"Hurry! We won't be able to fight this thing near the pond." Abium shouted as he started running in the opposite direction.
At that moment, he knew that the fight was inevitable and decided to choose the right place to do battle.
Meanwhile, Fennelis and Nicolaus nodded their heads in understanding and ran after him towards the plains.
After running for a few hundred meters, Abium finally stopped his footsteps, turned around, and spoke with a smile.
"This place should be okay for battle."
"Aren't you afraid of this monster?" Nicolaus arrived next to him and asked with a stiff smile.
Although he also unsheathed his weapon and held it tighter, his legs and hands started to tremble unconsciously. The same goes for Fennelis!
At that moment, the Undead Wyrm let out another roar, took a large step, and started running towards them at an unimaginable speed.
Upon seeing this, Nicolaus took a step back and uttered in disbelief.
"What the hell is this thing? Its mere presence causes my legs to shiver in fear."
Meanwhile, Fennelis also nodded her head in agreement and spoke.
"I feel like I'm being targeted by prey!"
On the other hand, Abium chuckled and shook his head.
"It's called Magical Beast for a reason."
While saying so, he took out the nether gem from his space ring, moved towards Fennelis, and placed it on Umi's forehead.
Just as the blackish gem touched her skin, an eerie reddish smoke came out of her mouth and nose and dispelled the chaotic thoughts.
Simultaneously, Umi opened her eyes slowly and tilted her head in confusion.
On the other hand, Abium calmly turned around, gripped his sword, and explained more about the undead monster.
"It's called Undead Wyrm. Unlike the monsters we have faced in the pocket dimension, its strength should be on a whole new level. Although I don't want to fight this thing, we have no other choice now." In truth, he had encountered Tier-1 Magical Beasts multiple times in the past.
But he was nothing more than a supporter for the Official Mages!
'Even an Official Mage would find it harder to battle a Tier-1 Magical Beast in a one-on-one fight. I'm not sure we can survive this battle.' While muttering, he imbued mana into his sword and covered the edges with a reddish Advanced Sword Aura.
"I need some time." He spoke in a cold tone and dashed forward at a fast speed.
But as the Undead Wyrm arrived less than 20 meters away from him, he suddenly raised his left hand, conjured an orb of flame, and tossed it towards the lizard's head.
The fire orb arrived before the Undead Wyrm's mouth and soon exploded, enveloping its whole face in a crimson flame.
But to his shock, the Undead Wyrm suddenly flapped its rotten wings, leaped upward before shaking its head, and erased the crimson flame!
After that, the Undead Wyrm landed on the ground with a thud and started running while opening its mouth to bite Abium.
'Tsk, its wings are going to be a big problem.' He cast the [Blink] spell and disappeared.
He reappeared above the Wyrm's back a moment later, raised his Sword of Wrath, and made a slash at his right side.
The next instant, a neat cut appeared on the Undead Wyrm's right-side wing, and soon the rotten wing fell with a thud.
'That should be enough.' Abium cast the [Blink] spell again, disappeared from there, and reappeared a few meters to the Undead Wyrm's right side.
Following that, he slowly turned transparent and disappeared!
It was his Tier-0 [Mirage] spell!
Meanwhile, the Undead Wyrm slowed down its footsteps, looked around with reddish eyes, and soon locked its gaze on Nicolaus and others.
It then growled and opened its mouth wide to let out its wrath.
On the other hand, Nicolaus covered the sword edges with the intermediate sword aura, looked around cautiously, and cursed.
"F*ck! Where did he go?"
As he was about to move forward, his [Hero's Instinct] skill activated on its own and warned him about the impending danger!
"Evade! It's about to attack us." Although he had no idea how this magical beast could attack them at such a distance, he decided to believe in his newly obtained instinct power.
He activated the Zero-Tier [Lightning Steps] spell and moved towards the right side at an unimaginable speed while leaving electric sparks behind.
In the meantime, Fennelis transformed into her Beast Form and leaped towards the left, along with Umi.
As they split up and moved in two different directions, an eerie purplish ball of fire came out of the Undead Wyrm's mouth.
It flew towards the direction they stood before and soon exploded, enveloping the dried weeds and sand in the purplish fire!
At that moment, Umi also snapped out of the shock and asked in a hurry.
"Mama, give that Steel Scimitar to me." Saying so, she stood up steadily and transformed into her beast form. But unlike her mother's beast form, Umi's body size only grew to the size of a normal human and stopped.
Upon seeing her daughter act like a mature woman, Fennelis gave a shocked look and hurriedly took out the sheathed scimitar on her left waist.
"Use it to protect yourself, Umi. Don't act unless it is necessary." She warned her and handed her the weapon.
Meanwhile, Umi caught the scimitar, unsheathed it before rising above her chest, and pointed the tip at the Undead Wyrm.
She then opened her mouth and spoke in an excited tone.
"I can fight too!"
Simultaneously, a crystalline needle came out of the scimitar's tip, flew towards the incoming Undead Wyrm, and directly crashed onto its forehead!
It was a Tier-1 [Ice Needle] spell!
An explosive noise echoed in the wasteland, followed by a bone-cracking sound.
What shocked everyone was that the explosion managed to stop the Undead Wyrm's footsteps!
At that moment, the Undead Wyrm's forehead region and its left eye got ripped apart and scattered in all directions in the form of frozen bones and muscles.
Following that, the Undead Wyrm's head also turned crystalline!
In the next second, a large amount of ice-elemental energies came out of the collided area and released snowy mist in all directions before covering the Undead Wyrm!
"Awesome!" Nicolaus opened his mouth subconsciously and muttered in shock.
But before he could rejoice, a dense purplish chaotic energy came from the belly of the Undead Wyrm, spread all over its body, and vaporized the snowy mist and ice.
He also noticed that the Undead Wyrm's bones and skins started to glow purple, hardening like metal.
Even the crystalline ice that covered its head broke into countless pieces and was replaced with a metallic head!
"What a terrifying ability!" Fennelis muttered in disbelief and felt both of her legs weaken slowly.
At that moment, her mind started to work like a machine.
'No good. There is no way our Tier-0 spells would work on this monster. Our only hope is that Abium kid, but he seems to have disappeared out of thin air.' Her eyes wandered around and searched for Abium's presence but found nothing.
'He is lurking somewhere and waiting for the Undead to loosen its guard. No, there is a high possibility that he might be waiting for someone to act as a decoy and create an opportunity for him to use his powerful attack. Nicolaus can't act due to his low mana. Even his boots are time-limited and can only be activated thrice/day. As for Umi, she is too young for this kind of battle and might make mistakes.' She muttered to herself and prepared herself to act as a decoy.
"Nicolaus, back me up. Umi, use your attack spell and try your best to distract its attention." She said in a calm tone, unsheathed her sword, and dashed forward towards the Undead Wyrm.
Simultaneously, she cast the [Ice Touch] spell and covered the sword's edges with sharpened ice. Not only that, but she also imbued all the ice-elemental energy into her sword and covered it with a basic sword aura!
'Although it won't be as strong as Advanced Sword Aura, Abium said it could be on par with peak Intermediate sword aura. Let's see if my sword could pierce into its head.' She muttered as she continued to run.
On the other hand, Nicolaus activated the [Lightning Steps] spell, imbued his sword with Intermediate Sword Aura, and ran towards the Undead Wyrm's right side.
Fennelis also changed her direction and shouted.
"I'm about to aim for its left head. Now is your chance, Umi!-"
Before finishing her sentence, Umi raised her hand, pointed her forefinger at the Undead Wyrm, and cast her first spell.
A moment later, a ray of pure ice elemental energy emerged from her forefinger, moved towards the Undead Wyrm's forehead, and landed on the already broken area!
Even though the Undead Wyrm had enchanted its bones and skin with its unique chaos spell called 'Metal Skin,' the broken area remained uncovered.
Rotten flesh, half-frozen ice, and greyish brain matter appeared visible to everyone's eyes!
In a blink, the [Freezing Ray] spell landed on the broken area and started freezing it.
As the Undead Wyrm roared in a crazy state, Nicolaus suddenly turned blurry, moved towards the creature while leaving blurry images behind, and reappeared next to its right side head region.
Simultaneously, he gripped his intermediate aura-covered sword tighter, leaped towards its other eye, and tried to pierce it.