“Fuck me. I should be in bed right now,” Soren grumbled.
“Shut up,” Teagan and Thessa replied at the same time in a hushed hiss, and Soren slapped a palm over his mouth.
The three Sect members stalked through the woods. They probably thought they were doing quite well moving in stealth, but a pair of blue eyes in the distance told a completely different story.
Theron stood high in the trees, unmoving.
This location was near the outskirts of the city. Though “near” was subjective. At an all-out sprint, it took Theron 15 minutes to get here. Yet, he somehow landed on the exact group he was looking for.
It was hard to tell what he was thinking, following after Sadie’s friends like this. But he did so without complaint, even as the first half-hour passed by ever so slowly.
“Here…” Thessa said softly.
The group stopped by a stream hidden behind some shrubbery. One after another, they unsheathed their weapons.
There was a rumble, and the ground seemed to sway. A shadow flickered beneath the crescent moonlight, a towering mass of a beast slowly inching forward.
Even in the night, Theron picked it out before they did. It was a hulking mass of a creature that had no business walking on such soft soil. Every step it took depressed the ground what felt like half a foot, and in the depths of the night, half asleep, it swayed back and forth as it made its way to take a sip of water.
Nothing about any of this made sense.
A trio of Sect members coming here as though they knew the grey rhino would be awake. A beast stumbling for water as though a human feeling their way back to bed from the bathroom in the middle of the night. And then there was the oddest part of it all…
Theron himself.
The youth had a calmness to him even in this odd situation. Somehow, it felt like everything was according to his plan.
The trio burst forward, even Soren showing rare hints of seriousness.
Their swords flashed into existence, and it was surprisingly Thessa that took the vanguard among them. Her robes wrapped around her under the moon, glimpses of her silhouette playing to the sparkling tale of her blade crossing the cool night air.
She clashed with the grey rhino’s horn and grasped its attention, her footsteps light as she pierced at its eyes again and again.
The grey rhino was quickly irritated and charged after her, its fatigue vanishing as it realized it was being targeted by puny humans.
Its Mancy level wasn’t very high, maybe just at the Sixth Resonance or so. But its defenses alone were comparable to that of a Ninth Resonance Flux Mancer.
Thessa clearly knew this, as she didn’t even really make an attempt to stab through the grey rhino’s eyes, simply feinting at it again and again.
In just a few exchanges, Thessa successfully lured the grey rhino into the shallow depths of the stream, and its already clunky movement became even more so.
By comparison, Thessa’s feet tapped at the water, leaving ripples as her Mana glided her across the surface with ease.
Teagan and Soren rounded the creature’s back, pouncing on it the instant it took another lunge at Thessa.
The back hide of the grey rhino was especially tough, and the two clearly knew this. Watching from above, Theron felt like he understood their plan and couldn’t help but shake his head.
Teagan and Soren both pierced their swords at the grey rhino’s legs, aiming for the back of its knees simultaneously.
A howl came from the creature as its skin was just barely torn through. It had been so focused on Thessa that it didn’t expect such a sudden change.
There was a flash in Thessa’s gaze, and she knew this was her chance. Her retreat stopped, and she pressed her whole foot onto the surface of the water.
TA.
She shot forward, a silvery glow coating her blade.
‘She’s close to Silver Mancy…’ Theron thought to himself. ‘…Very close. Just not close enough.’
PUCHI.
Thessa’s blade tore through the grey rhino’s eye, half a foot of its edge sinking into its socket.
Blood dyed the air for a brief moment as the grey rhino screamed out in pain.
Thessa’s eyes opened wide as she realized something was wrong. Her blade didn’t go in nearly deep enough, and now it was stuck.
She made a quick decision, hurriedly retreating and abandoning her blade.
‘Wrong decision,’ Theron calmly analyzed.
The grey rhino bucked.
By now, Teagan and Soren had both retreated away from the range of its fury, slipping out and extending the distance. They thought Thessa would end it, but when their vision was obscured by the sudden rise of the water, they knew that something had gone wrong.
The grey rhino howled and charged after Thessa.
Thessa found herself flustered, and her Mana control faltered. Her foot slipped into the water for a moment, and though she managed to restabilize herself quickly enough, the grey rhino was upon her, its horn lowered to skewer her right through the abdomen.
Without a choice, Thessa could only send out a palm strike, her Mana churning into a flaming palm.
‘If she had such a strong offensive Mana affinity, why didn’t she use it before?’ Theron questioned.
Thessa had been insistent on using the Luminescent Moon Sect’s martial arts for some reason, ignoring her Fire Mancy. Theron didn’t have an answer, so he simply calmly slotted it away.
Thessa’s flaming palm obscured the vision of the grey rhino’s one good eye, and she rounded to its side, grabbing the hilt of the sword she left in its other.
Her Mana erupted, and the blade became a searing hot iron.
Before the grey rhino could react, the sword was buried another half foot into its skull.
This time, it froze.
The forward momentum of the beast sent Thessa flailing, the horn ripping a deep gash along her side before sending her sprawling into the waters.
The currents of the stream swallowed her up.
‘They’re coming…’ Theron thought to himself.
Rather than tensing, his body became frighteningly relaxed. If one analyzed him now, he would look no different from a young man in a deep slumber…
Except for the sharpness of his eyes.