Joining Forces with Bete

Allen, finding Liber's words laughable, was about to retort with sarcasm.

Suddenly, he felt a chill from the back of his head and dodged by tilting his head.

Allen's expression changed slightly as he looked at the longsword that suddenly appeared by his ear.

"Bete!"

Liber, not far away, saw Allen dodge the attack and shouted at Bete while waving his arm.

Bete, also slightly startled by the sudden appearance of the longsword, came to his senses after Liber's shout.

He charged towards Allen, saying unceremoniously, "Don't you dare boss around an executive, you mere rookie."

After dodging, Allen looked at Liber's actions and the charging Bete, his face contorting into a fierce expression.

Just as he was about to counter-attack, a longsword suddenly slashed at him from the side, forcing him to sidestep and create distance.

Bete, seeing Allen dodging the attack, grinned sinisterly and kicked towards the cat person's face with his right leg.

Missing the best opportunity to deal with Bete's attack, Allen could only block with his arm.

The cat person, not yet steady on his feet, was hit by Bete's attack and sent flying.

Seeing Allen tumbling in the air and landing somewhat awkwardly in the distance, Bete lowered his right leg and taunted the cat person, "To be made so miserable by a rookie, the so-called Chariot is nothing but a weakling."

"You bastard!"

The cat person, now steady on his feet, heard Bete's mockery. The arrogance on his face vanished completely, and he glared at Bete, gritting his teeth.

Then, the cat person suddenly looked at Liber on the other side, his face full of resentment, and said, "After you've interrogated the goddess's whereabouts, I'll crush every bone in your body."

"We'll talk when you wake up," Liber responded coldly.

Seeing the two people he had previously manhandled now mocking him, Allen's expression gradually turned grim.

He calmed his emotions and then suddenly lunged at Bete.

Their fists and feet clashed. After a few rounds with Bete, Allen, relying on his superior physical strength, completely suppressed Bete.

Taking advantage of Bete's slightly delayed movements due to the intense pain after repeatedly blocking attacks, Allen locked onto the opening he exposed.

A murderous intent flashed in Allen's eyes as he kicked towards Bete's waist, which he couldn't protect in time.

At this moment, a longsword blocked his kick, and Bete, having reacted, kicked at his calf.

Once again, he awkwardly created distance, his resentment towards Liber, who always interfered with him, soaring.

After being interfered with by Liber again during his fight with Bete, Allen dodged Liber's attack and turned to run in another direction.

Liber and Bete were caught off guard by Allen's sudden move.

Seeing the direction Allen was running, Bete reacted and ran in the same direction.

Liber watched them both speed towards the same spot, feeling confused.

He then saw Allen reach the spot, grab the spear he had been kicked away earlier, stop with one foot, turn, and throw the spear at the pursuing Bete.

Bete, who was chasing, saw the spear thrown by Allen and dodged it, only to be kicked away by Allen, who followed closely behind the spear.

After kicking Bete aside, Allen, without stopping, ran towards Liber along with the spear.

Seeing the flying spear and Allen, who was following closely behind with a ferocious glare, Liber remained calm and stared at both of them without panic.

The two approached Liber with the force of a gale. Seeing Liber's still calm demeanor, Allen accelerated his charge again, catching up to his own spear.

He reached out and grabbed the weapon beside him, suddenly stopped, his muscles bulging, and threw it with all his might at Liber.

"Bang!"

A cloud of white mist erupted in the air in front of him, accompanied by a loud noise and a gust of wind as the spear flew towards Liber.

Seeing the spear that had reached him in the blink of an eye, Liber silently began to cast magic.

Ripples appeared silently in front of him. Allen looked at the ripples in front of Liber with some confusion.

What happened next made his eyes widen. He saw the spear, accompanied by the wind, silently disappear into a ripple and emerge from a ripple in another direction.

In an instant, the spear's direction changed, and it flew back towards him at an even faster speed.

Watching his own spear, thrown with all his might, attack him, Allen's face was filled with shock.

Just as he was about to kick the returning spear away, he felt a bit weak and changed his mind, dodging to the side.

The whirlwind carrying the spear flew past him and embedded itself in the ground behind him.

"Boom."

The power contained within the spear erupted the moment it hit the ground, creating an explosion-like sound.

The smoke rising from the impact point towered over the surrounding chimneys, and shattered gravel flew over the rooftops, scattering towards the ground.

Various debris on the ground was hurled backward, smashing toward Allen and Liber, who stood behind the spear shaft.

Liber, maintaining his spatial barrier, ignored the flying debris; he merely heightened his vigilance, squinting his eyes to observe the cat-person youth flickering in and out of the smoke.

Bete, who had been kicked away, was rushing toward the pair when he suddenly stopped in surprise, watching the two figures completely shrouded by the smoke.

In the distance, the combatants at the entrance of the Familia were drawn by the sudden commotion, pausing their movements to look toward the source of the sound.

The crisp clashing sounds ceased abruptly, and the street fell into an unexpected silence.

As the smoke cleared and the scene became visible, everyone wore a look of shock; even the composed and serious Ottar displayed a hint of astonishment on his face.

"Drip..."

Half of his clothing had been shredded to rags by the gale, with a gaping hole torn into the fabric at his waist.

One hand pressed against his side as blood welled up continuously, gathering at his fingertips before dripping onto the ground to bloom into tiny crimson flowers.

As the smoke screen gradually dissipated, everyone saw the severely wounded Allen revealed within.

They then looked at Liber, who stood opposite him, and were struck with disbelief, unable to fathom what had transpired.

Allen, his right hand still pressing against his wound, slowly raised his head to see Liber standing before him, completely unscathed.

The ferocious expression on his face vanished entirely; expressionless, he straightened his body and reached his left hand behind him, gripping the tail of the spear embedded in the ground.

Releasing his wound with his right hand, he yanked the long spear out and leveled the tip at Liber, assuming an offensive stance.

Liber looked at the radial wound on Allen's waist, where a large patch of flesh was exposed to the air.

With each of Allen's breaths and movements, the blood seeping from the wound gradually merged into a stream, trickling down his thigh.

Seeing that despite the missing muscle at his waist, his body remained intact, a look of regret appeared on Liber's face.

It was merely a graze from the spear tip; even without elixirs, such an injury would be mostly healed in a few days for a high-level adventurer relying on basic herbs and a sturdy physique.

Seeing the look of regret on Liber's face, Allen, holding his spear with both hands, felt the veins on his forehead bulge.

"Kid, you're feeling pretty smug, aren't you? Huh?!

I've decided: I'm going to hack off your hands and feet before I do anything else."

As he spoke, he ignored the worsening of his own injuries and closed the distance to Liber with his spear.

Bete, standing to the side, had already begun sprinting toward the two combatants the moment Allen took his stance.

Seeing Allen bridge the gap with Liber in an instant, Bete realized he was too late to stop the movement, his eyes wide with fury as he watched the scene unfold.

Allen closed in on Liber and thrust his spear, but just as before, the tip emerged from a different location.

His face remained icy and unchanged. Suddenly, he halted his movements, crouched low, and swept his spear toward the undisturbed ground at Liber's feet.

Watching Allen's attack, a look of helplessness appeared in Liber's eyes.