Quenching his fists he said:
"Tell me uncle, do devils bleed this easily?"
He didn't receive any answer from him. Releasing his fists, he swallowed his pride, turned around, and began walking toward the exit.
Yes, he was mad and yes, he was offended but he was not dumb.
There was no way he could win a fight against ten other men unarmed.
His original plan had been to make the village believe the Dread Fiend was attacking them, using that as a cover to kill the beast with their help.
There was no change of plans, though. It didn't matter if they shunned him or not.
As long as he stayed within the town and didn't freeze to death before the monster arrived, he would be teleported back to school. The problem was that if the monster wasn't killed, that would be an issue. But then again, he had no choice
As he was walking around trying to find a place to stay warm, he accidently bumped to a girl who was being dragged by an angry woman.
Right as he said his apologies he stopped as if he knew who that girl was.
'Lilly?'
She looked in his direction and as soon as her beautiful blue eyes landed on him, they widened ever so slightly, her pupils dilating in silent recognition.
"Sola!"
Before he could answer her, she got tossed away in the corner.
"Never show your face here you little thief"
Angry woman spat on her and then left going inside the house she came from while cursing aloud.
Sola rushed to her, kneeling down to see if she was okay.
"How did you get here, what happened?"
As soon as he asked that mental image of her head rolling on the classroom floor flashed in his mind.
"I accepted the duel to fight the monster"
Finishing the sentence, she wiped her nose with her sweater and pulled out a small loaf of bread from her pocket. She grinned, broke the bread in half, and offered the larger piece to Sola. Then, raising one eyebrow, she asked.
"If you don't want it, I can eat the whole thing just fine"
Before he could answer Lily added.
"What happened to your forehead?"
Sola grabbed the bread from her and sat next to her.
"The blood?"
"No, there is a skull tattoo on your forehead and there are flowers sprawling from it"
'So that's what its is'
"I don't know"
He wanted to look in the mirror so badly, but that wasn't important right now. As he looked at her, his mind was focused on something else.
Her eyes were red from crying, yet she was so cute as she handed him the food.
He wasn't eating, staying still he was trying to figure out how she was still alive.
She wasn't teleported here. As her head rolled backward, her body didn't vanish, nor did the monster's body go anywhere, it just remained still.
Which meant that he wasn't teleported as well, so his body was still in school in front of the abomination, maybe he was beheaded as well.
So, would they die the moment they returned to their bodies? No, that can't be it. If it were that way, then what was the point of the duel?
"Can you tell me in detail how you got here?"
He asked.
"Well first I accepted the duel and in the dark expanse the voice told me that I died?"
Sola listened while munching on the piece of bread.
"Then how are you here if you died?"
She swallowed the bread and answered.
"The voice asked me another question"
She took another bite thinking about something.
"It asked me if I wanted to invade a duel"
Right as she said that a deafening sound filled the air, they saw people running away screaming and yelling.
"It came, the Blood-thirster beast. Everyone, run! Take shelter in the madman's caves, fast!"
Someone was yelling, escorting people out of the town.
Sola stood up immediately and looked in the direction where the terrible sound came from.
There he saw it, standing in front of solders who tried to stop it until the people ran away.
"Lily, have you checked the system? What kind of abilities did you get?"
Standing up like she was getting ready to fight, Lily answered.
"I have the Moon God's mark on me, so I should be stronger and faster in the shade of the moon, which is useless right now. But I can change my weight on command if that's going to help us somehow."
He knew that killing the monster with the help of the other soldiers was the easiest way to do it.
As he got closer to them, he saw the man who had punched him earlier standing in front of the monster, in a fighting position.
He was screaming.
Next to him were about ten other soldiers.
"I Seroth in the name of Araketh will bath in your blood, spawn of the devil"
The furred monster howled, its claws covered in blood, leaving a bloody trail wherever it went.
Then it attacked the captain furiously.
The broad man, who appeared larger than any soldier beside him, was deflecting the monster's attacks while the others managed to strike it from different sides. Meanwhile, two archers harassed the creature with a rain of arrows.
It looked like their coordinated attack worked pretty well.
Until the captain got tired of clashing with the monster, he refused to let it look away from him to attack the other soldiers.
Whenever the creature tried, he made deep cuts in its chest with his long, heavy sword—more than any human should be capable of. The fact that he was still standing, taking blow after blow, was nothing short of astonishing.
He got tired and his heavy shield broke.
Moments later, their formation fell apart. Some were on the ground, bleeding, while others were still fighting the monster, but none of them stood a chance.
With a powerful sweeps, the monster threw them aside and rushed toward the captain, who was battered and unconscious on the ground. Just before its sharp claws could tear his flesh, something leaped in front of it and dragged the man away, avoiding the attack by a hair's breath.
In front of the beast stood a boy with a short sword in his hand and an angry expression on his bloodied face.