The injured giant crocodile, with an arrogant display of victory, slowly advanced, its gaze fixed on the clown nearby, as if asking if it could begin feeding.
The clown, standing at the edge of the circular platform, made no move to stop it, merely observing silently.
If one is prepared for a challenge, one should also be prepared for death... But surely, one still wishes to see what happens next? Waiting for a miracle... something almost impossible to achieve with such severe injuries, unless Mana was illicitly used... But even then, casting magic should be quite difficult, shouldn't it?
Watching the giant crocodile continue towards Bai En, Fragil and the other two tightly watched from the side, with lightning, flames, and frost falling from the sky, they entered a state of combat.
As members of the Magic Knights, there was no reason to stand by and watch someone die.
Moreover, he had cooked for them this morning, and the food was quite good... On the way here, he had also taught them the Mana Skin technique... He gave a good impression.
At the very least, he was already their friend.
As the giant crocodile opened its gaping maw, lightning and flames were already prepared to surge forth, and the frost forming in the air was ready to cover the battlefield at any moment.
But... Bai En suddenly stood up shakily, leaning on his sword.
His body was covered in blood, looking quite terrifying and miserable... The giant crocodile roared ferociously at Bai En, its snarl seemingly asking him why he was standing up again? Wouldn't it be better to just be eaten as food?
Didn't he feel the pain in his body from standing up?
Honestly, Bai En didn't know why he could still stand up in such pain; a burning agony almost covered his entire body, especially his side and waist... That feeling of powerlessness, it felt like he couldn't straighten up at all.
But he still stood up.
Perhaps it was a habit from competing with Asta and Yuno since childhood, never wanting to be the first to give up, even if he did push-ups until his arms couldn't straighten, when he saw them still trying to fight, he would deceptively tell himself that just getting up was enough.
Doing this for a long time formed a habit.
Just getting up was enough.
But now... deceptively making himself stand up, even if he stood up, what good would it do? To defeat this Magic Beast, which he had only stabbed once, with an injured body?
He probably couldn't even do it in his prime, without using Mana or magic.
Let alone with an injured body, with who knows how many broken bones.
So unwilling.
It wasn't because of death or the regret and remorse of choosing not to use magic against the giant crocodile.
Instead, he recalled when he was in the capital, Asta had demonstrated a realm he had reached before him, while he himself had never... entered it.
It was like two guys whose grades weren't too far apart, one always maintained first place in all subjects, the other second in all subjects, then suddenly one day the one who was second in all subjects surpassed the first in a particular subject.
The one who was first in all subjects, unwilling to accept it, would focus intensely on that subject... but still wouldn't pass in the next exam, having to implicitly acknowledge that this guy had surpassed him in this subject... Unwilling.
But what could he do?
Unwilling... so be it, besides himself, no one else would care... But... he just couldn't accept it!
He had been competing since childhood, and now he wanted to contend, he wanted to win!
Bai En activated his breathing technique, taking large gulps of oxygen from the air, forcibly inhaling it into his lungs, intensifying the already burning pain, as if his body was about to ignite.
Amidst the excitement and unwillingness, in the shocking sight of blood, his strong physique, forged by long-term rigorous training, began to respond to him; with the secretion of certain informational hormones within his body, his fiery body gradually became gentle.
Although it still maintained its maximum temperature, there was no hindrance whatsoever.
Blue water patterns, like flower petals, were imprinted on Bai En's cheeks, making his already delicate face appear extremely enchanting under the blue water patterns.
Bai En looked up, and the originally vibrant world instantly lost its color, then... in black and white, the world began to reconstruct.
White bones, bright red blood, a beating heart, Mana perception also invisibly magnified at this moment; those scattered points of natural Mana were like fireflies on a summer evening... 'This is... a brand new world!'
Bai En began to observe himself in this new world; the aura he usually had to conceal began to contract inwards, and the injured, bleeding areas within his body slowly began to stop bleeding with the assistance of surrounding tissues.
The pain from his shattered bones began to lessen... The full strength of his muscles was under his control, ready to unleash its maximum power at any moment!
Wind and a foul stench spread.
The giant crocodile opened its blood-red maw, covering Bai En's form; in a trance, Bai En's gaze fell upon it, and the creature's instincts warned the giant crocodile.
'What is it?'
It felt completely seen through by a certain gaze, stopping its mouth from swallowing, retracting it tightly, its four limbs carefully began to retreat, looking around, but it couldn't find that gaze.
'Could it be that I'm overly nervous?!'
'It couldn't be him, could it?'
The giant crocodile slowly looked at Bai En, who was standing before it, leaning on his sword; a hint of disdainful smile appeared at the corner of its mouth, then it opened its mouth again, ready to completely swallow him.
It had already forgotten that the human in front of it had not yet used Mana or magic... This blindness and arrogance also made it ignore the instinctively warned danger!
Bai En moved in the deep black shadow; his left hand, not holding the sword, grabbed the giant crocodile's open upper jaw, using the dark longsword as the center, he turned, exerted force, all in one fluid motion.
The giant crocodile, over ten meters long, was lifted and heavily slammed onto the ground; the grayish-black ground instantly cracked under the immense force.
'What?!'
The giant crocodile was dizzy and disoriented; although it wasn't quite clear what had just happened, it wasn't stupid, the surge of Mana within its body, the formation of frost, it wanted to protect itself with solidified ice crystals.
But... it was too late.
Bai En's sword was faster; a dark shadow first pierced through the not-yet-fully-solidified frost, and the frost, along with the white belly skin, was pierced through.
In the almost flawless world, the giant crocodile's tissue structure and surface veins could be clearly seen, even the firm and soft parts were perfectly visible!
The longsword splattered blood, which trickled out.
The blade cut swiftly, and the giant crocodile was disemboweled, gradually losing all movement.
Luck and Magna, who were originally prepared to offer support, stared blankly at Bai En, "What's wrong with him? He was so severely injured, why... was his movement completely unaffected?"
"Also, what was that power? It instantly flipped that giant crocodile?"
"Could it be that he illicitly used Mana?"
Luck seemed to recall something and said in a soft voice, "Do you think it could be similar to what happened with Asta in the Underwater Temple before?"
...