Ren rolled to a stop and then twisted, jumping to his left-hand side, successfully dodging two surprise attacks.
"Damn it, what's it this time?" Ren cursed as he prepared to activate an ability at any moment.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Impressive, able to dodge a sneaky attack from me two times in a row. Hmm, that's truly a wonder," a voice echoed.
Immediately, he turned to his right. There, a figure with an emerald glow materialized while clapping.
Ren scrutinized the figure and barked, "Who are you? What do you want?"
"Me? Who I am doesn't matter. All that matters is that you have something I want," the figure said as the glow on her body started fading, revealing a charming female.
Huh? "I—I don't remember taking anything from you… or did I?"
"And I don't recall telling you that you took something from me… or did I?" she answered back, mimicking Ren's tone.
"I guess you didn't. Then what do I have that you want?" Ren asked.
"Hmm… now that's a very good question. The thing is, I don't really know what it looks like. Mhhm, let me see… a piece of ornament? Or maybe a pendant? In fact, anything you just acquired recently," she said, standing in a thinking pose with her finger on her lips.
She isn't talking about the pendant, is she? Ren thought. Well, let's confirm first.
"The only things I acquired recently are some random beast memories. If you want, you can have some," Ren said, and then he summoned two lethal-backed daggers.
"Well, there are more, so if those are not up to your taste, you can have this instead," he said and unsummoned the daggers, then she summoned two swords immediately after.
"Nah, not those. Don't you have anything that's not a beast memory?" she asked.
"No!"
"Fine. I meant the key—the item you took from the corpse of that unfortunate crab."
"Ooh, that? Well, it's a pendant and not a key, which means it's not yours and—"
"Stop it. Stop this back-and-forth banter. Just give me the key!"
I guess my resting time is finally over. I hope it could have lasted longer, Ren thought as he checked his energy bar.
[Energy: 21/51]
21 energy recovered? Hope it lasts through this. Well, then I would have to make good use of it.
"Fine. Since you don't want to, I will have to pry it off your corpse then."
Immediately, her skin turned emerald as she faded into thin air.
Without wasting time, Ren activated Merge, making the Jade Phoenix Carapace burst forth from his body.
A green ball materialized out of thin air at Ren's side and struck him. The armor bore the brunt of the attack as he was sent flying toward the cavern wall.
Bang!
"Agh!" Ren grunted, pushing himself off the wall.
That was a really close call. If I hadn't activated the Jade Phoenix Carapace in time, it would have been worse, Ren thought as he swallowed the blood welling up in his throat.
"How dare trash stand in my way!" a feminine voice barked, echoing all around the cavern.
Hmm, a cocky one, huh? Ren muttered. Well, time to be serious.
[Jade Spirit Activated]
He activated the Jade Phoenix Carapace's skill, making the jade-like veins beneath the feathered plates light up as strength flooded his body. Immediately, his senses expanded, and then he saw it—a red figure standing some distance from him.
The figure swung its hand, and a red glow burst forth.
Without wasting time, he spun, dodging the strike heading for his head.
That must be her.
Gripping the sword with both hands, he swung, successfully parrying another green glow.
Then he paused for several seconds, pretending as if he was not seeing her. He waited, and then the figure attacked again—this time from his blind spot, or so she thought.
Ren ducked and swung his sword, sending the attack to the side.
Huh? How is he doing it? she thought.
Meanwhile, in Ren's mind, a plan was already forming.
Bang!
He swung his sword, parrying another strike.
Parry! Parry! Parry!
The strikes kept coming, but this time they were faster and from different angles.
Yes, closer, closer, a little more closer, Ren thought as he kept parrying the attacks.
"Checkmate," Ren muttered as the lethal-backed dagger appeared in his left hand, which he had positioned on her blind spot. He gripped it and hurled it at the red figure that had appeared in his view after he activated Jade Spirit.
My strikes are fast and coming from random directions, so how is he doing it? That was the thought running through her mind before Ren's dagger appeared.
Immediately, she sidestepped, dodging as the dagger flew past her face. Just as I thought… he can see me. But why attack now? Turning toward Ren again, she was met face-to-face with a sword heading toward her.
Think you can outsmart me with a basic diversion technique, huh? Well, unfortunately it would have worked with others, but unfortunately, you met me, she thought. Then her body started shining green, and bang!
A green energy erupted from her in a doom-like shape.
Immediately after Ren threw the dagger, he quickly rushed in. The reason he had been parrying earlier instead of dodging was so he could activate the Lethal Strike skill of the sword.
It all depends on you now, he thought. As Lethal Strike activated, combined with Jade Spirit, his attack…
He gripped the sword tighter and swung with all his might at the head of the red figure.
The Lethal Strike combined with Jade Spirit increased his attacking strength—and then he struck.
Gritting his teeth, he pressed on with all his might. The sword passed through, but most of its momentum had been lost.
Raising its left hand, the figure caught the sword, gripping it. The sword shattered, and then it raised its other hand and punched. A green glow burst forth as the blow connected with Ren's jaw, sending him flying—but not before he struck her with another dagger he had silently summoned in his other hand.
Slash!
With the momentum of the figure's attack plus his own, the dagger cleanly slashed open the figure's stomach.
With a spinning flip, he landed and then spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Huff… that, huff… strike, huff… wasn't easy," Ren said while panting.
Suddenly, a voice rang out: "Since my invisibility doesn't work on you, I would have to abandon it then."
Ren's eyes widened as he raised his head. There, he was met with the figure of the lady amidst a green glow, materializing back into reality.
Immediately, he checked his energy stat.
[Energy: 8/51]
Damn it… she's not dead yet, which means I'm in big trouble now, Ren thought.
Her jaw tightened, lips flattening as anger hardened her face, and then she muttered:
How!
Dare!
You!
You will pay!
she muttered as the gash in her stomach started knitting back together.