Each step, each swing, and every collective thought felt heavier than before, as if their bodies were entangled by a new fatigue. What assumed to be confidence with their tide against the beast, was completely shattered.
The Alpha Jackal was starting to regain that profound ferocity.
Klav could no longer compete his ground with the beast, his legs staggered and his arms carried barely any force to cleave havoc. It would even look like he was an amateur wielding his trusted great-axe.
Heather's attacks faltered, noticing his failure to pace with the beast as it clawed wildly on their barbarian, he couldn't find an opening.
They were losing control.
Jace dodged under a stray swipe from the beast, gritting his teeth, and inflicted a shallow slash at its calves. The cut wasn't enough to give Klav an advantage through his battle of attrition, which he was visibly losing.
'It's messing with our Soul! When did the Tower create things like that?!'
Their Soul Points were almost halved, greatly impeding their strength and speed. Jace didn't know what the others felt like, but the odds weren't in their favor. As the fight continued, it wouldn't be long until the three of them were ripped apart.
Jace glanced to the side, noticing a blonde girl enter his view with daggers in her hands.
'Why did she stop firing arrows?! Did she run out of mana?!'
Erin's specialty was ranged combat, not in close quarters with a ravenous beast. She was risking her life being this close to their fight.
The Alpha Jackal roared again, slamming its arm into Klav and flung him away.
Heather tried to capitalize through the outburst, thrusting his sigil sword towards the beast's ribs.
But the Alpha Jackal slammed him to the floor, digging its claws deep into the poor swordsman's back before he could defend himself. The beast lunged its jaw, relishing the delight of the pinned human.
Jace slashed his silver sword across its face, forcing it to wince back in a sharp hiss.
Erin followed right after, cutting her daggers into the rear of the agitating beast.
Jace widened his eyes again, shouting in sheer panic.
"No—Erin!"
The Alpha Jackal immediately turned, swatting its arm to the source of pain, and launched her into an array of thickets.
Jace yelled in rage, gathering the insanity left inside his wavering Soul, and slashed his silver sword along the beast's back.
The Alpha Jackal turned again, its eyes glowed in animosity, and pounced.
He rolled out of the way and slid a few feet along the mud. If he stood more than half a second, its claws would have been buried into his chest.
The sounds of rain were continuously drowning out the cackled hiss and growls that came from the beast. Facing a Floor Guardian alone was beyond anything of his supposed agenda.
Though he could move, and he could fight. No matter if the Tower wanted to design an entity capable of interfering with his Soul, he wasn't dissolving into the Void that easily.
Jace side-stepped and ducked from the beast's claws. The additional Soul Points that came from his Relic weren't affected by the change. Right now, that was the only reason why he was still alive.
Noticing the length and thickness of its claws, one mistake and his flesh would be ripped open with ease.
The Alpha Jackal slammed its claws in another attempt to pin the human. It missed, confused by the empty space in the mud.
Jace closed the distance, slashing his silver sword into its arm and weaving under the next attack. He couldn't even blink. Even if the prickling rain was irritating his eyes, he kept his attention onto every spurt of movement from the beast.
He needed to keep moving. He needed to buy time.
Heather grudgingly pushed himself from the mud, groaning in pain as his back profusely bled through the rain.
Seeing that it was clear to move in, Brita kneeled beside him, her breaths were mortified, feeling their squad was a few steps or minutes away from the Void.
She hovered her hands towards his wounds, preparing to cast a healing spell to their squad leader.
But Heather weakly gestured for her to stop, and ordered her through the pouring rain:
"Save your mana! We need your (Arcane Light)!"
Brita averted her eyes back to the fight. As much as her cloak and drenched and long lilac hair covered her sight, anyone could make out the clear outcome that was in front of them.
Jace was not going to win against a Floor Guardian, especially alone with his pitiful Soul.
Then Erin rejoined the fight, dashing through the thickets where she was thrown, and brandished the only dagger she managed to save.
Heather strained a groan, watching his squad fighting in his stead, and he used his sigil sword to heave himself up. He gulped a health potion and ordered to Brita again:
"When you see the opportunity, fire your spell! Towards the head! To kill the Guardian!"
Brita responded back, her voice quivering in hesitation:
"I can't fire that thing! It's moving too fast!"
Heather yelled back in more frustration:
"You'll see! When it happens, do it! Fire your spell!"
Brita reluctantly nodded, watching the squad leader drag his tattered body back into the hopeless fight.
It was for a second, but through Jace's weaving turns, he caught another figure of a person beside him by a few feet afar. A girl, bleeding by the side of her soaked blonde hair, was drawing closer to him.
'Erin?!'
Erin waited for the beast to drift in the mud before tearing her daggers into its heel. And to his fearful surprise, she had done exactly that.
The Alpha Jackal reeled back, finding another infuriating human with a sharp weapon in their hands.
Jace was grateful for any second to spare, catching his breath while the beast prowled around them.
'She wasn't affected by that roar. Her Soul must have been fine. She can keep up. She can fight with me.'
Erin stood beside him, flipping the dagger in her hands, as he glanced at her.
Jace gripped his silver sword, turning his eyes back to the beast. There wasn't any need to have words exchanged. They had a common goal.
To slay the monster by the Tower.
A few seconds later of pouring rain, the two Climbers and beast charged towards each other.
Erin slid under its wide swipe and sliced at its ankle, swiftly spinning around, and jumped away to avoid the returning claws.
Jace coiled his arm around his body and slashed at its hind leg, weaving under another attack from its claws, and deflected the other.
But his weakened Soul could not withstand the heavy blow, as Erin watched him stumble over the slippery mud.
She dashed back, tearing her dagger into its thigh, and forced its mind away from the defenseless Climber.
The Alpha Jackal whirled its body again, spinning its claws around in a defense mechanism.
Erin was caught in the sudden burst, being sent as she scrambled back to her feet.
Jace sprung from the ground and slashed the beast from behind, repeating the same tactic just as her, abusing its short span of attention.
They continued this for what seemed like an hour, but were only mere minutes. Despite the numerous slashes and cuts that were inflicted around its body, the Floor Guardian refused to dissolve into the void. It was like each source of damage seemed to empower it in another sense of feral vitality.
Jace gritted his teeth, pulling his sword back as he weaved under more clawing attacks, feeling his arms and shoulders beg for rest.
He couldn't stop moving, nor did Erin submit to her fatigue. Even if one claw hooked into their bracers, slightly tearing into their flesh, they had to simply ignore the pain and remain standing.
The Alpha Jackal grew agitated by every second that passed by, failing to maul the two agile Climbers below it.
Then it snapped its slitted eyes behind them, as a young boy with dark buzzed hair steadily walked into their battle, weakly flourishing his sigil sword.
Its eyes glowed again in crimson, consumed by its own malice, and roared again at the Climbers.
Jace shielded his eyes, in a presumed effort to protect himself against the internal attack of his Soul. But nothing had happened. Rather, the roar had sounded different.
The beast had roared in its own sense of rage, venting out an unfiltered cry of violence.
Jace felt strange in his stomach. The feeling where what his human instinct was telling him:
'Something is wrong…what is it trying to do now? No—I can't worry at a time like this. I need to concentrate. I need to keep my momentum with Erin.'
As Jace dashed in again, and Erin followed right after him, he gripped his silver sword and prepared to weave under the usual wild claw from the beast.
The Alpha Jackal did swipe its claw at Jace in an effort to drag him to the ground, but it pounced at him wildly, surprising both of the two Climbers in transition.
Its pattern of attack had changed.
Jace dove out of the way, forcing his whole body away from the way of direction.
Just when he thought he was out of danger, the beast's hind legs had burst in instant speed, latching its claws into the empty mud where the Climber was supposed to be.
Jace had trusted his instinct, moving away from the ground and kept to his feet.
But that was far from the end, watching the beast lunge again in another frenzy of attacks.
Erin tried to divert its attention, though she could barely keep her own pace. The beast's movements were too erratic to predict.
Jace understood the Alpha Jackal's line of thought since he had studied it during their short skirmish, and yet it was still overwhelming for him.
More claws were brushing a few centimeters from his body as he backed further from his squad. The only way he could evade through the beast's attacks was to create distance, which was what it exactly wanted.
Out of everyone here, it grew a burning hatred Jace for the pain he caused. He was the only Climber that managed to make the Floor Guardian feel like a common monster.
Erin dashed towards them, trying to close the distance between her and the Alpha Jackal.
Jace's eyes widened, his voice was too short of breath for her to hear.
The beast abruptly turned, pushing off its hind legs and clawed across her body.