Terrence was calmly observing the five approaching humans, but suddenly, a sharp stream of icy threat trickled down his nape for an unknown reason.
Relying on the heightened instincts he had built up to dodge incoming danger, he aggressively turned his body around, and Noir seemed to have sensed the hidden attack at the exact same moment.
A violent sweep of invisible and volatile energy sliced directly through the thick trunk of the tree where they had previously been hiding. The massive tree snapped completely in half, and the cracked, heavy wood fell to the wet ground with a deafening crash.
Terrence clicked his tongue in frustration as he failed to locate the hidden source of the threat before him. However, thankfully, he was learning to trust his sharp gut intuition.
’Where the hell is that fucker?’ He noticed that the five men had already spotted his position, but without seeing the stealthy enemy launching those slashes, he couldn’t afford to do anything reckless.
Noir remained on high guard right beside him, and in the very next second, which felt eerily silent, that same invisible energy tried to slice Terrence apart again.
It was undeniably aimed to kill, as the unseen strike targeted Terrence’s exposed neck directly.
"Shit..."
Terrence leaped backward with everything he had as Noir instantly stepped in front of him, unleashing a sharp Triple Slash to deflect the invisible force in mid-air. To be safe, Terrence also activated Skill Share, instantly layering Iron Skin across his body.
’It shouldn’t be a matter of ’just in case’ at a time like this... Hell, all my plans go down the drain if I just die out here without proper physical protection. My beasts won’t always be able to block every attack for me.’
Terrence firmly held on to that life-saving belief.
"How on earth were you able to dodge that?" A shadowy voice echoed from a distance in the direction the invisible attack had originated from, but Terrence still couldn’t pinpoint the user’s exact coordinate.
Terrence forced himself to calm down as his blood started boiling with intense adrenaline.
"I don’t really know about that, but maybe you should try a little harder next time?" Terrence answered back mockingly. Before he could even prepare a proper counterattack, the five ruffians suddenly burst through the foliage with their tames fully summoned and ready for blood.
"So you were hiding right here, kid," the boss of the group sneered, stepping forward while his four men slowly spread out to surround Terrence from a distance.
Terrence smirked, surprised by how thrilled he was becoming under the pressure. The heavy tension in his chest slowly dissipated, turning into a strange sense of joy for the incoming challenge.
This was what all the life-and-death danger had ultimately turned him into. Whatever mental and physical improvements he gained from these fights were surely beneficial to his survival.
"What’s your business with me?" Terrence asked coolly.
"Simple. You’re going to hand over all your beasts to us."
"Direct to the point, but completely pointless. How did you guys even come up with the brilliant idea of ganging up on me?"
A sudden swirl of inaudible, invisible air energy flew straight at Terrence’s face, but Noir managed to deflect it once again with a swift dark slash. The explosive shadow particles dissipated completely upon impact.
The boss’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, noticeably taken aback by how insanely calm Terrence remained despite being surrounded.
’He’s stupidly confident that his single shadow beast is powerful enough to cover for his lack of experience, huh,’ the boss thought to himself, signaling his men as all their summoned beasts prepared for a coordinated, synergized assault.
All five men controlled different types of beasts, but every single monster possessed immense physical attributes. Terrence knew full well that he could manage dodging them one on one, but the physical toll would be drastically greater this time around.
He couldn’t just focus on dodging either; he had to aggressively counterattack, which was vastly different from most combat situations he had experienced before.
If he were fighting just one or two enemies, it would be manageable, but this time there were five visible opponents plus one invisible attacker lurking in the shadows.
’Tough luck right after pulling a lucky gold draw,’ Terrence bit his lower lip as his confident smile slowly faded. As the seconds ticked by, the invisible long-range attacks didn’t stop coming.
Terrence moved his body like he was executing a fluid dance, dodging each unpredictable attack that launched from totally different directions. He twirled and ducked past every incoming blade of air while Noir worked tirelessly to deflect whatever got too close to his master.
Noticing that the invisible strikes from their hidden colleague weren’t landing, the five ruffians ordered their beasts to attack Terrence all at once.
Terrence leaped a few steps backward to gain distance. Noir stopped beside him, his glowing eyes rolling around intelligently to inspect each incoming target.
Taking a slow, controlled breath, Terrence watched as a giant slithering snake beast burst into action, spraying a stream of corrosive venomous liquid from its jaws. Simultaneously, a massive stone golem curled itself into a heavy boulder, rolling aggressively toward the exact position Terrence was likely to dodge into.
He was tightly trapped as two ferocious wolf beasts and a massive white tiger beast lunged directly behind his blind spot.
Terrence crouched low to the wet ground. Slowly, with each tiny fraction of a second passing, time itself seemed to slow down in his mind.
He could clearly feel the exact flow of incoming threat, and as he leaped high into the air, he first planted his feet firmly on top of the rolling stone golem. Noir leaped up right after him, allowing Terrence to use the shadow hound’s back as a physical platform to jump even higher into the sky.
Noir’s dark Triple Slash attacks materialized beneath Terrence’s feet like a temporary staircase made of shadow energy, giving Terrence a short but pinpoint accurate landing surface far away from the converging group.
He successfully escaped the tight circle the group had formed. Now, he could face all five of them at once from the front without exposing his vulnerable back to anyone.
A dark grin spread across Terrence’s face as his boots hit the ground. "Now this... this is actually exciting."
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