"Zion, even when you're temporarily blind, you sure still know how to piss monsters off," Adira said with a bitter smile on her face as the Rank 5 Overlord increased its speed out of annoyance after the boy's arrow once again bounced off its nose.
"Pissing people and monsters off is one of my strong points, Lady Adira," Thirteen replied. "So if you don't want to get pissed off, you better stay away from me."
"Heh~ such a cheeky brat." Adira was smiling, but deep inside, she was feeling terrified.
Originally, she thought that she would be able to fight the Rank 5 Overlord on her own, but she underestimated just how numerous and powerful its subordinates were.
This was why she was praying to the Deity of Silence, Dumah, to make sure that the Black Hound that they were riding on wouldn't trip, or else, it would be all over for them.
Suddenly, a hooting sound reverberated in the surroundings, making Thirteen's body stiffen.
Vassago had informed him that the Purple Furred Honey Badger was less than a mile away from them, and if they continued to travel on their path, they would meet up with that monster in less than a minute.
"Lady Adira, can you see ahead of us?" Thirteen asked.
"Yes, why?" Adira replied.
"Do you see any monster in front of us?"
"No. I only see a few small hills."
Thirteen remained silent for a few seconds before making a hooting sound of his own.
Vassago hooted back, as it acknowledged his Master's order.
"Were you perhaps a Pocopoco in your past life?" Adira asked in a teasing tone. "Why can you mimic animal sounds?"
"Well, I used to have a close relationship with a Phoenix in my past life," Thirteen replied. "She taught me how to talk to birds."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Zion," Adira only meant her question as a joke, but she didn't expect that Zion would be quick on the uptake and answered her joke with another joke.
However, little did she know that Zion wasn't joking at all.
Another hoot reverberated in the surroundings, which made Thirteen understand that he would have to take a gamble in order to survive.
"Blacky, if you hear a loud screech, run as fast as you can without holding back," Thirteen ordered. "It doesn't matter if you get exhausted. Just do as I say if you want to live."
The Black Hound was fed up with the boy calling it Blacky, so it planned to disobey the boy's order.
But when it heard a loud screech that came from Vassago, the Black Hound's body subconsciously shuddered as it ran past one of the hills in front of it.
Time seemed to move in super slow motion as the Black Hound and the Drow looked to their left side and saw a two-meter-tall Honey Badger hiding behind the hill, with its purple glowing eyes looking in their direction.
Only a few seconds had passed, but for Adira and Blacky, they felt as if they were staring at the face of Death, who could reap their lives in the faction of a second.
Thirteen, who was riding behind Adira, smiled faintly because he had felt the Drow's body stiffen after hearing the loud screech.
Unlike the two who seemed to have been stuck in time, the seven-year-old didn't feel a single thing.
After what felt like an eternity, time moved normally, which prompted the Black Hound to follow Thirteen's earlier order.
It ran like a madlad, no longer caring about the aftermath that would follow after running at its full speed.
The Purple Furred Honey Badger had completely erased its presence, making it so no one was able to detect that it was hiding behind the hill.
It didn't move and allowed the panicked Black Hound to run past it, but its gaze lingered on the boy, who had momentarily opened his eyes to look in its direction.
Zion's gaze was still blurry, but he saw two purple glowing orbs in his line of sight.
He knew that these were the Purple Furred Honey Badger's eyes, which made him raise his hand to salute the monster and say a few words in its direction.
"He's all yours."
A few seconds later, the Purple Honey Badger leaped forward, just in time to clash against the Rank 5 Overlord's body, who had no idea that its mortal enemy was lying in wait to ambush it.
Since the Golden-Eyed Hyena's attention was locked on the annoying boy, it didn't notice his enemy, who had already entered its detection range.
The Purple Furred Honey Badger had noticed that its target was running in its direction for some reason, so it decided to hide and ambush it when the Hyena came within striking range.
Now that it understood that the Rank 5 Overlord was pursuing that Warsor Black Hound that passed a few seconds ago, it decided to strike while its opponent was still reeling from its surprise attack.
Using its strong jaw to bite the Hyena's foot, it succeeded in making the Hyena lose its balance, causing it to fall to the ground beside it.
The two rolled while biting each other, sending rocks and dirt flying in every direction.
The other Golden-Eyed Hyenas didn't know whether they should help their leader or not. All of them knew that if they joined the action, there was a chance that their bodies would be crushed by the two monsters, who were fighting like two tavern brawlers on the ground.
Knowing that it was impossible for it to win alone, the Rank 5 Overlord howled, ordering its subordinates to attack.
This prompted the Hyenas to no longer hesitate and attack at full force, biting the Honey Badger, whose biting strength was high enough to crush their bones.
Adira turned around to look at the chaotic battle and secretly thanked the Deities that they were able to escape in one piece.
The Black Hound didn't have the leisure to see who would win against the two monsters and simply did its best to run like its life depended on it.
Thirteen, on the other hand, remained still while making hooting sounds.
He ordered Vassago to keep watch on the battle and tell him who emerged victorious among the two Overlords.
Meanwhile, they needed to find a safe place to hide so that Blacky could rest.
"Blacky, you can stop running at full speed now," Thirteen ordered. "If you know any safe places to hide, let's go there first."
Blacky barked weakly before changing their course.
It knew a few hiding places in the Furvus Grasslands, where the Warsor Black Hounds often used to conceal themselves from their predators, which had long run away in fear of being eaten by the two Overlords, who were currently engaged in a death match with each other.
