I looked at Black Eye, wanting to know our orders. Black Eye was walking on his own, some color returned to his face, and his breathing wasn’t as labored as it used to be.

  The Shamans didn’t wait for Black Eye to formulate a plan; they attacked. One Shaman charged us, while the other stayed behind.

  “I’ll take care of the first one, get the second,” Black Eye said as he unsheathed his sword.

  As Black Eye clashed with his opponent, we ran to kill the second Shaman.

  The man we were trying to kill was concentrating on a small white ball in his hand.

  “He’s using unattuned mana! Try to drag out the fight, his mana should be depleted fast,” Neymar said.

  Suddenly the man gave us his attention. I got a bad feeling before the man stretched his arm and the small ball in his hand tore through the air.

  WEEEEEP

  The ball hit Hugo's shield and reality seemed to bend to the ball’s will. The shield Hugo wielded was easily broking through and the ball continued forward, taking Hugo's hand with it. Thankfully, no one was in the ball’s trajectory.

  My ears were ringing and my heart was about to explode from pumping so hard.

  “Encircle him! Don't let him form another attack.” Neymar shouted and I barely heard him.

  I went to the right flank of the Shaman, following Neymar’s orders

  I didn’t know what to do so I tried to close in on the Shaman, who was forming another death ball.

  “BASTARD!” Hugo shouted. His phantom muscles flared, and then, he leaped. A “leap” is an understatement as Hugo seemed to go flying.

  The Shaman stopped focusing on the death ball, and it dissipated. He swiped with his hand and a white shimmering circular barrier appeared on Hugo’s trajectory.

  Hugo bent his body in mid-air trying to avoid the shield, unfortunately, his speed was too fast and his leg hit the shield.

  The hit shin bent in the wrong direction, bone showing. Hugo didn’t stop as he skidded and tumbled a few times across the ground. He came to a halt in the distance, lying on the ground.

  ‘Is he dead?’ I thought as Hugo didn’t stand again.

  Thankfully not all of the party was stunned into inaction, like me. Neymar and Edger took the opportunity Hugo made and closed in on the Shaman, while Naya and Art supported them by shooting an arrow and a spear.

  The Shaman made a wider swipe with his palm and a wide shield popped into existence. He also unsheathed his sword.

  The aerial attacks reached the man before Edger and Neymar.

  The spear and arrow changed direction but due to them being close to the shield when it was created only the arrow managed to get past it.

  The arrow hit the Shaman and a shimmering yellow barrier sprung to life all around the Shaman.

  ‘It’s the same protection as the Count!’

  Edger and Neymar attacked the Shaman head-on. He met them with a flurry of attacks and swipes, creating a small shield whenever an attack was close to hitting.

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  Even though the Shaman seemed to be skilled at using the sword, he was hit a few times. Every hit was met with the shimmering barrier, stopping it in its tracks. The attacks didn’t damage the shaman but they still managed to push him and make him lose stability through the force of the hits.

  Another spear and an arrow were shot, but, they too were met with the shimmering yellow shield.

  “Why isn’t his mana depleted yet?!” Art shouted, frustrated at the man’s seemingly endless mana.

  ‘I have to pin the man down so we can finish him.’

  I was circling the Shaman and managed to position myself at his back. I ran toward him and then jumped.

  “AHHHHH.”

  I was held in place by a weird force upon touching the Shama’s yellow shield. It felt like snakes were racing on my skin, burning it and my insides. The effect stopped as the Shaman got away from me, breaking contact.

  ‘Was that lightning that hit me?’ I thought as I lay on my back paralyzed.

  I moved my neck to see the fight. Neymar and Edger were still unable to damage the Shaman. Neymar was using his long claws to swipe at him but he was met with the shaman’s fierce protection. The Shaman hit Neymar a few times, but he only left surface wounds as Neymar’s thick fur protected him, forming armor that was both strong and nonrestrictive.

  Edger on the other hand wasn’t hit once. The man was a sword saint, using his sword in ways that made me feel like I was a new sword practitioner.

  I was starting to gain the ability to move when the Shaman turned to me. I tried to stand up but he swiped with his palm, forming a white shield that stopped me from standing.

  The Shaman shot his sword at my head, penetrating my left eye. He didn’t confirm my death as he engaged with the others, who were attacking him fiercely.

  ‘He thinks I’m dead!’

  ‘I should use this opportunity to take him down. But how?’

  Laying on the ground, I transformed my hand and shaped it like a hammer. The hammer was much larger than the one I made on my shoulder, which looked more like a ball connected to a thin stick.

  Creating transformation liquid I made a side of the hammer very wide, the size of my head. Then I condensed the wide head’s surface, making a white crust cover it.

  I refocused on the fight. The Shaman was still fighting Edger and Neymar. He seemed to have managed to land a hit on Edger, leaving a surface thigh wound.

  ‘They must be getting tired. I should act quickly.’

  I tried to stand up but my muscles spasmed, only making weird-useless motions.

  ‘What is going on?’

  Again, I tried to stand up, but, this time, I succeeded, although with a bit of difficulty.

  I ran towards the Shaman. He seemed to notice me, turning to look but it was already late. I swung the hammer and hit the Shaman on the head. The yellow barrier flared again but it couldn’t protect the Shaman from the blunt damage.

  The Shaman wobbled, dazed by the hit, but he didn’t fall. I hit him again and this time he fell.

  Neymar took out a small shield, the same as the one he gave me, and pressed the Shaman’s body, pinning him down.

  The Shaman tried to retaliate but I hit him again on his face and again and again until he stopped moving. The yellow barrier protecting him didn’t block my last hit and seeing that, Edger didn’t hesitate, he beheaded the Shaman, making sure that he was dead and not just unconscious.

  I was breathing heavily and my hammer had deformed. My mana was on the brink of ending, so, I untransformed my hand.

  “Good job Haitham,” Neymar said as he too untransformed.

  Edger just nodded towards me, indicating his approval of my performance in this fight.

  I wanted to see the Shamans face, so, I took his mask off.

  The Shaman's face was unsightly. He had foam coming out of his mouth and a broken nose. I took a closer look at his features and noticed they were foreign. He had thin, almost non-existent eyebrows and an elongated face. He seemed to be in his fifties but I wasn’t sure.

  ‘Death is scary,’ I thought as I looked at the Shamans’ unfocused eyes.

  “Don’t stare too much kid, the fight is still not over,” Neymar said.

  I stopped staring at the dead Shaman and looked toward the area where Black Eye was fighting.

  Black Eye and the other Shaman were having an intense fight. Black Eye had his sword drawn, and, whenever he slashed with it, a wide ark of black matter was formed. The ark seemed to be able to slice through the ground easily, leaving deep gashes.

  On the other hand, the Shaman had transformed into something unhuman; he looked like a… monster. He had grown a new set of red muscular arms. His legs also had transformed; they were elongated and full of night-black fur. The Shaman was even taller than Black Eye now. He was fighting with ferocity, not caring for wounds. Black Eye landed a few hits on him, leaving deep wounds. But all the wounds healed at a visible speed.

  Fear gripped my heart at the sight of the transformed Shaman. I wanted to run and leave the responsibility of fighting the monster to the others.

  “What about Hugo? Shouldn’t we help him? He might be in a critical condition,” I asked, wanting to leave the fight to Black Eye.

  “Even if he is still alive, we can’t help him. All the healing potions are in the dimensional storage with Captain,” Neymar answered.

  “Let’s go. If Captain loses… our lives will be forfeit”