Multiple beasts’ bodies bisected with a horizontal slash littered the ground near a clear water stream, staining said stream’s edges with crimson as blood began to form a pool underneath the dead beasts.

The remaining beasts, no matter how strong they are compared to these brutally murdered ones, couldn’t help but look at the perpetrator with clear apprehension in their gazes, almost as if they were measuring whether they could stand against this threat at all.

As for the threat himself, there is a slight distraction caused by the very thing that made him strong, his attention being pulled towards a certain floating, semi-transparent screen that only he can see, a faint satisfied smile on his face as he stares at one familiar resource that allows him to fight on stages far higher than any other existence in the same level as him can ever fight on.

[Immortal Energy: 1050/1050]

’Impressive...’

Seeing his arms completely recovering from the damage they sustained from the use of Mana Blade without having to expend any drop of Immortal Energy at all, Novus himself couldn’t help but feel amazed, shocked at how efficient his talent got just from knowing that he can manually control his own regeneration.

Knowing that he has little to no time to muse about these things right now, however, he immediately made his next move, his expression a clear show of his being unsatisfied with felling just a little bit of beasts. However, his action went in a completely different direction, as instead of dashing and charging forward, he turned around instead.

Then he dashed back towards the woods where he came from.

The remaining beasts couldn’t help but feel baffled and confused, wondering why such a great threat turned around the moment he managed to pull their attention towards himself, only for them to conclude that maybe, just maybe, that threateningly sharp and swift attack is a one-time thing that this opponent cannot use for a certain amount of time.

Hence the reason as to why they immediately gave chase, faster beasts moving forward at an incredible speed, intending to bridge the gap between themselves and their aggressor, while the ones who cannot move that fast began casting magic, intending to reach their target with precision and power more than enough to incapacitate him at worst, and kill him at best.

Novus’ Sensory Expansion continues to run under the pressure of being chased by multitudes of E Tier and even a couple of D Tier beasts, allowing him to see each of their incoming attacks, warning him just enough to avoid any significant damage that might render his escape null.

His heart beats fast, faster than ever before, as despite still having the assurance of his talent, True Immortal Blood, allowing him to recover so long as there’s a single drop of blood left in his being, the threat of brutal, gruesome death in the hands of these beasts, no matter how temporary it is, made blood rush all across his body in a fight or flight response.

This, in turn, made him feel like he could exert far more strength than he ever did before, and not only strength, but his senses just felt much sharper than before, as if the very presence of the battlefield encroaching upon him was calling to his very being, giving him strength.

Moments later, he was snapped out of this tranced state as he noticed a path of attack not going towards his current direction, but rather trying to predict where he was going, causing a faint, appreciative smile to crack his face as he shifted his direction and speed ever-so-slightly.

Spells reached their target destination, sharp, powerful jet of water rushing all while blades of winds tore everything in its path, all while said blades are being enforced by the fire element once more, creating a far more powerful attack.

What is even more of a surprise is the fact that this attack seems to take into account the failure that happened the last time they cast spells simultaneously, the water jet subtly avoiding the mixture of flame and wind, all while the other casters stay back, seemingly just waiting for the right opportunity to attack right now.

What these beasts failed to take into account, however, is the fact that their opponent brags of familiarity bordering basic mastery over attacks aimed at him coming from all directions, not to mention his senses being sharp enough to the point that he can practically see through the trajectory of their attacks.

Which brings us back to why he shifted his direction and speed by a tiny bit a moment ago.

That small variance is all that it takes for the magic-casting beasts’ already crude prediction to collapse into something even worse, as the beasts try to catch up behind him, being hit directly by the spells, rendering them immobile for a while and allowing him to create a large gap between them and himself once more.

Finally, he had crossed the border and entered the woods once again, some of the beasts not giving up and still giving chase, causing a wider smile to appear on his face.

"Big mistake."

He mutters with a trace of mocking in his tone as he turns around, facing the ones previously chasing him, and looks beyond them.

In the first place, the plan goes exactly like this, with any one of the two of them, this time, him, acting as a bait and pulling the beasts’ attention, dragging the persistent few and culling them little by little until they either hit their limit or they can finally take this group of beasts on. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

And with him pulling a manageable number of Silver Direwolves and some other beasts to fight, the beginning of their little plan is marked as a success in both of their books.

"I should say, I am impressed, Junior Novus~~" leaping down the tree they were initially hiding from, Medea’s figure descended with grace, some leaves rustling as she took her first step, alarming the beasts of her approaching presence.

However, the refined yet sharp and piercing air around her made the beasts feel like she was yet another dangerous enemy for them to deal with, their wariness rising to an all-time high as they came to the realization that they were trapped between two deadly threats right now.

The Sword Princess takes a step forward, the blade once hidden within the sheath being revealed in its entirety, a pure white crescent appearing as numbers of her targets were bisected into a crosswise half.

Novus made his own move as well, finally utilizing yet another weapon once hidden in his arsenal as the lady in front of him had already seen it once, Mana Blade wrapping around his left arm as he met the beasts who escaped from Medea’s grasp, a single swift, clean swing separating them into two as well.

Near the area where their fight is happening, other beings, both monsters and beasts as well as human students and academy staff, hear repeated howls and roars nearby, yet oddly enough, rather than the usual provoking, intimidating, and sometimes even chill-inducing terror that one can feel from such sounds, there is nothing but fear and despair that the listeners can feel from them instead.