Chapter 60: 2 vs 2

There were two members of the Scarlet River Squad left, Adam and Zera were the only ones who had managed to avoid the effects of the Mirage.

In fact, they could have escaped from the anomaly cluster if they wanted to, after all, they had passed its trial, but did they really have such an opportunity?

Neither Adam nor Zera were going to abandon the rest of the Scarlet River Squad.

Three hours was more than enough time to destroy the crystals and ruin the Mirage, but... nothing in Dead Lands ever came easy.

If they wanted to achieve their goal, they had to shed sweat and blood.

The Dual-horned Ice Chaser slowly approached them, with a wide grin on his face, he seemed to realize that he was much stronger, and now his hunt was about to begin!

"What do we do?" Adam asked, preparing for battle. He stepped forward, holding the needle tightly and piercing the monster with his gaze.

Zera swung her scythe.

"I'll attack first, try to distract him, and break some of his armor, then you finish what you started. Your needle will easily pass through his flesh, right?"

"Sure. You don't have to worry about that." Adam nodded calmly, glaring at the monster.

He was about to say something else before their fight began, but for some reason, his expression changed drastically.

Whoooooooosh.

A frosty flash, whizzed right before his eyes, coating the tip of his nose with a thin layer of ice.

If Adam had taken even one more step, he would have been turned into an ice statue by now.

However, the source of this attack was not the Dual-horned Ice Chaser, but someone else, someone who was far enough away to remain invisible until now.

"Fuck... Looks like our plan needs to be changed immediately..." Adam muttered, looking at Frozen Archer standing on top of a building a few alleys away.

Unlike the Dual-horned Ice Chaser, Frozen Archer was not much different from his weaker kin.

He lacked a quiver and had a long ice cape. He created arrows out of highly compressed frost vapor, for a few seconds, making it so strong that even steel would seem brittle.

"Adam... This is the Elusive Frozen Archer... In terms of strength, he and the Dual-horned Ice Chaser are about equal, as they are both Blue Threat Level and are in the Red Book." Zera explained.

"I see... I'll take on the archer, ok?" Adam asked while Elusive Frozen Archer was about to take the next shot.

Whoooooooooooosh.

The sphere exploded, launching a devastating beam, quickly destroying the swirl, the bloody wind was too weak to resist for even a moment.

Ice Chaser smirked insidiously, raising his head, wanting to see the desperate expression of his opponent.

Droplets of blood dripped from Zera's scythe, its blade flaring brightly as she swung the scythe from top to bottom.

At the same moment, the vertical bloody blade sliced the energy beam in two and quickly reached Ice Chaser.

The monster's instincts were literally screaming at it to run away, but Ice Chaser didn't make a move. The monster only smirked one last time, for it had already accepted its defeat - for monsters, it was equal to death.

The bloody blade sliced Ice Chaser in two without any resistance before vanishing a few meters back.

Zera smiled contentedly before dropping to one knee and letting out a heavy sigh. A trickle of blood dripped from the corners of her mouth, and her gaze became tired.

She had used her Nexus and Second Order, so this reaction was predictable but inevitable.

"Alright, even though I had to lose a lot of energy, I made it through... I need to help Adam." Zera muttered before turning around, searching her gaze for him.

Her eyes went wide when Adam reflected the ice arrow and using the first grip, plunged the needle into Elusive Frozen Archer's shoulder, preventing the monster from escaping with his cape.

"Looks like he doesn't need my help." Zera smiled slightly, giving herself time to regain her strength.

...

Whooooooooooooooosh.

Adam swung his arm, causing the needle to move upward, about to pierce Frozen Archer's head, but the monster managed to dodge at the last moment.

However, the sharp, long connecting thread sliced off Elusive Frozen Archer's arm.

Then, Elusive Frozen Archer's cape trembled, covering it with a thick, cold fog, he was about to disappear.

"Nice try!" Adam exclaimed, pulling himself towards the needle using the connecting thread as the needle stabbed into the ground.

Silver threads appeared around his left arm, and soon four sharp claws, stabbed into Elusive Frozen Archer's chest before he could disappear.

"This is something I haven't tried before, but it's never too late to learn something new, is it?" Adam said as his fingertips shone brightly, releasing blade-sharp silver threads that cut Elusive Frozen Archer from the inside out.