Chapter 77: Wererat
Leonel's expression continually flickered.
He quickly sent a glance toward where he had left their jeep, but what he saw left his expression twisted.
Before, he hadn't dared to take his eyes off of the enemy, so aside from observing the six men, he had done nothing else. However, when he saw that Aina's ax had been taken by that man, he had a bad premonition. It turned out that that bad premonition had been correct.
The vehicle was too well armored to be completely destroyed from the outside, but judging by the fact its hood was currently opened, it didn't take a genius to know that there was no chance of it starting up.
Just like that, one of Leonel's escape routes was dashed.
'Not all hope is lost. I don't believe that they were able to get here so quickly using their legs.'
Leonel was going to continue scanning the edge of the large crater to find what exactly the six had used to get here, but he suddenly felt his spine tingle.
Without hesitation, he ducked and rolled, barely managing to dodge a claw whipping toward the back of his neck.
The dust from the ground had hardly clung to his rolling body when a powerful kick swept from the werecheetah.
Leonel could only contort his body, barely blocking with his dented shield.
The kick sent him tumbling, skidding across the ground filled with rubble almost like a tumbleweed.
The exchange was quick, but the eyes of the weremen lit up. Before, Leonel was like an insurmountable mountain to them, but he had suddenly become… human? How could they not take advantage of this?
"Quickly, before those damned Invalids get here. His ability must have a timer that ran out, this is our best chance!"
The werehyena's speech sounded like cobbled growls and was hardly discernible. But, the werecheetah seemed to understand him, his power legs vibrating with power before he crouched and shot forward. Only the wererat stayed behind, his beady eyes narrowed.
Leonel launched himself up, but quickly found himself on the back foot. Even the weakest of his senses, his eyes, was still far more powerful than the normal person. Not to mention realizing the trajectory of the attacks being launched at him, they even seemed slow in Leonel's eyes.
But every time, his body would be too slow to react. Like this, the spear that had once carried a foreboding of murder and blood became a normal stick that could only be used to block. In fact, if it wasn't for Leonel's dented shield, his spear would have been snapped in half a long time ago.
Leonel felt exasperated. Hadn't he just killed two of them with absolute ease? Why was it suddenly so difficult?
'… I thought I had great battle experience, but that's no more than a joke.'
Leonel was continually pushed backward, his heart growing a bit anxious. He couldn't even remember the last time he launched an attack.
In the distance, the wererat's gaze turned toward the battle between Aina and the werewolf. Before, it had been one of incomparable ease for Aina, but now that her opponent was using Force while she was repressing her own, even she was forced to take him more seriously.
Their fists collided in dull booms, the savage aura coating Aina's body not dispelling even in the slightest. Even though blood slowly dripped from her hands, her ferocity only seemed to increase.
Though the werewolf used his Force, Aina still didn't dare to do so. The man had only formed a single Force Node. Though it was possible to control Force output, that was only for those with high spirit. In comparison to her Force, Aina's own spirit could be considered as wholly lacking. She had no confidence in restraining her Force properly.
The kind of Invalids that would come for a person who had formed one Force Node and the kinds that would come for someone who had formed seven could be imagined.
A powerful Invalid might come here if they were close for this werewolf, but if they were a distance away, they wouldn't bother. However, for Aina, even if it meant transferring to the ends of the earth and crossing the rivers of hell, they would make their way here without pause or rest.
Like this, Aina had no choice. Her ability gave her great control over the state of her body, but when it came to Force… she was at a loss.
Suddenly, Aina's eyes dulled and her movements turned sluggish. She didn't even realize what was happening when a fist had collided with her torso. It was so large in comparison to her body that her hips and ribs felt the impact all at once.
Spittle flew from her mouth as all the air in her lungs was forcefully ejected. Glittering stars flew across her vision, dotting her sight in flashing lights and blurry hues.
Even when she cratered into the remains of a home right by Leonel's former residence, she still had no idea what happened.
Leonel's eyes widened. He wanted to rush over, but he simply couldn't break free out of the combined attacks of the werehyena and werecheetah. If he tried to force his way through, the result would likely be a serious injury on his part.
He grit his teeth. He thought he had reached some elevated status by clearing an S-grade Zone, but he failed to remember that most of the enemies he had faced were just normal humans. Their stats didn't even touch 0.50. Compared to Leonel, they were like infants waiting for slaughter.
The worst part was that even then, they had still almost done him in. If it wasn't for him grasping Joan's weakness at a critical point, he would have died that day in Paris and never returned.
However, these opponents before him now might have had weaker stats than him, but they were still superhuman to the point he couldn't simply rely on his stronger body to defeat them.
'What the hell happened? There's no way that werewolf is stronger than Aina.'
Leonel's held head whipped back, his eyes landing on a wererat barely a meter and a half in height. Its gaze, too, had been moving away from Aina's battle and just so happened to meet Leonel's. Though his face seemed expressionless, the long whiskers on his ratlike face seemed to curl into a sneer along with his snout.
At those very same moments, the first Invalids had made their way to the crater. They swarmed from all directions. In the blink of an eye, there were three to four dozen of them.
Seeing that he had heavily injured Aina, the werewolf immediately stopped using his Force and charged toward the collapsed building she had fallen into. But, while his efforts would stop more Invalids from converging, those that already had still far outnumbered them.
On Leonel's side of the battle, the wererat's gaze suddenly flashed with a blinding light that seemed to want to envelop Leonel completely just when the latter was about to turn his head away and go all out to stop the werewolf.
'Your mind is too strong for me to influence normally, but to think you would actually dare meet my gaze. Die!'
The wererat snickered in his thoughts, an incorporeal sharp blade piercing toward Leonel. Unlike other fools, he had no intention of saying such words out loud. If Leonel wanted to understand his true ability… He could go ahead and ask those who preceded him in hell!