Chapter 44: Brand New Dynamics II

Aaron had been paying close attention, maintaining a defensive approach until he understood the weakness in the formation.

If he couldn’t beat three opponents at once, he could at least stop them from fighting him from three different directions. From his own observation, he could tell that the Swordsman was more coordinated than the Skirmishers, and he planned to use that also to his advantage.

Unfortunately for him, Leon had also decided not to remain completely passive himself, and gave instructions where necessary, which meant his summons adjusted as well.

With Leon’s command, the Skirmishers didn’t continue attacking blindly. They moved around the Python and Swordsman, forcing Aaron to constantly change his position. Whenever he tried to focus on one undead, another threatened his blind side, and since he had decided to involve himself in the battle, he had to consider himself getting injured badly, since Summons didn’t usually pull punches.

The fight became a battle of positioning rather than raw power, with the Skirmishers compensating fully for the Swordsman’s lack of speed when he faced against Aaron and his summon.

Aaron would create space, the undead would close it.

The Python would block the Swordsman, a Skirmisher would slip around it.

Aaron would intercept that attack and leave the Python exposed, the Swordsman would immediately take advantage.

Neither side could completely overwhelm the other, but the advantage was still to Leon, then Aaron saw an opening.

The two Skirmishers had moved too far apart than normal, leaving the Swordsman closer to him.

’There.’ He said in his mind.

He charged, calling the Python with him. They had just enough room to act before the Skirmishers could reach them.

Aaron went directly at the Swordsman while the Python attacked from the side, forcing the undead to defend against both at once. The Swordsman blocked Aaron’s strike and turned its blade toward the Python, but Aaron kept moving, preventing him from settling into a proper counterattack.

The pressure pushed the Swordsman backward a couple steps, forcing one of its legs backwards to stabilize itself. By then, the Skirmishers were already moving to close the gap and break off the attack.

The audience reacted immediately with shouts and cheers.

"He’s pushing it back!"

"Aaron’s turning it around!"

"Come on, Aaron!"

Leon watched it all happen, processing the entire fight also.

Aaron wasn’t trying to defeat the Swordsman outright, now he was trying to separate it. If he could keep the Swordsman away from the two Skirmishers, he could reduce the fight to something much more manageable, if only for a moment.

To that, Leon gave a short command.

"Left."

The Skirmisher at the right side of the Swordsman changed direction before it reached it, rushing instead towards Aaron just as he was preparing another attack.

Aaron turned away from the Swordsman and avoided the curved blade. That was enough time for the second Skirmisher to reach the Swordsman to assist with a single move against the Python, and then arrived from the opposite side, cutting off Aaron’s retreat before he could back off completely.

The two undead crossed paths in front of him, forcing him to retreat toward the Python.

The Skeleton Swordsman was already moving into position behind him.

"Come!" Aaron shouted a command to his summon.

The summon reacted immediately, throwing itself between Aaron and the incoming sword.

The impact forced it backward, but that wasn’t an issue, since it wasn’t injured and had just tanked the blow.

Leon noticed something different then. The Python’s movements appeared slightly slower, but he wasn’t certain, since it wasn’t clear.

Aaron noticed too, which caused his expression to tighten.

Going on there, there were several more instances where the Python attacked with a small hesitation before it moved. Its strike came half a second late, and more and more strikes began to reach it cleanly. Luckily, none was enough to breach its defence, which on its own was impressive.

Aaron followed up, assisting with his own attacks, trying to make up for the lost timing, but the Python was already slowing down noticeably now.

Aaron’s breathing had become heavier too, and his once composed and dry look now had sweat running down the sides of his face.

The Python was the real problem, though. He had been sustaining it since the beginning of the fight while forcing it to move at full power from the start, and now against three opponents.

It hadn’t suddenly become weaker, Aaron simply couldn’t maintain that level of performance forever.

Still, he refused to give up.

"Stay with me." He said, moving closer to the Python. It was frustrating that his opponents didn’t seem the least bit tired even after all that time, but he didn’t dwell on it.

Aaron stopped trying to chase the undead and waited for them to approach.

The three undead spread out.

Aaron watched their positions carefully, keeping them onsight to predict their next movements if possible.

The Skeleton Swordsman attacked again, this time zigzagging around a bit while the Skirmishers also closed the distance.

Unable to predict where exactly the Swordsman would choose to attack and not having the same speed as before to respond whenever, Aaron chose to defend themselves with the Python’s body. The Python blocked its attack and immediately opened up for Aaron to move to intercept the nearest Skirmisher. The second tried to circle around them, but Aaron retreated behind the Python, forcing the three undead to approach from the front.

Leon immediately understood what Aaron was trying to do. Again and again, he felt like a man playing an amped up RTS on steroids.

’He’s trying to reduce the number of angles.’ He thought to himself.

It was a good strategy, since Aaron couldn’t keep up with three separate targets, he was turning the battlefield into a narrower fight where the Python could protect him while he focused on whichever undead came closest.

For a moment, it worked.

Then, Aaron saw another opening.

He suddenly rushed forward and struck the Swordsman in the chest, raming into it with his shoulder.

The undead stumbled, and Aaron followed, forcing the Swordsman backward while the Python attacked from the side after swiftly clearing the Skirmishers away with a wide tail sweep.

The Swordsman managed to block, but the combined pressure pushed it away from the Skirmishers again.

Aaron kept attacking, and for several seconds, he managed to recreate the earlier advantage, but the Python was slowing down faster now.

Leon could see it, and at that point, everyone could as well.

Darwit and Mason standing at the side couldn’t help but shake their head.

"So that’s it..."