Extra's Guide to Surviving a Dark Fantasy World-Chapter 53: Tess

At that moment, another jakara lunged at me from behind, but I was alerted thanks to Deadly Intuition.

I twisted to my side, cutting its throat with a swift, decisive motion before it could even land a blow. Before the creature’s corpse could hit the floor, I vanished from sight using Shroud, easily slipping behind another group of jakaras. My sword became a blur, taking an entire group down in a single strike.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Aria widen her eyes in shock. I didn’t blame her; up until now, I had only used snippets of this technique, covering it with my original sword style, in fear that my body wouldn’t be able to take it. This time, however, I didn’t intend to hold back. My movement just now had been too swift, not to mention absolutely lethal, perfectly encapsulating the legendary Salhira sword style, the one made especially to kill.

Ignoring her gaze, I focused back on the battle. Up ahead, I could see that Tess was in trouble. The demon’s flames scorched the air as it hurled another blast, barely missing her.

Her movements were fast, but so were his attacks. I knew she had said she could handle him, but things weren’t going in her favor.

I leaped forward, my blade flashing through the air as I entered the fray; I once again activated Static Timefall and sliced through the jakaras, each of my strikes faster than the last, my focus split between the beasts and Tess.

Aria, too, was carving through the enemy, her blade sweeping through the ravenous beasts with expert precision. But her eyes too kept darting toward Tess, who was on the edge of being overwhelmed by the fiery demon.

The battle progressed further, with me and Aria slowly retreating back towards the port, while Tess trying her best to keep the demon at bay.

The weight of Salhira’s sword was bearing down on me with every movement I made, each strike further pulling me deeper into exhaustion.

There was a reason I usually avoided using much of it during combat: my body was still too weak to endure it, a fact that became even more apparent as one of my legs stiffened mid-battle. At the same time, a Jakara leaped at me from the side, raking its claws against my chest.

"Argh." I hissed before turning around and stabbing it through the heart.

Aria, on the other hand, was moving around the charging crowd with effortless grace, her sword slicing through the beasts as if slicing through butter.

I may have been injured and a little exhausted, yet while together with her, both of our movements were enough to give us leeway to move back toward the building.

Or at least that had been the plan. The battle had been going on for a while, yet the plan to slowly retreat towards the port was already starting to fall apart.

Up ahead, we could clearly see Tess struggling through the battlefield, dodging and weaving while narrowly avoiding the demon’s flames. Her condition wasn’t looking well either, one look and both of us could tell she wasn’t going to survive for long.

She needed help, without her none of us was going to stand a chance against that demon. With no other choice, both of us began to carve our way forward and clear a path towards Tess.

Aria and I rushed ahead, slashing through several jakaras that lunged at us. My body was already screaming in protest, but I ignored it, pushing forward.

Besides me, Aria’s ice magic was spiraling around her blade, freezing anything that came too close.

One by one, we began slicing through one Jakara after another in our way. As we neared Tess, the demon roared, unleashing a burst of fire directly at us. Aria reacted quickly, conjuring an ice shield out of thin air, covering both of us.

Unfortunately, the shield wasn’t strong enough. The flames burst through it, shattering it into pieces.

I immediately activated Static Timefall and tried to take Aria away but was pushed away by the explosion.

Aria tried to dodge as well, but the flames were too fast—the attack hit her square in the chest, causing her body to be thrown back into the air.

"ARIA NOO!!!" Above us, Tess screamed in an almost primal roar as Aria’s body fell down onto the ground, only to be surrounded by a bunch of Jakaras. She immediately turned around, forgetting about the demon, and began rushing towards her when suddenly-

Another torrent of flame burst out in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. Tess growled, almost prepared to jump through the hellfire, but she paused as she saw me instantly reach Aria, standing in front of her while cutting down the three beasts who had come close enough.

I pushed Aria behind me, fighting back the wave of monsters that surged forward, my sword flashing in a blur.

Once she had made sure that Aria was alright, she turned back towards the demon. Her eyes were burning with rage while her entire body trembled, but there was something else—her magic, her strength... I couldn’t tell it from so far, but her aura seemed to be strengthening. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

I could only watch in awe as Tess’s mana surged around her. The air around her crackled with a fierce wind that was both cold and scorching, her fire magic now raging in a way I’d never seen before.

The demon, on the other hand, sneered, clearly unbothered, and instead summoned another torrent of flame, throwing it towards Tess.

Tess faced the attack head-on, no longer just dodging—instead, she began weaving through the fire like it was nothing, her own magic matching it blow for blow before unleashing a fierce gust of wind, propelling herself straight toward the demon.

At the same time, the flames around the demon twisted and coiled, but Tess was too fast, dodging and countering with torrents of wind and fire that swirled around her.

She spun in mid-air and launched a burst of fire from her hands, colliding with the demon’s own, severely pushing it back.

"Insolent."