Kill the Enemy, Then Flee for Your Life

Liber manipulated the Greatsword beside him, sending it flying toward the pursuing monster.

The Killer Ant, an abnormal specimen rapidly closing the distance, sensed the Greatsword hurtling toward it and banked to the side, dodging the conspicuous attack.

After the monster easily evaded the strike, the Greatsword silently began to pivot, aiming to slash at the wings constantly flapping on the creature's back.

The sharp Greatsword whistled through the air as it neared the monster.

"Buzz!"

The sound of the abnormal specimen's wings suddenly sharpened into a piercing screech, and its entire body surged upward.

After rising to avoid the sneak attack, it suddenly dipped its head, dove downward, and caught the Greatsword with its thick forelimbs.

Its sharp, ferocious mandibles snapped open and shut a few times as if venting its rage, followed by a high-pitched hiss.

It spat out the same corrosive liquid as before, drenching the Greatsword held firmly in its hooked forelimbs.

The Greatsword began to corrode, its entire blade melting away like ice cream.

Seeing the Greatsword destroyed, Liber abandoned his control over it.

He began to experiment with spinning the Broadsword beside him, hoping to amplify its power.

Under the guidance of his will, the Broadsword at Liber's side began to rotate slowly.

The speed of its rotation increased until, to the naked eye, it looked like an irregular, rod-like object.

He focused on accelerating the Broadsword's spin, hoping this impromptu method would boost its lethality and finish the monster in one blow.

Sensing that the Broadsword beside him had reached its maximum rotational speed, he knew it could go no faster.

Liber followed his intent and raised his right hand toward the monster's body.

The spinning Broadsword hovering beside him whipped up gusts of wind.

"Bang."

With a sudden, air-piercing crack, it shot straight forward.

Liber manipulated the high-speed spinning Broadsword as it bore down on the abnormal specimen.

Accompanying the violent whistle of the blade, Lefiya's urgent chant began to ring out.

"[Arrow of liberated light, shaft of the holy wood, I am the master of the bow.]"

Hearing the sound of the air being torn, the monster released its forelimbs, dropping the liquid-drenched Greatsword.

The spinning object reached it a split second before the sound did.

It flew upward as hard as it could, struggling to evade the incoming attack.

Yet, it could not dodge completely; it only had time to puff out its chest before the spinning Broadsword pierced directly through its lower abdomen.

The monster let out a hoarse, pained shriek, its wings stopping their beat as if feeling the agony, and its entire body crashed to the ground.

Lefiya stared intently at the monster Liber had grounded, the glow of magic lighting up around her as she chanted, fully preparing herself.

The Broadsword, having passed through the monster, was still spinning under Liber's control as he struggled to change its direction.

"Once more, finish this," Liber urged, trying to manipulate the Broadsword to strike the weakened monster and kill it outright.

"Clang!!"

Suddenly, the spinning Broadsword emitted a crisp sound of metal shattering.

Noticing the emergency, Liber halted his control over the Broadsword's rotation.

The spinning blade slowed down, eventually hovering still in the air.

Looking at the Broadsword hanging in the air, he finally saw that only a small portion of the blade remained attached to the hilt.

The rest had turned into various fragments, scattering into the surroundings.

The shattered metal shards fell to the ground, where Liber observed them.

Like the Greatsword before, most were stained with dark red liquid, bubbling as they were corroded.

These fragments were gradually dissolved by the liquid, blending together until they were indistinguishable.

The dark red liquid on the ground emitted a strange, pungent mist.

"[Strike! Fairy Archer.]"

As the monster was knocked down, Lefiya fluently linked the next part of her incantation.

The monster that had fallen to the ground pushed itself up, sprawling on the earth.

Its pierced abdomen exposed various deformed, ruptured intestines, with blood and multicolored bodily fluids spilling from the hole that had passed through its body.

These fluids hit the ground together, forming a violent smoke that corroded everything nearby.

It stood on the ground, testing its wings with a few flaps; sensing they were still intact, it began to beat them at high frequency, slowly lifting its body into the air.

The monster hissed as if in fury, beginning to fly low to the ground as it rapidly approached them.

Seeing this, Liber gritted his teeth and continued to manipulate the broken blade to pursue it from behind.

"[Pierce! Unfailing Arrow!]"

The incantation for the final stage began to quicken.

Lefiya's face tightened as she saw the monster charging toward them, her lips moving rapidly to accelerate the pace of her chant.

The broken sword, controlled by Liber, struck out to intercept the abnormal individual's flapping wings, doing everything possible to disrupt its movement.

The attacked monster paused for a moment, sensing the sneak attack from behind, and shifted to the left to evade the jagged blade.

It was precisely this hesitation that stalled its advance and bought them time.

The final name of the magic spell began to ring out from Lefiya's lips.

"[Arc Ray]"

The monster before them was still closing the distance at high speed.

As the magic chant concluded, Liber kept his eyes locked on the approaching monster.

While he continued to pursue it from behind with the broken sword, a fierce gust of wind suddenly erupted from behind him.

A bolt of light streaked past his side, hurtling toward the flying abnormal individual.

As if it had sensed the scent of death in advance, it stopped its advance, reared its head, and let out a bizarre cry.

The sound rippled outward, and strange movements stirred once more within the swarm of ants behind it.

The thick beam of light fired by Lefiya's magic completely engulfed everything below the monster's head.

As the light faded, the monster's Magic Stone fell to the ground with the crisp clatter of crystal.

The remaining grotesque, menacing head of the monster also tumbled to the ground, rolling forward slowly until it came to a stop at Liber's feet.

The head, a size larger than a soccer ball, feebly opened and closed its mandibles as if struggling.

Then, it ceased all movement and began to dissipate.

Liber had just let his guard down when he saw the swarm of ants, which had previously been kept at a distance, appear within his field of vision.

Three red dots suddenly broke away from the dense mass of the swarm, closing in on them.

Several more flying Killer Ant abnormal individuals were in pursuit.

This trouble just never ends.

Observing this scene, Liber thought with a headache.

Sensing that Lefiya behind him had recovered from casting her magic, he turned and reached out a hand toward her.

Liber said to her with a touch of helplessness.

"Time to start running for our lives again."

"Mm."

Having caught her breath, Lefiya looked behind him, then at the hand extended before her.

With her staff in her left hand, she naturally placed her right hand into his, responding to Liber with a smile.

Seeing her smiling face, a trace of a smile appeared on Liber's face as well, and he gripped the small hand in his palm tightly.

Pulling her along, they began another round of flight.