Within the cabin, Phoenix kept his sword tightly gripped in his fingers, staying alert.
"—Support your comrade," the words of encouragement unexpectedly came from the mistress of the Haul Domain.
Phoenix turned around to look at the emerald-eyed woman, "Huh? But you two—"
"We will be safe here. There's a bunker beneath this cabin that I doubt those bandits will find. Even if they do, they'll be met with our blades," Elena claimed confidently.
Jon added in, "That's right. Everything fails if Lord Schoeller falls, so—please support him and don't worry about us."
While he was hesitant to accept it, Phoenix nodded, "Alright! I'm going, then!"
He sprinted out of the cabin into the woods, following the direction he knew the young lord had went. While the idea of facing the half-giant was worrisome, he felt confident with their combined strength, it would go over smoothly, yet—
"Huh?"
Amidst his sprint through the woods, he was sure he covered enough ground to catch up. As he blinked once, the scenery of tall, dark-brown trees and verdant bushes was replaced by one entirely different—
A courtyard amidst stone ruins, part of a castle that had seen a disastrous battle.
"Where am I…?" Phoenix questioned, looking around.
It couldn't be further from the woods he was supposed to be in, finding nothing but gray walls beneath the night sky.
A feminine giggle forced him to turn around, discovering a person perched on the far wall. The lithe woman kicked her legs, dressed in a black, thorny dress with flowing, lapis hair that glistened beneath the moonlight.
Phoenix pointed his sword towards the mysterious girl, "—Hey! What the hell did you do?!"
The azure-haired, pale woman laughed into the back of her hand, "I just made sure Mr. Björn could have his fun without interruption. As for you…You'll have some fun of her own."
In the adventurer's eyes, he surmised the woman to be a threat, no doubt one of the Brotherhood. As he took a step to approach her—
"—"
He stopped just as his shin pressed against a sharp object, looking down to discover a hardly-visible line. A string was fixated, cutting into his leg from the minimal contact as blood squirted from the wound.
"Nrgh?!—" Phoenix winced, stepping back as he spun around.
Another figure presented themself; a masculine presence that wielded the strings between his fingers.
The uncanny man in a black coat stood there, intertwining his threads, silently watching the adventurer.
Phoenix glanced back, finding no trace of the girl before setting his sights forward—
He was right there; the thread-wielding bandit was no more than a meter away. With every cell in his body commanding him to move, he engulfed his sword in fire, swinging it in a horizontal arc.
An odd creaking sound came from the man of dark, fluffy hair, witnessing the figure bend backwards unnaturally.
'There's something that ain't right with this guy—something's off,' Phoenix thought, stepping back.
As his right foot slid behind his left, he instinctively ducked as one of the strings passed over his head.
"Fast, so nimble…" The unorthodox figure remarked with a voice like that of a breathless whisper.
It felt closer to an insult than a compliment, ignoring the faint words as he pushed forward. With fire roaring at his heels, he launched himself to close the distance.
"—Hyraah!"
Using his utmost strength, he guided the blade in such a motion as to sever the neck of his foe, yet—
It popped right off; the odd man's head separated from his neck with an audible "click." In the midst of his confusion, his flaming blade passed right across the now empty space.
He slid back, watching the uncanny figure catch his own head before popping it back in place.
"You…You're not human," Phoenix remarked, watching the unsettling man.
The bandit caressed the inorganic texture of his skin, running his fingertips along the unnatural joint in his neck, "That's a rude thing to say. I have a human soul, as do you. Let's exchange names…Yes, that's normal for two people who have just met to do."
"What the hell are you talking about?! You just tried to kill me!" Phoenix shouted.
"You just did the same," the man of wooden flesh retorted calmly, bowing. "I am Bruno, member of the Brotherhood of The Eclipse."
Phoenix didn't know exactly how to respond to the odd manners of the figure, begrudgingly doing the same, "Phoenix. I'm a gold-ranked adventurer."
With a plastic smile, Bruno raised his head as his hollow, gray gaze met the other, "It's nice to meet you, Phoenix. Now let us fight to the death, as the living do."
—
With wind beneath his feet, Leon surfed across the forest's surface, looking back at the calamity that pursued him. The laughter filled the landscape while the dual-wielding half-giant wildly swung his gargantuan weapons, smashing through trees.
Björn bellowed with joyous laughs, "Rub, boy! Don't let my blades taste your skin!" The sing-song tune came as the warrior cocked his arm back, swinging his axe.
He ducked down as the air pressure cut above him, bisecting the slope in his path.
'How am I even supposed to fight this guy—? It's like trying to fight a natural disaster,' he observed.
As he slid on mobile wind, a tremor from the ground almost tripped him up. A shadow cast itself over him as he looked up, witnessing a parade of logs being flung ahead.
'Seriously—?' The thought crossed his mind.
Turning around, he drifted backwards, witnessing the barbarian lifting a pillar of oak with a joyous grin. As though it were a weightless spear, the red-bearded man exhaled before tossing the massive tree right towards him.
"Don't you have any respect for the wildlife?!" Leon yelled while staying in the move.
He slid to the right as the weapon used log slammed into the dirt he once stood.
Björn yelled fervently, spinning a tree above his head as though it were a staff, "I respect only that which gives me excitement! So—want my respect?!"
"Not…particularly!" Leon shouted, ducking his head as another log sailed over.
It seemed if the battle went on long enough, the entire forest might be left barren. He turned around, conjuring a pair of swirling fireballs in his hands, tossing them towards the berserk half-giant.
Like exploding fireworks, the spheres of fire unleashed into bundles of destruction against the bandit's body. Through the haze of fire and sparks, Björn's laughter only intensified as he emerged through the elements.
"No more hot than a summer day!" The half-giant taunted, carrying his heavy weapons amidst his sprint.
Leon stayed on the move, feeling the rumbling of the warrior's relentless pace behind him.
'If this guy is invulnerable, then I really only have two win conditions here. Both are equally difficult to pull off with certainty, but—let's try 'Plan A,' he decided.
He allowed himself to come to a sudden stop, meeting the half-giant halfway. With how tough the man's body was, it seemed Björn reacted rather slowly to the interception.
"Oh—?" The bearded bandit looked down with curiosity rather than fear.
Between both palms, he condensed a spiraling wind, amplifying the force while packing it in further. A great density of mana was forced into the ball of air, quickly, roughly, and with a clear purpose—
It wasn't a learned spell, but rather a cocked ball of wind, ready to be fired at any moment. He placed his palm against the bare abdomen of the half-giant:
"Grh?!" Björn grunted.
Before the bandit could counter, the direct contact allowed the condensed air to explode. A shock wave tore through the forest, launching the massive man directly into the air.
"Wooooooaaaah—!" The voice of the reckless warrior grew distant as the figure sailed into the sky.
From the ground, Leon watched the half-giant disappear into the dusk clouds.
'Plan A: Team Rocket Is Blasting Off Again!' He dubbed.