Clad and the Rat King continue to fight, with Clad getting a few swings in, but no significant damage due to Marouce's constant ability to move out of his reach and gaining the upper hand due to his mastery of magic and having an overall greater range of attack than Clad.
"This won't do."
"If this goes on, I'll be tired before he even breaks a sweat!" Clad thought as he breathed
"What's the matter? Feeling tired?" Marouce asked him.
"No, not at all." He replied as he rapidly dashed towards him, surprising the rat king as he didn't expect him to cover such a distance in such a short amount of time.
"I need an opening, think!"
Clad quickly thought of a plan and came up with one that didn't seem promising, but when it came down to probability, it was the one worth trying.
"If I continued to attack him, he would eventually slip up and try to counterattack. When he does that, I'll take the opportunity and get a strike in!" Clad thought as he swung his blade at Marouce, only for him to teleport away again.
Tch!
"To be able to use a teleportation spell multiple times in a row..."
"This guy's mana reserve is insane!" He thought as a beam of fire came directly at him, which luckily he dodged in time by leaping to the side, landing on the ground by rolling. As he quickly repositioned himself, another beam of fire came to hit him directly. Clad blocked most of the incoming fire with his energy and blade, but due to his dryad nature, the fire still had a strong effect on his body, as he started to feel really tired and dehydrated.
Ugh!
"This is bad, I can barely keep myself awake, and I'm getting cooked alive..."
"If this goes on, I'll die," Clad said as his body started to become dried out and gray due to the flames. The rat king's laugh could be heard as he gasped for air, struggling to block the incoming fire.
Clad's eyes closed, as he saw himself in a black void with a small amount of water at his feet once again, but this time he saw a face he hadn't seen in a while. The dark-skinned demihuman from his dream, sitting on a white couch, looking at him as he was in a kneeling position, the same position he was in while blocking Marouce's spell.
!!
"Hmm, I was expecting you to be able to beat that guy quite easily, but I guess I overestimated you." A womanly voice said from the hidden void as footsteps could be heard from a distance, as each foot tapped the water, a female figure could be seen. She was beautiful in every way. She had dark magenta hair, the same as her eyes, and pale skin. She wore an ancient white dress and jewelry and a golden necklace with an oval-shaped gem attached to it, and had a crown made of black thorns on her head, accompanied by a black, thorny halo hovering over her head.
"Who are you? What is going on!?"
"Hey, lady, do you know this woman-"
!?
As Clad was about to ask the demihuman woman a question, she vanished, as if she had never been there to begin with. The woman walked to the couch and spoke to him in a serious tone.
"I'll help you this time, but next time you will have to find a way yourself."
"Huh?" Clad said in confusion.
"Just continue to do what you do like always, and everything shall be fine." She added.
"Can I at least have your name!?" Clad asked her.
"..."
"You can call me Benoth." She replied as she pointed at him, releasing something inside of him as he felt lighter than ever and came back out of the darkness of his mind.
"I don't know who this Benoth lady is, but I won't let this opportunity go to waste!" Clad thought as a sudden wave of energy came out of him. Pure white mana with petals bursting out of his body like a bomb with so much pressure that the rat king stopped his spell instinctively.
!?
"What..."
"What is going on with him?" The rat king thought to himself as he looked at Clad's body rebuilding itself, which was a sign of a rare event that very few awakened experience, a second awakening.