Chapter 664: Got That Bastard

Clyde sighed. When he had first seen Mina fight, he had expected the battle to be short. Her speed and control had improved considerably, and with the two of them working together, these monsters should not have been much of a threat.

Unfortunately, the situation had turned out to be more troublesome than he had expected.

The final guardian was not mindless or bloodthirsty like the others. It was intelligent. It had stayed at the back of the battlefield, watching while its friends fought. Even after Clyde and Mina had killed them, it just raised its hand and brought them back to life.

Clyde narrowed his eyes, noticing how the creature’s expression had changed. For the first time, he noticed something almost resembling a smile beneath its bark-covered face.

The flowers growing around its eyes trembled slightly as it stared at them, as though it believed it had gained the upper hand.

Clyde snorted. "Let’s see how long you can keep that smug look."

Mina seemed to notice it as well. Her expression immediately darkened. "I want to kill that monster quickly!"

Clyde glanced at her. "Just do the same thing you did before."

Mina nodded.

The battle resumed.

The five dead guardians rose from the ground, their bodies restored to their original condition. Roots released them as they shook away the remnants of their previous deaths, and within seconds, they charged again.

Two rushed toward Mina. Three went after Clyde.

Mina immediately activated Crimson Step. Her body blurred as she slipped between the attacking creatures, twin daggers flashing through the gaps in their defenses. One guardian swung its massive claws at her, but she ducked beneath them and cut across its leg before vanishing from its reach.

Clyde faced the other three. Lightning erupted around his body as he swung his longsword. His movements calm and precise, each strike meeting a claw, cutting through bark, severing a vine before the creatures could overwhelm him.

The battle happened almost exactly as before. The difference was that this time, neither Clyde nor Mina hesitated.

Mina moved through the battlefield like a red shadow using her speed to constantly attack the monsters’ blind spots. Poison spread through the creatures whenever her daggers found an opening, slowing their movements until she could deliver the killing blow.

Clyde’s sword crackled with Pure Lightning as he cut through the guardians one after another.

The monsters were strong. But they were no longer a challenge. Within minutes, the five guardians died once again.

Clyde did not even wait for them to hit the ground. His eyes immediately locked onto the humanoid guardian.

The creature had already begun raising its hand.

"Not this time." Clyde lunged forward.

Mina understood immediately and followed him.

They both knew what the creature intended to do. If they allowed it even a few seconds, the dead guardians would rise again.

But the humanoid guardian was still smiling. Then its vines suddenly shot outward.

They wrapped around the surrounding trees and pulled its body backward with tremendous force. The creature moved like a spider swinging through the forest, its bark-covered feet barely touching the ground.

At the same time, another thick vine wrapped around the wooden staff. The artifact tore free from the ground.

Mina’s eyes widened. "That bastard!"

The creature swung between the trees, dragging the staff behind it as it fled deeper into the forest.

"Come back here, you fucker!" Mina shouted while chasing after it.

Clyde followed, a smile appearing on his face when he heard her furious shout from Mina.

The humanoid guardian moved surprisingly fast.

Its vines continuously latched onto branches and tree trunks, pulling its body forward before releasing and attaching to another tree. It moved through the forest with incredible agility, changing direction constantly and using the dense vegetation to its advantage. As if the vines were just part of its limbs.

Mina followed as closely as she could. She leaped over roots, pushed through branches, and used Crimson Step whenever she found an opening. But even so, the creature continued to stay ahead of her.

Clyde followed behind them. For a while, he simply watched. The chase continued deeper into the forest, the trees becoming increasingly dense as the guardian used every advantage the terrain gave it.

Mina continued pursuing it relentlessly, but catching the creature was proving more difficult than expected.

Eventually, Clyde sighed. He was getting bored. He thinks he had enough of this bullshit.

Lightning erupted across his entire body.

Pure Lightning surged through his muscles and limbs, illuminating the forest with violent flashes of white-blue light. The air around him seemed to tremble as electrical energy gathered beneath his feet.

Then he moved and disappeared from his place a moment before, accompanied by a deafening crack of lightning that tore through the forest as his body surged forward with terrifying speed. Trees blurred around him. Leaves exploded from branches as the pressure of his movement ripped through the vegetation.

"What...?" Mina’s eyes widened. She could barely follow him.

Even the humanoid guardian reacted. Its flower-filled eyes widened as it sensed something approaching from behind.

It turned its head. But it was too late.

Clyde had already reached it.

For a single instant, the guardian saw him standing beside it, his longsword wrapped in roaring lightning. Then Clyde swung. The blade passed through the creature’s body before it could react.

A thin line appeared across its bark-covered torso. The guardian continued moving for another step. Then its upper body slowly slid away from its lower half. The creature had been cut cleanly in two. Its vines went limp and the wooden staff slipped from its grasp and began falling toward the forest floor.

Clyde stopped several meters away, lightning still crawling across his body as the thunderous sound of his movement faded through the trees.

Behind him, Mina finally arrived beside him. She stared at the two halves of the guardian, then looked at Clyde. She had known Clyde was strong but that speed was still absurd.

Clyde casually turned toward the falling artifact. "Well," he said, "Finally we got that bastard."

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