Unlike Krys's swordsmanship on that day, this man's sword wasn't a blur making a single cut, but a tidal wave which erased anything in its way at the speed of lightning.
The man shook his wrist lightly and the blood on his sword cleared itself.
Without a change in his expression, he lightly threw his sword in the air and it sheathed itself on his back after a flip.
He looked at Marie with disinterested eyes, his gaze switched to Krys as if she didn't exist.
Krys had taken down all the rabbits around him. He breathed a sigh of relief before turning around and facing Jared.
The air stood still as the two stared at each other, Jared circled around Krys with his hands in his pocket and neck drooped down like a camel.
He looked at Krys like an exotic specimen. Dozens of eyes were focused on the two, ignoring the hundreds and thousands of dead rabbits surrounding them.
Selira broke the silence to point out an anomaly.
"That door-"
*boom*
With an explosion, the door to the underground room flew into the sky.
The door fell on Selira's feet and stayed still before cracking into hundreds of pieces.
Jared appeared in Selira's vision in an instant and destroyed the door and the entity beneath it. But he wasn't prepared for another explosion in his face.
*BOOM*
The fragments of the door flew like shrapnel towards the people all around. Jared spun his sword around to destroy the shrapnel but got caught up in the explosion as a result.
Jared and Selira were thrown away in the explosion, but nobody else was hurt. Selira hit her head on a tree and fainted for a brief moment. Jared got up to his feet automatically, but was out of commision temporarily.
From the entrance of the cave, the man's figured-re appeared, only shorter and crazier this time.
He held a book in his arms and his six eyes searched for something.
He looked towards Krys and the faint glow coming from under his clothes.
"Not… kiiiiing…"
He screamed with his mouth which was falling off of his face.
He lept at unbelievable speed at Krys as he spread his arms.
"Hiiii… ir-"
Before his sentence was finished, a sword was swiped in front of his face.
His head parted from his body as Krys moved his sword like a brush. Krys flipped his sword and held it from the blade.
He slammed the hilt towards the body of the monster. A shockwave sent the body flying away towards Jared.
On instinct, Jared's body moved itself and diced the body midair. The body of the unkillable creature turned into meat scraps in the blink of an eye. Only splashes of blood flew towards him and drenched him with a horrid smell.
The head had flown over to Marie. She looked the head in the eyes before it opened its mouth.
"Stab it." screamed Krys.
Without another thought, she jammed her sword through its skull, dealing the final blow before it could do something again.
The glow left the creature's eyes and silence was returned to the woods.
The bodies of all of these creatures started melting like wax and rotting at an incredible speed.
Jared and Selira regained their senses. Selira shook her head as she got on her feet, her vision blurry.
Her eyes fell upon two unconscious people who had soiled themselves. They were the brothers, Gilbert and Basil.
All eyes stared at the figure of Krys, questioning who he was and what just happened.
Krys glanced at Marie whose eyes darted around in a panic. She clearly wanted to run away and was looking for a path.
With the amount of people surrounding them, Krys couldn't run carrying three people. What's more is that guy with three swords.
His swordsmanship was strange yet familiar to Krys. One thing he knew for sure was, he could probably not take him down with his reduced strength.
There was no real choice to make. He would protect them, whatever it cost. That was how he had lived until now.
"I surrender. Let these three go."
Three people looked at him with a shocked expression. Marie, Selira and Jared.
Marie didn't hesitate to speak her mind, "I'm coming too."
Selira looked at both of them with a skeptical look.
"All four of you will be questioned, we'll let the two go after some countermeasures… but we'll take you to our headquarters."
Her tone was commanding. She looked at Jared and asked him to tie them up.
She quickly gathered her subordinates and regained control of the situation.
The men, although scared and wary, were unharmed. They started following orders while keeping an eye on Krys.
After their captain and the sword saint, he was the strongest guy in the forest, that had been made clear. With his intentions and loyalty unclear, they couldn't help but be wary of danger.