As Isaac went to fight the Prince alone, Thor faced a tough choice.
Should he split his soldiers to take on the elite Mountain-Eaters, or keep them together and fight one at a time?
After a quick thought, he chose.
"We'll split into groups of three and take down the elites as we find them. Don't forget—if you're outnumbered or in danger, use your emergency flare. Move out!"
"Yes, sir!" the soldiers shouted together.
They broke into groups of three, sprinting off with magic boosting their speed. They moved so fast they rivalled cars on a highway.
***
Isaac vs The Mountain-Eater Prince—
Before Isaac could close in again, the Prince smashed its crystalline armor together.
A shockwave burst out—an anti-magic field that swallowed Isaac whole.
His magic flickered and vanished. Already locked in close quarters, Isaac had no choice but to fight with raw physical strength.
Isaac fought back with punches and grabs, but the Prince's claws were faster, always a step ahead.
Each slash forced Isaac to block or retreat, leaving him struggling to keep up.
From a distance, it was clear—Isaac was at a disadvantage.
"To hell with you and your anti-magic armor!" Isaac roared.
With a burst of power, he kicked the Prince in the chest. The hit sent the monster crashing into the ground.
But Isaac wasn't unharmed. One claw had slashed his leg, leaving a deep wound.
Still, his kick cracked the Prince's chest armor even more, giving him hope.
The Prince touched the cracks, and its aura changed. The air grew heavy. Isaac's instincts screamed danger.
In a blur faster than anything he'd seen, the Prince appeared in front of him, its arm aiming at his face.
Isaac barely dodged, jerking his head aside and leaping back.
But the monster gave him no break. In an instant, it attacked again.
Isaac had no choice. He grabbed the Prince's arm with both hands, pulled it aside, and countered with a glowing blue kick toward its stomach.
But the kick never landed. The other three arms blocked it, canceling his magic.
Then, grabbing his leg, the Prince yanked him forward.
Isaac's danger sense flared. He pushed off with his other leg, broke free, and jumped back.
Even then, the Prince closed the distance instantly, unleashing a storm of blows.
The strikes came so fast and precisely that Isaac could barely breathe. He couldn't think—he could only react. His muscles strained as he dodged again and again.
After several breathless seconds, he realized he couldn't keep this up. He reactivated his full magic armor.
Instead of countering, Isaac pulled back, using his speed to retreat and catch his breath.
But the Prince didn't let up. It chased him, firing an anti-magic wave.
Not wanting to lose his armor, Isaac dodged and kept running.
It became a deadly game of cat and mouse.
'I underestimated it, he thought. Its anti-magic is too much…
At this rate, all I can do is stall for time. Gerald needs to finish his fight quickly.'
After a brief thought, Isaac stopped running and stood his ground.
Digging his hands into the dirt, he flipped the ground up, tearing the battlefield apart and creating a wall of dirt.
The Prince didn't hesitate. It tore straight through the wall.
But Isaac was ready. Using bursts of magic to boost his speed, he caught the Prince as it broke through the dirt wall.
His kick struck its back with crushing force, slamming the monster into the ground.
But the armor held. Not a scratch.
'Do I really have to push myself like Gerald just to break this?' Isaac thought grimly
The Prince leapt back up, forcing Isaac to retreat.
Then it stopped chasing. It stared at him, as if weighing its options, before turning sharply and sprinting in another direction.
Isaac's face tightened. 'Of course. It finally realized I'm just stalling.'
The Prince roared and charged forward, smashing through everything in its path as it ran in one direction.
'It's heading toward the command center! I have to stop it now!'
Pouring everything into his legs, Isaac gave chase at full speed.
Sensing this, the Prince stopped, then spun to face him.
Slamming its fists together, it unleashed another anti-magic wave that engulfed Isaac.
Isaac's magic armor shattered instantly, stripped away by the blast—but his momentum carried him forward.
Twisting mid-air, he extended both legs and kicked. His heels slammed into the Prince's chest.
The force broke through its armor at last, exposing flesh beneath. The impact sent the Prince skidding and rolling across the ground.
When it rose again, its expressionless composure was gone. An aura of fury radiated off its body.
Isaac's luck ended there. With his armor gone, most of his power was lost.
The Prince wasted no time. With all four arms stretched wide, it charged at terrifying speed.
Another close-quarters clash began.
Learning from past mistakes, Isaac now used bursts of mana for split-second dodges instead of relying only on strength.
He slipped past each strike, narrowly avoiding.
The Prince adapted. No longer focused only on killing blows, it aimed for shallow cuts—again and again.
Allowing the poisoned mist around them to seep deeper into Isaac's body, through every wound.
The exchange grew fiercer. Isaac, though bleeding, grew sharper.
Each dodge flowed into a counterattack—quick jabs to the ribs, heavy kicks to the chest, strikes that forced the Prince onto defense.
But the cost mounted. More cuts opened. More poison spread. His breaths grew ragged, his body slowing.
One human. One monster. Both wield strength that could shatter steel. Each blow cracked the ground, each clash shook the air. Hundreds of strikes were traded in mere moments.
Until a mistake broke the rhythm.
Isaac mistimed a kick. His foot cut through empty air.
The Prince lunged. Its claws drove deep into Isaac's stomach.
"Urghhh…!" Isaac gasped, but instead of retreating, he seized the Prince's arm and yanked it closer, forcing the claws to tear all the way through his body.
Madness—but it pulled the Prince into range.
Isaac poured all remaining mana into his leg. Forcing his armor to flare only there, he drove his foot into the Prince's exposed stomach.
The explosion at point-blank range blasted them apart. Both were hurled across the battlefield.
Isaac hit the ground hard. "Hahh… hahh…" He clutched his bleeding stomach, face pale.
He tried to stand but collapsed, forcing himself upright into a sitting position.
Through the haze, he saw the Prince also struggling to rise. Its claws pressed against its gut as green blood spilled out. Staggering, it began to move toward him.
Not willing to be outdone, Isaac forcefully activated his magic armor and rose to his feet, swaying.
Both stood across from one another—broken, bleeding, yet unyielding.
For a moment, they only stared, clutching their wounds.
Then, as one, they moved.
Isaac's fist blazed with mana. The Prince's four arms spread wide.
They charged, ready to end it.
But before they could clash, the ground erupted.
A massive whale-like monster burst out, its mouth opening like a flower, swallowing the Prince whole.
At the same time, a beam of red light blasted down, striking the whale.
It screamed in pain and dove back underground.
"You're not escaping!" Gerald's voice boomed as he descended.
But the whale's dive sent a wave of dirt and rock crashing toward Isaac.
Seeing the danger, Gerald redirected his spell, blocking the debris to protect Isaac.
When he turned back, the whale was gone.
Helpless, Gerald rushed to Isaac and began healing him.
"Don't waste time on me. I can heal myself. Go after the others," Isaac muttered.
"There are no others," Gerald said firmly. "Once I killed the crocodile behemoth, the Mountain-Eaters retreated. Even the elites. It was only you and the Prince left."
"I see… That's good…" Isaac's eyes grew heavy.
"What about the plant?" he asked weakly.
"We have it."
"Good… then we should—" His voice faded as he collapsed.
"Yes. We should head back now," Gerald said softly, holding him up.