Ilyas attention shifted to Ethan beside him.
"Ethan?"
But Ethan released himself from his grip. His gaze unfocused as he walked toward the boss, answering their call.
"Ethan!"
Ilyas grabbed Ethan's hand, intending to stop him.
SLAP!
But his hand was immediately slapped away.
"Haha! Great! That's how you should be."
The boss' grin became even wider and once again said.
"Come to me, Ethan."
"Don't! Ethan!"
Xain and Cedric reached out to him, intending to stop their captain.
The blood around their feet rippled. When Ethan turned his gaze toward them, solid wall of blood struck them.
"Kghk!"
"Ugh!"
Xain and Cedric let out groans of pain as their body was launched to the distance. Ethan turned his gaze again, this time toward Marcello and Patricia.
"Oh no."
Patricia immediately moved her feet and grabbed Ilyas with her. As she expected, wall of blood chased after her and Marcello.
A distance was now created between them and Ethan.
"Well done, come to me."
The boss once again spoke, and like a puppet on a string, Ethan obeyed their command. Brushing his cheek, the boss gazed at him lovingly before they ordered him once again.
"Eliminate them Ethan, I don't need ones that don't obey."
Ethan turned his gaze again. Raising his hand, the blood under the four espers' feet rippled once again.
"Shit!"
Bloody hands stretched from below, chasing after them nimbly. Cedric sniped his ice lances toward the boss but it was easily deflected by Ethan's blood hands.
"He's completely under the boss' control."
Xain gritted his teeth at this frustrating situation. They couldn't attack the boss as Ethan would always deflect their attacks, but if they went all out, the possibility of injuring Ethan or worse – killing him, was high.
TAP!
While Xain was swirling in his thoughts, Ethan had already dashed in front of him. Keeping his teammates busy with the blood hands, he targeted Xain as his first prey.
A fist was flying toward his face. Xain dodged within the split second and launched a fist of his own.
"Wake up Ethan!"
Xain's punches were easily redirected by his opponent's palm.
'Tsk! Not a single one of my punches hit!'
SLASH!
Not to mention, the small blood needles that kept pestering him in between his attacks was creating small cuts and left him no room to attack properly.
He was getting pushed back.
Xain dashed away and created a distance between them – this time, his mind clearer. Ethan chased after him with his fist ready to punch.
'That trajectory… Alright! I can hit him!'
Xain analyzed his opponent's attack before launching his fist – confident he could land a hit.
BAM!
"Cough!"
But that confidence was shattered the moment his vision spun and his body was thrown into the pool of blood. Xain gasped for breath as he clutched his side.
'What happened?'
He was sure Ethan's fist was aiming for his face, but when Xain raised his gaze again, the last stance Ethan had was one of a kick.
'A feint?'
Ethan had never used tricks like this when he fought monsters, so Xain never knew.
A small laugh came out of his mouth.
Xain always knew he lacked skill in 1v1 combat situation. He never learned martial arts because of the hassle – thinking he wouldn't need it against mindless monsters inside the gate.
But now faced with this kind of situation, he regretted not learning it. He regretted not being able to help his captain at all.
"Xain!"
Cedric's shout snapped him out of his thoughts. Ethan was already in front of him. Ice lance struck him from below, aiming for Ethan's neck. He was forced to dash away to dodge.
Xain immediately took that cue to regroup.
"Are you okay?"
Ilyas asked the redhead who had just regrouped with them. Wiping his mouth, Xain said, "Yeah, even if I look battered, it's not bad."
He then said to the espers in his team.
"Ethan is actually holding back."
There's one thing Xain realized when facing their captain : He never went beyond what Xain could handle.
At first, he pressed Xain with both his attacks and ability. But once Xain was overwhelmed, Ethan stopped using his ability and switched to physical attack instead.
It was the same with the blood hands chasing after his teammates, it was there purely for the sake of chasing them away, not to attack. If Ethan was serious, all the blood beneath their feet now would end their life within seconds.
He was waiting.
Waiting for others to save him.
It was his desperate attempt to reach out for help.
"Hah, our captain is really something else."
Cedric scoffed as he raised his hand. The temperature around him dropped as ice lances formed around them.
Ethan also did the same. Blood lance with similar size, formed in the air – mimicking Cedric's attacks down to the amount.
Once Cedric flicked his hand, Ethan did the same. The blood and ice lances clashed directly with each other, each one of them would collide directly in the center and the force caused the two to immediately break.
Because of this, none of their attacks actually landed on each other.
"You're too soft on us."
It wasn't Cedric who controlled his lances with such precision that every single one of them hit directly with his opponent's blood spears – it was Ethan.
A self-deprecating laugh escaped Cedric's mouth.
'I should have known how well his control is. After all, blood is harder to control than water.'
"Hoamm~, this is boring."
The boss finally spoke again after a few minutes of observing in silence. They leaned on Ethan's shoulder and smirked at the group.
"A show won't feel complete without fireworks right?"
They raised their staff, "So cheer up! Because I would make a grand show out of your deaths!"
Slamming it on the ground, the vibration shook the entire castle. And with it, the floor split open in two, pouring out everything inside to the ground below.
"AHAHAHA! Let the world be reset!"