Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

"Eren, maybe you haven't realized that you are in trouble here."

Ron said in a threatening tone.

'Have you?'

Thought Eren to himself as he maintained his outwardly stoic expressions.

"What are you planning to do? It's not like I can't defend myself against two of you. My lightning element alone gives me all the advantage I need to bust your balls."

Said Eren while folding his hands. He knew the duo must have taken some countermeasures this time against his lightning element spells for it to be this confident in itself.

"That might have been true. But don't you think we might have known that and we did something about it?"

"Yeah? Like what?"

Said Eren with an uncaring attitude.

"Like this!"

Said Ron and showed Eren what he was wearing under his shirt by pulling the collar to the side.

Eren understood where the berserkers' confidence came from. They were wearing lightning spell proof armour under their clothes. F-Rank disposable artefacts, Eren guessed to himself.

These types of armour wouldn't last long. Because the runes inscribed on them would lose effectiveness with every barrage of spells it was hit with.

But Eren also knew it'd take a lot more effort than he cared to admit for him to exhaust their armour with his lightning element spells. But that didn't deter him from his stance.

"You do that I've also been dabbling in fire element spells, don't you? The artefacts won't protect you from the elemental spells they are not designed to protect you against."

Dino was the one to pitch in this time:

"Hahahaha! Empty threats. We know that you don't have full mastery over your fire element spells. And your derived elemental affinity can only give you so much edge while you are using fire spells.

I think we can deal with those fire spells you throw at us just fine. Want to test out?"

Dino looked eager to beat the shit out of Eren. The latter shook his head after listening to his statement before replying:

"It seems I'll have to teach you that it's not the lightning spells you should be wary about. It's the one who casts them."

Said Eren and ran Blitz Bolt through his arms. The Blitz Steps also showed the signs of being executed on Eren's legs.

Dino and Ron both got tense at that time. They had worn lightning resistant armours, sure. But they knew they couldn't do anything about Eren's close combat attacks that focused on weapon injuries.

They both had their metal skin spells. But that alone could not prevent their attacker from injuring their vital spots through blunt force generated by the weapon's impact.

Dino and Ron both executed their signature spells. They both turned into metal humanoids and drew their weapons.

But what they saw next froze them in their tracks and numbed their minds. That's because the guy that had just threatened them with severe retaliation went ahead and ran from the battlefield.

That's right. Eren ran as soon as he saw the dual berserkers preparing themselves for the battle.

Ron and Dino had thought about Eren's lightning element spells. And they were also confident about the fire element spells that he had displayed during recent battles.

But they had never thought about the possibility that a cold-blooded guy like Eren would run away from them.

Eren's movement spell had reached a new level when his BTP rose to 21. The lightning element, close combat oriented technique he was practising prioritized his Agility stat.

And yet Eren only showed his normal movement speed. Something that he had shown in his ranking battles till now.

That was because Eren wanted the dual berserkers to follow him. Otherwise, he would have left them behind by now.

Therefore Eren ran. And surprisingly, the dual berserkers followed him. They cursed his name and his non-existent family while doing so. The guy had become an unpredictable menace for them. Even taking revenge on him could be considered as putting yourself through a series of torture.

The chase took place for a while. Until Reen informed him about his path laid ahead:

"Erni, the old beast's territory is up ahead. You'll enter it in a few moments."

Eren's eyes lit up when he heard that. He took out one killing array scroll from his ID stone. The scroll was almost 5ft in vertical length. And it was about five times its vertical length when stretched open horizontally.

Carrying this unusually big array scroll was a tough thing to do when the movement spell was in full effect. That's why Eren only took out the scroll when it was the right time to do so.

Ron and Dino were not far behind him. Eren had maintained just enough distance for them to follow him and not see what he was up to.

Eren quickly stretched open the array scroll as soon as he barged into the old beast's territory. And he did the same with another array scroll at a safe distance from the first location.

Eren's pursuers could be seen coming from him as soon as he finished his preparations. He couldn't help but smile cunningly after he saw his one set of preys was right on time. And now he only needed the mana beasts to make their entrance, his second set of preys.

By now, the array scroll had been crumpled into dust and the array had been stretched on the ground. The runes were now exuding faint lights. But they weren't overly prominent yet.

"Have guts to fight us, you conniving rat bastard."

Dino spoke loudly as soon as Eren was in his sight again.

He could now only see Eren as his target of attention. The berserker didn't pay attention to the array layout exuding a faint light behind Eren.

But Ron was still level-headed. That small detail didn't fail to register in his mind, enabling him to have a grim realization.

"It's a trap!"

He couldn't help mumble to himself after he connected a few dots.

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AN: I want to stay positive, I really do. But the pragmatist in me tells me that the upcoming year won't be that different from the shitshow we have faced till now. Wear masks at densely populated public places and events, everyone. Hope you have a safe and happy holiday. ;)