Malik barely had time to breathe before two more were on him.@@novelbin@@
One came low, trying to swipe his legs out, while the other leaped high, aiming for his head.
He jumped back, his feet skidding on the dirt as the high one''s ws nearly raked across his face.
His de shed in a quick arc, clipping the low one''s arm and sending it spinning to the ground.
The second Qirdnded rough and pounced again.
Malik sidestepped, driving his elbow into its side midair, then followed up with a sh across its back.
The creature hit the ground in a heap, snarling for a moment then dead the next.
"You guys gotta work on your coordination."
He flicked the blood off his de.
KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
A loud screech from his blind spot made him whirl around.
Another Qird—a big one, its mes burning brighter than the rest—came barreling toward him.
"Oh, shit!"
Malik threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding getting ttened.
The beast skidded to a halt, then turned back to face him in what seemed to be a blink.
Without pause, it charged again, its ws leaving scorched marks on the dirt.
Malik nted his feet, gripping his shamshir with both hands, nearly sizzling the hilt.
KIEEK—!
At thest second, he stepped forward instead of back, meeting it head-on.
"Shut."
His de sliced upward.
ng!
Sparks flew as it shed against the Qird''s ming ws.
The force of the impact sent vibrations through his body, reaching the ground, cracking it.
It was a strength surpassing his own, but he held firm.
"Kneel."
With a twist of his wrist, he redirected the Qird''s momentum, sending it stumbling past him.
He spun on his heel, bringing his shamshir down in an arc that split its legs clean.
Kieeeeeeeeeeeeek!
It howled, copsing onto its side, and he stepped close, raising his de.
But before he could finish it, two more were on him.
One lunged for his back, its ws aimed for his neck, while the other shot multiple fireballs at him.
Malik dropped to the ground in a roll, narrowly dodging the mes as they whizzed past, exploding against a tree.
Popping up to his feet, he swung his sword in a wide arc, forcing the Qird behind him to back off.
The other one rushed him, thinking it had an opening.
Big mistake.
Malik turned on a dime, his free hand igniting in mes.
With a sharp thrust, he shot a fiery st straight into its chest.
The Qird was lifted off the ground, flying backward into one of its friends, dead.
Malik grinned, spinning his dezily.
"Next time, think before you try to dogpile me."
That grin didn''tst.
More Qirds flooded into the clearing—ten, maybe fifteen.
They formed a loose circle around him, mes ring like torches in the forest.
He let out a low sigh, gripping his hilt tightly.
"Alright, then. You wanna do this the hard way? Let''s go."
The Qirds attacked as one, a chaotic wave of ws, fangs, and fire.
Malik moved like a man possessed, his de a blur as he parried and countered.
One Qird came too close, and he mmed his fiery palm into its stomach, sending it sprawling.
Another leaped at him, and he ducked low, shing upward to open a gash across its chest.
A small one, undetected until thest moment,tched onto his arm, ws digging into his skin.
"Grrh!"
He growled, headbutting it hard enough to daze it, then sted it off at point-nk range.
They just kepting.
For every Qird he put down, three more seemed to take their ce.
They weren''t just random attackers anymore—they were coordinated.
Surrounding him. Pushing him into corners.
That forced him to start thinking outside the box, use all he had to his advantage.
Malik didn''t just fight them—he outsmarted them.
Using the terrain he''d spent days scouting, he lured Qirds into tight spaces, forcing them to bottleneck.
He used fallen branches as distractions, leading them into ambushes.
Even baited a few of them to charge into his de.
The man was good, no doubt about that, but he wasn''t invincible.
No, he was so very far from that.
Exhaustion had arrived.
His breath came in ragged gasps, struggling against all the smoke and fire.
His muscles screamed in protest as well, showing signs of failure.
Malik couldn''t keep this up forever.
There was no way out of this but escape.
He nced around, spotting a fewndmarks belonging to a nearby stream.
''You''ll be my ticket.''
A risky move, considering his past experiences with water, but better than slowly getting overwhelmed and ripped apart piece by piece.
"Time to go."
He sheathed his shamshir, then shot another fire st at the nearest cluster of Qirds.
It didn''t do much damage, but the explosion bought him a few precious seconds.
Then he bolted, weaving through the trees and dodging fireballs as they gave chase.
Using his knowledge of the terrain, he darted through narrow paths, leading them into traps—ces where the terrain worked against them, away from trees.
He simply gave them a hard time.
One by one, they fell behind, tripping over roots, crashing into, and shooting each other.
And yet, many of the Qirds remained hot on his tail, literally.
Though... he didn''t seem to mind that as much as one might expect.
Just as he reached the small stream, Malik skidded to a stop, his eyes scanning it for danger.
Unsullied blue water glistened under the flickering light of the mes chasing him.
Nothing was revealed to be hiding in its currents.
"…Gotta do it."
Taking a deep breath, he waded into the stream, his fiery hands glowing brighter.
He pressed both hands down, boiling the water for a moment before it quickly formed a thick wall of steam that nketed the area.
KIEEEEEEEEK! KIEEEEEEEEEEEK! KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
The Qirds screeched in confusion, unable to understand what was left from right.
Using that chaos, Malik swam away, moving as quickly and quietly as he could.
By the time the steam cleared, he was gone, back onnd in the distance.
Panting, he leaned against a tree, wiping sweat from his brow.
His body ached, and his hands ached, but he was alive.
"Public enemy number one, eh~?"
The lighthouse was now to his southeast, bit of a distance away.
Malik stared at it, then looked back at where his destinationy.
"They better be there."