SSS Awakening: I Can Class Change at will - Chapter 333 The Battle's Climax [1]

Chapter 333  The Battle’s Climax [1]

While Moon fought the Jade Turtle alone, Mirage was keeping the nine remaining Awakeners busy.

The loss of their leader had rattled them. For a few seconds, their formation fell apart.

Then, someone in the back shouted. “Forget that monster, he is fighting the turtle! Kill the horse first, then let’s run!”

They team immediately regrouped, the two tanks pushed forward with shields raised, the mages began channeling behind them, and the archers drew fresh arrows.

Mirage cut through the gap between both tanks before they could close it.

His hooves caught the first tank in the ribs and launched him sideways. The second tank tried to pivot but Mirage was already past him, circling back before the mages could get a clear shot.

“How is it that fast?!”

“It killed Rennik in one hit. One hit!”

“What do we do? We can’t pin it down, it’s too fast!”

“Focus fire! Don’t let it single us out!”

Mirage didn’t give them the chance to organize themselves. The first tank was still on the ground when Mirage reached him. The horse reared up and brought his front hoof down on the man’s head.

The sound that followed the stomp was gruesome.

The tank respawned a few seconds later, gasping, clutching his skull out of reflex from the pain. One of his teammates rushed toward him, sword raised, trying to put himself between Mirage and the man.

Mirage’s tail whipped around. It moved like a blade, the fin-like edge slicing a deep gash across the swordsman’s chest. The man staggered back, blood soaking through his armor.

“Heals! I need heals!” He shouted as his body hastily lost its power, he could barely stand as blood gushed out.

The healer in the back raised her staff. Light gathered around the swordsman’s wound and the flesh started knitting together slowly.

Before it finished, Mirage closed the distance and kicked the swordsman in the side of the head.

He dropped and didn’t get up.

Mirage turned back toward the tank who had just respawned. The man barely had time to raise his shield before Mirage’s hooves came down again.

He died for the second and final time.

The remaining Awakeners pulled back. Their faces had changed. The confidence from earlier was nowhere to be seen, as if it never existed.

“What the hell is that thing? It’s stronger than most S-Rank beasts we’ve ever seen.”

“Forget the beast. How is that guy a swordsman, a mage, and has a creature like this? What kind of person are we fighting?”

Nobody had an answer, nor will they ever have an answer.

Mirage charged toward them. His right eye flared purple and his body split apart, the clone peeling off to his left and matching his stride.

“He’s using that skill again! Careful, one of them is fake! Hit it before it hits you, otherwise you’re dead!”

One of the mages hurled a spell at the nearest horse. The clone sidestepped it without breaking pace and drove a kick into the man’s torso. His ribs caved inward and he tumbled across the dirt, coughing up blood, his eyes bloodshot from pain.

Before the mage could push himself up, the real Mirage was already on top of him. A single stomp to the head and he was gone.

The two Mirages tore through the group like wolves in a sheep pen.

Meanwhile, Moon was fighting the turtle alone.

His body was a mess. Deep gashes ran across his arms and chest where the turtle’s claws had caught him. Blood soaked through his inner clothes in patches that grew larger with every passing second. Each time a wound threatened to slow him down, he cast [Minor Mend] and pushed forward.

But the healing wasn’t keeping up with the damage he was gathering.

“Damn it.” Moon spat blood to the side. “All of my skills and I still can’t take this thing down alone.”

His sword crackled with lightning as he swung it into the turtle’s exposed arm. The blade bit into flesh, lightning arcing through the wound.

The turtle didn’t pull back. It pushed through the pain and swung its massive head sideways into Moon’s chest.

The impact folded him in half. His ribs cracked like dry wood and he flew backwards, hitting the ground hard enough to bounce several more steps.

Moon’s face twisted, he cast [Minor Mend] immediately, feeling the bones start to shift back into place. But before the spell could finish its work, the turtle was already on top of him.

The turtle’s jaws closed around Moon’s torso.

He heard his bones break before he felt it, and immense pain engulfed his very being. He gritted his teeth as he concealed a shrill scream that was going to escape his mouth.

[You have died.]

[You have lost 1000 Lives]

Moon gasped back to life where he had fallen a second later. His body was whole again, the wounds gone, his ribs intact. But the phantom of that injury still lingered in his chest.

“Mirage!”

Across the crater, Mirage’s head snapped toward Moon’s direction. The horse was standing over the bodies of several Awakeners, his hooves slick with blood. Only two of the original nine were still standing, and both of them had already started backing away with their own injuries.

Mirage abandoned the remaining awakeners without hesitation, no longer caring whether they were alive or dead, his master’s life was more important than taking care of small time awakeners. He broke into a full gallop toward Moon, the clone dissolving mid-stride as he closed the distance.

The two remaining Awakeners watched him go. Neither of them tried to follow.

The turtle saw Moon re-spawn and charged immediately. It wasn’t going to let him go easily.

A rune materialised in Moon’s hands, he activated the blinding rune and hurled it straight at the creature’s face.

The rune detonated in a burst of white light. The turtle flinched and its eyes squeezed shut on instinct. It only lasted a moment. A fraction of a second at most.