Chapter 49 | Now That’s a Boss Alright

Theo pushed apart the bushes, and the first thing he saw was a greataxe heading for his head, spinning mid-air. His breath hitched as time seemed to slow to a crawl. He wasn’t fast enough to dodge this, not nearly enough. But he was smart. Casting an Earthen Spike, he shifted his feet and fell backward. The axe passed right above his head, cleaving his hairline in half like a reverse mohawk.

Rolling sideways, Theo got up and noticed a bearish man at least two meters tall fighting against the much shorter Satou. Anyone who saw the discrepancy would think Satou would lose, but Theo knew better than that.

With a deep breath, he eyed the great axe first, then The Boss. The bandit seemed distressed as he had used his only weapon to keep the fight a one-on-one. It would have been perfectly fine if it were successful, as he could have led the fight toward his axe and picked it up, but he couldn’t do that now, could he?

Admittedly, it was a smart tactic. What kind of mage had that kind of reflex or resourcefulness to dodge an axe-throw like that? Especially a first-robe. At least according to what Theo had heard, these so-called first-robes were like handymen with nailguns. They were versatile, but nowhere near combat-effective enough.

With a grunt, the bandit did his best to dodge Satou’s attacks. Being a strength-focused first-rate and not having a weapon was working against him, causing him to take a lot of unnecessary damage. If not for his immense aura reserves bleeding out of his body in crimson, he would have already died.

Theo had to admit, this was how a battle between two superhumans was supposed to look. Third-rates and second-rates couldn’t manifest energy out of their body free-form, with second-rates only being able to cover their weapons in aura. That just made them look… Strange. Eerily fast and strong, maybe, but definitely not flashy.

What was a supernatural fight if there weren’t visible energies being blasted around, after all?

Their clashes had uprooted the surrounding trees, creating a small clearing in the forest. The two chased each other around like little comets on the battlefield. Without his new perception upgrade, Theo would have had a hard time following them with his eyes.

As the fight went on, Theo focused and started lobbing fireballs. Though the rate was pretty low as he had to wait for the perfect opportunity every time, lest he accidentally hit Satou. And even then, the fireballs didn’t do much.

Every now and then, the bandit tried going after Theo. However, each of those attempts resulted in Theo barely dodging or getting grazed by the hits. In exchange, Satou would land a hit on the bandit boss, causing gushing wounds to appear on his body.

Once he was done gulping another bottle of potion, Theo felt an ache rising from his stomach. His body started heating up as sweat poured from his head.

“What the he- Oh. Toxic shock?” Theo muttered. He must have drunk too many healing potions as he fought throughout the night. He had brought 10 himself, and he had picked up many from the corpses of the bandits and the knights alike. He was probably way beyond the 20 daily limit, and his vitality was the only thing keeping him going.

Wincing, Theo drank the last potion of the day and threw the bottle aside. He couldn’t drink anymore, which meant that he had to be careful and not get hit.

In the meantime, Satou was busy chipping away at the bandit boss. He slashed upward with his daggers, and the man dodged with a hair’s breadth. He slammed his foot on the ground, causing the floor to crack and explode. Satou flickered in place, reappearing by his side. He stabbed a dagger right into his exposed biceps.

A wall of fiery, crimson aura blocked the attack. A grating noise resounded as they moved farther apart. The bandit kicked up a cloud of dust, causing Satou to close his eyes.

He then immediately dashed for Theo. Theo had predicted this from how his muscles had flexed. So he stepped sideways while blasting with his flamethrowers in the bandit’s general direction. The wall of flames blocked his vision too, sure, but Theo could easily hear and feel the change in the wind to estimate the enemy’s location and act accordingly.

Lifting himself up with a flimsy earthen wall, Theo flexed his leg muscles and launched forward, diving meters away.

A massive fist ripped apart the flames and slammed right where Theo was a couple of seconds ago, hitting the earthen wall instead. The construct exploded into smithereens with the sheer force.

The bandit’s smog-covered face was revealed a moment later, full of fury. He was grinding his teeth.

“Rat, I say! You are a rat! Come and face me with your fists!”

Theo looked at the bandit and shook his head.

“Nope.”

Him actually answering seemed to infuriate the bandit further, as he lowered his body like a bowstring being pulled. But before he could dash, Satou was already onto him. The assassin’s daggers cut downward, cutting past the aura barrier like it was butter and digging into his back muscles.

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However, Satou’s eyes widened as a deep frown settled onto his face.

“Theo!”

“Hm?”

However, before Theo could even react, the bandit lunged. He had forsaken his defense, instead choosing to enhance his speed by filling his aura into his legs.

With two deep wounds on his back, the Bandit Leader closed the distance in an instant.

The only thing Theo could manage in time was to manifest an Earthen Wall and dump his 3.5 free points into endurance in a panic.

[Endurance: 4.508 –> 8.008]

The changes happened in an instant with a terrifyingly sharp pain exploding through his body.

Right after, the bandit boss passed through the Earthen wall and slammed into Theo. He grabbed him and slammed him into a tree, knocking all the air out of his lungs.

But it didn’t end there. Before Satou could catch up. He started punching down on Theo using swathes of aura.

Theo, on the other hand, could only cross his arms in front of his face and hold on.

Each punch came down like a truck. The first one bruised his skin, the aura starting to dig in and show its corrosive effects. The next one broke his left arm, while another broke the right. Another came crashing down on his face, causing Theo’s nose to get smashed in.

“Die, you rat bastard!” The bandit screamed as loud as he could. There was a terrified expression on his face.

This- this won’t do! Theo screamed in his head. The next punch was either going to kill him or cause major brain damage. Using all of his mana, Theo overloaded his Earthen Wall magic formula. The mental palace dimmed rapidly, cracks appearing on its surface. An immense amount of mana poured from Theo’s hands and latched onto the earth.

Seeing that he was about to put up a defense, the bandit leader poured even more aura into his attack, even forsaking his own protection.

A solid, concrete-like Earthen wall was erected right as the fist slammed down.

The bandit’s eyes widened as he lost his balance.

The wall wasn’t to block his attack! Instead, Theo had used it as a physical force and rammed the wall into himself, pushing himself away from under the bandit.

This caused the boss to punch solid ground, causing a massive explosion and ripping a crater into the earth.