Boris stopped in front of the alien, and just simply swing at it. It avoided with ease and jabbed a few times with the daggers, but the human blocked it all with his shield. The creature then moved to the side, to change the angle of its attack, but it didn't work.

Boris just easily followed with a simple turn and blocked the incoming cuts.

This caused the alien to circle around him, swinging from time to time, looking for an opening, but there simply wasn't any. Even I couldn't see anything, and from what I saw the creature was slower than me. It also lacked the power of the goliath that gave both Martin and Gavriil a hard time.

It was quite understandable. This thing was sent there just to take down Adam. Zor'xal changed his tactic and was now picking the most optimal opponents to take our fighters down. The numbers were on his side, and he didn't care for casualties, as we did.

Even our fire mage could probably go longer, even when he found himself lying on the ground, with blades about to cut him open if he would be willing to fight to the death, but he wasn't. That's why he gave up.

This was our weakness, and it was quite an obvious one. We needed to start wining without showing all of our cards, to take down more enemies, and cause the Ashal Kal Anur to stop this madness. We needed to humiliate Zor'xal in front of the imperial official.

As I was thinking those thoughts Boris went a bit on the offense. He changed the angle he was holding his shield at, and raised the bottom a bit, to at some point rapidly kneel down, and swing at the creature's legs.

The alien jumped, avoiding the cut, but the human wasn't just waiting for it to land. He stepped forward, forcing it to land on his shield, and then swung with his left hand, throwing it to the ground. Stick-man showcased its dexterity and landed with grace, but Boris followed him and tried to attack with the ax, but again failed to reach the target.

He was simply too slow. Partially because he wasn't going all out, but also his top speed wasn't that great, and even if he did, there was a risk of him being unable to match with the alien anyway. That's why he simply decided to take things slow.

,m He already knew that he could block the attacks of the Stick-man with his shield. At least the regular ones.

The exchange went on a bit longer. Boris clearly was playing a long game, but he made sure to be on the offense as much as he was in defense. He was advancing steadily, forcing the creature to attack, and each time attempting to land a counter.

- He is looking for patterns - said Nil. - I've seen boxers do that. They would stay on the defense and look for a powerful counter to end the match with one hit. I think his tactic is the same.

- It might not work - said Adam. - That thing can hit hard. It broke my barrier. The daggers were glowing red at that time, though, and now they are not. It also seems slower.

When he said that, I started to think. I recalled what happened during his fight, and noticed that the more fire magic he used, the faster that Stick-man became. Boris had just his ax and was one of the best defenders I knew. The only people I could compare him with were, obviously, myself and Hideaki with his flawless technique.

- He will win - I joined the conversation. - He noticed something, that escaped me, but now I know.

- What? - asked Adam.

- Your fire magic. I think that heat was making the alien faster, and possibly stronger. It was also resistant to that, but Boris has just his ax and is probably one of the best defenders we have.

I noticed that few people among the hunters, the tank types, weren't really convinced, thinking that they were the top dogs in their positions, but I've seen them all, and I had a pretty decent idea of what I was talking about.historical

In the meantime, Boris managed to push the creature almost to the wall, but it noticed and tried to escape, which succeeded. Because of the difference in speed, the cornering would never succeed, but he tried it anyway. For him, there clearly was no rush.

- Am I seeing things, or is that alien becoming slower? - asked Nil. - Is it out of gas?

- If my flames really were behind its remarkable speed, then without them it should inevitably get slower with time. Was that his plan? To wear it down?

- Maybe - I shrugged my shoulders.

Everything that we could see on the holoprojection indicated that what Adam said was right.

Boris started to even force the creature to block with the daggers. He probably could even accelerate a bit, and maybe land something, but he was patient.

Suddenly the alien, in a blur, creating an afterimage, appeared behind the human, and was about to land a hit. Both daggers were glowing with red. Boris dropped on one knee and moved the shield to protect his back. Blades slammed into it, creating a burst of sparks, but nothing more than that.

Stick-man retreated with two long jumps, while the human slowly stood up. I couldn't see his face, but I was quite sure he was smiling.

- Or were we wrong, and it was just baiting him? - asked Adam after seeing what just happened.

- Maybe we were - said Nil. - Even if, we now can be sure, that it cant just pierce through Boris's defenses. That's a good thing.

The human started moving, following the alien, but without any rush. There was a difference in the creature's reaction. Before it didn't really seem to care, but now it was keeping up the gap between itself and our friend.. It took me by surprise.