-DIE!

Bennet shouted, swinging his great sword down with a mighty roar as he directly hit Avrids black shield causing sparks to fly as Avrid grunted before being forced a step back.

-You need more power than that to break my shield!

Avrid returned those words, before pushing the great sword aside, using a second to charge up he delivered a powerful shoulder bash as he was able to directly hit Bennet square in the chest.

Bennet was momentarily surprised as this was the first time Avrid had been fighting back, the entire time it was Bennet who had been on the offense while Avrid hid behind his black shield taking hits from him, since they were fighting for over 3 minutes now doing the same thing he never expected to be countered, the shoulder bash itself was also extremely powerful launching Bennet back as he coughed out blood before falling to the ground.

The bandits and mercenaries momentarily stopped fighting as soon as they saw the reversal of the situation, the mercenaries cheered while the bandits started to feel that this fight wasn’t going to end well for him.

Unfortunately, it was only two rank 2 combatants that actually knew the real situation of the fight, even though Avrid was able to deal a directly blow at Bennet, it wasn’t actually that bad, compared to how many times he had to take hits from Bennet with his shield, it was really Avrid who was in a bad situation as he could feel his stamina and MP start to dip to dangerous levels, Bennet on the other hand seemed to have strength to spare which was wholly unexpected to Avrid who thought he had the advantage here.

-(Looks like Bennet grew a lot stronger, could it be that he is close to becoming a rank 3 [Warrior]?!)

Avrid wondered, thinking that maybe he should use his trump card soon before anything unexpected may happen.

While he was thinking that, Avian had already returned back to the main battlefield, shifting his short spear he killed a few unsuspecting bandits as he made his way back, Markus who was able to keep himself alive while Avian was gone spotted Avian as he came back and quickly dispatched the bandit he was fighting before running towards Avian.

-Lukas!

-Hey! How is the fight going on?

Avian immediately cut to the chase as soon as he arrived wanting to know the situation, Markus didn’t dally either and immediately explained how the fight was progressing and that it looked like they were actually winning since Avrid was able to deal a direct blow.

Avian’s expression or thoughts didn’t change upon hearing that, and instead he looked at the fight to see for himself, Bennet had just stood back up wiping off the blood from his mouth, his eyes locked onto Avrid looking feral like that of a wolf while his great sword started to emit a strange bloody aura, everyone who witnessed it felt extremely cold upon laying their eyes on it, not fully understanding what it was while only Avrid couldn’t help but momentarily widen his eyes as he silently cursed under his breath.

-(He…he is using [Aura]! Did he just cross the rank 3 barrier? No, his body isn’t emitting the same [Aura] only his blade and its faint too, he must have only just now understood how to use [Aura] while staying at rank 2, I didn’t think his mastery over the sword was so great that he could learn how to us [Aura] before ranking up, this is going to be a difficult fight, if I don’t use my trump card now his next attack is likely going to break my shield and kill me too.)

Avrid thought, his mind fully focusing on his opponent as he stood ready to finally end this fight, Avian who was seeing all this couldn’t help but intently focus on Bennets blade and the bloody aura it was emitting, he felt extremely familiar with it until he realized what it was that was so familiar about it.

-(That’s Biological power! I see so other people can also use biological power, but why is it so weak? And why is it so obvious? He too seems to be coating his sword with BP, but whenever I do it, it isn’t as obvious nor do I feel it like his…this is strange why is he using it now and not using it earlier? Is this also an ability possessed by a [Warrior]? I don’t remember [Warriors] having such an ability though)

Avian too pondered, he wanted to continue observing and try to understand further, but the more he watched the more he also realized that this wasn’t actually a good thing, out of all people Avian knew better how lethal a weapon covered in biological power was, it was easily capable of piercing through armor, flesh and bones alike with close to no effort, while Bennet’s use of it looked weak to Avian, he believed it was still enough to break Avrids shield and likely kill him once he became defenseless.

Avian knew he had now no other choice, he had to move his plans forward if he didn’t want to be the next one to be killed after Avrid.

He turned towards Markus.

-Markus, are the clay jars with spirits still inside the carriage?

-Eh? Yeah, they are still there, but what are you going to do with them? If you are intending on throwing them at Bennet then scratch that idea, we tried earlier, but Bennet would always dodge out of the way, not even the leader can keep him in place.

Not bothered by that at all Avian simply smiled before telling Markus to follow him and help him out, Markus still confused, but wanting to help followed after Avian as they made their way into the carriage where all the clay jars with spirits were at, following them was a cloud of crows who had lessened in numbers, Avian had lost a total of 23 crows doing what he did earlier to save Cornelia and Marco, he still had 37, which he prayed would be enough to succeed In what he wanted to accomplish.

Avrid simply needed to hold out until Avian was ready, and Avian felt he would be able to since he had a feeling Avrid still had a few cards up his sleeve.

-I have to thank you Avrid, thanks to you I don’t think I would have been able to understand how to use [Aura] this quickly, after I kill you I am likely going to abandon the life of a bandit and join another kingdom, they say that the kingdom of Avalon will take anyone with open arms who is capable of using [Aura], aren’t you glad that your old friend is finally going to find some success?

Bennet laughed madly, brandishing his great sword as the bloody aura kept on emitting off of it, Avrid’s cold face didn’t react to his words at all as he simply held his shield tighter before replying.

-Trust me, I don’t think anyone could be as happy as me for your success, but don’t think I am easy to kill, after all your arrogance always made you blind, as they say don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

-Shut up! AND DIE!

Ending their brief conversation, Bennet decided to go all out with his single slash to kill Avrid once and for all, seeing what was coming, Avird knew he couldn’t keep holding back and decided to use his trump card.

Just before the great sword covered in [Aura] was about to hit Avrid’s black shield, Avrid immediately used one of his abilities.

[Shield Wall]!

The black shield in his hand resonated with Avrid’s desire as a blue barrier manifested coming from the shield creating an even bigger and sturdier shield.

This was Avrid’s blessing, the blessing of the [Shield Warrior] a rare type of blessing and a variant of the [Warrior] blessing.

Bennet’s great sword upon colliding with Avrid’s [Shield Wall] immediately stopped and got stuck the moment it clashed, Bennet was stunned when he saw what happened, his great sword which was clad in [Aura] should have sliced through Avrid’s black shield like butter, but instead it was only capable of causing a crack getting stuck on it, for all these years Bennet new knew what blessing Avrid possessed and always assumed he too was a [Warrior] like him, but today it was shown that he had completely wrong, feeling fear from the unknown, Bennet quickly wanted to retreat and tried to pull his sword out of Avrid’s shield, but it was already too late.

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-next!

[Shield Slam]!

Another ability, even though [Shield Warrior] was mainly a defensive combat blessing, it still had some powerful offensive moves making it fit to be called a [Warrior], [Shield Slam] was one of those moves, the move allowed for the user to use their own constitution as strength to attack the opponent, it was a powerful move, but also very slow making it not so useful most of the time, the reason Avrid used it now was because he saw a perfect opportunity, with Bennets great sword stuck on his shield, Avrid immediately body slammed Bennet before he could even react causing some massive damage as Bennet was once again launched away, blood spurting out of his orifices mid-air before he crashed into a tree knocking all of the air out of his lungs as he laid there disoriented.

This time though Avrid didn’t just stand there, holding his shield he charged at Bennet to use another ability as soon as he got close.

[Shield Bash]!

[Shield Bash] was a sub-ability Avrid had derived from [Shield Slam] to make up for its deficiency of being too slow, this was the same as Avian’s [Blood Reinforcement], [Shield Bash] was very quick, but in turn didn’t have much force in it, what Avrid wanted to do was to keep Bennet on the ground so he couldn’t get up and fight him, Avrid saw his only chance in victory if he was able to keep Bennet unable to fight and whittled him down until he died.

And from Avrids perspective he started to think that he may have a chance for victory as he was about to bash Bennet over the head with his [Shield Bash], but before he was able to do that Bennet surprisingly raised his head and stared at Avrid with a deathly gaze before roaring.

-DON’T MESS WITH!

[Intimidating Shout]!

[Intimidating Shout], a [Warrior] ability that allowed the [Warrior] to momentarily fear a opponent, since Avrid was a rank 2 [Shield Warrior] this ability didn’t impact him as nearly as long as it should have because of his defensive bonuses, but it was still enough to make him stop for a second, a second being enough for Bennet to swing his sword while on the ground as he let loose his [Aura] with another ability.

[Heavy Strike]!

Another [Warrior] ability, multiplying the strength of the next strike, Avrid recognized it and knew that he couldn’t avoid it and decided to block it hoping his shield would last while also casting another [Shield Wall].

Unfortunately, this was the end for Avrid’s trusty black shield.

The [Aura] while weak was still extremely tyrannical, the great sword having been stopped earlier wasn’t stopped this time as it shattered the [Shield Wall] together with Avrids black should through the strength of [Heavy Strike].

Avrid too was launched away, tumbling on the ground as he felt his left arm that held his shield breaking, the great sword not only broke his shield but also his arm which luckily was protected by a pair of iron gauntlets which protected them from being cut off, but not enough to endure the blunt force as Avrid finally stopped tumbling fell on his stomach grunting in pain.

Avrid now knew that the fight was over, without his shield and his arm broken he wouldn’t be able to win, he felt regret as he had let down his men who were all soon going to die with him.

-Boss!

-No! You can’t lose!

The mercenaries horrified of what they had just witnessed looked pale as Bennet stood up with his great sword and slowly started to approach Avrid who was on the ground, the bandits were elated, raising their weapons as they shouted with a hurray for their leader’s victory, all fighting had basically stopped at this point as they all merely watched what was going to happen next, hope started to vanish from the mercenary’s faces as some quickly started to look for a way to escape.

Bennet cared for none of that as he dragged his great sword towards Avrid with a wicked smile on his face.

-Any last words?

-…

Avird was quiet, simply staring at Bennet with same look he had from the beginning, the look made Bennets smile momentarily cracked as he grit his teeth in anger before shouting.

-SO BE IT! NOW DIE!

Avrid closed his eyes, thinking that he was going to die, he made his last prayers.

But suddenly something unexpected happened.

-Heh?! What is that crow?!

-Its holding something?!

-Boss! Look out!

The bandits started shouting, hearing those shouts, Bennet momentarily stopped his blade from going down and turned around, not understand what was going on he witnessed how a single crow was flying directly at him while holding something in tis claws that looked it was burning.

Not thinking and acting on instinct, Bennet slashed at the crow easily killing it, but also breaking whatever it was holding as he felt something splash at him covering half of his face, Bennet didn’t even have time to properly understand what was going on before he immediately felt himself burning as the substance that had doused him instantly caught on fire partially starting to burn his body.

-ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Bennet screamed as he tried to put out the fire in a panic with his hands, but not succeeding as everyone else watched him dumbfounded not understanding what just happened.

Bennet normally would have been warier and more aware then this, but because he had just experienced a terrible battle in which he got heavily wounded, his senses were beyond low at the moment because of the exhaustion he was experiencing.

While this didn’t mean anyone bellow rank 1 could kill him, it did mean that his guard was significantly lower than before, allowing for this to happen at the moment he least expected it.

Ultimately Bennet had no other choice but to get down and roll on the ground to kill the fire, at the end he was significantly more exhausted and charred as half of his face had been burned making him look hideous and beyond recognition.

Next Bennet immediately stood up, holding his great sword with great rage on his face, if he looked like a wolf earlier with his feral eyes, then now he looked like a true demon with his charred skin as he looked at everyone present demanding.

-Wh..WHO WAS IT?! WHO DID THIS!?

The bandits and mercenaries alike were intimidating, but no one came forward or anyone knew who it was, Bennet felt even more enraged after seeing this and felt tempted to slaughter everyone present be it his subordinates or the mercenaries, in fact he was so mad that he was just about to do it too, but a voice stopped him as it spoke out.

-Me! It was me who did that!

-WHAT?!

Bennet immediately turned around towards that voice, but upon doing so, he instantly felt a threat as something was being thrown at him, a short spear with a crimson head was flying at him, the speed was not something be worried about as Bennet could actually dodge it fairly easily even in his current state which was full of pain from all the burns he had suffered, but what made him fear it was the crimson head which he felt was fairly familiar to him.

-([Aura]?!)

Bennet correctly identified what it was, being the same thing as the bloody aura he manifested onto his great sword but only more powerful and controlled, Bennet couldn’t help but fear it mentally as it was something far greater then he possessed, because of this instead of dodging it, he avoided it stepping away.

The short spear obviously missing as it flew off right beside him in a direction way off, Bennet watched the spear missing and felt incredibly confused as to where it came from or who just threw it as only a someone on rank 3 or possessing incredible mastery in martial arts could possibly have unlocked [Aura].

But if there really was such a person, they wouldn’t have thrown their weapon so weakly, so what was its purpose?

Bennet wondered as he avoided the spear by side-stepping, until he stopped as heard the familiar sound of a bird flapping its wings, Bennet instantly knew what was going to happen next, while he wasn’t the brightest, Bennet was never going to fall for the same trick twice as he decided to avoid it once again only to hear another bird flapping its wings, this time he simply couldn’t avoid it as he was in the middle of stepping away from another bird which ultimately resulted in the bird crashing into him as he heard the sound of ceramic breaking.

Fire engulfed his back and again he burned as Bennet could only look into the sky and scream.

-ERGGHAHGHHHHHHHHH

His scream was load and almost inhumane as Bennet knelt onto the ground and collapsed, he looked up trying to see who it was that set this all up hatred evident inside his eyes as he looked at that person, only to see a kid approximately 15 years of age with black shoulder length hair and brown eyes, he was clearly muscular even though he was very young, standing approximately 160cms tall while holding the familiar clay jar that was burning him alive

Bennet couldn’t believe it, it was this kid that had just thrown that spear imbued with [Aura] who had also just burned him, he momentarily searched for anyone else around refusing to believe he, the mighty Bennet, the leader of the gray wolves had just been had by a 15-year-old kid who looked like he didn’t even outgrow his mother’s breasts, but unfortunately the truth was cruel, it was a truth Bennet didn’t want to believe as his pride and arrogance didn’t allow for it.

The only way for him feel good again was to kill that kid.

But unfortunately this was a goal doomed to failure as suddenly something swooped down towards him crashing into his body and with it causing another flume of flames to arise as he felt more heat and searing pain mark his flesh.

It didn’t just stop there either as countless crows holding flaming clay jars plunged into the pyre without a care for their own lives, each time a crow would go in the flame would get bigger and bigger while Bennet continued to look at Avian in hatred as he cursed him with all he had while being burned alive.

The bandits and mercenaries who witnessed all this were all beyond speechless as they didn’t understand what just happened.

Markus and Avrid too were dumbfounded just as equally before their eyes turned towards the culprit.

Avian all the while simply stood in place as he held the clay jar with spirits watching the fire burn, a Crow flew away from its murder and perched onto Avian’s shoulder while Avian simply unplugged the jar and raised a toast towards the flame or more specifically towards his loyal crows who sacrificed their lives for him.

-Banzai

He took a sip right after, immediately regretting it as he spat it out feeling like his throat was burning from hell fire.

The spirits were strong indeed.

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