Spectral Javelins whizzed through the air, each one filled with intent to murder them. Even with Gus' attempts to defend against them, there were just too many, he was only one monster, and he only had one mouth. Uchronia and Alwin were forced to dodge the rest of the javelins. Alwin's slime body bounced and jiggled with every evasive move. They were jumping up and down, rolling side to side, but they could only keep that up for so long.

During the dancing palooza that was their dodging, Alwin had come up with a surefire plan that would definitely get them out of this heap: attack. Uchronia had come up with something too, but the details were a mystery to him. All he knew was that she was chanting something under her breath as they dodged. Meanwhile, Gus was doing what he did best: eating. He continued to intercept whatever Spectral Javelins came his way. Judging by the way Gus's face contorted in utter disgust as if he were about to spew at any moment, the flavor of those javelins must have been downright atrocious.

As soon as Alwin landed from his latest jump, he dove into prepping his next attack. No time for fancy combos here—concentration was a luxury, one the relentless human was snatching away with every javelin thrown his way.

A Spirit Blast shot out from Alwin's straight toward the human, or at least where Alwin hoped the human was going to be. Aiming at a stationary target was one thing, but at a moving target that was running how many laps around you per minute. Yeah, Alwin really couldn't be blamed if he missed this shot.

At the same time, Uchronia had completed her incantation. A second Uchronia appeared right next to her. Instead of a Furball, it was a Dark Slime, a pretty one at that. Both Uchronias’ exchanged a nod, as if they had some sort of psychic link to communicate through, then the Dark Slime version of her leapt towards the human, or at least where she hoped the human was going to be.

As expected by everyone else but Alwin, his Spirit Blast sailed harmlessly past the human. The Dark Slime Uchronia had much better luck than Alwin, she probably stole his luck if anything. Her leap of faith had evolved into a Dark Tackle of faith instead, tackling the man square on the chest. The human, caught completely off guard, toppled backward, crashing to the ground with Dark Slime Uchronia perched on top.

With the human temporarily subdued, Alwin began charging up another Spirit Blast, it was going to be a blast for the ages. There wasn't anything exactly impressive about this particular Spirit Blast, it was just going to be the same as the one before, and the one before that, and the one before that. Alwin just wanted to use the phrase to make himself feel cool.

The human shoved Uchronia off with his javelin, sending her flying straight into Alwin's Spirit Blast. Whoops. The real Uchronia shot him a glare, her tail twitching in irritation. Alwin, trying his best to look innocent, whistled and glanced away as if that would magically erase everything that had transpired. In his defense, he hadn't expected the Dark Slime Uchronia to become a living shield.

She dissolved into a slurry of particles, scattering into the wind. Alwin stared blankly at the remnants of the Dark Slime, feeling like the buffoon Uchronia probably thought he was, trying to come up with a better excuse than, “I didn't expect it.”

Meanwhile, Gus was catching his breath, taking the much-needed breather from the sudden speed-eating contest he was forced into. Uchronia, ever the proactive one, was already plotting their next move,

She started running towards the man, but her attempts were almost futile, almost. The man had picked himself up and started running laps around them again. That attempt at closing the distance between her and the man had spread out the group, giving them more space to work with, even though Gus and Alwin were still bunched up together.

With the man up and running, he hurled more Spectral Javelins at the group. Uchronia was already chanting up another spell under her breath, while Gus simply sighed and went back to stuffing himself with javelins. Alwin never would have thought he would see the day where Gus wouldn't be excited at the prospect of food.

The man sprinted around the metaphorical circle of doom he had conjured, his footsteps pounding the ground as electricity trailed behind him. With each lap, the once wide circle tightened, its edges creeping inward like a noose.

Alwin's mind raced, urgency pounding in his chest like a drum. Sure, staying alive was important, but what really drove him was the thought of Uchronia's icy glare. The blunder he'd made earlier still stung, and he knew she wouldn't care that it was an honest mistake.

There was an idea boiling in his brain. One he doubted would work, but was still worth a shot. Using whatever amount of focus and concentration that he could spare without the risk of turning into a slime kebab, he channeled his mana.

Out came a skill that not even he would've expected to use in a fight. It clearly wasn't any of the Spirit Blasts that he had used. It wasn't Spirit Hands or even Dark Tackle for that matter. Nope, it was Spirit Feet of all things. When Uchronia caught a glimpse of the pair of spectral feet that had materialized and begun walking towards the man, her jaw dropped, interrupting the flow of her chant.

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Her incredulous expression would've been funny in a different situation. Alwin found it amusing, but laughing out loud would probably get him killed—and not by the javelin-throwing maniac.

Alwin couldn't see the man's expressions—the man was basically a blur—but if he did he had to guess, there was a momentary bout of confusion, before he cataloged it as a non-issue and continued on his merry javelin-throwing spree. Uchronia had gone back to chanting her next spell, shooting him a glare whenever she had the opportunity to do so, which was a lot.

The pair of feet marched up to the edge of the circle that the man was running. One foot took a step forward, lifting its ankle high. Even Alwin, the mastermind behind the plan, was stunned when it actually worked. The man, too engrossed in his jog, didn't even notice the threat beneath him until he tripped on the foot.

As soon as he lost his balance, his arms flailed about as he tried to regain control over his body, but all those efforts were in vain. He hit the ground. Hard. His armor was caked in a layer of dirt, blood trickling out of his nose. Those were the consequences of performing a head-first dive into the ground. His face contorted in an expression of pure confusion as he stared at the culprit.

The spirit feet broke out into an impromptu celebratory tap dance routine, clicking and clacking their heels on the ground, twirling and leaping with joy, toes wiggling in time with the rhythm in the air. To top it off, they added an extra little kick that sent bits of earth flying into the man's face.

The man's confusion quickly morphed into anger as he grabbed his javelin and took aim at the dancing feet. But before he could throw, Uchronia came barreling towards him, her incantation on the verge of completion. He changed targets, aiming it at her instead, but the Spirit Feet had a few more tricks up their sleeves or whatever the trousers equivalent was, pant legs?

The feet did an about-turn, heels facing the man. Like a person rubbing their feet against a carpet, they scraped their soles against the ground, chucking waves of dirt into his eyes. His shot went astray. By a lot.

Blinded by rage and dirt, the man swung his javelin wildly, one hand pressed against his eyes. Uchronia, having finished her chant, appeared right in front of him. She jumped over the thrashing javelin, performing a somersault, her tail extending to brush his shoulder mid-flip. As soon as her tail made contact, the man's thrashing slowed down. It wasn't because he was becoming tired or calm, he just literally slowed down. The effects of one of Uchronia's techniques that she should really utilize more: Slow.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" Uchronia yelled.

She was right, now was the perfect time to counterattack. He blamed the Spirit Feet that had jumped back into another tap dance routine, one that he was too engrossed in watching, he'd have to lecture them later.

Alwin dismissed the Spirit Feet, releasing the mental thread that had been straining to control them. With that out of the way, Alwin began focusing on his core, making the necessary preparations to launch all kinds of Spirit Blasts at the man.

Uchronia had already begun attacking the man, lashing out at him with her tail covered in a layer of spiky thorns. Gus was lying on the floor, staring up at the sky. His stomach bulged with all the attacks that he had stuffed inside himself. The occasional groan escaped his lips. It was probably taking everything he had to not just throw up right there and then.

Now that he wasn't forced to move his body every which way just to avoid being turned into a pincushion, Alwin got his act together. Variations of Spirit Blasts came flying out from his body. The man was desperately fending off Uchronia's attack, albeit unsuccessfully. The effects of Slow had him blocking attacks that had already landed, leaving him vulnerable to Uchronia's next strike.

The man managed to get a glimpse of what was coming his way. A wave of surprise washed over his face as he noticed a Spirit Blast heading his way, he raised his javelin up in a futile bid to stop the attack, but by the time he had his arms up, the blast had already hit him. Then another hit him. And another, and another, and another, and so on, until a barrage of Spirit Blast had been fired at him.

It wasn't just Spirit Blasts, mixed in were a few Spirit Scatter Blasts, and a few Spirit Burst Blasts thrown in for good measure, the explosions knocked him back and forth, sending him flailing and thrashing around until he had given up. Not by choice, but simply because his spirit had left his body. He was dead. His body sprawled out on the floor with chunks of his armor torn to shreds revealing his fleshy human skin that was now dyed red with blood.

Alwin was left panting from the exhausting effort of pumping all of those Spirit Blasts out. Meanwhile, Uchronia was left panting from the exhausting effort of dodging all of the stray Spirit Blasts that came flying her way, and Gus was left panting after he had given in to nausea and threw up all over the ground.

"You need—" Uchronia wheezed, "—you need to work on your aim."

"Sorry," Alwin wheezed back.

After a quick respite, Uchronia was back to her usual self, commanding Gus to hurry up and get over here. It was his turn to absorb the essence of a human. Gus took one good look at the corpse on the ground and proceeded to hop on top of his body. He closed his eyes presumably focusing on his own core and then on the core of the human.

While they waited for Gus to finish, Uchronia started trying to come up with a plan. Their original idea of luring the humans from the village was a bust and they don't even know why. Uchronia could've sworn that they were catching up to them then the next thing anyone knew, there was only one human chasing them. While Uchronia was busy muttering to herself and trying to figure out what to do, Gus started to glow.

It wasn't the same glow that Uchronia had when she absorbed the human's essence. Lightning was coursing all around him, sparking and sizzling, crackling and popping.

"Um, Uchronia," Alwin called out to her.

"Yea?" she replied.

"Something's happening to Gus."