Eren said while gripping his sword hard. He stopped smiling when he narrowed his eyes on his two prey.
He released his mana signature in the surroundings, letting both the rankers feel his intentions. This wasn't part of the competition anymore. Even when they knew participating in competition may lead to accidental death, whatever that was about to unfold couldn't be called an accident.
Tim and Langdon realized that the stakes for this battle were much higher than they thought they were. They couldn't help but look at each other at the same time when that happened.
"This guy wants to kill us. Tim, we better stick together. I don't sense anyone beside this fake Tuan. so I believe we can take him on just fine and still be in the competition."
Langdon spoke first. He spoke about retaliation and counterattack. He wasn't one who would go down without a fight just because he had been boxed in by a single guy of their rank. That too someone who was still in the liquid stage of the Ace rank.
Only now Tim realized why he was not sensing any threatening aura from Eren's fire-element spells alone. The guy was basically fighting with half his powers. But that wasn't enough to make the summoner feel down about himself or about his prospects of winning against Eren.
"No matter who you are, no matter what your intentions are, if you think you'd take care of both of us just by isolating us, you are in for a surprise."
Tim said and waved his hands forward, sending two of his flame serpents in Eren's direction. He sent other two snakes to go long and attack him from his sides while he was busy handling the first set of animated beasts he had sent his way.
Langdon also cast his spells. He made ice shards of some of his blob of water and sent it in Eren's direction. He didn't overdo his attack for the fear of him affecting Tim's fire-element attacks.
The verbal exchange was over from Eren's end at this point. So he decided to focus on his actions rather than his words.
'I'm going to enjoy this hunt.'
The butcher had a wicked smile to himself as he saw the attacks approaching him. He was already prepared for the incoming force.
Sedated Perception
Stunning Speed
Purple Blitz Steps
Red Blitz Bolt
The butcher's perception was enhanced when he executed his time-element spells. As he watched the attacks closing in on him, he thought of going all out.
He looked at his left chest peck before mumbling something in his head.
'It's time for you to show me what you can do buddy.
Go wild… Ertaur!'
The butcher causally named his contract beast before releasing him out in the open for the first time since he had received it.
Beast Contract Spell: Red Lightning Bull.
Tim and Langdon saw Eren just disappear into thin air before the attacks they had sent him his way could affect him. The speed and agility that he had shown by being Tuan couldn't compare to his original speed when he was using his lightning element movement spell.
Before the two snakes could decipher what happened to their target, they detected a danger coming for them from in front of them as a distinct mana pulse was released where Eren was previously standing.
A bull's bellow was heard and a cloud of red lightning appeared on the battlefield. That cloud slowly took the shape of a giant red lightning bull which charged at the two snakes even before his mana body could form completely.
"This damn imposter… how many trump cards he is hiding…"
Langdon said out aloud in frustration when he saw the red bull charging at Tim's animated beasts. Even though he knew Tim's beasts were superior in comparison to the beast contract spell, the beast contract spell was more optimized for the mana consumption.
That meant Tim's number advantage over Eren was going to be impacted by the single introduction of the red lightning bull. Langdon was just processing these details in his head when he felt a danger incoming from his left side.
"Where are you looking?"
Eren said while approaching Langdon from his front. Only now Langdon realized that it was Eren's afterimage he was staring at.
The butcher gripped his two swords before releasing their inscribed spells on the guy at once.
Purple Reaver!
Invi Blaze!
Two distinct flying sword slashes zeroed in on Langdon at breakneck speeds. The latter used his blob of water-element mana and turned into a wall before summoning a mini tornado in front of Eren. a bunch of shards were formed within the tornado before they were swung across in every direction near Eren by the tornado's rotational momentum.
Red Blitz Shield
Eren didn't run this time. He used the destruction aspect of lightning to cast his defensive spell and proceeded to approach Langdon. A cloak of red lightning was formed on him that covered almost every part of his body.
When the ice shards hit the layer of red lightning cloak, they broke down instantly. But since the quantity of the ice shards was dense, some of them managed to penetrate through the cloak by overlapping the point of impact.
Eren smiled viciously as he was getting injured by the ice shards. He suddenly turned back and attacked at the flame serpent that had managed to approach him by decreasing its mana body.
Tim had tweaked his animated spell a bit because he understood the need of the hour. His usual animated beasts couldn't keep up with the butcher's speed anymore. So he reduced their body size and made them more agile before sending them towards him at the right time.
Purple Reaver!
The butcher knew the lightning-element attacks weren't going to do much harm to the animated beasts. So he decided to fight the fire with fire– his fire. Even if he knew the clash was going to make it so that Tim won every time, all he wanted to do was not win but buy time. Buy time to finish Langdon.
The slashes hit the moving snake and it hissed in pain. As a result, it slowed down and looked at its master for support. It started traveling in his direction as if it wanted an immediate treatment.
This was a disadvantage of animated beasts gaining sentience beyond a certain level. They acted as if they were alive and feared the dangers of death if their summoner couldn't control them properly.
Sensing that the animated beast was hurt and seeking shelter in Tim, the butcher knew now was the time to strike Langdon with all that he got. And he wouldn't miss a chance like this.
'Here I come, Langdon!'
AN: While pondering over the red lightning bull's name, I came to know that the name Minotaur is derived from two words– Minos and Taurus. The word basically means Minos's Bull. So now you know how we landed on the name Ertaur. ;)
