"You… you almost had me."
Ketsu commented while holding his neck which was leaking blood with one hand. His other hand was placed over his heart.
Ketsu had used a defensive spell he had at his disposal at the right time that allowed him to fend off almost all of the shrapnels targeting his body. He feared he might have been critically injured if he hadn't deployed the spell at an optimal time.
The ranger didn't like using his defensive spell. That's because his element wasn't compatible with defensive spells and anything that was related to the materialization of mana.
He had to convert sound-element mana into sound waves that would stack upon one another and act as a defensive layer around his body. He depended on the density of the sound waves as well as the kinetic energy stored in them to deflect the attacks targeting him. As a result, his mana expenditure was too high whenever he executed those spells.
The disc-shaped sound element barriers he had used earlier were the lighter version of the same concept employed by his primary defensive spell. It changed the direction of the attacks and any shrapnels so that they missed their targets, rather than deflecting them completely.
Ketsu had his mana storage halved to half its capacity instantly a few moments into the battle. He had to admit that Katalina had got him good.
Katalina had picked up a thing or two after observing how Tuan fought during these three days when they raided monster nests together. His attacks always left an opening behind them and made his opponents choose or prioritize that opening. Then he would set traps covering that opening, which would get triggered as soon as his opponents passed through them. The butcher had been using the array-traps extensively ever since he had gotten a hand of them. That's because he was used to such tactics.
After seeing the way Tuan fought, Katalina couldn't help but be inspired by his battle style. She tried to mimic him in her fight against Ketsu. She had come to realize that most of Tuan's traps were unavoidable because of the way they worked. Even if one's opponent knew that there might be traps ahead, they would still subconsciously choose to prioritize their safety by avoiding immediate dangers.
These kinds of traps were based on the survival instincts of ranking entities. As long as the targets can't overcome the survival instincts they have, they won't be able to save themselves from falling into such traps.
Ketsu used his arm's sleeves to wipe the blood that was all over his face. He then took a long breath before summoning his weapons. Two rune-inscribed flintlocks made their appearance in Ketsu's either hand. He gripped them firmly before imbuing them with his sound-element spell.
There was no sound.
But suddenly Katalina felt a white noise that permeated through her whole body. The next thing she knew, her vision had gotten blurred and she had lost control of her footing.
Ketsu had fired his sound bullets at Katalina and denoted them a moment before they hit her. His firing rate was low. But due to his element's specialty, he could fire from a long-range and control his bullets' trajectory and detonation with his mana sense.
Aaaaaaah!
Katalina gripped her head with both her hands and pulled her hair due to sound-element mana affecting her senses. The detonation of sound waves affected her sense of direction and compromised her vision. Her hearing capabilities were temporarily lost. She couldn't even hear her own screams.
Ketsu had been preparing his sound-element attack for a long time before the sonic bullets made their appearance. He only pulled out the artifacts with which he could extend the range of his stacked spells when they were ready.
Ketsu imbued his mana into the flintlocks once again. He also cast the defensive disk barriers to keep himself safe from harm while he recharged the flintlocks.
Katalina decided to be decisive when her head was splitting with the sounds of so many things all at once. Consequently, that overwhelming sound had cleared her mind of any confusing thoughts.
Then there was one thought that had been lurking inside her brain for the last few days. Before, it had been overshadowed by all her other dominant thoughts. But then, at this moment, it found its chance to shine.
At that time, she remembered Tuan's words about not being intimidated by others.
'Sometimes, you need to turn off the switch of sanity to win over your opponent.'
Katalina reiterated Tuan's words in her now-empty head and decided to act on them.
She took control of her situation by sending her mana circuits into hyperdrive in the next moment. This was done without allowing her mana points to relay the mana they had forward.
As a result, her body started turning red. The surface-level muscle tendons on her limbs started swelling.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!'
Katalina couldn't help screaming in pain. As a result of her insane act, most of the foreign sound-element mana got expelled from her system at the cost of damaging her internal organs. She chose to partake in self-harm to gain control over her body. Unknown to the butcher, his words had converted a superior-than-average ranker into a battle-hardened personality.
Katalina's spells were about to disperse due to her losing control. So when she snapped out of her pain in the next moment, the wind-element ranker provided them with a significant amount of mana without having to worry about mana consumption.
Katalina's beast contract spell received a large chunk of her mana. Her owl produced a sharp sound in the next moment that wasn't very owl-like and attacked Ketsu with newfound vigor.
Ketsu was about to be done charging his flintlocks when he suddenly felt pressurized. He was attacked first by cannon shells coming from two directions. Then the owl cast its spell and made him change his position constantly.
As if that was not enough, he saw Katalina coming at him without any fear in her eyes despite him holding the flintlocks. Ketsu had studied his opponents. According to his recons and the profile he had created for Katalina, she wasn't this aggressive. She should have prioritized her safety first before coming at him like some kind of daredevil with vengeance on their mind.
'What… what the fuck has happened to her in these days?'
Ketsu asked himself. He then thought that Katalina was putting up a front and decided to call her bluff.
