Esdeath's feet touched the ground again, sinking in a little inside the soft sand. She got a hold of her body once again, her muscles tensing with effort, and this time she didn't let go.
The time storm was still raging, but with each step they took with great effort, the distance between them and the vortex grew, and their speed increased as well. The pull weakened with every meter they put between themselves and the storm.
Not long after, they finally escaped the range of the time storm and ran toward a sand hill area, to take some breath and oversee the situation from a distance. Their chests heaved with exertion, their bodies covered in sweat and sand.
The fight had long begun. Even at such a distance, the aftermath of their battle was catching up to them. There were shards of crystal spikes shooting in random directions, space and dark element attacks clashing in the sky like a fire cracker, and a little bit of glitch in time flow that made their vision swim for a moment.
The Great Serpent and bone dragon were engaged in a fierce fight, but both of them were affected by the time storm. Yet none of them seemed to back down, their legendary pride refusing to let them retreat.
Multiple portals opened in the air, shimmering with dimensional energy. The Great Serpent's giant body slithered through the portals and in a few seconds, it was wrapping its body around the bone dragon, squeezing with immense force.
The bone dragon tried to fly away, but its bone wings were locked by the serpent's grip. But it opened its wide jaw and bit the Great Serpent, tearing off its flesh apart. Dark blood sprayed into the air, sizzling as it hit the ground.
The Great Serpent growled in pain and loosened its grip a little, allowing the bone dragon to take the chance to slip off. The creature's movements were swift, taking advantage of every opening.
Once again, the battle turned to equal terms. Bone dragon's skeleton army also raged on against the Great Serpent, their bony claws and weapons clashing against the serpent's scales.
At the same time, the time storm moved toward them, obliterating skeleton army in its way. Bones turned to dust, bodies disintegrating as they touched the edges of the vortex.
Both bone dragon and Great Serpent felt a tremendous amount of pulling pressure on them, like their weight had increased to the level of a mountain. But because of the great strength they had, they could still resist and continue to fight while being so close to the time storm.
But then, Esdeath's eyes widened as she sees something coming out of the time storm.
"No way," she exclaims in surprise, her voice filled with disbelief.
Maruti heard her, looking in the same direction as her, and sees a weird thing coming out of the time storm. Her brow furrowed in confusion, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
It was giant, almost ten to fourteen meters tall, and had brownish hair growing on its body. Its legs were like that of a bull or oak, thick and powerful. Its massive leg came out first, followed by another one, and then its upper body emerged from the swirling vortex.
It was standing on two legs despite such animal-like legs, with four muscular arms and the head of a yak.
"It's that year beast you were talking about?" she asks, her voice tinged with awe and a hint of fear.
Esdeath nods in agreement, her eyes never leaving the creature.
Indeed, it was an S rank beast, the Year Beast. Just like its name, it was related to time, which is why it was one of the few things which could survive in a time storm. The vortex didn't affect it; in fact, it seemed to draw strength from it.
Of course, year beasts were not as powerful as bone dragons or Great Serpents, but the current situation was clearly advantageous to it. While the other two legendary creatures struggled against the pull of the time storm, only the Year Beast was not affected by the deadly time storm, moving through it as if it were calm water.
Right at that moment, the Year Beast became the mortal enemy of both legendary creatures.
Distortions in time happened as it attacked both of them, causing the battle to turn even more fierce. The creature moved with impossible speed, its four arms striking with deadly precision.
Space, Time, and dark elemental attacks enveloped the whole area like a fog—a fog of death. The very air shimmered with power, reality bending and breaking around the combatants.
So powerful that despite being at a distance, both Esdeath and Maruti were feeling like vomiting and experiencing severe headaches. The pressure on their minds was immense, their senses overwhelmed by the raw power being unleashed.
With no choice, they had to retreat even further away to get outside of the range of their battle. Each step was thrice as difficult, their bodies arguing to either vomit or sleep.
At the start, Esdeath was certain that the Year Beast's arrival from the time storm would definitely lead to the death of one or both legendary creatures. The odds seemed clear in her mind.
But as the battle raged on, it felt like an unspoken understanding came between both the Great Serpent and bone dragon. Their attacks became more coordinated, their movements more in sync.
It felt like they had teamed up together to fight against the time storm and Year Beast. Of course, it didn't look like it from outside, but slowly but surely, they dragged the Year Beast away from the time storm, their combined efforts herding the creature without it even realizing.
Without realizing, the Year Beast was luring into their trap, attacking them without restraint.
The time storm was just a natural phenomenon. It doesn't have a mind of its own, nor did it favor the Year Beast. The time storm was moving in a fixed direction and it continued to move on, leaving the Year Beast behind.
And before the Year Beast could realize it, its advantage was gone, replaced by the fierce assault of two legendary creatures working together.
And the result was as expected. It died.
Its head was beheaded, swallowed by the Great Serpent in one swift motion. Its three out of four hands were eaten by the bone dragon, the creature crunching through bone and flesh with equal ease.
But it's not like it was a complete victory. Both the Great Serpent and bone dragon faced huge wounds because of the time storm, the Year Beast, and each other as well.
The Great Serpent's scales were now feeling rusted and had lost their shining and luster. Several parts of its flesh had been gouged out, and one of its fangs had broken as well, leaving a jagged edge where once there was a sharp fang.
Meanwhile, the bone dragon was in no less worse condition. There was a big hole in one of its wings, and cracks all over its bone body. The purple fires in its eye sockets flickered weakly, as if struggling to stay alight.
Especially the neck, there was a big crack appearing on it down to its chest bones. It looked like it could shatter at any moment, held together by sheer willpower alone.
"I think we should attack now. They both are wounded and exhausted with very little mana reserves," Maruti spoke, her face was motivated, ready to fight anytime.
But Esdeath shakes her head, "No, not now," her voice calm but firm.
What Maruti just said was right. Right now was one of the best possible situations to fight both of them and kill them off, to take their bodies and essence stones as rewards. The logic was sound, the opportunity clear.
But what made Esdeath wary was their survival instinct. They just shook hands, so to speak, to fight against the Year Beast and escape the time storm. They had proven they could work together when the situation demanded it.
So why couldn't they do the same again? If she and Maruti attacked, would the two wounded legendary creatures once again team up against a common threat? The risk was still great.
"Just wait and see if they fight each other again. It's good if they don't fight as well," Esdeath replies with a cunning smile.
Just as she had predicted, the clash started once again. Both sides exchanged blows, but their attacks lacked the raw power they'd possessed at the beginning of the fight.
There was also a clear hesitation in their attacks. This time, it was undeniable that their very lives were on the line with every strike.
And then finally, the bone dragon backed down.
With a great effort, it flapped its massive, damaged bone wings and flew high up into the air, turning toward the north in the direction of its dragon lair.
Finally, after the intense hour-long battle between three S-rank creatures, the Great Serpent was the unspoken winner. Though it hadn't managed to kill the bone dragon, it had stood its ground. It was the bone dragon that had retreated.
Thus, the body of the dead Year Beast was its reward.
It opened its jaws wide, attempting to gulp down the entire body of the Year Beast in a single swallow. For a heart-stopping second, even Esdeath felt a surge of fear that it would consume everything, leaving nothing behind.
The Year Beast's body was an incredibly valuable ingredient for refining essence stones, after all. Especially for Esdeath, who might need to refine time path essence stones in the future. The thought of losing such a precious resource was frustrating.
But luckily, it couldn't manage to swallow the whole body and only ate half of it, leaving the abdomen and chest behind. The remaining half lay on the sand, a gory prize waiting to be claimed.
For now, at least.
With its belly slightly swollen from its meal, it circled around the dead body for several minutes, as if marking it as its own territory. Then, finally, it departed, its massive body slithering away into the distance.
The whole desert seemed to fall silent, with only the breeze of the wind flowing by. It was as if there had been no battle between three S-rank monsters and beasts at all. The evidence of their conflict was slowly being erased by the wind and sand.
Before Maruti could even say anything, Esdeath spoke first.
"Only I will go," she said, her tone leaving no room for argument.
Maruti rolled her eyes, her dissatisfaction clear, but she already understood why Esdeath wanted to go alone. The risk was too great for both of them to approach the corpse, especially with the Great Serpent's space affinity and its likely territorial nature.
Without wasting any time, Esdeath approached the leftover Year Beast's corpse..
To be honest, she knew that if she left the body here, the Great Serpent might not return until tomorrow or even the day after, since it had already eaten its fill.
But there was always a chance that the corpse might attract a horde of lesser monsters or even another S-rank creature that would eventually eat it.
That is, if the Great Serpent even allowed them to.
Given the strange way that serpent had circled around the corpse, Esdeath was certain it had left some kind of marker with its space-type power that would immediately alert it if someone tried to steal its kill.
Esdeath carefully approached the unmoving corpse while Maruti kept watch from a distance, her eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of the Great Serpent's return.
As soon as Esdeath was close enough, she immediately used her skills to slow down time and rushed toward the corpse as fast as she could. The world around her seemed to move in slow motion, giving her the precious seconds she needed.
At the same time, a large portal began materializing in the air the moment she got close, but it was forming at a slow speed.
Esdeath quickly took out the storage-type essence stone that Lortell had gifted her and stored the entire remaining corpse in it in one go.
And the next moment, she was gone.
Teleporting far away, right beside Maruti. Her reappearance was sudden and unexpected.
They didn't stop. Both ran away as far as they could. The Great Serpent could teleport and had an affinity with the space element, just like Esdeath. If it detected even a trace of her presence, it might teleport directly beside them in a fraction of a second.
The farther away they could get, the better.
At the same time, time returned to its normal flow. The portal fully opened, and the Great Serpent slithered out of it as fast as it could. Its movements were swift and filled with purpose.
But it was too late. The corpse was gone without a trace.
In reality, the Great Serpent might have returned earlier, but it's belly was full and Exhaustion was kicking in, giving it natural instinct to sleep.
It also hadn't expected someone to try to steal its hunt so soon.
It was quite an surprise.
It opened its mouth and let out a huge, angry, and hateful shriek that echoed through the silent desert. The sound was filled with rage and hatred.
After finally realizing that they were safe, both of them relaxed. The tension drained from their bodies, replaced by the exhaustion of the day's events.
"Hahaha... That was kinda fun," Maruti laughed out loud, a thrill running through her.
Esdeath also let out a silent chuckle. "Our goals are literally in front of us. We just need to hunt both of them and use their bodies to refine some rank A essence stones in the future, and especially take that time path essence stone. And we're done."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's hunt them, that Great Serpent first. It's quite angry right now, I'm sure it won't run away using its space affinity, If wounded, Exhausted and it's belly is full as well," Maruti suggested, her eyes gleaming with anticipation.
"Because it's already gone", Esdeath's says, Pointing at the far away, The great serpent had already left.
Esdeath looks back at maruti. "And for the delay thing, You're right, but what if it does? The bone dragon would be our first target, and also, we'll attack tomorrow morning, not now. Let's go find a suitable place to sleep."
Maruti immediately felt surprised by Esdeath's answer. The delay didn't make sense to her, not when they had the advantage.
"What? Why morning? You want it to heal and recover its mana so that we can fight it in its best condition? That's so like me, not you," she said, her tone hurried and confused by Esdeath's strategy.
"Of course I'm not like you. The bone dragon is still a mature dragon, and every dragon is at their absolute best when they are close to death. You know about Lilith's dragon's last stand, right?" Esdeath explained, her voice calm and logical.
Lilith had used dragon's last stand killer moves to reach her prime state for a few minutes to defeat a horde of red dragons back at the academy.
"So either we kill it before it uses something like that, or make it believe that it can win before killing it off," Esdeath added with a light smile. Her mind was already working through the strategy, seeing the angles that Maruti had missed.
"Besides, the Great Serpent's healing powers are not that great. With those huge wounds, it'll take weeks to heal. We have enough time to deal with it. Now you understand?" She ended her explanation with a tired sigh.
Maruti crossed her arms and looked away. "W-well I was going to suggest the same thing. I'm feeling sleepy anyways. It's just that... urghh... forget it," she trailed off, unable to admit that Esdeath's strategy made sense.