The Sword and The Shadow

Even after seeing Annelotte swatted away by the snowfiend, Leguna didn't feel a single stir of emotion. Just like that time in Nightsong Forest, he had entered a state of absolute calm. His eyes followed the roaring beast as he gradually accelerated. Thanks to Daver's speed enhancement, he moved faster and faster, until he morphed into a shadow-like creature and charged straight at it.

The snowfiend had vented some of its anger after striking the woman that had annoyed it. Just as it was about to roar threateningly at the others, it felt a sudden, burning pain in the back of its shoulder. Leguna's silhouette reappeared there a moment later. He'd used what energy he could muster to approach his opponent before jumping on its back and thrusting Flameblade into the shoulder with all his strength.

Though Flameblade was caught deep in the fiend's hard bones, Leguna wasn't satisfied yet. He gradually regained his balance and stood up. He raised his foot and gave the blade a hard stomp, pushing it a few centimeters further in.

Waves of intense pain assailed the victim's nerves. It raised its arm and swatted at Leguna. But, like a nimble monkey, the kid jumped off without caring about the fact that Flameblade was still stuck in its flesh.

The fiend howled enragedly yet again. It hadn't just not gotten to swat the puny bug that'd crawled around on its body, it had accidentally hit the thing stuck in its shoulder. The hit had shoved it all the way in and now there was no way to get it out. Now Leguna had no way of retrieving the sentimentally valuable weapon save killing the snowfiend.

This time, he jumped in front of it, seeming a little pale. He had expended almost all his energy in the few seconds that'd just passed. He felt the fatigue weighing his body down but he knew it wasn't time to rest. He jumped backward to evade the fiend's strike before dashing for it once again.

Not far away, Daver and the others finally dealt with the other snowfiend. They turned their gazes to Leguna and were surprised to see the scrawny youth circling the beast slowly.

"Young Master, should we go help?" asked one of the attendants.

Daver looked uncertain. This was a good opportunity to get rid of the pest, but he had a feeling things weren't this easy. In the end, the thought of Annelotte's ridiculous power surfaced in his mind. Even though the girl's survival was questionable, if she managed to pull through and learned that he had caused trouble at a time like this, it definitely wouldn't end well for him.

Out of fear of Annelotte, he grit his teeth and said, "Go! Let's get rid of that fiend together!"

The next second, he couldn't be happier about the decision he made, because Annelotte had just stood up quietly with a completely normal expression as if she wasn't hurt at all. Greeted with a sight like that, his eyelids twitched. His fear of the girl grew even deeper.

Leguna hopped and skipped around. He didn't make a move to attack. He just dodged at stuck to the fiend's side. The beast was getting rather annoyed at the elusive brat, even more agile than a fish in an ice lake. Roaring nonstop, it pummeled the ground with both its arms, unable to touch even the edges of Leguna's clothes.

It's about time, thought Leguna.

He relaxed his clenched fist and rolled away from his opponent.

"Wait! Attack later!" yelled he desperately when he saw Daver's attendants rush over.

A couple gave him confused looks, but they didn't say anything when they saw him still focused on the fiend.

When the beast saw the hateful little thing leave, it roared and prepared to charge. But, suddenly, its entire body erupted in pain. Large amounts of crimson blood gushed out of its body. At first, it only drew thin lines on its body, but soon they widened as more blood joined. A few moments later, its blood sprayed out of it uncontrollably. It turned its entire coat crimson. Instead of a snowfiend, blood-fiend would be a more apt description.

"What… What's going on?!"

The rest looked oddly at the sight. The hair all over their body stood on end.

"Attack now. It should be much easier to deal with it now," said Leguna weakly.

His eyes were no longer empty. His irises turned back to their normal dark blue.

Seeing the great snowfiend so badly injured, the other attendants no longer hesitated and rushed forward with their weapons.

What the hell is going on?! Why do these two fellows seem so sinister?! Daver looked at the panting Leguna and quietly joined the attack formation.

Annelotte careful ran through the fight in her mind and walked up to him.

"How do you feel?" asked she when she was closer.

"Annie! You're alright?!" shouted Leguna, staring at the girl unbelievingly.

He stretched his neck to its limit. He could see her smooth skin, as fair as ever. There wasn't a single drop of blood, or square millimeter of bruised skin in sight.

"I managed to dictate a stoneskin spell in the last second, so I didn't get hurt," explained Annelotte as she knocked his head away emotionlessly.

"How do you feel?"

"Right now?" Leguna responded, "Exhausted. I used up all my impetus. There's not much in me now. Why'd you ask? D'you want to get rid of Daver? I'd love to, I'm sick and tired of him, but I'm afraid I can't keep up with you right now. Maybe some other time?"

Annelotte didn't bother to entertain his wild imagination. Instead, the pressed on with her interrogation.

"What did it feel like when you fought the fiend just now?"

"Huh?"

Leguna gave it some thought before he shook his head.

"I didn't feel anything. I just wanted to get rid of it, that's all."

After a silent pause, Annelotte continued, "You… Didn't you feel unusual?"

"Now you mention it, I felt a little different," he nodded, "I didn't feel afraid at all. Neither anxious nor angry. If I was to fight it again now, I wouldn't be able to stand properly."

"How'd you… get like that?"

"Don't know. I thought you were injured, so I was really angry. But somehow, I calmed down all of a sudden. I just thought about how to deal with the beast. I didn't think of anything else."

Annelotte thought deeply for a bit silently. After a few moments, she joined the attack. As the beast had already been heavily wounded, its movements were rather cowardly and withdrawn. It was also being attacked by a couple of people together. It was at a huge disadvantage.

Fortunately, even the snowfiend's staggering vitality couldn't last long under such a barrage. After about five minutes of incessant abuse, it let out an unwilling groan and fell.

"Phew, it's finally over."

Leguna was the first to rush to the beast after it died. Nobody could guess what he was trying to do when he felt up its carcass. The others stared at him confusedly when he tried to draw Flameblade with all his strength… to no avail.

"Hey, help me," bellowed he to Daver.

The tension between the two had slackened considerably after the battle. At the very least, they were no longer at each other's throats. Daver's face twitched, though he beckoned his attendants to help.

They discovered a thin blood-colored wire tied to Flameblade's hilt when they took a closer look. One end of the wire seemed tied to Flameblade itself, while the other was pierced deep into the snowfiend's body. They finally realized what Leguna had done to injure the beast.

Actually, before he'd dashed at it, he'd tied a 20-meter-long mithril wire to the sword's hilt and held the rest of the wire in his hands. After he pierced Flameblade deep into its body, he made sure to circle around it as he released more and more of the mithril wire. It didn't take long to tangle the beast in the wire completely. With every move it made, the wires would tighten. It got so tight it cut through its fur and flesh, and even cut into its bones.

Though Leguna didn't have much personal strength, he had made use of his opponent's and made it deal damage to itself. The moment they realized this, the attendants felt chills run down their spine. They could imagine the kind of pain the beast had suffered fighting against them. The grinding sound of metal wire eating into bone echoed in their ears, giving them cold feet. Someone with such cruel, effective methods and bone-chilling tactics was definitely not someone they wanted to offend.

"Boss spent a lot of money buying this mithril wire for me! Coupled with this grounddrake leather glove, they cost 40 gold coins! Sigh, come to think of it, Boss treats me incredibly well. Just look at all my gear…"

Leguna chattered non-stop in an attempt to hide the fact that he was about to puke. While he had killed quite a few beasts in Nightsong Forest, and even a few orcs, this was his first time seeing something this bloody.

The mixture of thick blood, shredded flesh, and the slightly pulsating innards was something that'd turn a normal person's stomach. Leguna didn't want to embarrass himself by vomiting, but he hadn't thought of how afraid everyone was of him now. They'd never imagined such a demonic brat was on the verge of puking.