He remembered Jarek's words, advice on unpredictability. It was necessary to get out of the routine, from direct confrontation. An idea sprang in his mind: if the Mouthstones were able to throw stones, could he exploit it to his advantage?

He was not sure of anything, but it could make sense. Why not use the stones themselves as a weapon? One of the Mouthstones had just pulled back to restart another shot. He waited for the right moment, crept through the rocks and crouched in a strategic position, just behind a large rock.

Currently, he was still unable to use the same skill as the Mouthstones, since he had not yet earned it; however, he could use all the stones around him to create diversions. It won't be revolutionary, but if he could at least distract their attention just a few seconds, that would be enough for him to use his sword skill to shoot them down one by one.

Sora was crouching behind the rock, watching carefully the movements of the Mouthstones. Their yellow eyes shone in the light of day, their massive bodies covered with rock plates slowly moving in its direction. He grabbed a pebble of a rather large size and threw it over them, and it crashed to the ground emitting a considerable noise. At the very moment when one of the Mouthstones turned in this direction, Sora stood up, concentrated again and threw his sword skill in her direction.

Before the plant could even see the white edge moving in its direction, a new cloud of dust rose up into the air. Pieces of rocks flew in all directions. Sora had planned it and lowered himself so that the rocks behind which they stood could protect him.

When he no longer heard a sound, he came out of his hiding place and rushed towards the dust still in the air. The yellowish gleams of their eyes betrayed their positions and Sora was able to spot the one who stood closest to him. He grasped his sword with both hands and, with a sharp and precise blow, took the head of the plant, which rolled at his feet like an ordinary pebble. The yellow color of his eyes had already disappeared, when he turned to see the last Mouthstones.

However, he saw it nowhere. No matter how much he searched, there was no plant standing before him, which he had seen a few seconds earlier when he had been driving into the dust cloud.

Sora looked around, his sword still in hand, ready to attack. His eyes peered at every corner of the cave entrance, looking for the slightest shadow, the slightest silhouette. But there was nothing. Not a movement, not a sound, as if the last Mouthstones had disappeared into the air.

He frowned, feeling a little stupid. He knew that his adversaries were able to camouflage themselves, but he had not imagined that any of them would have the presence of mind to conceal themselves at this point. He moved back slightly, looking for a more advantageous position to observe the environment.

"It must be there somewhere..." he murmured to himself.

This situation reminded him again of the words of Jarek, his advice on unpredictability. Perhaps the Mouthstones, having lost his companions, had decided to change tactics, to blend in, preparing a new attack impossible to anticipate.

Taking advantage of these few moments without assaults, Sora remained attentive to the slightest suspicious movements, but decided to look at his stats, to see the state in which he was. "System0, uses Stats Scan."

[ Affirmative.]

[ STATS SHEET ]

[ - Name: Sora ISOSHI ]

[ - Age: 17 ]

[ - Gender: Male ]

[ - Status: 63% (63 PV)]

[ - Level: LV.0 ]

[ - EXP: 9/100 ]

[ CAPABILITIES ]

[ - Strength: 0.55 ]

[ - Intelligence: 0.61 ]

[ - Agility: 0.55 ]

[ - Speed: 0.45 ]

[ - Vitality: 0.41 ]

[ - Magic: _ ]

[ - Magic Resistance: 0.21 ]

[SKILLS]

[ - The Collection ]

[ - Piercing Teeth ]

[ TITLE ]

[ - The Climber ]

Yeah, it's starting to get a little shitty. Système0, use 4 seeds of Alfa Of Oblivion.

[ Affirmative.]

Sora's wounds closed gradually, but he still felt the pain coming from his belly. He quickly lifted his shirt and noticed that the wound was still open and she was still bleeding. However, he had used 4 seeds, which should have raised his HP to 100 and thus completely cured his wound.

Sora didn't really know how to react, but he didn't really have time to worry about that yet. He then refocused on the search for the last Mouthstones that was still unfound, and an idea came to his mind. If it hides by fading into the scenery, then I just need to disturb that scenery to flush it out. And what better than my skill to break everything."

Sora concentrated and felt the same heat radiate his arm. Only this time, the heat was much less pleasant, it even began to hurt him, a little as if he was burned from the inside. But he preferred not to worry about it and decided to launch his skill towards the entrance of the cave.

When his skill smashed against the wall, many rocks fell to the ground, emitting a deafening noise. However, he did not notice any Mouthstones coming out of this place. He then decided to aim this time at the opposite of where he was, a place that he had not yet really cared about.

He tried to restart his skill, but this time the pain was no longer pleasant or warming, it was just burning, as if his arm literally caught fire; the pain was such that he dropped his weapon on the ground and yelled in pain. "Fuck!" Why does it hurt so much?

Sora held his right arm, grinning in the gnawing pain that seemed to bite his muscles and tendons. The intense heat was only getting worse, as if the energy he had invoked in his arm became uncontrollable. His sword on the ground, he found himself on his knees, clenching his teeth to try to contain a cry of pain. The muscles of his arm contracted spasmodic, and his vision blurred under the intensity of suffering.

"Why... why does it hurt so much?" he groaned again, breathing heavily. His arm was shaking, unable to stabilize. He was already exhausted by his fight, but this new pain, this burning sensation, almost finished him.

He closed his eyes for a moment and spoke to himself, trying to refocus. "Concentrate, Sora. You can't afford to give in now. This last Mouthstones could come back at any time."

He stood up slowly, his body still shaken by spasms of pain. With a febrile gesture, he seized his sword again. He knew he couldn't count on his skill right now, not in this state. He needed a different approach.

Despite the persistent heat in his arm, he noticed something strange in the opposite wall. A faint reflection of light, almost imperceptible, which seemed to move slightly. A movement. He squinted. The Mouthstone was there, to her right, half camouflaged among the shadows and rock debris.

Sora, still trembling from the pain, felt a shiver of determination go through his body. "This is my chance. I have no right to be wrong."

He took a step forward, his muscles screaming in pain, but he pushed his body to continue. He forced himself to remember Jarek's words: "The unpredictability." It was not brute force that would help him here, nor even the direct use of his abilities. No, he had to play on his opponent, surprise her in turn.

Sora stooped down, picking up a small stone on the ground. He squeezed it in his hand. "If she wants to surprise me, I will force her to react."

Without warning, he threw the stone, which bounced against a nearby wall, emitting a noise that reverberated throughout the cave. A sound of stone hitting the rock. The Mouthstone reacts immediately, detaching itself from the decor with surprising speed. Her yellow eyes twinkled in the shadows as she prepared to strike back.

But Sora was already on the move.

He leaped forward with his sword ready to strike. He knew he could not afford to miss this opportunity. He concentrated, ignoring the stinging pain in his arm, and threw a lightning strike at the moving shadow. The attack was fast, direct, but with increased accuracy.

The sword fell towards the Mouthstone, but it stopped him with its fangs, just before Sora could take his life. "Shit, I missed my chance," he thought as he chained the attacks to finish this fight as quickly as possible.

The Mouthstone managed to get out of the fight and once again used his skill on Sora, who had no place to protect himself.

Knowing the state of his body, his right arm that continued to burn him and his belly continuing to bleed, Sora knew that he could not let the fight go on forever because he would necessarily be disadvantaged. So he left his fate in the hands of luck and rushed towards the plant before him.

The many stones moving in his direction hit his body, leaving him cuts on all sides, but despite the pain and fatigue, Sora did not weaken, He continued to narrow the gap and finally reached a good distance to continue attacking the plant.

Both of them launched their rounds of assaults towards their opponents, but each time, they managed to counter perfectly. As he began to lose some of the rhythm, Sora knew that there was only one last solution left.

He extended his right arm in the direction of the Mouthstone and let the heat radiate again his arm. The more heat there was, the more her skin changed colour. It began to blush, then to brown and then turn into a blackish color with a burning smell.

The pain had become so unbearable that Sora was unconsciously biting his lower lip into blood to focus on something other than his arm which was burning from the inside.

When he could no longer bear the pain, Sora released all the energy he had accumulated in his arm and let it go into his weapon. He used his skill again: Big Cutting Edge towards the last Mouthstone and uttered a cry of rage, pain and determination when a large black flash cut in half the plant before him.

The body of the Mouthstone cut in half disintegrates quickly until it leaves only some dust on the ground.

Sora collapsed to the ground at the same time, arm almost completely burned, mouth bloody, forehead perspiring with sweat, out of breath, but victorious.

He remained in this position for almost 5 minutes, not thinking about anything, hardly feeling the pain as fatigue was present. He did not get up again until he heard the sound of rocks rolling a few meters away from him.

Concentrating his last strength to get up, he took his sword in his left hand and noticed that he could not even move his right arm. He then tried to locate the source of these noises, but did not hear anything. His vision was blurred, his breath hallowing and weak as if he could stop at any moment, and he tried to get back into a fighting position. "I... can't take it anymore...but whoever you are, come on, I'm ready to fight you."

But in response, a voice he knew addressed him. "I'm not here to fight, kid, and I'm not sure you're able to move, given your condition."

Sora turned to the voice he had recognized and saw Jarek standing a few meters away. "Ah... it's just you...." He replied as he collapsed back to the ground.

Jarek approached Sora and sat down beside him. "Well, that was a good fight for a kid who can't even use the Ushi. I am impressed."

Barely able to formulate a correct sentence, Sora concentrated to be as audible as possible. "You... would not help me...instead of complimenting me..."

"Not wrong." Jarek pulled out a small blue bottle from his pocket, took the cap off and held it on to Sora, who shot the ball immediately. "Wait a few seconds and you'll feel better." Jarek added after picking up his vial.

For a few seconds, neither Sora nor Jarek made any noise. At least, no deliberate noise, because this silence was constantly interrupted by the wheezing and hoarse breath of Sora, as well as by the cries of pain that he emitted.

Well, normally you should be able to move again," added Jarek, finally breaking that half-silence.

While getting up painfully, Sora put his sword in his sheath and looked at Jarek, who watched him with a big sneer smile.

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