Chapter 53 - – Between Hope and Despair (3) (1/2)

Aleen felt a shiver running through his back when he saw the monster.

Aleen had already fought against a level three brooder before in the surface, but back then it was gravely injured by Caira's spell. This one, however, was completely fine, and Aleen did not have any doubt that it was stronger than him.

He, however, was confident.

Without hesitation, he retracted his sword and twisted his body slightly, parrying the attack from the level three brooder. Then, he put more mana into his sword and slashed again towards it.

But when the sword was about to hit the monster, the brooder moved another claw and blocked the attack easily. Then, it thrust another claw towards Aleen's chest.

The attack was too sudden for Aleen to react, but fortunately, Elvila's barrier defended him from harm.

The monster, however, did not give up after its attack was stopped. Giving a growl of fury, it swung two more of its claws towards the barrier defending Aleen. The barrier was unable to endure the wave of attacks, and broke quickly under Aleen's stupefied look; but before the monster could cry in glee, Elvila moved her hand and created another barrier while shooting the level three monster with her gun.

When it saw a new barrier appearing, the brooder screamed in fury and increased the rate of his attacks. Aleen tried to attack it while it was attacking, but the monster was able to parry each of his attacks easily.

Meanwhile, more monsters began to close to the group taking advantage of the level three's attacks.

Aleen could not help but bit his lips seeing it. He looked towards Ana briefly and saw her hesitating about using her skill. Aleen frowned his brows and shook his head slightly, indicating that it was not the moment.

Ana's skill was very useful towards groups of enemies, so they could not afford to waste it against just a monster.

Aleen, however, knew that they could not allow the level three's attacks to continue.

Making his mind at that moment, Aleen concentrated in the rune inside his mind. With a thought, he willed his skill to activate.

Lightning immediately coursed through his body furiously.

Feeling the surroundings slow down, Aleen fixed his sight in the level three before him. Without hesitation, he twisted his sword slightly and avoided the monster's claws. Then, he stabbed towards the monster's face.

At that moment, however, Aleen noticed something wrong.

Through the slowed time, Aleen saw the eyes of the monster following the path of the sword. Aleen made an expression of astonishment, but gritted his teeth and continued with the attack despite it.

But when the sword was about to reach to the monster, it moved its body slightly.

It was a small movement; slight enough that in normal circumstances, it would not have affected the outcome of the attack.

But in this situation, this slight movement was enough to change completely the situation.

*Clank*

A metallic noise sounded.

When the sword impacted the monster, instead of hitting its face, the attack ended impacting against the monster's carapace, creating small sparks due to the strength of the impact.

Aleen felt his sword stopping completely when it hit the monster's defenses, unable to advance anymore.

The monster faltered slightly due to the strength of the attack, but was otherwise uninjured. Aleen put an expression of surprise and stopped briefly due to the astonishment; but immediately recovered his composure and gritted his teeth again.

Pumping more mana towards his skill, Aleen stepped slightly to a side and recovered his stance before thrusting once more with his sword.