As Alex jumped out of the way, a massive beam—wide and tall—erupted from the silver circle Ros had summoned, tearing through the stone ground with a deafening roar.
"Here's the greatest spell of Salyra!" Ros shouted, thrusting his staff forward as if guiding the spell itself.
Ros managed to use one of the spells others usually never had the ability to use, which what made him stand out as an adventurer.
Blood Spells were special, unique spells that had been created by different clans.
However, Alex had no idea what type of spell this was, but all he knew was that it was powerful.
The beam flashed like a blade of silver lightning and slammed into the Hollow before it could react, blasting off the entire left side of its body.
"Mmrgh…" it groaned, stumbling back.
"Come on! This is our chance!" Lara shouted from behind. They had come only to confirm Alde's death—not to fight a Hollow. She was asking to retreat.
But Alex couldn't walk away. Not with the killer of Alde standing right in front of him, wounded.
He turned away from Lara and Ros without a word and faced the Hollow. His grip tightened.
"Are you being serious?!" Lara shouted in anger.
A black and purple aura wrapped around Alex's sword as he raised it and slashed down.
The Hollow clicked—almost like it had a tongue—and caught the blade between three fingers. Alex's eyes widened.
"Bothersome… You are bothersome," it growled.
Its body surged, pulsing with dark energy as it regenerated in a single instant.
Alex tried to pull his blade free—but couldn't. He made the split-second choice to let go.
It was the best decision; he was in a vulnerable position.
The Hollow threw his sword into the far distance and started walking toward him. It was radiating a jet-black color from its white side and a pure white from the black side.
'I've already died once. This is nothing!'
He balled his fists and pointed at the Hollow.
Ros had clearly used up a lot of mana with that last spell. He was now kneeling, holding his staff tightly, barely managing to stay upright.
Lara stood closely behind Ros, unable to help much.
The Hollow dashed at Alex. He turned around quickly before it reached him.
Mana surged through his fists as he dashed to meet its charge.
Their fists collided. He felt pain, but he could continue.
Again, the Hollow threw its left arm and aimed for his head, but Alex noticed it.
He stopped the attack by throwing his own fist back at it.
Then, its attacks exploded in speed. It unleashed punch after punch, relentless like a storm. Each clash shook the ground beneath them like distant thunder.
Alex was astonished he could keep up, but he was barely doing so. It was a matter of who could last longer.
As their fists kept clashing, he finally saw it. There was an opening.
He ducked low, let go of his defense, and aimed for a direct punch.
Mana cladded his fists as he thrust them toward the beast's face.
His fist slammed into the Hollow's face. It felt like he was hitting a concrete wall, but he had to break it. He had to destroy that wall.
The Hollow was thrown backward, and Alex groaned due to the pain in his fist.
'I need to think of something… and quick…'
Ros's ability flashed back in his head—it gave him an idea.
The Hollow was trying to stand back on its feet while Alex still searched for an answer.
His eyes widened in realization—he could have done this a while ago, but never had. He wasn't even scratching the surface of his ability.
Combining Form One and the beam Ros made… he should be able to make it hit even harder!
Alex grinned at the thought. He didn't know how Ros had summoned that silver circle, but he had an idea.
The Hollow rose to its feet. He had no time to think about it further.
Instantly, Alex pointed at it with his index finger. Then, he moved his finger in a circular motion, as if he was drawing in the air.
Nothing worked the first time, but after a few quick attempts, on a different try it felt like something clicked—a spark of silver came out from the tip of his finger.
He tried again, using that sensation to summon a full circle. Then—finally—he made it.
It was the size of his hand, but he knew it could do something, at least.
The same circle Ros had summoned—Alex had just created one using only his finger.
He curled up a smile as he realized all he had to do was use the mana around him, not to make other spells, but to use the mana itself.
After he'd drawn out a silver circle, he drew another inside it. He had to copy Ros.
He didn't know how to write the letters, so it was obviously incomplete—but he hadn't lost hope.
Instantly, before the Hollow could respond, Alex curled up his fists and aimed them at the circle. He had no means of activating it by himself, so he had to do it forcefully.
He punched the circle he'd just made. It felt like he'd just hit steel—but at the same time, like he'd swung through air.
A similar beam erupted from the circle with a loud roar. However, the only thing that seemed different was the color of the beam.
While not as big as the one Ros cast, a dark purple-colored beam came out and headed straight for the Hollow.
'Go!' he thought.
The Hollow raised one arm over the other, choosing to block rather than dodge.
The beam hit the Hollow, blowing a hole in its defense. Its white arm was blown off while its jet-black one remained intact.
It was still too weak—but it had done some damage.
Alex instantly jumped at the Hollow and punched it with his fist.
The Hollow stumbled backward, then muttered in a voice barely audible:
"Exalted…"
Alex's eyes widened at the word. He didn't know what it meant, but something told him there was meaning behind it.
He needed to get his sword back as soon as possible—he had no chance if they stayed in a fistfight.
It was obvious the Hollow wasn't even going all out. He had never seen them use a flashy ability.
The Hollow spoke again as a dark green mark appeared on its forehead. "Falle—"
Before it could continue, its head tilted backward in an instant, as if forced.
The dark green mark shone even brighter—then blew the Hollow's head off.
Alex stood in shock at what he'd just witnessed. Lara and Ros had likely noticed too.
The Hollow's body collapsed. The mark that had appeared on its head was now hovering in the air, exactly where its head had been.
Alex started to breathe heavily, both from what he had seen and from overusing his mana.
It didn't take a genius to know that the mark silently hovering in the air was more than just dangerous.
The mark flew toward him—faster than the speed of sound.
It went into his head—then disappeared.
He felt a slight tingle, but nothing special in particular. Slowly, he began to feel dizzy—but he managed to stay upright.
Rubbing his forehead slightly, where the mark disappeared, he muttered, "What was that…"
He looked behind him, seeing Lara and Ros.
Ros was knocked out, and Lara was trying to heal him.
With no time to think about the mark, Alex ran up to them quickly.
"What's wrong? How did he collapse?" he asked hurriedly.
Lara's eyes twitched, then she spoke with an annoyed yet guilty expression, "He used up too much mana. I tried warning him, but he just didn't listen!"
Thinking about it now, the spell Ros had used was powerful enough to blast the Hollow's body completely.
The Hollow only escaped that by moving at the last second.
"I'll collect the bodies. Look after him," Alex ordered, more than requested. His relationship with Ros had grown exceptionally since they'd come to this horrible place. Seeing him in that state made him visibly upset.
Lara nodded slightly, without a word.
To collect the hanging corpses, Alex had to use some sort of artifact they were given by the Guild.
Looking at Alde's corpse made his body tremble in grief—but he had to accept it.
He hadn't avenged him—but he would find the one responsible for the mark.
He frowned as he took the artifact out of his pocket. It seemed scratched and somewhat damaged—but not to the point of being unusable.
It was like a casket, but small enough to fit in his palm.
Depending on how much mana was used, it could store up to fifty bodies. But… Alex was already out of mana.
He looked back at Lara—his last solution—and stretched out his hand with the casket in it, a nervous grin on his face.
Lara glanced back at him. "Ugh! You're so annoying!" she said before aggressively taking the artifact from his hand.