Becoming The Strongest Using My Would-You-Rather System!-Chapter 29 - Danger

The situation wasn’t looking good. Nine of the remaining E-ranks were heading for him, alongside the D-rank, while only five E-ranks were focused on Iris.

Theo’s mind raced as he sprinted across the beach.

’The soldiers have to get rid of that D-rank,’ he thought, heart pounding. ’I can’t turn around with it there.’

Those concentrated water beams would knock the air out of him instantly, or even outright kill him from their sheer pressure.

Behind him, the sharp clacking of claws rapidly grew louder.

"Dodge!" one of the soldiers suddenly shouted.

Theo jumped aside without hesitation.

Once more, a concentrated beam of water crashed where he’d been standing just a second ago.

Only this time, the other Ironclaws had finally caught up to him.

A sharp claw opened, grabbing straight for his neck.

Theo quickly twisted his body, barely avoiding the strike.

He planted his foot in the ground, using his body’s momentum to swing the spear toward the attacking Ironclaw.

"Back off!" he shouted as his spear slashed deep through its head.

Pale blue blood splattered everywhere as the Ironclaw collapsed to the ground with a loud thud.

Theo gritted his teeth, immediately turning around to create distance between him and the remaining eight E-ranks.

From the corner of his eye, he noticed the male soldier create a large wind disk in the air.

’Please,’ he thought, tightening the grip on his spear. ’If that can pull the D-rank away...’

The large crescent-shaped wind disk tore through the air, whistling loudly as it shot toward the D-rank Ironclaw.

Only three seconds passed before it reached its target and slammed into its back.

The enormous crab screeched as the wind arc carved deep through its shell, sending fragments of dark armor and pale blue blood spraying across the sand.

For a moment, the creature staggered.

Then its massive body slowly turned away from Theo.

The two other soldiers held burning weapons in their hands and quickly jumped onto its back, jabbing their swords into the open wound.

The Ironclaw shrieked violently as fire magic burned deep inside its body.

It thrashed its body, spinning its claws around wildly, quickly throwing both of them off.

’Nice,’ Theo thought, finally able to turn around.

All he had to do now was slowly kite them and take any out when he had the opportunity.

’Have to be careful though,’ he reminded himself. ’Using the spear is nice, but each time I slice one of them, I lose a chunk of my mana.’

It was better than using normal spells since he couldn’t miss. Even so, he felt the mana drain since he hadn’t learned any proper techniques for it.

Theo was pulled from his thoughts as the nearest Ironclaw had finally caught up to him.

He jumped aside, a claw slamming into the sand in front of him.

’Let’s kill it before the others join in,’ he thought, narrowing his eyes.

As the Ironclaw raised its claw again, Theo slashed his spear toward it.

The Ironclaw just barely managed to pull back, the surface of its claw completely blackened.

There wasn’t a hint of pain in its eyes though.

It pressed forward with another attack, this time using its smaller claw as well.

Theo dodged, taking a few steps back each time it swung.

’There’s no way I can beat it in grip strength,’ he thought, gritting his teeth. ’If it grabs my spear, I’ll lose it.’

Finally, the Ironclaw made a mistake.

It opened both its claws and stuck them forward toward Theo at the same time.

Theo quickly stepped aside, using its large claw as cover to dash toward its body.

In an instant, he jumped up and swung his spear down, splitting its shell wide open.

The lightning discharged from the spearhead ran rampant inside, melting through all its organs.

’Good,’ he thought, jumping back.

He let go of his spear with one hand, raising it above him as he saw two more Ironclaws rapidly approaching.

Only a second later, two flickering lightning bolts formed in the air above him.

"Go," he muttered, pointing at the Ironclaws.

The lightning bolts shot through the air in an instant.

All the Ironclaws could do was watch as two bright lights blurred out everything else around them.

SHHH!

The bolts collided with them head-on, sizzling as they disintegrated a deep hole into their bodies.

Theo let out heavy breaths for a moment, his hand trembling as he felt his mana core itch inside his body.

’Come on,’ he thought. ’It’s almost over.’

He glanced over at Iris, who was barely visible by the moonlight.

She’d already killed two E-ranks on her own, creating distance and firing her spear toward them each time.

Yet even after having seen it happen to their companions, the creatures kept pressing on aggressively, as if willing to exchange their lives to kill her.

"She can handle it," he muttered, briefly glancing at the D-rank Ironclaw.

It seemed like it was on its last legs too.

Blue blood kept pouring out of its wounds, enough to completely cover the sand underneath it.

The two fire-affinity soldiers kept attacking it, preventing the Ironclaw from reaching the wind-affinity soldier.

In that moment, the D-rank gathered another water sphere between its claws.

But it was quickly interrupted.

One of the soldiers jumped up, slamming his flaming sword against the bottom of its claw.

The claw closed slightly... but that was enough for it to touch the water sphere.

Almost immediately, the sphere exploded, tearing a piece of its claw off with it.

Enraged, the D-rank let out its loudest screech yet.

The remaining five E-ranks that had been chasing Theo froze, as did the two remaining E-ranks fighting Iris.

They all turned to look at their leader.

So did Iris and Theo.

The soldier who had just forced its claw shut had barely landed on the ground when another massive claw came barreling toward him.

The wind-affinity soldier immediately fired a wind disk at it, hoping to stall the attack.

But the D-rank no longer seemed to care.

The wind disk struck its claw, slicing a deep gash into it.

At the same time, the claw opened.

The soldier’s eyes widened.

He tried to jump aside...

But the Ironclaw managed to grab one of his legs.

It dangled him in the air for a moment as the other soldiers shouted.

Then the claw tightened.

A sickening crack echoed across the battlefield as the Ironclaw crushed his leg, spraying blood across the sand.

At first the soldier screamed.

Then... the sound slowly faded into silence.