As he unsheathed [StarSlasher] and swung it towards Deepak, his attack was swiftly blocked by the latter, and Dylan countered with a barrage of spells. Overwhelmed by the assault, he quickly retreated and shouted from a safe distance, "So, you guys are planning to kill us...! How did you even manage to use the [Space Lock]? That's not a low-level spell."

Deepak's response dripped with condescension, "Oh, that? That's none of your concern."

Filled with frustration, he muttered, "Tsk."

With anger in his eyes, he dashed forward once more, zigzagging as he went. He struck at Deepak with all his might, but the attack was still blocked. "Buffed, huh?" he muttered under his breath before his body exploded into a dense cloud of smoke.

The smoke billowed out, obscuring the entire area, including the three combatants and Adrian, who suddenly appeared above Deepak once more, ready to attack. Caught off guard, Deepak raised his massive blade to block, but before the strike could land, Adrian once again exploded into a cloud of smoke. The smoke thickened, and the three warriors exclaimed in surprise as they lost sight of one another in the hazy mist.

Amidst the dense smoke, Adrian charged towards Dylan, brandishing his trusty weapon, StarSlasher. He activated the sword aura and prepared to deliver a full force stab.

Luc, who had managed to sense Adrian's movement, called out, "Dylan!"

Quickly responding to Luc's warning, Dylan shouted, "[Wind Barrier]!" A protective sphere of wind enveloped him, shielding him from Adrian's attack. The barrier was already in place by the time Adrian's sword made contact, and he was sent flying back by the powerful gust of wind that accompanied it. At that very moment, the smoke is cleared.

As Adrian was flung back, he tumbled dozens of meters away from the others. He managed to come to a stop with the help of his sword, which he plunged into the ground. However, he was suddenly struck by an arrow coated in poison. Though he was able to dodge most of it, the tip grazed the side of his face near his right ear, where his mask was not providing protection, causing a slight bleeding wound.

"He's been poisoned now. Let's just wait for it to take effect. I'll go secure the other two. The chief's going to love this," Luc laughed, before excusing himself. The remaining combatants were left to deal with Adrian, who is now beginning to feel the effects of the poison.

"Shit... this poison is too strong... [Nullify Poison]!" Adrian exclaimed, attempting to nullify the effects of the poison with a skill.

But to his dismay, he received a message, [Failed! The Poison's Level is higher than the Skill]

[Gaining 30% Poison Resistance instead]

Though his legs had felt like jelly just moments before, they were now gradually regaining strength. With his health rapidly deteriorating, Adrian finally made the decision to discard his previous spell, [I Don't Need An Armor!], and donned his golden armor.

The sudden transformation did not go unnoticed by the others. "Did he just put on an armor?" Deepak exclaimed in surprise.

"You're right, he just equipped an armor," Dylan confirmed.

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"How did he do that?"

"I don't know, but we need to finish him off now."

Meanwhile, Luc was making his way towards Stella and Gerald, who were both in critical condition due to the poison. Despite the severity of their injuries, Stella had managed to slow down the poison's effect on herself and even completely stop it from affecting Gerald's body.

"You know, that's futile," Luc mocked.

But Stella, determined not to give up, stammered, "I won't die here... You monsters..."

"Hahaha... Monsters, huh," Luc chuckled. "Anyway, my job is to keep you alive and deliver you to the chief. So just stay still for me, will you? Don't make my work difficult."

Luc then approached Stella, intending to cuff her with a magic item, but she quickly formed a gigantic ice block around herself and Gerald.

"So you want to make this difficult, huh?" Luc glared at her, and she glared back fiercely from inside the ice block.

Suddenly, his shadow began to twitch, and a raven appeared, flying by his side before landing on his shoulder.

"Why are you here, Raven?" Luc asked, surprised to see the bird.

The raven twitched and spoke in a uncanny, croaked voice, "The mission has changed. Kill them all."

"Damn it, it would've been easier if that was the mission from the start. Alright, got it. Tell the chief there's nothing to worry about," Luc replied, quickly understanding the new objective.

The raven then dived down into Luc's shadow and disappeared.

Back to the other three, Deepak suddenly broke the silence.

"Hey, Dylan, buff me. I'll finish this guy."

"All right. [Lesser Dexterity], [Lesser Strength], [Quick Movement], [Lesser Pain Nullify], [Lesser Mind Protection], [Lesser Magic Resistance], [Lesser Physical Defense], [Haste], [Unstoppable]"

"Woooaaaahhhh!!! I'm full of power!" Deepak laughed then dashed to Adrian who's still trying to recover.

"Shit... This pain is unbearable…!" he cursed inwardly.

[Skill Activated! Pain Nullify] - Nullifies the pain of the user.

Notes: The skill's effect could be nullified by higher-ranked skills.

Duration: 2:00:00

Now that Adrian's pain has subsided, he can finally fight somewhat properly.

Deepak arrived at an appropriate distance and swung his sword sideways. Adrian quickly raised his own sword and managed to block it, but the intense force knocked him back quite a distance. Adrian had already used three skills and couldn't use [Giant's Strength], so he knew he couldn't compete with Deepak in terms of strength.

"That blow was too much... I can't match his strength at all," he thought to himself as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Deepak appeared before him again, attempting to stomp on him while he was still grounded. However, Adrian managed to roll away, kneel, and then stabbed Deepak deep in the right torso, just below the elbow.

"Gotcha," Adrian said with a smile, watching as Deepak looked on in horror. Adrian then used the active effect of his sword. He slashed upwards, and a mana sword slash shot out as a projectile, slicing through Deepak's arm and causing him to lose his weapon. With Deepak defenseless, Adrian prepared to strike again with a downward slash. However, a barrier made of wind suddenly appeared, defending Deepak and pushing him back with strong gusts of wind.

As he looked up, he saw Dylan soaring over him, casting five fireballs with a pained expression. He quickly retreated as the fireballs detonated near him, but luckily, none of them hit him directly.

Dylan swiftly arrived at his teammate's side, and began to heal him. "I won't let you do that," he said, using his [Shadow Clone Technique] after. The clone dashed up to disrupt the healing process, while Adrian is invisible from the skill effect, he flanked the enemy and charged up a powerful skill.

[Skill Activated! Fireball] — send a fireball towards a direction with damage and size that scales with the user's SPN.

[As the user has used five copies at the same time, the rank of the skill is upgraded for one time. Skill rank upgrade from D to C]

The clone appeared just as Dylan was casting a lightning spell, but before the spell could be completed, the clone suddenly exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"Shit! Not again!" Dylan cursed under his breath, quickly casting the [Wind Barrier] spell to clear the smoke. As soon as the smoke cleared and the invisibility duration ended, Adrian threw a fireball from behind. Dylan was caught off guard and watched with despair as the fireball exploded, hitting both him and his teammate.