'I, Kazuraga, the only Dark Satyr of my race, will fall here? To these infants?'

This was the thought swirling in the mythical spawn's head.

He had always been twisted and conniving, uncaring of what he had to do to survive and grow stronger, honor and dignity be damned.

But what was this?

His fresh dismemberment was so painful that his sanity was barely holding on, and yet, a majority of his focus was on the fact that he was about to die at the hands of puny novice bladeborns.

Was this pride?

He, the one stripped of all honor by his brother, exiled from the Eastern Satyrian High Kingdom despite being the most loyal of retainers, someone who has discarded the very things that he thought only made him weak, still dared to think about pride?

Perhaps ego was the more accurate word?

Whatever. He was about to die soon, anyway.

But then, just as the blueberry-haired wench had appeared in front of him and was about to chop down on his neck, a voice with a serious tone sounded just a few meters away from him.

The words should've made him happy, but strangely, they stung.

"Don't kill him."

And then the icy-blue blade stopped just a few centimeters away from his neck.

Kazuraga the Exiled had survived — for now.

Iris didn't know why Daru stopped him, but she respected and trusted her training partner a great deal.

He must have a reason for doing so.

Snowflower's gaze lingered on the limbless satyr for half a moment before shifting her attention back to the Vesharis, remembering they still had enemies to deal with.

"HRAAGH!" suddenly roared Halphar from the side, seemingly having lost his mind in denial that he was the weakest among the top rankers here.

He was desperate to salvage even a bit of his shattered pride.

Repeatedly shattered pride.

But unfortunately, his innate sword skill, Shroudborne Edge, had timed out at this exact moment, and all the mirages disappeared with the haze, along with his pair of rotting wings.

At least he was able to obtain one last lunging benefit from it before it did.

Zooming from afar, Halphar chopped his blade at Daru with all his might, but Daru easily angled his sword and defended himself.

All the desperate surprise attack did was push him back a few centimeters.

Iris quickly moved in to back her comrade up, slashing at the Veshari S-ranker, but Halphar quickly jumped back, breathing heavily with a wildly frustrated look on his face.

Just one…

He just wanted to land one clean blow to the darned humans.

But unfortunately, a furious voice laced with a hint of threat resounded behind him before he could charge again:

"Halphar! Retreat or I'm reporting you to Elder Alshar!"

Halphar gritted his teeth, shooting a resentful glare at Ae'shkar as he retreated to their side.

Currently, only two SS-rankers, one S-ranker, two A-rankers, and two B-rankers remain of their once-glorious double full party of thirty-two bladeborns.

Even Ae'shkar and Lothara couldn't exactly pinpoint where things had gone wrong.

Was it because Halphar and the human execution party didn't dispose of their targets quickly enough?

But could they really be blamed, when even the two of them working together wasn't enough to kill the S-ranker Onimaru Kunitsuna?

Plus, Edelweiss suddenly turned into a monster more horrifying than even the mythical swordspawn.

It was a miracle that the ones sent to go after her survived.

Only after thinking for a bit with gritted teeth did the two SS-rankers realize that everything stemmed from them underestimating the two human S-rankers.

They turned out far more capable than their rank suggested.

They should've focused on killing the two humans first while all thirty-two of them were still alive before going for Kazuraga.

But time couldn't be reversed.

They could only deal with the problem at hand with the cards they had left.

"Ae'shkar, what should we do?" asked Lothara, who usually hated asking for his opinion.

She, too, did not know whether they should continue or opt for the retreat.

With the juicy, waiting-to-be-slaughtered body of a mythical swordspawn resting just behind them, even losing a few more lives would be worth it.

They only had to defeat the two human bladeborns and their disastrous operation would be more than saved.

They would have gathered intel about two dangerous human S-rankers, taken one life from each of them, and obtained all the loot from Kazuraga the Exiled, should they push through and emerge victorious.

All those deaths would be disregarded by Alshar as necessary sacrifices.

In fact, the two of them would even be commended for a job well done for managing to save the things despite all the misfortune and accidents that had happened.

But if they lose…

Daru frowned in slight disappointment at the enemies' hesitation.

"Come, Vesharis," he urged, waving his sword once to scratch the itch of delayed combat before returning to his fighting stance.

Ae'shkar's eyes narrowed.

Humans were almost on par with them in terms of intellect, plus they were treacherous.

He couldn't help but think that Onimaru Kunitsuna was perhaps showing too much of a tough front.

Was he trying to bluff his way out of a bad situation?

Were the two human bladeborns actually spent?

Vesharis hated risk, but only through it would he know the answer to his question.

They still had lives to throw…

Plus, the rewards would be extra juicy if they pulled it off.

Ae'shkar ordered coldly: "All of you, send Edelweiss back to Valmaris as quickly as possible. I'll stall Onimaru Kunitsuna. Help me once you guys are done."

While the latter was difficult to defeat swiftly, he himself could not be subdued in such a short time either.

As he spoke, the male SS-ranker Veshari used every bit of his observation skills, peering through Daru's eyes for any hints of weakness.

His comrade was about to be ganged up on, all while he would be helpless, stalled by an SS-ranker who wouldn't be easy to defeat.

Any logical duo should at least show a hint of fear or nervousness at his words.

To his bewilderment, Onimaru Kunitsuna only briefly turned to Edelweiss, seemingly asking something before locking eyes with him once more.

What he saw in them was anticipation.

It was difficult for eyes, especially those of novices like them, to lie.

And the two humans in front of them didn't seem to be particularly too cunning…

'This bastard…is he dumb, confident, or still bluffing?'

Ae'shkar then turned his eyes to Edelweiss. Maybe he could see clues in her eyes.

While not a hint of excitement was reflected in them, there was no fear, either, as though she wasn't about to be attacked by six novices — four of whom were considered high-rankers and two top-rankers.

The male SS-ranker gripped his weapon tighter.

Were they being belittled? Is that what's happening?

Naturally, even though they were called the logical and cunning race, they, too, have pride.

Bluffs would always crumble when confronted, and Ae'shkar was unconvinced that the two humans were truly that fearless.

They weren't as dumb as Vyrrkans. How could their treacherous likes be so courageous?

'Fine then, let's see how real your brave front is…'

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