Versatile System

Trevor did not hesitate, only barely managing to jump to the side to avoid a direct, head-on collision with the fox.

"How pathetic. It shouldn’t take you this long to cast a spell. You should be doing it in seconds, especially for low-ranked spells like that."

Elena spoke as though she was trying her best to at least boost his morale.

"And don’t let them kill you, because I am literally not going to help you," Elena added, moving backward even more, as though she was trying to emphasize the fact that she was indeed not going to step in to save him if anything went wrong in any possible scenario.

The fox was not done. It immediately turned and charged right back at Trevor, the others following suit. But the brief second it took to turn was enough for Trevor to make out its weak point from its figure, and it was clear.

Their weakness was their tails.

As surprising as it was, Trevor tried his best to remain calm. Even though their tails were their weakness, they were positioned behind them at an almost impossible angle. So no matter what, it was still a very hard task to accomplish, and he was also running out of time.

His Eyes of Hades were already on the verge of shutting down, so he had to act as fast as possible if he wanted to remedy the situation.

Trevor immediately jumped to the side, but it was already too late. Despite dodging one of the animals, the remaining ones jumped on him like a swarm. Even the fox he had already dodged immediately joined the assault.

They started tearing him apart. Their mouths bit hard into his skin, and he could already see his game HP decreasing at a frightening speed. It felt like he was going to drop dead any minute, and the pain was unbearable. Tears had already begun falling from his eyes.

Elena still did not make a move to save him, but from her expression, she was already tense, as if prepared to act at any moment.

But almost immediately, Trevor remembered something Caroline had once told him about combat.

The end goal is usually victory, no matter how it comes.

Almost instantly, Trevor’s mind cleared. The end goal just had to be victory. It did not have to be flashy. One does not need to aura farm all the time. If you have a weakness and I use it against you and win the fight, then I have won, no matter what anyone says.

With that, Trevor punched one of the monsters off his shoulders. It hit the cave wall with a heavy thud and fell to the ground.

With one hand now free, Trevor carefully grabbed the tails of the remaining foxes, which were still biting down on him.

The last fox, the one he had knocked away, was not pleased in the slightest. The moment it saw what Trevor was doing, it let out a loud bark and lunged at him with tremendous speed.

Trevor, who was still carefully dealing with the foxes while tolerating the pain, was thrown into complete shock. It was not like he could do anything.

This was undeniably the very end of him. His hands were already occupied. One was trying to hold onto all the tails of the foxes, while the other was being viciously bitten by one of them.

Trevor could only watch in fury as the creature came lunging toward him.

But before it could even make contact, an ice arrow struck it firmly in the head. The impact alone sent the creature flying in the opposite direction.

Trevor already knew where that came from, but he did not have time to give thanks. The bites were already hurting him more than he could ever imagine, and the burns he was receiving were getting out of hand. The foxes were tearing him apart.

His HP was dropping at a terrifying rate, and he only had about one more minute before his Eyes of Hades would be automatically deactivated.

But he still had hope.

Within a few seconds, he finally got hold of the last fox’s tail. Each of them was thrashing violently, biting down hard on Trevor’s hands, trying their very best to escape his grip.

But Trevor’s hold was firm. He knew that if his plan did not work perfectly, he would not be leaving this place alive. Even if just one creature managed to survive, it would already be game over. He was gravely burned by their fiery bodies, and the bite marks were already too deep. He was certain he would not be able to fight even one of them again.

So his adrenaline surged. He held onto the tails of the creatures with all his strength, making sure none of them moved.

Without any warning, he used all his remaining strength to cast a final fire spell, burning their tails in one quick, devastating flash, his own hands burning alongside them.

That was the only way. If he released them too early, it would all be for nothing.

The fire was intense, draining the remaining portion of Trevor’s HP. He was already down to about 11/100, which in itself was a terrible place to be. One solid strike would be enough to finish him for good.

As expected, the foxes finally let go of their grip, thrashing away from Trevor’s hands as fast as they could. Yet Trevor held on, trying to delay for as long as possible before releasing them, making sure he had inflicted enough damage before letting go.

But the sheer strength of the foxes prevailed over his weakened hands, which had already suffered third-degree burns.

Trevor could only scream in pain as the foxes finally freed themselves from his grip.

His heart skipped a beat. He could only pray that he had held on long enough for the damage to be done.

But even then, what if one of the foxes decided to attack him as a last resort?

Trevor had already begun calculating every possible outcome as he lay on the swampy cave floor, half-dead.