” Wait, why are we not backing Max up? ” Asiva asked in a concerned voice as Anna kept dragging her and Severus through the woods.

” It’s because he can handle it on his own” Anna said with a smile on her face.

” Are you sure? It’s a tier 4 warrior and a tier 3 warrior attacking him ” Severus counter questioned but Anna shrugged her shoulders and said ” Well to be honest, I think he’ll be just alright “.

Asiva widened her eyes in disbelief, the last she saw Max he was a capable warrior but their combat strength was not that far apart, however, now it seemed like he had strided far ahead of her.

” Still have your dragon with you? ” Anna asked Asiva who nodded in acknowledgement.

” Is it strong enough to fly you both out? ” Anna asked again, to which Asiva shook her head in denial

” No he is only tier2 yet, can’t fly very well himself let alone fly us out ” Asiva said as Anna clicked her tongue

” Well, then I guess the only option for us is to keep running ” Anna said as she increased her pace of manoeuvring through the woods.

***********

( Meanwhile Vari and Nimli )

” What in the fiery bloody hell is this? ” Vari asked Nimli in a puzzled voice.

They were chasing Max, however, when they came near his approximate location they saw many trees from which bottles of blood were hanging and had been punctured by arrows, while a dragon was apparently burning the treetops from above.

” Well if there are arrows lodged into the tree trunks it means that the Elf Archer and the others must have passed through here before the Vampire, we are on the right track ” Nimli replied calmly as his footsteps made a splattering sound as he walked on a thin layer of blood.

Suddenly two fireballs came towards the duo from behind a tree as they immediately tried to jump aside, only to be shocked to see that their legs had been held firmly into the ground by what appeared to be shackles originating from the blood underneath.

-9,000

-15,000

Nimli got a lower damage because he was a tier stronger than Vari, but both men were still stunned by what was going on.

” The enemy has got some tricks up his sleeve, be careful ” Nimli said as he began rotating his spear at a fast speed before using the attack [ Spear Slash ]

His attack chopped down all the trees in a 30 metres distance as Max was revealed hiding behind one particularly wide one.

” There you are ” Nimli said as he slammed his spear onto the bloody chains holding him to the ground, breaking them with sheer strength.

Seizing the opening, Vari unleashed the sword technique [ Leaf Blade Hurricane ] as he sent hundreds of slashes towards Max.

[ Firewall ]

Max used firewall to block all incoming attacks, and then used the cover of the wall to shoot a barrage of fireballs in a projectile over the wall towards the rough location of the enemy.

After freeing himself, Nimli helped free Vari as the two rolled away from Max’s incoming barrage with both of them flanking Max from opposite directions, trying to bypass the wall and create an opening for attack.

It was a good plan, and they believed that it was going to be successful too as without Max having clear vision of their movements he would not be able to have an accurate reading of their attacks, however, unfortunately for them, Max had already anticipated this manoeuvre.

*SHUA*

*SHUA*

*SHUA*

*SHUA*

The two of them tripped the traps set up by Anna before the fight as a barrage of arrows were shot in their direction.

[ Spear Block ]

Nimli began rotating his spear at an incredible pace to block all incoming arrows, however, Vari was not able to do the same and was shot at 6 different body parts.

-4,000

-3,000

-4,000

.

.

.

.

-17,000 CRITICAL HIT!

Vari’s health dropped down to a critical red as his neck was punctured with an arrow, Vari immediately tried to open a bottle of health potion and use it to recover his lost HP, however, Max used [ Blood Manipulation] and created a Blood Blade to bust the bottle in his hands before he could drink it.

” Help ” Vari yelped in a weak voice as he removed the arrow lodged in his neck, and understanding the urgency of the situation Nimli charged towards Max to keep him occupied and to create enough time for Vari to heal up.

Putting his full strength behind his Spear, Nimli went for a full powered swing at Max, thinking that his tier 4 strength would be enough to sweep Max clean off his feet.

However, Max planted his feet at shoulder width and just like how he had blocked the force of incoming boulders with just a stick, he calmly blocked Nimli’s Spear swing with his bare hands.

” What? ” Nimli was horrified, this was not possible unless someone had mastered the skill block, however, who in their right minds would master such a skill?

[ Fireblast ]

At point blank range Max used Fireblast sending Nimli flying about 15 feet back as the tier4 warrior lost 17,000 health points.

[ Fireball ]

[ Fireball ]

[ Fireball ]

[ Summon Nether Beasts ]

Immediately after blasting Nimli away, Max returned his attention to the struggling human warrior Vari as he used Fireball to blast away the second Health potion that Vari tried to drink while forcing him to dodge the other two.

Max summoned his Netherbeasts the second he saw Nimli getting back to his feet as he trusted the tier2 hounds enough to know that the fifteen of them would be enough to deplete the red HP bar of the injured Vari.

” Kill him ” Max commanded as his Hounds pounced on Vari like a pack of hungry wolves, backing the tier 3 swordsman into a tight corner.

” How dare you toy with me! ” Nimli roared in anger as he charged at Max with renewed passion, knowing full well that if he did not end the fight with Max quickly his partner would most likely die.