat.
Grunde.
‘He’s still alive.’
As a Sanguine, Malakai knew their bodies. He knew their abilities.
One of them was that they could control blood flow and harden their blood to shield themselves.
If Grunde had done that, then the punch alone wouldn’t be enough.
Malakai’s eyes sharpened as the dust began to clear, revealing the aftermath.
