Chapter 99 - Challenged Dignity
'Is this the kind of battlefield I will be fighting in from now on'
Blows were being exchanged all around her several times a second, powerful energy blasted here and there every now and then forcing her and the rest to avoid them without disengaging, if they stopped the fight briefly for every stray attack then they were never going to finish
To any normal human they wouldn't see a battlefield at all, it would be more of a harsh amalgamation of sounds and colours with some vague figures appearing and disappearing every now and then for everything was happening at a speed too fast for the human brain to fully register
Shick!
Another creature fell to a dagger sinking into its neck, punishment for the sneak attack attempted at her back
'If Master wasn't here I would already be dead'
When it came to aura alone she wasn't the weakest of the bunch, in fact most of the ones here didn't have the combinable class she had and thus most of their aura's were equal to hers or had a slight advantage, but exactly because they didn't have her combined class did they have room to own other classes and use skills unlike her who could only stick to making use of her aura
'They look like they are held back, they aren't capable of reforming their aura to their liking'
The rigidness in her enemies use of it made that clear, now she realized why her master chose this class, while lacking in power short term-wise the eventual pay off would be great
"Roar!!"
A perfect example of this was the white tiger currently sending another head into the sky with its quick powerful slashes, just like her it went down the route of strengthening its body with aura but took it a notch further, extending its claws and fangs with the white glow
'Those three are crazy...must we fight them after finishing off the rest?'
It was about five people against ten times their number yet these five, with the major effort belonging to the three strong beasts, were able to prevent anyone from getting to the door bar the few stealthy ones that got past their guard only to be turned into a porcupine by the much stealthier YuJu
"Ellis"
Just when she was wondering what they were going to do his voice came from the side though she found no one there when looking
"Yes?"
"In a minute we will finish off everyone, once that happens it will be us two versus the three of them, I'll lure the troll and that weird thing away while you drag it out with the tiger for as long as you can"
The red-headed nodded firmly while dodging another energy attack, her mind doubted whether she could actually stand a chance against the feline but she would try nonetheless
Seeing her readily follow his command put him at ease, finally he wouldn't have to deal with the constant questioning all the time
'I should finish them off quickly, she probably won't last longer than half a minute even with that guy's exhausted state'
All this time the two of them have been conserving strength unlike those guys who bore the brunt of the numbers, especially that troll who verged passing out from injuries
The tempo of the battle started to slow down following the decrease in numbers, Ellis and YuJu already stopped attacking for a while now since all the assassin and weak participants have been killed off leaving the last four creatures getting a beatdown from the much stronger three beasts, before long the last head was smashed into its body with the troll's massive club putting an end to this siege-like battle
No one relaxed though for the death of their enemies meant the temporary truce was terminated
"Hold on for a bit, I'll rush to your side as soon as I can"
He assured, staring the tiger dead in the eyes as the feline beast suspiciously observed his now revealed figure
"Heh, thanks for serving as a good guard dog, its time to put you down"
He taunted, and just to make sure his intentions reached the other party he allowed smoke to cover his body alerting the three enemies of his real identity being the cause of this bloody massacre
"Roaar!" "Goaoo!" Whishh~
All three instantly came to a realization and expressed their anger, rushing toward him in a bid to send this troublemaker six feet under
Already expecting this response he shot toward the door with them in tow, one of who was quickly cut off by a slash from the side
"Grrrr"
Jumping to the side the tiger stopped in its tracks and faced the woman with a growl, it could sense this opponent had no grounds to stand against itself but intervened nonetheless, what really ticked it off though was the somewhat similar aura seeping from her, one muddled to a disturbing degree
Its pure pride aura forced it to take this enemy on and shred her to bits just to erase the unpleasant sense coming off her from existence
'Here it comes'
With a speed so fast the wind couldn't catch up the white beast came clawing at her, an attack she readily took head-on in her defending stance
Claws met swords and the tiger's superior strength quickly established itself pushing her backwards almost breaking her stance, it didn't dissuade her from the next planned step however for she was taught to put her all from the get-go, a tip that always came in handy
"Haa!"
Switching smoothly to the counter stance and sliding the twin swords off the claws allowed her to slash across the beast's arms, barely drawing blood but achieving a hit right off the bat, this closed the already short distance though putting her within biting range
Seeing the two fangs approach with a deadly shine didn't make her flinch at all, her swords were already on their way to block off the attack while her body abruptly stopped its forward momentum, taking a momentary pause to defuse the weight of the fang attack before jumping away from the short but dangerous exchange
"Haah haah, three is still bearable I guess"
Just now Ellis switched into the defence stance one more after switching to counter one, back at earth when she fought the rats just switching to a second stance brought immense pain and struggle yet now she was capable of linking three stances without suffering any harming effects
'I can do it'
It wasn't just lasting a minute
'I can win'
Much like the prideful tiger she also didn't like the other's aura, it made her dignity feel insulted, smeared with the intolerable pride that bore no morals
"I will be the final victor"
She spoke to it for the first and last time before raising her swords and clashing once more against that who opposed her beliefs