The arachne jumped over my head, throwing spider web to trap me.
I spread out my blood and formed small knives, cutting through the web with ease while jumping up into the air with my sword in hand.
SLASH!
One should never underestimate a spider's tingling sense. My blade didn't connect because the spider agilely retracted and bent its limb to dodge.
But that's what made fighting fun.
The moment our feet touched the ground, a chase happened.
Spider webs were thrown in my direction, and in exchange, blood knives intercepted them and counterattack. Even though it looked like we were on a stalemate, in reality, we were both assessing our ability.
Strategy and reflexes to counter the unexpected – that's the thrill of battle.
I dodged the webs I couldn't slash, and used my hardened blood as a stepping stone to arc through the air.
A blood spear formed on my hand. Gripping it tight, I used all energy in my muscles to throw it.
BOOM!
The arachne dodged in time, but using the dust as cover, I bolted in front of it.
SLASH!
KIEEKK!
'One leg down.'
I spun my sword and aimed at its neck. It nimbly bent its body and retreated before one of its limbs launched a counterattack.
SWISH!
"… Huh."
I stopped when I sensed a sharp sting on my face. Touching my cheek, I could feel liquid flowing down. The arachne had landed a blow.
'Finally the right opponent for me.'
Finding a matching opponent was one of the joys in battle. It had the speed to match me, with great enough instinct to counterattack me, so this was a battle I could have fun in.
'It's been so long since I could let loose.'
A small laugh escaped my lips, loosening my tie, a grin formed on my face.
I drew more blood to create spheres of blood clot behind me, slipping it into the sand and then flicked my hand.
"Let's see how skilled you are."
Blood spikes rapidly sprouted out from the ground, chasing after the arachne.
But adaptation was one of humans' best traits. Once I found the tempo, my blood spikes struck the side of its body, cutting two legs at the same time.
The problem was…
'It's slowly regenerating.'
Although I already took three of its legs, the first one had already started to regenerate. The small cut I inflicted when saving the girl had also completely healed. So, one fatal blow was needed to end this fight.
The arachne didn't back down in front of my consecutive attacks. Instead, it had become more careful in its movement.
'What a useless thing to do.'
Once it jumped up in the air, I used that moment to create a spear above its head – striking it down toward the arachne.
The spear stabbed through its body and lodged itself deep into the sand.
The arachne shrieked, wriggling its body to break free.
I scoffed at its behavior. With a wave of my hand, blood clots floated above its head, spreading out into thin needles before falling down to the Arachne and area around it like rain, piercing through its skin as dust rose up.
Once the dust settled, it revealed the arachne with thousands of thin needles on its body.
I nonchalantly walked closer to it, watching the time on my wristwatch.
"19 minutes, that's all I need to take you down."
I stared down at the arachne wiggling in pain, putting my hands in my pockets as my adrenaline went down.
"That's what you get being a boss in a mismatch environment, if you're a spider, build a forest or something."
A blade formed in the air. I could see my ice-cold gaze reflected in the arachne's shiny black eyes.
"Goodbye."
SLASH!
The arachne's head fell with a thud.
"Woahhh!!"
"He did it! We're alive!"
A victory cheer erupted from the crowd.
Wiping the blood that had splattered on my cheek, I turned my head and waved to the civilians, indicating it's really over.
"That was an excellent control of blood, I'm honestly impressed. Oh, you can use your ability to cover up the wound too, so attacker and healer huh?"
Marcello suddenly showed up beside me. He didn't hesitate to grab my hand and examine the wound on my arm.
I stared at him in shock.
'I can't detect his movement.'
It's already the second time and I still didn't know what ability he had. One thing for sure, if Marcello were willing to, he could kill me without me having the chance to retaliate.
It was honestly a horrifying thought. Maybe him liking me instead was a good fortune.
'I'll dig through the database once I got back.'
"Let's take the civilians out of this gate first."
We went back to the crowd, gratefulness was reflected on their faces. But behind every gratefulness, there would always be one that chose spite.
"Fucking S-Rank! Just because you got lucky awakening with that ability, you think you can show off huh?"
Rio climbed up a car, shouting and pointing his finger at me.
I scratched my chin while listening to his words. Insults were common when you gained fame, I had heard way worse back when I first started as an esper. But nevertheless, I decided to listen to his complaints anyway.
"You think you're all high and mighty?! You're just slightly better than me! Must be nice huh? If you don't have that ability, you would be dead, eaten by that spide-"
CRASH!
His words were cut when a hand slammed Rio's head down. The impact even dented the car below and shattered the glass, eliciting gasps of fear from people around us.
Even then, Marcello gripped Rio's head tight, he clenched his teeth and growled in Rio's ears.
"Must be nice to run off your mouth after being saved by that same ability you talk shit about huh? Guess I should just throw you to the arachne and reduce one more human waste."
Murderous intent filled the air, making Rio's body shook in fear. He couldn't let out coherent words as only groans filled his mouth.
"...!!"
Strings of blood held Marcello's hand in place. Giving it slight tension, I locked my eyes with him as I approached.
"Stop it Marcello, you're injuring him."
"Ethan, B-Rank espers' durability isn't as weak as you thought. They are at least two times tougher than normal humans."
"But that's not an excuse for an S-Rank to bully a B-Rank."
Marcello gazed at my face for a while, still not backing down. Then he looked at Rio again, blood spilled from injuries Marcello inflicted was slowly forming scabs, sealing the wound.
"Tsk, you're lucky Ethan is nice."
He threw Rio on the ground. With not a single glance back, Rio quickly ran away and out from the gate with face as pale as sheet– his pants wet.
'Luckily the sand was quite soft so there doesn't seem to be any scratches from the fall.'
It would be a hassle for the medics if the wound I'd just closed opened up again.
I turned my attention to everyone in the crowd, giving them instructions to escape from the gate. With medic already standing by, evacuation process didn't take long.
Once I ensured all the civilians' safety, I apologetically spoke to Marcello.
"Sorry, I planned on taking you to the nearby restaurant but it was a mistake to choose this route. As a result, I let you experience an unpleasant thing in your trip."
"I managed to see you dance beautifully because of that. Right, how about this, you called me Marcello just now. As compensation, call my name more Ethan."