After striking Eos, the creature took to the air again. Beating its wings, it suddenly lunged toward Selena.
Selena was actually an agile fighter with excellent movement. From the way she leaped to evade attacks and countered her enemies, it was clear that she had received some form of martial arts training.
Eos, on the other hand, appeared to have never trained in combat.
Even so, Selena's skills seemed to make little difference against such a powerful monster. This time, Selena was the one caught by the creature's charge. Her body was sent flying several meters. She rolled across the ground, fresh blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
After thoroughly toying with his prey, the creature finally spoke.
"All right. I think I've had enough fun. I'll give you a proper death. You might even be the last survivors of your race."
The creature grinned before flying high into the sky. For several moments, the monster hovered motionless in the air.
Then it beat its wings with tremendous force and shot forward. Its legs bent beneath its body, bringing its knees forward. It intended to strike its prey with a devastating knee attack.
Being struck from such a height, combined with the tremendous speed generated by its wings, would be like being hit by a speeding truck. The victim could easily be killed instantly.
At full speed, the monster aimed straight for its target. This time, its target was Eos, who looked exhausted and barely able to move.
The roar of its wings tore through the air. In only a few moments, the collision would occur.
And then—
A tremendous impact!
BANG!
But something completely unexpected happened. The bat-like monster should have slammed directly into the girl, sending her flying from the momentum of its attack.
Instead, just moments before reaching its target, the monster suddenly felt as though its entire flight path had been pulled toward the left side of its body.
Unable to correct itself, its attack slammed directly into the trunk of a massive pine tree beside the road.
CRASH!
The impact violently shook the tree. Leaves and dry branches came raining down. Several birds that happened to be nearby flew away in panic at the tremendous noise.
The three girls were equally bewildered. They had never expected the bat-like monster's attack to suddenly veer off course and crash into the large tree beside the road.
"W-What... what happened?" The bat-like monster slowly got back on its feet.
It growled, revealing rows of sharp teeth inside its mouth. Then it moved into a more open area, putting some distance between itself and the tree it had crashed into.
Its gaze suddenly fell upon the silhouette of someone standing on a high tree branch, backlit by the sunlight.
"Who are you? Was that your doing?"
The bat-like monster raised its head and growled angrily.
High above, on the branch of a tall tree, a girl stood upright. Her figure was difficult to make out clearly because of the sunlight behind her, but there was no mistaking the dark-brown pork pie hat on her head.
In one hand, she held a staff with a curved blade resembling a sickle at its tip.
A long chain was attached to the staff and connected to the handle of another weapon in her other hand.
The bat-like monster took to the air.
"You insolent little creature! I'll tear you apart!"
The monster shot toward the girl. At full speed, it intended to slam into her and knock her from the tree branch.
Three seconds before the monster's staff could reach her—
The branch was already empty. The giant bat froze in confusion. And in that brief moment of hesitation, a black object whistled through the air and struck the back of its head.
THUD!
The momentum of the monster's flight, combined with the impact to the back of its head, sent it spiraling through the air at tremendous speed.
It flew wildly and uncontrollably, like an aircraft falling from the sky.
Fortunately, just before crashing into the ground, the bat managed to regain control of its body and landed safely.
It had barely regained its footing when another object came whistling toward it.
And—
CLANG!
A sickle-shaped blade attached to a long chain slammed into the monster's armored chest.
The sickle immediately flew back toward its original position, pulled by the long chain attached to its handle.
"You little creature! You dare challenge me? I'll kill you!" The monstrous bat took to the air again, charging toward the mysterious girl who had just appeared.
Once again, just before its attack could reach her—
The target disappeared.
The girl had already moved fifteen feet to its side and immediately sprinted toward the trees beside the road.
"You slippery little bird! I'll turn you into smashed beef!" The bat took off after her.
Once they reached the dense forest, the monster hovered among the massive trees. Its prey had vanished.
Then—
Another object came whistling toward it.
CLANG!
From the side, the chained sickle struck again. This time, it hit the monster's arm.
The creature was startled.
It hadn't expected the attack to come from that direction.
Even so, the sickle couldn't penetrate the armor covering its body. The monster immediately pursued the girl again.
But among the towering trees, it couldn't fly as fast as it normally could. It had to constantly dodge the enormous trunks rising around it.
The girl, meanwhile, moved effortlessly. She leaped from one tree to another with incredible speed and agility. Her body was so light that at times she seemed like a piece of cotton carried away by the wind.
At other moments, she moved like an arrow released from a bow.
A moment of hesitation was all it took for her to disappear behind the trees.
"Little creature! Come out! Don't just hide!"
The monster's deep voice echoed throughout the forest. The bat flew slowly between the trees, searching for its elusive prey.
Suddenly—
ZREET! ZREET!
Silver flashes streaked through the air toward the slowly flying bat.
This time, the attacks were aimed at its wings.
Two red lines appeared across the broad membranes of its wings, which resembled thick parachute fabric.
The giant bat shrieked in pain and began flying erratically.
ZREET! ZREET!
Another pair of silver flashes struck. More red lines appeared across its wings. This time, the attacks caused it to spiral downward. The creature crashed roughly onto the ground. Fresh blood flowed from the wounds across its wings.
The moment its body touched the ground, silver flashes struck it repeatedly.
All of them were aimed at its wings. The monster roared in agony.
Consumed by rage, it let out a deafening scream. Then, with all its strength, it launched itself vertically into the sky.
It could no longer see its incredibly fast opponent. All it could perceive were flashes of silver slicing through the air and wounding its wings.
But the monster decided to use its remaining strength to escape the forest. It believed that once it reached the open sky beyond the canopy, it would have much more freedom to maneuver.
The girl had deliberately lured it into the densely wooded area to restrict its movements. With all the strength it had left, the monster accelerated using its already wounded wings.
It had risen only a few feet above the treetops when—
Another blade came whistling through the air. It pierced the monster's left wing, only a few inches from the wing bone.
Then the chained blade was pulled sharply downward.
The sudden force threw the monster off balance. Instead of rising above the trees, it was violently dragged sideways and slammed into the treetops.
CRASH!
The monster's body fell back toward the ground under the pull of gravity.
And then—
THUD!
Another black object struck the back of its head. This time, the object was a foot covered by a short black boot. The impact sent the monster hurtling even faster toward the ground.
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