บท 8: 8: Battle Of Wits.

As soon as he heard the thump on the ground, he didn't hesitate to get up from the ground and run towards the north side of the village.

As soon as he ran off, the female knight chased after him, and with a few steps, she was able to catch up to him and grab a hold of his hand.

" What in the heavens are trying to do?" She asked, staring at him with a stern look on her face.

" There's a girl just past the north of the village. She's seriously wounded." He replied, trying to break free from her grip.

He was struggling with almost all his might but she stood effortlessly holding him in place.

She then let go of him and said, "You're certainly sensitive, to be able to figure out the direction in which the noise came from."

Walking past him, she added, " stay back, I'll retrieve your friend."

Harry looked at her as she confidently walked towards the northern part of the village and as soon as she began running, it was only a matter of seconds before she was completely out of sight.

" She's able to utilize physical innate energy to such a degree, but that mage was clearly more powerful than her." He thought, running in the same direction as her.

*****

The mage was running as fast as she could towards the village as the huge monster headed her way.

Now a little far away from the beast, she placed her hand on the ground and a diamond-blue glowing line appeared on the ground, but compared to the others she had made, it was quite dim.

A wall of ice emerged from the diamond blue line and just the shaking of the ground due to the monster's movement was enough to shatter it.

" I'm almost out of energy." She gasped, as she turned around and took to her heels once again.

Her legs were beginning to feel weak and she had almost fallen a couple of times but her already fleeting breath began to get worse when she began to perceive the scent of smoke.

Her heart skipped a beat when her gaze met the village and the will to live that had been burning inside her instantly extinguished.

She fell to the ground and closed her tear-filled eyes in acceptance of her fate.

She could feel the overwhelming presence of the beast behind her and she slowly opened her eyes in hopes that some sort of miracle would happen.

She pushed forward by crawling on the ground but it was no use, it took the monster only a few steps to catch up to her and it would only take one more step before she would be plastered onto the ground.

She dipped her fingers into the ground and pulled it back as she turned her gaze to the ground with teary eyes.

She heard the thump from the monster's step loud and clear and she gasped in shock as she opened her eyes, knowing fully well that she was still alive.

" Are you hurt?"

Those words rang in her ear as she opened her eyes to see the beautiful lady staring right at her.

She had long red hair that reached past her shoulders and sky-blue eyes accompanied by a serious expression and tone of voice.

She slowly laid her on the ground and stood up to face the terrifying being that had now turned towards the both of them.

" She's a royal knight and a powerful one at that." She thought, watching the woman walk confidently towards the beast.

She drew her sword as she walked towards the creature and gazing at her from way high up, it raised its foot high before sending it down on her.

Just as the beast's leg began to descend, she dashed forward and sliced off its other leg causing the creature to trip over and fall to its knees.

It roared loudly and quickly twisting its upper body it sent a punch straight down towards her but she was able to move away before the attack landed.

Debris from the earth went flying and the wind generated from the attack blew her hair slightly backwards.

The beast's wounded limb regenerated instantly and it began to shrink down until it was ten feet tall, but the same couldn't be said for its size.

She gripped her sword tighter as the beast quickly got on its feet and charged straight towards her.

Its speed was great and in the blink of an eye, it was already standing a few meters away from her before sending its fist straight down to the ground.

She jumped away as soon as she could and looking at where she was just standing, a huge crack had appeared on it and it kept on going further.

" Even without mastery of its innate energy, it's able to generate such power, I would be dead now if that beast was slightly more intelligent... I'll surely counter its attack next time." She thought, stretching out her sword.

The beast grunted as it pulled back its hand and in an instant, it leaped towards her at a speed of up to one hundred and ninety kilometers per hour.

Right before the beast had leaped towards her, her sword had begun to become dimly lit with a yellow glow, and just as its fist came straight towards her, she quickly turned round while shifting to the side.

Now right by the monster's side and facing the opposite side as it, she swung her sword down at its shoulder while twisting her body to the right and immediately jumped away after that.

The beast roared in pain and while it grunted, it turned its gaze to its damaged limb which was yet to regenerate.

" Seems like that old man's teaching has yet again proven useful. If I maintain this level of control, I should be able to finish it off ." She thought, taking a deep breath.

She closed her eyes and tried to memorize everything that she knew about the attack she was preparing to launch.

*****

Back at the village, the old man stood watching as a large number of skeletons began to emerge from within the portal.

He could see that the portal required a large concentration for it to be steady which could be depicted by the fact that the skeleton king hadn't moved an inch since opening it.

The man stumped both of his feet hard on the ground one at a time and raised both of his palms to the sky.

A great surge of wind began to gather high above his hands and it slowly began to grow bigger until it began to pull on his hair.

Quickly sending down his hands at the group of skeletons, the huge ball of wind went along with them, flying strength into their midst.

It blew away some of the skeletons the moment it came in contact with them and after that, it began to spin in a clockwise rotation.

The ball of wind had now slowly turned into a small tornado and the huge number of skeletons were slowly getting pulled into it.

Some of them had their limbs torn off as they were slowly pulled into the strong rotating wind and they continued to get shattered as they clattered against each other while being swirled around in the tornado.

The roofs of the houses around them were getting ripped off and slowly the walls began to join as well, causing even more shattering to the skeletons.

The skeleton king raised its sword high above its head and a bright green glow began to emit from it, and quickly after that, it swung it towards the direction of the old mage.

Quickly placing both his together, a mini tornado began to form in front of them, and as soon as the swing of green magical energy came towards him, they began to absorb it.

The attack would have been too great for him to handle that quickly but with the help of the swirling wind he had created earlier, he was able to do so.

It took him a while of struggle but after that, the tornadoes he had created had turned completely green and he knew the risk of allowing it to disperse.

Releasing his hands, he allowed the wind to join up with the other one and it grew significantly bigger to the point that both he and the skeleton were getting pulled into it.

Blood began to drip down his nose and that was when he, "Perhaps this level of magic is beginning to take a toll on this old body, but if I can prevent that green energy from touching me, I should be alright."

A glowing dark purple portal appeared right behind the skeleton and a man dressed in black clothes and a black hood stepped out from it.