Chapter 73: Struggle
"Alexander!"
Alex who heard his name being called immediately pulled back. He turned to Zhar right away.
"I will release my strongest attack with all I have. When I'm done, I will give you the signal. You dodge to the side. Back then, this power could severely injure a rank 6, even this rank 7 won't leave unscathed," Zhar said.
Alex nodded and he charged to the centipede once again.
Alex used his Fleeting Step to keep this centipede busy, while Zhar was preparing his magic.
After a few minutes, Zhar finished his magic, "Alexander!"
Alex immediately used his Boost Step, jumped to the side as fast as possible. Sherry spurted flames toward the centipede to stop it for a moment.
"Take this! Burn to ash! Hell Dragon Flame!"
After releasing the magic, Zhar's legs became limp. He didn't have any energy left in his body. Even a simple action like moving his finger was not possible at the moment. Releasing this magic was hard in his current injured body.
A big purplish-black flame appeared in front of Zhar. It shot out toward the centipede. In its way, the flame turned into a dragon shape.
"Roar!"
The dragon-shaped flame looked alive at this moment, it seemed like it wanted to swallow the centipede alive. Alex was surprised by the power of the flame.
'Boom!'
The flame hit the centipede. A flame residue was spread around the centipede. Alex, Zhar, and Sherry looked anxiously toward the centipede that was surrounded by smoke.
"Did we manage to hurt it?" All of them held a single thought.
"Scree!" The centipede let out a sound.
The smoke that covered the centipede immediately blew away. They looked toward the spot that was hit by Zhar's flame.
The spot was burned and turned black, but that was all. There was no other damage that could be seen.
"It's really no good?" Zhar asked bitterly.
Alex frowned, he thought about something, then he asked the system, "System, can I store the item that is located far away from me?"
[No, Host. That feature is only possible after the next update]
"Tch... I really can't. This is going to be very awful."
Alex planned to throw his spear using the Throwing Spear Art. Then retrieved the spear using system storage. But after hearing the system response, that plan was destroyed in seconds. Now, their situation was truly dire.
But suddenly his eyes brightened. He remembered something, he then turned to Sherry, "Sherry, after I throw the spear, grab the spear and give it back to me, you understand?"
"Wuu!" Sherry nodded its head.
Alex's plan was now changed since the system said that his previous request was not possible to perform. Therefore, Sherry became the substitute. With Sherry's speed, it could retrieve his spear easily after it pierced the centipede. Alex never thought that the centipede would die immediately after just one spear attack. So, he made Sherry grab his spear while he defended himself with his sword for a moment.
That was the most doable plan for the moment. Alex wanted to run away. but the centipede was standing around the entrance. So, even if he managed to run, Zhar wouldn't be able to. It would only give a bad taste in his mouth if he did that.
Then, he grabbed his spear. Alex aimed the spear toward the centipede's head and threw his spear.
"Spin Throwing!"
He chose the Spin Throwing first to judge the hardness of the centipede's carapace. He couldn't imagine what would happen if he used the Power Throwing instead. Would the centipede be blasted away or his spear fails to blow the centipede? If the latter happened, then Alex would have no weapons left other than his sword.
The spear flew toward the centipede's head at a very fast speed. The centipede moved its head to dodge the spear. But the body was still getting hit by it. Because of the centipede's big and long body, even if Alex missed the head, there was still a chance that the spear would hit the body part behind it.
Alex's spear managed to hit the centipede's body. The spear pierced the centipede's body pretty easily since it was a rank 8 spear. To boost his attack, Alex also used his Spin Throwing that boosted its piercing power. But there was one miscalculation that Alex made.
The spear was strong, in fact, it was too strong, which turned out to be a problem in this situation. With Alex's current position where he needed to aim at the centipede's head, it meant that Alex needed to throw a bit upward. After the spear pierced the centipede's body, it continued to pierce the cave upper wall and then continued to fly up to the sky.
Yup, in this dire situation, Alex forgot to control his strength in throwing the spear just now.
After seeing all of this, Alex realized that he didn't control the strength well enough. Though Alex used Spear-Throwing Art now and then, all of his spears were only a normal iron spear. But this time, Alex threw a rank 8 spear. Its sharpness and power were entirely on a different level. This was the important factor that Alex completely forgot and regretted immediately at this moment.
"Tch!" Alex clicked his tongue.
"Sherry!"
Sherry immediately moved around the centipede and chased the spear outside.
Meanwhile, Alex pulled out his sword. "In the meantime, I will wait for Sherry to come back while keeping this thing busy."
***
On the outside of the forest, someone was flying around and seemed to be searching for someone. Suddenly this person saw a spear flying into the sky and dropped to the ground. He flew toward the spear.
"Wuu!"
He saw a fox grab the spear with its mouth. When he saw the spear close up, he noticed the power contained in the spear. This spear was undoubtedly a rank 8 spear.
"Oh a fox taking this kind of spear... but, it seems like there is a battle inside that cave."
"Wuu!" The fox glared at this person.
"Hmph!" He grabbed the spear from the fox's mouth easily. And then he grabbed the fox along with him. "You can be my pet or the Young Lord's pet later. It's already a rank 5 even though this fox is only a few years old."
The fox didn't have any chance to retaliate. This person was truly powerful.
Then, this guy carried the spear and the fox and went to the cave.
***
Back to the cave.
"Fifth Sword Slash!"
After wounding the centipede, it started to move slower. This made Alex have the chance to attack it.
But this Sword Wave was immediately repelled just after it made contact with the centipede's body. Alex recalled something, "Flame!"
He raised his sword and swung it down.
"Flame Sword Wave!"
A beautiful Flame Sword Wave moved toward the centipede. It hit the centipede and gave the centipede a cut in its head with a bit of burn on its carapace.
Zhar who saw this felt the flame on his body desperately struggling to fight the aura that came from Alex's flame. But he couldn't be bothered to think about this. He looked at Alex worriedly.
After a few tens of rounds with the centipede, Alex started to struggle with the centipede. His Mana was almost empty because of the continuous fight. He had to fight this centipede after fighting the bear for a short period of time and he had no time to rest and regain hi senergy.
His mind started to lose its focus. Suddenly, the centipede attacked Alex with its head. Alex dodged the attack, he was barely able to do that. But he didn't notice that the second attack almost reached him. Suddenly, he felt a big force toward his chest.
"Shit!"
Alex saw the centipede's tail moving toward his chest. He immediately used his sword to block it.
When the sword clashed with the centipede's tail, it broke. The tail continued to move toward Alex's chest.
"Pah!"
Alex spurted a lot of blood. His mind became fuzzy after that attack, 'How many of my ribs get broken by this attack just now?'
'Is this my end?' He thought. He held his consciousness for a few seconds, then collapsed to the ground.
"Alexander!" Zhar shouted, he felt powerless. When seeing Alexander collapse, he didn't know why but something felt missing in his heart as if his own brother was dying in front of his eyes.
Even though their meeting was brief, he felt some fondness for Alex. He felt that it was great if Alex became his brother. After Alex saved him from the bear, he already considered Alex as his friend. And now seeing Alex who fought hard with the centipede, he considered this man as his brother.
He shouted, which made the centipede stop from finishing Alex. The centipede now noticed Zhar. The centipede changed its direction and now moved toward Zhar.
***
In the meantime, in Acacia Kingdom Royal Academy.
Two female students were practicing their magic in the courtyard. One was practicing her ice, and the other was practicing her flame. The students were Alicia and Firia.
Not long after, an old man came to the courtyard.
"How do you do?"
"Ah, Uncle Marco!"
"Dean Marco."
The one who called him uncle was obviously Alicia, while Firia called him 'Dean'.
"Haha... I just want to check on you guys. Alex will come back soon. Here is your drink."
The dean gave them some drinks, while he drank a cup of tea.
"Yes, we are good. We can show Alex our progress after he comes back," Alicia said enthusiastically.
Firia also nodded, agreeing with Alicia's statement. She also made some progress this month. She wanted to show Alex her progress.
"Haha... good!" The dean laughed.
But suddenly, he felt something lost in his heart and accidentally dropped his cup to the floor.
"Ha..." The dean was shocked by what he just felt and he muttered, "What was that?"
He then looked at Alicia and Firia with a surprised face.
"Uncle..."
"Dean Marco..."
"You two... do you feel it too?"
The two nodded their heads. "What happened just now?"
"Is that magic just now?"
"No, I don't feel any change in the Mana surrounding. Nor any magic activated here," the dean immediately denied it.
"I... my heart... somehow felt pained," Alicia said while touching her chest.
After Alicia said that, all of them suddenly remembered someone. That, someone, was Alex.
All of them looked at each other. They seemed to remember the same person. "There's no way right?"
But no one could answer that question.
"I will try to ask the guard in Lumid Town about Alex. Since he went to the Celestial Forest, he must visit that town first since that town is the nearest to the forest."
Alicia and Firia could only nod.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone