Somehow, Cuzia couldn't force her body to move as fast as she wanted. The terror Clyde brought with him as he drew near was so oppressive it made her feel suffocated.
However, Cuzia, who already had experience in combat, was finally able to force her body to move. She cast aside all fear of what Clyde had just done and the fact that Alessio, their leader, had died at his hands.
The flames around Cuzia's body that were previously extinguished became bigger again. She lunged at Clyde with both daggers thrust forward.
Clyde who had expected the attack to come just swung his sword to knock the daggers aside.
Their considerable difference in strength made Cuzia's attacks so easy to repel. One of her daggers fell sideways after being hit by Clyde's sword.
Cuzia immediately dodged before Clyde managed to land an attack on her.
'At this rate, I won't be able to defeat him. The only way is to run away! At times like these where does Asqa go? Or is she already dead?!'
Various problems crossed Cuzia's mind. She saw that Asqa had been taken away by that man, so most likely Asqa was already dead because she was their healer.
Cuzia saw Clyde's movement toward her.
'I have to use that to get away!'
Cuzia moved a hand into her trouser pocket. But Clyde realized that.
Clyde who suspected that his enemy must be up to something, dashed towards her.
However, Cuzia had already thrown something at him. A figure clad in golden yellow armor suddenly appeared in front of Clyde.
The figure looked shorter than him. There was long blonde hair sticking out from the helmet that the figure was wearing. But what looked most worrying of all were the pair of wings of fire and a flaming sword in its hand.
'What the fuck is this?!'
Clyde shocked. He immediately knew that this figure was extremely dangerous. But behind that figure, he could see Cuzia vomiting large amounts of blood. So whatever she has put out, it definitely requires quite a lot of sacrifices from her.
The flame-winged figure lunged at Clyde and thrust its blade.
'Shit!'
Clyde, whose attention was diverted to Cuzia, wasn't ready for that. But fortunately, he was still able to fend off the attack in time even though he barely made it.
*CLANG!*
The pressure that figure was giving him was immense. Much bigger than anything he had received from Cuzia, Alessio, or Colmano.
Clyde knew that this figure was taken out to distract him while Cuzia would try to escape. With this much power, Clyde felt that she could escape and take the artifact with her.
'I can't let that happen after all the trouble I've been through!'
Clyde stared at the terrifying-looking golden armored figure. He gritted his teeth and started pumping his Mana even more violently than before.
There's still time to kill Cuzia while she was kneeling on the ground because of the consequences of summoning this creature.
Clyde also used [Skill: Burning Hand] so now he uses his fire and lightning powers simultaneously. Flames and lightning appeared to surround his body and hands and gave off an overwhelming aura of destruction.
Cuzia who was bleeding from her mouth turned her head because of the overflowing power. And she saw how Clyde was surrounded by fire and lightning.
'He can also use the power of fire?!'
Cuzia widened her eyes. Her surprise grew more than before. She didn't think that Clyde, the mysterious figure who suddenly appeared in front of them and managed to kill Alessio, had not used all of his strength.
'I... have to quickly get out of here...'
She already uses a replica of Archangel Uriel which contains a fraction of the Archangel's power. Cuzia was sure that after using it, the replica would be able to kill Clyde. She was even willing to sacrifice her life energy to summon the replica.
But now when she saw and felt for herself how the changes had happened to Clyde, she no longer believed in that victory.
Right now, all that was on Cuzia's mind was a chance to run while Archangel Uriel's replica distracted Clyde.
'I have to go back and get the artifact!'
Cuzia forced her painful body to run toward Colmano. She hoped that Colmano had not died just because of that attack.
Clyde who was fighting with the replica saw Cuzia who was running away. He gritted his teeth in anger.
'This fucking thing is annoying!'
Clyde spat out a curse while continuing to swing his sword. Now his sword was enveloped in the power of lightning and fire, making it look like a god-destroying weapon.
Clyde didn't think about the damage he would do to the blade and its target. He just swung it with all his might fueled by his fury.
Uriel's replica raised its flaming blade to block Clyde's slash. But the explosive force behind that sword swing created an unexpected result.
*CLANG!*
*CRACK!*
Clyde's slash created a crack in the flaming blade. Seeing that he managed to deal quite a lot of damage, Clyde let out a terrible grin.
He increased the speed and tempo of his attacks. When Clyde turned his head, he saw that Cuzia had gotten farther away. It adds his anger and annoyance to this replica so he attacks even harder.
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
...
Explosion after explosion was created when Clyde's attacks connected to his enemies as well as the environment around them. Lightning and flames exploded causing a spectacle like a huge disaster.
Cuzia didn't even look back because of that. She just kept racing her body despite all the pain she felt. Until finally she arrived at where Colmano was.
However, the sight she saw froze her instantly.
Colmano's body was still in a sitting position on the ground. But his head was not attached. Colmano's head rolled next to his body with his eyes and mouth still wide open.
"Colmano..." Cuzia muttered his name in a sad voice. Around Colmano's lifeless body, Samuel and his party members smiled and laughed in relief.
"We did it!" Leyan said.
"No," Samuel cut him off. "Clyde did it. We'll just take care of the rest."
"It's her!" Suddenly Kei screamed realizing Cuzia's presence.
All party members turned to Cuzia. They could see how badly Cuzia was hurt by her pale face and the blood in her mouth.
They also no longer saw the fire raging around her body.
Leyan who saw an opportunity wasted no time and drew his bow. When an arrow was created there, Leyan immediately let go of his bowstring.
*SWIISHH!*
The Arrow shot swiftly towards Cuzia. She - who was shocked to see Colmano's condition, coupled with her already bad body condition - was too late to realize that the arrow was coming.
*CRAAAT!*
The arrow stuck in her forehead. Cuzia fell backward with her eyes still wide open. She died instantly without realizing it.
Lean took a deep breath. "Finally, it's over."
"Wait, let's make sure that she is really dead." Samuel then walked up to Cuzia in an alert manner.
"Besides, Clyde is still fighting there." Kiara stared at the place in front of them where the explosions of lightning and fire occurred.
"Is that really Clyde?" Haru asked with an astonished look.
"Who else could create such a disaster besides him?" Leyan said in an even tone. He had stopped being astonished by Clyde's strength because he had shown shocking things many times.
~~~
On Clyde's side of the fight.
"HAARRRGHH!!!"
Clyde thrust his sword forward with all his strength. Intertwined flames and lightning shot from the tip of the blade toward Uriel's replica.
*BOOM!*
An enormous explosion was created. The attack that looked like a pillar of fire and lightning hit Uriel's replica with a force far beyond what it could take.
The golden armor and wings of fire were crumbling slowly. Until finally it disappeared completely like dust blown by the wind in the middle of Clyde's attacks.
Clyde waited for a few seconds before he finally stopped his attack. Only now did he realize how much damage he had caused.
Buildings and destroyed ground formed a line like a straight tunnel twenty meters wide. While he still doesn't know how far the damage he caused happened.
Clyde didn't care about that. What was clear was that he had created enormous damage with his strength. He could already see how strong he was now but that wasn't the end yet.
He can continue to level up and increase his Stats and Skill levels. Clyde didn't know how much stronger he could develop.
He immediately ran in the direction Cuzia had run away. But what he found was Cuzia lying on the ground with a Mana arrow in her forehead.
Samuel, Leyan, Kei, Kiara, and Haru were stunned to see her coming. Clyde looks like a monster now, especially after going through all those fights.
His blade was eroded and dull. The damage that the blade had suffered appeared to be severe.
But Clyde didn't seem to have suffered any significant injuries other than dust and a few cuts on his brown coat.
Clyde seemed to remember something. He immediately took off in the direction he had left Asqa the last time.
~~~
