The Gamer's POV-Chapter 200: Home of the Hollow Ones [16]

This... this was far worse than Cedric could have imagined things would turn out.

He sighed, and for a moment, he thought... what would he do if his bonded ability did not have a cost?

After looking at the survivors, scattered like debris across the chamber, the weight of that "if" felt heavier than his own exhaustion.

However, he quickly put that thought aside for now because they weren’t done yet.

His eyes darted to the red bridge monster seated majestically on the throne at the far end of the vast chamber. The only time the creature had moved was when it raised a hand earlier to signal the ten, after which it returned to the position it had been sitting in earlier.

Now, seeing that almost all the hollow ones had been killed, the creature finally moved again.

Slowly, it stood up and discarded the large white robes it was wearing. The fabric pooled around the base of the throne, leaving the monster clad only in a pair of white pants cut from the same heavy material.

It slowly reached to its side and drew two massive khopeshes.

When the cadets saw that, despite how tired they were, they quickly tried to prepare themselves for the final fight.

Aurora brushed back her hair, which was slick with sweat and matted against her forehead, and then spun her glaive in a practiced circle.

The rest of the cadets... those who could still fight began walking up to her, forming an uneven line around her as they gathered their remaining strength.

The red bridge monster was known to be slightly stronger than the rest of its species due to the red bridge energy embedded within it. So the cadets were going to have to give their all if they were going to kill it.

Aika stood beside Cedric and both locked their gazes onto the monster.

When they were all in position, Aurora tightened her grip on her glaive and yelled.

"Kill it or die here!"

In response, everyone began running towards the monster to launch their final assault, with Aurora leading the charge. The sound of their footsteps echoed like thunder against the chamber walls. But when they were halfway across the floor, the creature suddenly leapt from its throne with terrifying power.

Aurora skidded to a halt and leapt back as it slammed into the ground in front of her, sending cracks spiderwebbing through the stone floor. She recovered quickly, bringing down her glaive in a heavy overhead strike. However, before she could connect, the monster swung its right khopesh up to parry her blade. The collision of metal rang out through the chamber, and then it swept its other blade to the side, stopping Cedric’s nodachi just as he tried to close in on its chest.

At the same time, the creature tilted its body slightly, and an arrow shot by Audrey, who was flying in the air several meters away, whistled past its side. The monster did not even look at her. Instead, it remained focused on the two in front of it, using its superior reach to hold both Aurora and Cedric at bay while the rest of the cadets closed in.

Cedric bent down and Aika stepped onto his back, then leapt and swung her weapon down with all her weight behind it. But the creature simply crossed the two khopeshes above its head in an "X" shape, catching Aika’s strike in the mid-air notch of the blades. It then shoved upward, throwing Aika backward through the air and forcing her to twist mid-flight just to land on her feet.

Then it whipped one blade around, swatting another arrow that had come from Audrey as if it were a mere insect. At that moment, Aurora gave way for Leon to pass. Leon was now holding two khopeshes in his hand as a weapon, and in the brief moment he stepped into the gap, he exchanged several strikes with the monster, mirroring its movements perfectly.

While the creature was defending against him, Cedric too joined and both of them launched a synchronized offensive. While Leon kept the monster’s blades occupied with a flurry of strikes, Cedric drove forward, swinging his nodachi in low, powerful arcs.

The monster tried to pivot, but Leon’s relentless assault forced it to keep its khopeshes raised. Seizing the opportunity, Cedric shifted his grip and thrust the tip of his nodachi toward the creature’s chest. The monster was forced to retreat, leaning back to avoid the pierce.

But Cedric didn’t relent and kept pushing the advantage. Every time the monster tried to plant its feet and counter, Cedric drove the blade forward again, aiming for the center of its torso. The creature found itself unable to stop the momentum of the long blade while Leon continued to harry its sides. It took one step back, then another, its movements becoming more strained as it was forced into a slow, defensive retreat across the chamber floor.

As if that was not enough, the creature’s eyes darted to the left and right to see Aurora coming for it from the left and Aika running towards it from the right.

Its grip tightened on the blades as it suddenly stopped retreating; then it planted its back leg firmly, cracking the stone beneath its heel to halt its backward momentum.

At that moment, the red crystal in its head suddenly glowed brighter, as if the creature was drawing power from it, and then, all of a sudden, its speed doubled. Its movements, which had been fluid before, became even more deadly.

Cedric and Leon were forced to shift into a desperate defense as the creature suddenly began counter-attacking with such ferocity that the sheer weight of the strikes pushed them back.

But then, both girls joined the fight in a synchronized blur of motion. When Leon gave an opening, Aurora would step in and drive the other point of her glaive toward the monster’s chest. And when Cedric gave an opening, Aika would dive in, using her own weapon to catch and try to stop the creature’s blade to give Aurora an opening.

The four of them moved in a tight circle around the beast, their weapons clashing in a frantic rhythm. Even with its speed doubled, the monster found itself being squeezed by their teamwork, its eyes darting between the four weapons that refused to let it breathe.