The Gamer’s POV

I brought my katana down with all the energy I could muster, aiming to strike the swordsman while he was still staggered. However, before the blade could connect, the boy rolled desperately out of the way.

At that same moment, the red-haired girl lunged with her rapier, aiming for my throat.

In response to the warning from Gamer Privileges, I leaned back, dodging her blade as it whistled past in front of me.

The girl didn't stop. In the same breath, she spun her blade in a horizontal arc to take off my head. I arched my body over backward, causing the blade to pass harmlessly over me.

…Just then, Aika's knee drove into the girl's side. The girl's eyes widened as she was caught off guard and sent skidding across the grass from the impact.

She groaned in pain and clutched her side, only to look up and see Aika's leg driving toward her again. However, she was fast, and she pivoted to dodge the blow. In the same breath, she swept her rapier in a deadly horizontal arc, but Aika bent over backward, dodging the strike. As soon as she recovered, both girls dissolved into a melee of slashes, dodges, and blows.

Meanwhile, after rolling to avoid my strike, the swordsman had stood up. He raised his sword and drove the tip deep into the grass.

[The character Ahmand has activated the exclusive skill: Geode Impalement.]

I was about to lunge at him when the soil suddenly began to rise like jagged stone teeth, tearing through the earth and rapidly approaching me until a sharp spire was about to pierce my chest.

In that instant, a raven flying above cawed and dove toward the fray, but mid-descent, it erupted into a flurry of black feathers.

[One with the Ravens]

Immediately, my own form exploded into a flurry of dense feathers. By the time the earthen spire reached the spot where I had stood, it struck only the raven I had switched places with, impaling the bird instead of me.

The swordsman wrenched his blade from the ground and looked around in confusion, searching for where I had gone.

But right at that moment, I descended from above behind him, driving my katana deep into his back and pinning the bastard onto the floor.

His body spasmed in a final, desperate struggle, but then black flames erupted from the entry wound. The dark fire spread instantly, consuming the figure of the boy until there was nothing left but smoke and dust.

At the same time, Aika was still locked in a fierce melee against the dominant with the rapier. Several shallow cuts traced Aika's body, staining her clothes with blood, but the other girl was clearly in worse condition. Her face was swollen from the impact of Aika's blows, and a steady stream of blood leaked from her broken nose.

The girl thrust her rapier forward, aiming to pierce Aika's chest. But Aika quickly pivoted, dodging the blade, and grabbed the girl's outstretched arm to lock her in place. With her target trapped, Aika delivered three crushing blows into the girl's already broken nose, causing her to moan in pain.

The girl's eyes went unfocused and rolled back in her head. Since her arm was still held firmly by Aika, her fingers went limp; she let go of the rapier, and it clattered to the floor.

But almost immediately, the rapier melted into a pool of water that surged upward, transforming into a woman. Before Aika could react, the woman locked her arm tightly around Aika's neck in a chokehold, cutting off her breath.

Aika grabbed the arm choking her and struggled to free herself. When she couldn't break the hold, her desperation turned into a cold, mounting fury. Her eyes changed, the iris and sclera bleeding into a bottomless, obsidian black.

[Flames of decay]

Suddenly, a torrent of black flames erupted from Aika's skin, engulfing them both in a violent, swirling pillar of dark fire.

The woman behind her screamed as her body decayed. Her skin and muscles melted off the bone in steaming ribbons before turning to green dust and black smoke.

As for Aika, a swirling mantle of flames wrapped around her body like living armor, the dark chill distorting the air around her.

She then lunged toward the redhead girl, who had just managed to regain her bearings. With the girl's bond destroyed, her strength had evaporated. She was helpless as Aika's palm clasped over her face. The girl could do nothing but drop to her knees, pinned under the pressure of the cold, black flames.

In a matter of seconds, the last traces of the girl's physical form evaporated into the air as black dust.

Then, the mantle of flames wrapping Aika slowly began to recede, seeping back into her skin until her eyes returned to their natural state.

She breathed out a gust of chill, deathly cold from her lips; then, her form suddenly erupted into a flurry of ravens that flew back to me. As they reached me, the ravens converged, their beating wings coalescing into a wakizashi in my grip.

With the weight of the short blade now in my hand, I turned my gaze toward the other members of my party, who were still locked in combat with the remaining hollow dominants.

***

Meanwhile…

Unlike Cedric who had three of the hollow dominants attack him, five of them had turned their attention to Evelyn and were closing in to attack.

At first, even with the overwhelming number of dominants approaching her, she didn't even look up as she was busy quickly chanting some words in a foreign language. Then, she suddenly grinned savagely and tightened the grip on her weapon.

In the next instant, the layers of thick blood that had coated the chains and edges of her chained kama suddenly began to pour onto the floor in streams that didn't end.

The hollow dominants approaching her suddenly paused as the entire ground around her became a shallow river of blood in a matter of seconds. Then, beasts made of steaming, coagulated blood began to pull themselves out from the crimson depths.

Six of the beasts took the form of towering, goat-headed ghouls, their bodies dripping with gore. Beside them, two tiny rabbits also emerged from the tide, all of them crafted from the same thick, dark blood.