Edward was now facing three different Teleportcrows at the same time, including one ready to bite him, and he had no time to contemplate the situation. Before the other two could reach him, he took a step back to avoid the bite, while turning and slashing his dagger imbued by his aura behind him. There was no target behind him, but he teleported in the back of the biting Teleportcrow before finishing his motion. His arm continued on its previous trajectory, only with a defenseless Teleportcrow now on the way. The blade didn’t stop and decapitated it in one fell swoop, its head, maw still open, falling to the ground.

Take that! By beginning my move before teleporting, I am now faster and I’m able to hit them before they can react. At least for the slow ones. However, before he had the time to rejoice, one of the other Teleportcrows managed to teleport right next to him. Edward tried to teleport away but he realized with horror that he wasn’t able to. He had just teleported a second ago and he wasn’t able to chain teleportation without pause, there was a brief lull between two teleportations. This was something he never tried before, mostly because he had to regain his bearings between each teleportation, and he didn’t notice this weakness until now.

In the precious time it took him to react, the Teleportcrow managed to bite him near his left shoulder. Edward threw a kick at him to push him away, but the Teleportcrow simply teleported away to avoid it. Edward looked at his shoulder and noticed with a grim realization that he was right about those monsters. They could teleport away anything they bit through. A small part of his arm was missing and starting to bleed, the Teleportcrow hadn’t been able to bite deep before having to flee. Edward was only now registering the pain. The bite hadn’t been painful, Edward hadn’t felt anything, but now that his flesh was raw and exposed to the air, the pain was settling in. He clenched his teeth to ignore it, he couldn’t afford to get distracted right now.

Shit!! Those things are actually able to vanish everything they bite. It hurts!! I should retreat, I don’t have anyone to take care of me if I get seriously injured. I have nothing to disinfect the injury either. At least, since anything they touched with their maw just vanishes, the wound should be clean for now. However, the two Telepotcrows didn’t agree with him going away, both of them teleported to each of his sides at the same time. Edward teleported away, but the Teleportcrow followed him, not letting him open the distance. After three, almost back-to-back, teleportation, he threw a jab with his dagger, the motion not stopping between the teleportation and impaling one of the Teleportcrows before it could react. At the same time, he leaned on the side to avoid the other Teleportcrow trying to bite him.

When the biting one missed him and realized that it was alone, the Teleportcrow vanished away, finally opening some distance. Edward noticed that the stream of energy he absorbed from the one he killed was focused on the area of his injury, stopping the bleeding and lessening the pain. Edward looked at his wound, which was already looking much better, even if one small chunk of his arm was still obviously missing. So, the energy I absorb from them can also heal me. That’s good to know. But clearly, it can’t recreate the missing parts, it won’t heal me from all the damage. Now, let’s settle the score with this last one.

As he was planning his revenge, other Teleportcrows were coming from the distance. How many of them are there? I just killed four of them, and more are still coming. And I’m still on the border of the forest. Is this all because I blasted my aura against that beetle a few days ago, or is there another reason? I can’t stay here if they keep coming like that. He threw a last glance at the Teleportcrow that managed to survive the encounter. “Fine, you live through this day, count yourself happy that your friends are coming to save your ass!!” he told him before teleporting away.

As he was trying to leave the forest, he noticed that the Teleportcrows were chasing him. He was able to sense them teleporting after him, but there were too many of them and he wasn’t able to keep track of all of them. Since he was very close to the border, to begin with, he was soon outside of the forest. The Teleportcrows separated into two groups, one still coming after him, and another one staying at the edge of the forest, keeping watch on him with eyeless faces.

Edward didn’t wait for them to change their mind and flew further away. Now, that he was outside of the forest his aura perception grew until it was able to keep track of everything within a radius of fifty meters. In the open, there were no obstructions to his aura, and almost no living being to take into account apart from the Teleportcrows. Six of them had followed him all the way, leaving the forest behind. He wasn’t able to differentiate them, they looked all the same to him, so he wasn’t sure if the one he had been fighting was there too.

The silent face-off didn’t last long as they all teleported at the same time to attack him. Sensing them teleporting Edward did the same to avoid being trapped among them. He saw what happened when he let two of them get close to him at the same time, he wouldn’t do the same mistake. If he was surrounded, he wouldn’t be able to avoid all of their attacks.

This fight would have left a spectator watching from afar very confused. Dark silhouettes were teleporting from one spot to another without making a sound. The Teleportcrows were trying to pin Edward down with their numbers, but this was something difficult to do when your target could teleport away. I’m not able to anticipate their teleportation, too many things are happening at once.

Wait, if I’m having this much trouble monitoring them, maybe they are having as much trouble as me? It is hard to both know where you and your opponent are when you don’t stop teleporting. I will hide my aura while teleporting. This way they shouldn’t be able to sense me, they may still sense my teleportation, but with all of us teleporting it should still confuse them.

Edward managed to hide his aura even while in combat, he had practiced meditation and aura manipulation a lot, and it was now like second nature for him. After he teleported while suppressing his aura, the monsters became confused not knowing where he had gone. They stopped in place, and their head swiveled to locate him. Edward used the occasion to sneak behind one of them impaling it with his dagger. The dagger quickly absorbed its energy, helping him to complete the recovery of his wound. The rest of the Teleportcrows reacted immediately and teleported again to kill him.

Edward had barely the time to teleport away before they appeared at the place he was an instant before. He continued to teleport a few times with his aura suppress so that they lose his whereabouts. By using this tactic, he was able to easily kill an additional two, effectively cutting the group after him by half. Now he only had to take care of three Teleportcrows. This should have been a good thing, but he noticed that he wasn’t able anymore to confuse them enough to make them lose his tracks.

Now that their numbers are drastically reduced, there are not enough of them to get them confused about who is teleporting where. They are able to tell apart my teleportation from them, even when I keep my aura suppressed. This means it is time to change tactics. If I can’t sneak behind them to kill them, I will have to become more aggressive.

Edward tried to close the distance between them to strike a blow, but each time he managed to get close to a Teleportcrow, it was teleporting away. And the other two weren’t staying passive either and were teleporting near him to attack him, forcing him to teleport away.

He tried to teleport behind them too, but he wasn’t quick enough to attack them before the other Teleportcrows forced him to flee in retreat. All the time, one of the Teleportcrow was going on the defensive while the other two were attacking. It didn’t leave enough window of opportunity for Edward to strike one of them down. I thought they were lone hunters, but clearly, they are able to work in a group too. When all of them were together, they tried to swarm me with numbers. Now that they are less numerous, they are synchronizing with each other, not letting me press the advantage when I’m about to kill one of them.

He suddenly smirked. However, they have the same default as me, they rely too much on their teleportation and are too static. They are either teleporting or standing still, but never running nor making sudden movements. If I run toward one of them, it will teleport away, but the other two won’t be able to bite me because I will still be in movement. Let me show you, your fatal weakness.

Edward abruptly pounced toward the one nearest to him, it, of course, teleported away, but Edward kept his focus to ascertain where it was teleporting too. As soon as the Teleportcrow appeared once more, Edward teleported in front of him, keeping his momentum from his acceleration and impaling it with his blade. However, the shock of the impact coupled with the teleportation disorientation made him stumble and fall to the ground. The last two Teleportcrow didn’t lose time and teleported right next to him, to finish him.

Edward was in a dire situation, nonetheless, his smile was even more pronounced than before. When you think the final nail is in, think again, don’t be surprised, I will still rise!! He was lying flat on the ground, but the next moment he teleported right above their head, and swiftly killed the both of them with two swipes of his imbued aura dagger before falling to the ground again, caught back by gravity. Got you!!

He allowed himself some time to rest, rolling on his back while still lying on the dirt. He looked at the starry sky and burst out laughing, releasing the tension from the fight. He had been walking the fine line between life and death for the whole brawl. A few bad moves and it could have been over, he would have been swarmed, ending in the gullet of those creatures. And yet, it was the first time he was feeling so alive. He loved the adrenaline rushes that box fights provided. And this fight had been on another level than the ones he was used to.

There were no rules here, no constraints, you had to pull every trick from your sleeves and fight to your fullest in order to survive. He had surpassed himself and managed to improve on the flight during the fight. In the end, he was alive and his opponents were dead, making him stronger in the process. He relished in the taste of victory before getting up to go back to his base. Today had been a victory but he wouldn’t be able to have a fight like this one every day. If he did, one day he would trip and die because of it. Tonight, he would take a good night of rest, and tomorrow he would think about which decision he should take. Either staying in this place a few more days to improve his skills or attempting to cross the monster's infested ruins to go back to the village where he wouldn't have any food rations problems.