Baffled by their target who fought so fierce a moment ago to turn his back and run away.
What surprised them more, or rather terrified them was what that man said.
The fact that the curse was eating up their vitality with each passing second.
'This isn't anymore for the bounty reward!' Serras cursed inside his head as he, Bernard, and Jack went after Danzel.
As he already started to feel the effect of the curse, although slightly, he knew that if things kept going like that, him ending up dying and becoming a dried-up corpse would be his only future.
The other two had similar thoughts as him.
The two lady's who were watching them chasing Danzel also had a surprised look.
Naomi looked beside Sumire looking for what to do, only to see Sumire shaken face.
She too didn't know what to do in this situation, but one thing she was certain of.
"Guys! Don't chase after him! If you do-" Sumire yelled but they were too far to hear her.
'Those idiots!'
"Naomi! Let's quickly go after them! If we hurry it might not be too late."
"R-Right"
***
"So they decided to chase after me, huh..." Danzel mumbled to himself as he continued running deeper in the forest.
"Well, of course, they would. It isn't like I gave them much of a choice..." He snickered under his helmet.
It was as if telling them to either chase him or die a horrible death of being sucked dry your vitality.
Although he originally planned to cast all five of them the [Curse of Decay], achieving that was much harder done in reality.
Not only were the two magic caster a bit far away, but it turned out that they could be much more dangerous.
'That woman especially was troublesome with her earth magic...'
*Fseeeee!
"Again?"
Turning his body slightly around, he blocked the flying daggers with his shield before resuming running once again.
"If only they knew...'
'If only they knew that the curse would slowly disappear after a certain distance had been created.'
Indeed, Ignorance was the privilege of fools.
Altough the curse would last some amount of time if the target had gone out of his range, as long Danzel was at the minimum range then the rune could last indefinitely.
Like a timer who gets reset back to the beginning the moment you near.
"Now...how should I deal with them..."
Taking peeks at the three chasings him, he put a grin on his face.
"I even decided-"
Guiding his mana towards the blade of Veren, he halted for a moment and swung his sword towards a tree to his side, releasing meanwhile his [Gale Mana Blade]
"-to how I will deal with!"
Kicking the tree after it was cut, the tree started to fall in the path between him and the ones chasing him.
"That crazy bastard! He actually cut a tree!" Serras cursed upon seeing that.
Enchanting their body with various techniques, Jack and Serras managed to pass through before the tree managed to block their path, but that wasn´t the case with Bernard who carried a heavy shield and knew little of movement abilities.
"Seriously!? Guys! Wait for me-"
Seeing that Danzel once again started to run away, Jack and Serras paid Bernard no need and chased after Danzel.
"Dammit, Dammit, DAMMIT! Jack! Do something!" Serras yelled as a slight pain appeared all over his body suddenly.
"Ugh..." Drawing more daggers out, he threw them at Danzel that with the use of mana flew much faster.
Danzel though either dodged them or right of the bat blocked them without having any difficulties
`We can´t get near! At this rate, we will rot to death!´ Jack cursed as he pushed his body to move faster.
As the two were chasing him, they noticed a big amount of mana traveling to Danzel's blade while halting to a tree.
"This lunatic! He is planning to cut another tree!?" Both of them cursed as they hasten their steps to the limit.
But compared to what they thought, Danzel had other plans.
"Yeah, come much closer-"
Changing his stance, he faced the duo, and instead of swinging at the tree-like he did before, he swung towards the direction of the two, releasing a dark green blade of wind traveling towards them.
Seeing that, both Jack and Serras paled as they tried to stop themself from running towards the cutter.
"This guy!"
Having no other choice, they jumped above the wind blade.
But as soon as they did that, Danzel who wasn´t far away was only a few meters away from them.
Using both [Swift Movements] and [Shield Charge], he came crushing at Jack with his shield.
Although he managed to push his hand together, Jack was still thrown to the with his remaining air in his lungs coming out of once.
"Baaagwhh!"
"Jac-"
Relentlessly, Danzel moved at Serras while their blades clashed.
"So...where have been before?" Danze said in a sinister tone.
"You-"
Using seer power, Danzel pushed Serras back and swung once again.
"Dammit!"
Without even being able to rest, Serras continuously received the heavy swings from Danzel without even being able to counterattack.
And even when he did, the shield was shortly there to mock his attempt.
"Dammit! Jack! Help me out!" Serras yelled as the fatigue started to take effect from receiving such heavy strikes.
Jack who was groaning to the ground while touching his chest from pain, gridded his teeth and pulled three daggers with one hand, and infused them with mana.
Throwing them with everything he got, they traveled aiming for Danzels back.
`Now what will you do bastard! If you turn around to block them Serras must have an opportunity to finish a monster like you!´ Jack though, completely forgetting about the bounty in the first place.
Serras didn´t miss the chance, he used his mana to create flames that boosted his sword forward and managed to push Danzel's blade for a second away while taking the stance to push his sword into Danzel's heart, no longer caring for any defense.
He knew that if he missed the chance, both of them would die a fool's death.
With death creeping above their head like a timer, pushing their bodies to the limit to face an overwhelming opponent when the situation looked for the worse they still managed to find a chance among this despairing situation.
Among the darkness before them, a small little spark of light cracked through that darkness, managing to spark a small flame of hope in their eyes.
That would have been the case if it wasn´t for a miss calculation on their part.
Turning the light of hope into a mere illusion.
*Fseeeeen!
All three daggers that cut through the wind pierced Danzels back successfully.
Without halting his movements, Serras that abounded all defense was shortly pierced by Danzel Veren through the heart, making the part that was pierced decay rapidly.
"H-How?" Dropping his sword, Serras stared at the blade that pierced his chest in disbelieve as strength quickly faded from his body.
"You have no need to know" Danzel said as he pulled Veren out of Serras chest.
"I-Impossible..." Taking his last few steps back, Serras fell to the ground with no spark of hope or life remaining in his eyes.
Without paying any need for him, Danzel made his way slowly towards Jack who was crawling away with sweat showing on his forehead.
"Even if you run, the curse will slowly kill you," Danzel said as he kicked Jack to the stomach and pierced his thigh with Veren.
"Gaaawgh!"
Crying with pain, Jack starred at Danzel his three daggers at his back with disbelieve.
"Both your lungs and heart should already be pierced! How!? How can you still move!?" Jack said with a hoarse voice.
Looking at the man solemnly, Danzel raised his foot and in a quick movement crushed the man's skull.
Activating the runes of Veren, Jacks's blood was sucked in and repaired Veren from the damage it received from his fight with Serras.
After he was done with it, he turned around only to see a shaken man looking at him and two corpses in fear.
"You sure took your sweet time coming here." Danzel said as he run towards Bernard, who in turn began to run away from the way he came from.
"Where are you going-"
Closing the distance in a mere few seconds, he swung Veren with one hand.
"Ugh!"
Turning around in the last second, He barely blocked the heavy blade with his huge shield.
Seeing his posture is all over the place, Danzel sends out a kick to his legs, making Bernard to fall the ground.
"-when your friends are waiting for you to join them?"
Swing his mace in Danzel's leg in hopes to cripple him, Danzel swung Veren at the hand holding the mace and cutting it off.
"Aggghghgh!"
"So noise..."
Pushing the blade in the man's throat, a new notification of XP came, which he ignored like the other ones.
"Now only the two magic casters remained..."
Removing his blade, he stared in front of him, only to be stunned for a second.
Seeing the two magic casters who stared at the corpse with disgust and teary eyes, Danzel was surprised to see them not running away.
"So you two decided to help those three guys from dying huh?"
Directing Veren at them, he said with a cold tone.
"Too bad, you guys are too late."
