Science/Magic

"Miss Isabella, any idea?" Bloed asked with a nervous smile.

Isabella frowned and thought for a moment. But before she could reply, the three creatures of before attacked again.

As for the smaller creature, it retreated and crawled on the roof while observing the group carefully.

Obviously, it was waiting for an opportunity to attack.

Bloed and the others felt a chill on their spines. The smaller creature's behavior showed that it was very cunning.

It was letting the other three to be the vanguard, and as soon as Bloed of Isabella lowered their guards, it planned to kill them.

"Kill the others first!" Isabella gritted her teeth. She then created one wind wall to stop the creatures.

Then, she created several magic circles behind her just like before.

In the second when the creatures crashed against the wind wall, she released the air bullets, filling the creatures with holes.

However, it was not enough to kill them.

"Let one come!" Bloed said. Isabella raised an eyebrow but she did as Bloed said and let a small opening in her rain of air bullets.

One of the creatures noticed that opening and rushed through it, reaching Bloed in an instant.

Extending its claw, it attacked Bloed's neck.

The creature planned to crush Bloed's neck and kill him immediately.

As for the saber that was coming towards it? The creature was confident that it could resist it and absorb all the energy inside Bloed.

However, Bloed snorted.

Just when the creature's claws were about to reach his neck, he twisted his body softly. Then, he shouted.

"Aya!"

Understanding his intention, the cat girl threw her two daggers towards the creature, piercing its chest!

*Screech!*

The creature screamed in pain. However, Aya's attack was not enough to kill it.

Even so, her attack managed to stop the creature's movements for an instant.

And Bloed's eyes immediately lit up.

His body erupted with strength and he brandished his saber in a fierce downward slash that cut through the creature soundlessly.

Then–

*Splash!*

The creature's two halves fell on the ground, filling the tunnel with blood.

For an instant, the battle stopped.

The sudden death of one of the creatures surprised both Isabella and the creatures. None of them expected it.

After all, the creatures' ability to absorb mana and their powerful bodies made them extremely hard to kill.

However, that was useless against Bloed's [Molecular Disintegration].

Bloed's [Molecular Disintegration] could disintegrate anything at the level of atoms. Once it was in effect, the disintegrative reaction that it caused could not be stopped and the energy in his saber could not be absorbed.

It was literally the bane of the Devourers.

"You…" Isabella looked at Bloed with a surprised expression.

However, she did not manage to ask him anything.

Because at the next instant, a shrill scream resounded through the tunnels.

*Screech!*

The smallest creature, who had been overseeing the situation while the other three creatures attacked, let out a cry of rage.

At the same time, the other two creatures screeched as well.

They looked at Bloed and at the body of its companion and screeched angrily.

Then, the three remaining creatures attacked simultaneously.

"Dammit!" Bloed hurriedly jumped back, not forgetting to pull Aya's daggers out of the body of the dead creature and throwing them back to Aya.

At the same time, Isabella's hurriedly created several wind walls one after another.

"I will focus on our defense! You kill them!" Isabella shouted.

Bloed understood her meaning immediately. Now that she saw that Bloed's attacks were more effective than hers, she decided to focus on defending them.

However, the creatures were craftier than she expected.

As though they knew that Bloed's saber was dangerous, they moved while being careful of approaching it.

And the smallest creature was the most dangerous of them.

It rushed towards Bloed at great speed, twisting its body to evade Bloed's saber and attacking Bloed's head with its frontal claws.

Its movements were so fast that Bloed's barely had time to react!

"Careful!" Isabella shouted. She rapidly created several wind walls, but the creature broke through them easily, only slowing down for a brief instant before continuing towards Bloed.

"Kuh!"

Grunting, Bloed evaded the attack of the creature and tried to slash it with his saber, however, it easily evaded the attack and attacked back with its tail, only to be stopped by another of Isabella's wind walls.

But just then, the other two creatures rushed forward and attacked Bloed from the roof and a wall.

Bloed grunted and evaded one of them while attacking the other with its saber, only to see a tail coming towards him from its blind spot.

Paling, he stopped his attack and jumped back to evade the tail, but it created an opportunity for one of the creatures.

Fortunately, Aya attacked at that moment, throwing a rock that hit the creature's head and slowed it slightly, enough for Bloed to escape.

Even so, he was quickly attacked again, not giving him time to rest.

Isabella snorted. She released fifteen air bullets simultaneously, ridding one of the creatures with holes until it was almost dead. However, the smallest creature moved at that moment, jumping between the air bullets and arriving in front of Bloed.

Seeing that, Bloed used his saber to try to cut it, however, the creature avoided his saber easily and used a claw to attack Bloed's neck.

Isabella hurriedly created a wind wall to stop its claw, and Aya threw a rock to hinder its movements. But right then, the creature stopped its movements abruptly.

And it jumped towards Isabella!

Its goal was her since the start!

Isabella's face changed. She created several wind walls in front of her, but the creature broke through them easily.

It did not stop even for an instant, reaching in front of Isabella before Bloed or Aya could stop it.

But the purple-haired girl remained calm. Just when the claw was about to reach her, her body flashed.

Then, she disappeared and appeared one meter away.

It was a space-type spell, [Blink].

Using it, she managed to avoid the creature's attack!

At the same time, a magic circle appeared behind her!

Then, an even more powerful 'air bullet' was shot towards the creature!

It was a spell that Isabella had been preparing secretly for a while. She planned to use it to deal a heavy blow to the creature.

*Bam!*

A powerful impact blew the creature away.

However, neither Bloed nor Isabella celebrated.

Because they saw a paper-thin barrier appear in front of the creature just before it was hit.

And just as they expected, the creature stood up uninjured not even one second later.

It then growled at Bloed and Isabella fiercely.

"Dammit, what is this thing?" Isabella said with an ugly expression.

Bloed and Aya's expressions were similar.

Both of them were panting heavily. After fighting for so long, they were starting to become tired.

Isabella frowned when she noticed it.

She then looked at the creatures before letting out a sigh.

"I guess I need to use that, huh."

Before Bloed could understand what was happening, Isabella extended a hand a touched the wall.

Immediately, mana flowed out of her hand, entering the wall and activating one of the magic circles.

Bloed, Aya, and her two club members paled when they saw that.

"You are crazy!" Bloed shouted

Isabella just smiled and nodded.

"I know."

Then, a rumbled resounded through the tunnels.

And for the third time today, Bloed saw the tunnel collapse.