Uriel was now covered in blood from head to toe. The bandages on his face had fallen off due to the moisture and the constant hammering motion of his head; his empty socket was now fully visible.
"Behind you, watch out, Uriel!"
That was all it took for him to turn around quickly. In front of him stood Elijah, who ran straight toward him. However, when Uriel saw him, something flickered for a brief moment: Elijah's eyes wavered, and his grip faltered.
It must have been quite a sight, Uriel thought. Even an older man, upon seeing the body of his companion with his head smashed open and his brain scattered, would feel fear… or perhaps it was Uriel's own appearance? It didn't matter, because right now he was about to give him real reasons to be afraid.
Uriel's body swelled with lumps. His skin rose, almost deforming; over his flesh, another layer of flesh formed—more horrid, more monstrous. This was the reward he had gained from killing an elite monster and losing his eye; Uriel preferred to see it that way.
Elijah drove his greatsword into Uriel's flesh, but at a certain point it stopped. It had undoubtedly struck, yet it was unable to push deeper into this new layer of skin. Uriel wasted no time and summoned his mace. Thankfully, Ininise had managed to evade this man long enough; he would never have forgiven himself if something had happened to her.
A whip burst from Uriel's back, as if a new limb had suddenly been born, and struck Elijah's body. However, his armor protected him well, preventing any real damage beyond the impact of the blow.
Still, Uriel had expected this. If his shield had been able to withstand the strikes of the flesh monster's tentacle, then armor like Elijah's could likely do the same.
That was why he needed to hit him with his mace; weapons like these were made precisely for people wearing armor like his. To Uriel's surprise, Elijah chose to abandon his greatsword.
Uriel controlled his skin, letting it fall away, and chased after Elijah. He still had seven seconds left before his skill ended.
Ininise followed the fight closely, but Elijah must have noticed her condition, because he chose to ignore her, not seeing her as a threat. Apparently, he had guessed her class after chasing her for a moment while he was fighting Masson.
When Elijah managed to gain some distance, he drew a one-handed sword, unlike the greatsword he had been using—but in Elijah's hands, the weapon suddenly ignited in flames.
"Come, monster! I'll send you to hell."
Monster? Uriel couldn't believe what he was hearing. The man who moments ago had tried to kill him alongside Ininise—the same ones who had planned to abuse her—was now calling him a monster. What kind of stupid reality did these people live in?
But Uriel didn't care. To people like him, was he a monster? Then he accepted it gladly. He would be the monster of anyone who tried to harm those he cared about. In fact, Elijah was right to fear him, because he wouldn't stop until he killed him.
Uriel tried to land a blow, trusting in the defense of his flesh armor, but Elijah was highly skilled with the sword, something that was beginning to weigh on Uriel. The blade cleanly cut through part of the flesh on his arm, followed by a burning pain that twisted Uriel's mind in agony.
It didn't make sense. Uriel's mind began working as fast as it could. In that instant, his brain ran through countless possibilities and reasons: what had changed? What was different? Why had he been damaged so brutally?
It didn't take long for Uriel to realize: the fire. His armor was weak against that damned fire.
Though it irritated him, he deactivated his flesh armor early; after all, it wouldn't make sense to keep using it if he was taking more damage than it could withstand.
Another danger made itself known within him. A supernatural drowsiness began to assault him, slowly affecting his concentration. It was so strong and sudden that he knew it didn't come from him. He understood that if Elijah's weapon was enchanted with fire, then Masson's weapon likely was as well. Perhaps it was poison… and this would be his final fight, dying miserably from the weapon of the man he had just brutally killed.
"Don't screw with me… what a damn joke of an ending that would be."
Elijah watched Uriel talking to himself.
"What? Lost your mind, lunatic?"
Uriel's body felt heavy, and he could no longer think clearly because of the poison now in his system. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he started laughing.
"Ha… ha… HAHAHAHAHA!"
"What the hell are you laughing at?"
Elijah didn't take his eyes off him; after all, irrational enemies were the most dangerous.
The truth was, Uriel had found it far too funny that he mentioned losing his head at a moment like this. Even so, he forced his body to move; even numbed, even without clear thought, he understood that his enemy stood before him.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
Uriel lunged forward with a scream, almost to keep his own consciousness intact.
Elijah didn't step back. His enemy had many openings; he would cleanly cut off his head with a strike to the neck and end this. Even so, he focused. He knew everything could be decided with a single blow, so he needed all his skill concentrated into one movement.
But just before Uriel reached him, a swift shadow passed by his side. Elijah moved his neck at just the right moment and struck Ininise with his elbow, as she had tried to attack him from behind.
Ininise fell to the ground, coughing up blood. A single blow to a mage so fragile was enough to cause serious damage.
But when he turned around, a man wrapped in bandages, missing one eye and covered in fresh wounds, lunged at him.