Chapter 94: Stand Up and Fight! [3]

Right before the Scoundrel pounced, the Vitalists who were near the Soldier had noticed something odd about its face. It had begun to twitch violently, whereas the other parts of its injured body had ceased similar behaviour.

Soon, they noticed the wounds on its face had begun to rapidly close — healing! To everyone’s shock, the Soldier had unexpectedly focused all of its energy into regenerating its eyes first!

It had now regained its vision!

Beatrice, who caught a glimpse of this, instantly felt a sickening feeling in her gut. ’It’s up to something!’

Without any hesitation, she screamed:

"EVERYONE, GET AWAY FROM IT!"

Everyone was stunned by her sudden warning. They instantly stopped their charge, but that couldn’t be said for the Scoundrel, who was already mid-pounce.

The Soldier, using its newly formed eyes, sluggishly dodged out of the way. Then, right as the Scoundrel was about to pass through where it had been, it grabbed at its cape and began to swing it around in a circle — effectively using the undead fiend as a flail!

Those who were too slow to dodge were crushed or sent flying.

""ARGH—!""

Their harrowing cries rang out, dying under the heavy rain.

The Soldier continued to swing the Scoundrel around until an abrupt arc of light intervened, cutting off the cape attached to the undead fiend.

It quickly shot the culprit a glance and found Nadia staring at it with ragged breaths. Although her gaze was cold, it was clear that she was panicking.

Before the armoured Scoundrel could get back up to its feet, the Soldier was already upon it.

With a single stomp, it crushed the Scoundrel’s skull — killing it instantly — before grabbing it by the leg and swinging it around again.

Nadia, who watched it resume its carnage, quickly charged her sword again, intending to cut off the leg of the Scoundrel with one {Resolution}!

But then—

"Puaghk—Cough! Cough...!"

—She doubled over.

Nadia fell on one knee, simultaneously coughing and vomiting blood. A nauseating fatigue then washed over her body as her face suddenly grew terribly pale.

’My Vitality...!’

Throughout the chaos, she hadn’t been keeping tabs on her Vitality, having been ignoring the constant fatigue with adrenaline alone. And because of that, it was now catching up to her!

’Not now... I have to keep on fighting!’

She forced herself back onto her feet and unsummoned her Relic. Then she equipped the pistol she had tucked away.

’It’s not going to be effective, but it’ll have to do!’

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ross noticed Nadia utilise the gun he had given her and scowled. Having been watching her up until now, it didn’t make sense to him why she would bother to use it now if not for one reason.

’She’s out of Vitality...’ He then glanced over at Roxy.

Considering that Nadia was no longer in the right condition, and that no one else was a suitable replacement, the two of them would have to keep up the frontline.

"Charge in with me; we need to buy time for our main fighter!"

"Main fighter?" Roxy quirked an eyebrow, then caught a glimpse of Nadia shooting from a distance. With a hesitant grin, she nodded. "Alright. But I hope you have another plan in store."

Ross nodded slightly. "I do."

After briefly explaining the plan, he called out to four individuals. "Elias, Callum, Miss Johnson, Halloway! We’re charging in—do the best you can to support us!"

Without waiting for a response, both Ross and Roxy charged in, pushing through the waves of fleeing Vitalists and engaging with the Soldier!

By now, the Soldier had already recovered most of its plating and was now focusing on healing its missing arm. As for the Scoundrel it used as a flail, the metal that was welded onto its skin had begun to flake off.

Ross charged in, rolling and dodging under the Soldier’s swings. Then, when he was near enough, he delivered an uppercut in the monster’s lower abdomen.

’{Force}!’

BAM!

He then quickly switched stance and landed another blow, forcing it back!

’{Force}!’

BAM!

Against the power behind the blow, the Soldier was stunned for a split second, giving enough time for a duo to take aim.

"Right there." Callum pointed.

BANG!

In a near-instant, a bullet tore a massive hole in the leg the Soldier was holding onto, allowing Roxy to move in and cut off its hold on the Scoundrel!

The Soldier was then enraged.

While dropping the part of the leg it was holding, the hulking fiend swung at Ross.

The man widened his eyes. ’Not enough time to dodge!’

Unable to move out of harm’s way, he decided to meet the attack head-on!

With his fist charged with Vitality, he clashed with the Soldier’s fist, creating an explosion of both wind and Vitality.

And as expected—

BAM–Crack!

"... Ngh!"

—The clash ended in his loss.

Even with the help of {Force}, he was sent flying back, the bones in his fist shattered.

Roxy widened her eyes with concern, but was given no time to worry about the man. She stepped and barely dodged a downward strike that caused the ground to erupt with debris.

She used her buckler shield to block the debris. ’I won’t be able to keep up the frontline on my own!’

The moment she thought that, she witnessed two individuals charge in: Elias and Callum.

Elias, who now wielded a sword and pistol, charged in with Callum, who wielded a metal spear. The two displayed immaculate agility as they ran circles around the Soldier.

"You’re not too bad! Where’d you learn to move like that?!" Elias shouted mid-dodge.

Callum chuckled. "I used to love jumping around when I was younger. I was something like a free-spirited kid!"

As the two ran around the Soldier, Seraphine situated herself closer to the fight; at least 10 to 12 metres away. She then swapped out the magazines.

After doing that, she clasped her hand around the magazine and attempted to imbue the bullet inside with her Vitality.

’Since Vitality quickly fade over time, I have to imbue these bullets with as much Vitality as possible!’

The moment she felt her mind sway with tiredness, she began to fire.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three consecutive gunshots resounded loudly.

One pierced through the Soldier’s shoulder, another took a chunk out of its collarbone, while the last one missed.

At the sudden injury, the Soldier stumbled back slightly. And in that small time frame, both Elias and Callum charged in.

Elias pocketed his gun before looking over at Callum.

"Give that spear to me. Let’s switch."

Callum nodded without question.

The two then tossed and caught each other’s weapons.

With a few metres to go before they reached the Soldier, Elias stabbed the spear into the ground and used it to vault himself into the air. Afterwards, he pulled out his gun and began to fire wildly at its face.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

He missed most of his shots, but that didn’t matter, as he was able to destroy one of its four eyes!

"Got it!" He laughed wildly before being brutally swatted out of the air, the bones in his sides shattering.

The moment he hit the ground, Callum was already prepared to follow up with his attack.

He threw the sword at the Soldier’s eyes, followed by throwing the spear Elias used as a vault.

Unfortunately, only the spear managed to hit, with the sword missing entirely.

The Soldier now only had 2 eyes!

"ROAHHHHHHHR!" With an enraged roar, it swung down at Callum, but watched as he vanished into thin air!

Puzzlement was clear in its eyes. However, it didn’t last long after Roxy woke it up.

"{Power Wall}!" Having manifested her Gift, she charged forward, slamming her barrier into the hulking fiend.

BAM.

With all her might, she managed to push it back several metres!

But that was it.

In a near-instant, the Soldier had shattered through her wall with a swing of its arm.

Blood instantly gushed out of Roxy’s mouth as her vision soon became blurry.

The Soldier, still carrying the momentum of its swing, suddenly focused all of its energy into regenerating its missing arm and slammed it into her.

The woman vomited even more blood as she was brutally sent flying, bouncing against the ground.

Before the Soldier could even readjust to the change in weight due to its newly formed arm—

BANG!

—Something powerful tore into its body!

BANG!

Then another!

BANG!

And another!

Soon, the form of two people emerged from thin air: Seraphine and Callum.

Seraphine, who was being carried by Callum on his back, continued to take aim.

BANG!

Each bullet of hers tore through the flesh of the Soldier and left harrowing cracks and deep dents in its plating. At the same time, the force behind her bullets was forcing it back!

Unfortunately, Seraphine was struggling to handle the recoil of the rifle. With its constant jerking in her hands and the nauseating feeling from using her Vitality, she felt like she was about to hurl!

Luckily, she didn’t have to worry about Callum much, as he had plugged his ears with small bits of cloth he found.

As the two rushed towards the Soldier, trying to be within effective range for the rifle, the hulking fiend raised its arms to defend its body from the bullets.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

After a few moments of this, the Soldier quickly learnt a way to counterattack. It lowered its arms, disregarding defence, and scooped up a handful of debris.

Callum, who then watched as it chucked it at them, activated his Gift before dodging.

Now seemingly flickering in and out of existence, Soldier found it difficult to aim at them. Unfortunately for it, Seraphine didn’t have the same problem.

BANG!BANG! BANG!

The two kept forcing it back while dodging the wild debris thrown at them.

Unfortunately...

Click.

It wasn’t going to last long.

Click. Click. Click.

Seraphine’s eyes shot wide open as she looked down at her gun. ’I’m out of ammo!’

She then looked up in horror as a compact ball of concrete and metal was flying towards them.

Callum, who was close to dodging it, suddenly felt his mind blur with fatigue. ’Shit—my Vitality...!’

In that brief lapse in focus, his foot managed to get stuck on something, causing him to trip!

With both of them unable to dodge out of the way, it was certain that the two of them would be hit by the heavy ball of debris!

...

But then!

A woman with long, fluttering blonde hair stepped in. At the very last second, she caught them by their shirts and managed to toss them out of the way. But by doing this, she had now taken their place.

"N-Nadia—!" Seraphine cried out as she watched the ball crash into Nadia’s side.

The Soldier, watching as it failed to take the two out again, readied another ball. But was then ambushed!

Charging in from the side were 7 Scoundrels, each wearing pale-white masks. And within seconds, the Soldier was quickly overwhelmed.

Unexpectedly, they didn’t do any harm to it. Instead, they were only shoving it back. As if... they were trying to push it somewhere specific.

In a split second, the Soldier glanced back and what it saw...

Was the edge of a quayside.

Ross, who had resurrected these Scoundrels after being knocked away, was on his knees with an unfocused and dazed look on his face.

His Relic Suvai Muerte had the unique ability of resurrecting dead Predicaments and having command over them.

However, the cost of this was his focus. If he had too many under his control, he would be left in a somewhat catatonic state. Luckily, right before he entered this miserable state, he managed to give out one last order...

’PUSH THE SOLDIER INTO THE SEA!’

That was the plan he had devised before engaging with the Soldier: to push the hulking fiend into the sea and kill it there. And with everyone’s hard-fought efforts to push it closer to the edge, they’ll win!

The Soldier struggled against the Scoundrels and was soon pushed close to the edge of the quayside!

Angered by this, the hulking fiend opened its maw, prepared to bite down on the Scoundrels.

But then!

"{Lightning Bolt}!"

A streak of electricity shot through the air with extreme speed and collided with its face.

BOOM.

Beatrice, who had spent a long time on that Spell, collapsed to her knees and vomited an immense amount of blood. ’I used... too much Vitality...’

While still having a hint of consciousness left, she looked up to see the state the monster was in now.

At the force behind her Spell, the Solder’s head jerked back, with the centre of its face scorched from the heat. Electricity snaked over its entire body, zapping it.

Unfortunately, the rain wasn’t a good conductor of electricity. But that couldn’t be said for the metal spear Callum had lodged in its eye! At this moment, the Soldier’s brain was being shocked by the electricity conducted through the spear!

This caused its struggle against the Scoundrels to weaken, leading to it being pushed back even further!

It was now teetering on the edge! This was it; they were so close!

...

But right as it was about to fall...

Drip... Drip... Drip...

The rain suddenly stopped.

The second it did, the Soldier immediately sensed its strength returning and once it felt that, it began to go on a rampage.

It began tearing apart the Scoundrels that clung to it with savage roars.

Everyone who saw this happen immediately dropped to their knees. The rain they had depended on to win...

It was gone...

"N-no way..."

"We were so close..."

"Does God not... want us to win...?"

As despair filled their voices and their hope of winning rapidly faded...

Something unexpected happened.

The moment after the Soldier killed all of the Scoundrels, a yellow blur sprinted towards it and knocked it over the edge.