Kazi quickly opened his inventory and tossed Sun-young two vitality brews. William was at stand by, ready to intercept any and all attacks.

Good thing he did, because the moment Kazi took his eyes off the creature, it disappeared into the lake.

“Where did it…?”

The blood splashed all over them as it emerged behind Kazi and Sun-young. Its jaw fell open as it chased after Sun-young.

If he hadn’t read its intentions, he wouldn’t have made it in time. Kazi threw a Fire Ball at its face and caused it to yelp and scream away. Its thin, creepy hands wiped at its face, trying to put the fire out. Occupied by the flames, William swooped in and cleaved its torso with a Gust Slash.

The creature barely budged and promptly back-handed William. The flames gone, it leapt after Sun-young again, slobbering dark red blood.

Touch of Thunder amplified by Super Spark Strike on top of a Fire Ball. The monster gasped and jerked far back.

This time, it was the player that went on the offence.

With William’s upgrade in agility, Kazi was officially the slowest member of the team, bar Marta. Even so, there was a single attribute in which he was uncontested. An attribute that propelled his abilities to another level. His reaction speed and spatial awareness. He didn’t need to constantly watch the arms when he already knew what it was going to do it. The tiny flexes in its muscles and bones were a dead giveaway. To him, what seemed minute and impossible to detect was as clear as the morning sun.

His sword clashed with hard bone over and over again. It was a repeat cycle where neither gained ground or lost it.

Due to its primal nature, the monster had demonstrated three basic attack patterns. Quick forward strikes with one arm coming after the other. A heavy strike that came from the left arm, which it seemed to prefer. And finally, some sort of bite.

Kazi kept fighting. He kept reading and moving and countering right on time. Like an animal without reason, it kept doing the same attack. It didn’t change its cycle, it repeated. The heavy strike was ducked while the hammering attack was guided by his blade. A small, seemingly insignificant weight that shifted its angle that granted him the space and agility to side-step it.

Its blood slobber splattered across his cheek, yet Kazi didn’t react. His eyes were in a totally different realm. Rather than looking at the creature, he was observing its attacks. Its existence mattered little to him as did its functionality.

React, guide, dodge.

His bones rattled. It was so much stronger than him—so much stronger than him, William, and Sun-young—how could he possibly keep up? Such weak thoughts didn’t even exist in Kazi’s head. He didn’t consider losing.

He fought. He believed.

He waited for when his comrades would rise.

Even when five minutes passed of no change, Kazi persisted. The monster did too. A battle of equals where they shouldn’t have been equals.

Then…

“Kazi! I’m switching in!”

The fiery axe arrived right on time and replaced the attack intended to block the left arm attack. And to Kazi’s astonishment, it worked. The axe went in deep and a loud hiss echoed. The monster fell back again and crawled away on all fours.

“Dude, are you alright?” William turned. His face—a black mark had branded it. “You fought that thing for so long—”

Kazi drew in a much needed breath of air. “How much HP did it take away?”

William winced and turned back to look at the creature. “One fifty.”

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‘So if it lands a blow on me, I’ll be left with ten. In other words, I’ll die.’

“Wait, no…” William muttered. The creature had been crawling and they assumed it was away from them. But no, it was after something else. “Marta! Run! Run!”

The poor armoured woman was stuck in place. She couldn’t move, its disgusting stench and foul aura overwhelming her. An inhumane fear gripped her and she was too far for them to interfere.

William ran.

Kazi stayed and summoned a powerful ball of fire. His eyes glinted. ‘Stronger. I need to make this stronger. Faster!’

Sun-young mentioned an attack Noor used. A fire missile with explosive strength and speed. Therefore, he needed to imitate those principles. Immense power combined with a propelling explosion.

[ New skill created : Godly Shape Control ]

[ New skill created : Fire Dart ]

An arm forward, one back, he connected the two threads together in a furious rage. Then he launched it.

Boom!

The Fire Dart struck. The ensuing eruption gave Marta the time to run over to them. She was clunky and slow and ran past them without a second thought. William craned his head, flabbergasted.

“Now what the hell was that!?” he asked.

"More important. I figured out what that thing is.” William whipped his head back at the creature, his nose twitching from the unchanging smell of rotten flesh. Kazi elaborated, “It's a Wendigo. It hates the warmth, which is why fire attacks are effective, and its malevolent spirit, hence why anti magic works. Then there’s its skeleton-like figure, the weird lake we’re standing on, and its desire to bite us. A cannibal creature on a lake can only mean the Wendigo.”

“Okay, I have no idea what that is,” William said.

“You don’t? It’s from the Great Lakes Natives. Canada.” Kazi glanced over at his MP bar. “I can only use that attack two more times.”

The blond teenager hitched a breath. This wasn’t good. Not at all. The smoke thinned and an outline of the monster could be seen. Its health bar went down by a tenth.

“Sun-young?” Kazi called out.

“Right here.” The swordswoman appeared next to them, her katana at the ready. “I’m fully recovered.”

The cheat code that was the Game System did wonders. Within five minutes, the system could heal where magic and potions could not. Its uniform health bar was a miracle for grave injuries.

“I can’t use my fire attacks though,” she said. “The Majin-ken has anti-magic properties. I can’t mix and match. Do you think I should switch to the Drop of Volcano?”

“No.” In his head, he opened up his inventory and did some clicking. “Your anti-magic looked just as effective. The Wendigo is a malevolent creature. It’s bursting with magic.”

“Got it.”

The smoke settled. Kazi closed off his inventory screen and readied his guard. “Marta, stay far back.”

The spectacled woman didn’t need to be told twice. In his left hand was the Touch of Thunder. In his right, he equipped the D-rank holy staff—the Blessed Novice Scepter. Long, white, and outlined in yellow, it wasn’t particularly special. But for his purposes, it would suffice.

The Wendigo screamed and ran at them, its razor sharp arms and hands flailing. It healed fast, so there was no choice but to pour all their offensive force, that being Sun-young and William, to fling it back.

“Fire Ball!”

Wielding a staff for the first time and using magic with it was a sublime experience. The process of casting magic was akin to arm wrestling. A rush of energy went down his arm, nearly numbing it out, and spewed out the ball of fire. Blam! The explosion was greater than anyone was expecting it to be.

But the time to talk was over. Lying on the ground, William activated Ember Strike and cleaved down at the Wendigo. The Wendigo screamed and grabbed his leg. The anti-magic katana came in to deflect the roaching arm and William escaped.

“Fire Ball!”

Another blast of fire overwhelmed it. Its health bar whittled down.

It screamed and as if blown away by a great gust of wind the fire went out. The Wendigo flipped to its feet and charged at them with greater speed. Just how fast could its brittle bones move!?

“Watch out!”

Marta’s scream didn’t alter the state of the situation. The full brunt of its attack was blocked by William and Sun-young again, the two acting as a guardian to the battle mage behind them. Said battle mage wasn’t just going to stand around and throw spells, however.

Kazi appeared at the Wendigo’s side, its two arms occupied by his allies, and aimed his staff right at its heart.

A grin. “Fire Dart.”

[ Critical hit landed! ]

The concentrated blast of fire incinerated its chest. A huge hole taking away the heart, lungs, and ribs, and that would have been impossible for an ordinary human to live through.

And yet—

“It’s not letting up!” Kazi announced.

A little over a quarter of its health remained. Its structural integrity was compromised. Openings, openings, so many openings!

[ Error! Error! ]

Kazi’s eyes went wide. He tried to plan for every eventuality so when he sensed a dreadful coldness creeping up his feet, he leaped back and yelled, “Everybody, run! Get back—”

Sun-young listened to his words and backed away immediately. William didn’t. No, rather, he couldn’t react to his words because his feet were already frozen.

William turned, only for the shadow creature and its jagged teeth to flash him. The Wendigo sank into his shoulder, a guttural scream of despair leaving William’s soul, and tore away a fistful of his flesh. Its head tilted up, swallowing and biting down on the fresh piece, and grinned as liquid blood went down its lips.

And then it went for another.