Chapter 273 - The Trial Of The New Ally

Setting off with a violent burst, the fiend's calf muscles bulged with such great intensity that they looked close to implosion; charging at the elf as Charlotte found herself momentarily compromised from her magecraft amidst such rampant power. 

Waiting a moment longer than any sane man would, Strife's patience paid off as the unorthodox fiend dashed to the side then into the air with its powerful legs guiding it high. 

"Return to nothingness."

Strife's softly spoken words guided the release of his evergreen arrow, launching it with an intense swiftness as it neared the creature's parted jaw. 

However, it did the unthinkable; with a sudden snap of its powerful, razor-sharp jaw, the beast bisected the incoming arrow with its devilish teeth. 

What?! It made the decision to accept the hit, for a lesser amount of damage just to continue on its warpath towards me? Strife thought. 

Taken aback by the unexpected finesse of such a savage creature, he found himself watching as it drew its lengthy, bladed whips back before tossing them his way at a violent speed; causing the air to hiss and howl. 

Quickly retrieving an arrow from his boundless quiver, Strife intercepted the incoming attack by wielding his projectile like a blade, swinging and deflecting the many sections of the fiend's whip. With the beast throwing its other set of these brutal, multi-sectioned limbs of bladed-whips towards the archer, he wielded both his durable arrow and stygian bow in masterlike unison to combat the flurry of sharp edges aiming for his flesh. 

Its strength is nothing to diminish; if those whips make just the slightest contact, they'll carve through me like butter, he thought. 

Digging the heels of his cleated, black boots into the dry, white soil beneath him, he kept his seraphic, golden eyes on the storm of blades coming his way as he flipped between their reach, pushing them back with his dual-wielded, unlikely melee weapons. 

As the fiend squealed out with such a pitch that the elf's heightened hearing brought with it a sharp pain, the speed at which it attacked increased. Even so, the ex-Argonaut elf was far from being cornered by such rampant, savage attacks. 

Though they are quite swift, this one's movements are easy to predict; I doubt my eyes are needed for the likes of this, he thought. 

Spinning his body around like a giant top, Strife countered the whips that seemed to move almost like sentient creatures of their own. 

"...Aeolus: Pierce."

Amidst the dance of steel, Strife's words rolled off his tongue elegantly and without slowness; manifesting from this incantation was an unseen bolt of air sent right against the neck of the sable blood-hunting creature. With its inhuman, steel-like physiology, it managed to resist the impartial lethality of the wind becoming finally succumbing--the hidden wind blowing its neck into chunks as its head was parted from its body. 

As expected from the universally lethal wound, the creature fell lifelessly backward onto the pale soil with its whips falling limp as well. 

"Good job!"

"...Please focus on freeing Donatien, Charlotte."

"R-right!"

Still, Strife smiled at the girl's praise as he flipped his arrow between his fingers, watching as clear water flowing with magical minerals swallowed the sphere in its totality; causing bits and pieces of its form to crack and fade away. 

"...Mm?"

His unique senses caught onto something, checking once more to verify the death of the sable fiend; it was no doubt dead. 

Bringing those golden eyes of his up--he found the source of his tingling senses: more creatures of the same, malevolent aura came from the hollow trees, though possessing a similar savagery about them, they all remained unique. 

What caught his eye was the large, broad one of these beasts with a rectangular head formed like an axe, lumbering forward with a pale-white body as translucent as snow, guiding its massive, thick claws beside it. 

"Strife…!"

"Stay focused, Charlotte. I have this covered."

Stepping between the area where the red-haired girl practiced her magecraft and the approaching fiends, Strife prepared himself. 

One of them is hiding amongst the dried foliage--is it waiting to strike? Odd...I'll have to keep my guard up, Strife thought. 

With a mouth stretching across the length of its axe-shaped head, the burly, pale fiend displayed a row of tongues as numerous as its teeth. 

"I suppose you want the first taste, don't you?"

Strife muttered as he locked his eyes on the tank of a creature, watching as it began charging towards him with its pale-hooved feet, digging into the decaying soil with each step. 

It doesn't matter how many of you come; I will not fail to protect her. That's my one conviction, he thought. 

Swiping his bow against the air, the object clicked as a silver blade that stretched along the length of the obsidian bow was pulled into view; once the unseen sharpness of the weapon revealed itself, he began to charge forward--meeting the pale giant halfway. 

The muscular, monstrous creature with a head as peculiar as its existence revealed in this development, chuckling with a voice as deep as a chasm before lifting its massive claws to strike at the elf. Holding onto a handle embedded in the belly of the bow, he swiftly brought himself over the fiend's head, using the bow as a blade as he slashed at its back. 

"One shouldn't make the mistake of believing an archer to just simply be that; in situations like these, a bit of swordsmanship calls." 

An explosion of slimy, verdant blood protruded from the newly opened slash on the fiend's back, resulting in it howling out before twisting itself backward in an unnatural retaliation--nearly catching the elf who was half its size with its lengthy digits. 

As a result of its failed hold, all of its fingers were severed from its torso-sized hand in an unseen attack from the man. 

Just as quick as the meaty, pale-white digits belonging to the burly fiend were lobbed off, its bright, green blood shot out in excess. 

"Aeolus: Repulse!"

Without turning his gaze away, Strife's sharply yelled out incantation generated a brief, but overwhelming fit of wind that pushed the two approaching fiends from each side away. 

"You'll be the first to go."

Taking advantage of the short period of time where the fiends were stunned, the nimble elf ran along the bulwark body of the axe-headed creature, drawing an arrow and pulling it back--taking aim directly above the head of the sluggish foe below his soles. 

Releasing his hold of the projectile, it launched itself with a burst of translucent mana, piercing the rigid head of the fiend into a burst of verdant blood. Hopping off of its shoulders, Strife didn't so much as look back as the pale monster fell to the soil with its life taken. 

"Now, for the two of you…"

Though they were less aggressive than the one he had just taken care of, their hesitancy and caution in engaging him was more worrying than the brute strength of the fallen fiend. 

To his left, he kept himself wary of the fiend that walked on all fours, despite appearing to be a bipedal creature--exhibiting smooth, jet-black skin that coexisted with circular, crimson markings across its body. It possessed a snout like a canine, baring outward teeth that clung to the exterior of its maw, but its face was unmistakably human in essence. 

On his right, was likely the complete opposite of the animalistic fiend--standing on pole-like legs that dwarfed its torso, the towering, lanky fiend possessed an eerie smile etched into its face, plastered on its sable form. Its arms hung down to its knees--making them just as harrowingly lengthy as its legs, ending in jagged claws as sizable as broadswords. 

I suppose it's time to use my ability. This isn't the time to do the bare minimum--both Charlotte's life and the Outlander's are at stake.. I'll use it--"Multi-Volant", he thought.