Rebirth: Childhood friend of the heroine-Chapter 198 - 197- The Eighth Form(1)

You agitated him—were the words, Alex heard before he found himself flying away.

"Agh." He winced, the punch caved in his stomach, and the boy was hurled away at an incredible pace.

"Alex!" Celestria’s voice rang, but before she could have moved, Rebecca appeared behind him and held his body before he could have crashed into the tree.

"You okay?" She asked as she helped him get back on his feet.

He nodded in assent.

Alex has fulfilled his role of bringing the undead to the ground with that agonizing move earlier. And now, Natasha was involved in a battle, in which she clearly was at a disadvantage.

"You can’t use your blood arts, right?" Alex asked, and as he expected, Rebecca shook her head.

Their greatest fighting forces were all helpless here because of the Soul Energy absorption.

Edric also jumped toward the undead; however, being in an weakened state, his punch didn’t even make the monster flinch.

Thankfully, before he could have received the retaliation, he moved away.

Exhaling a deep breath, Alex took out a great sword from his inventory before telling the girl, "Keep an eye on the battle, and assist only when we need it, okay?"

Rebecca instantly responded, "Don’t over-commit. It won’t be leaving this place, and sooner or later, the Vampire Monarch will take that thing down."

Alex grinned. "I know. That’s why I don’t fear losing here."

As those words faded, he lunged forward.

His long odachi, curved near the tip, gleamed under the dim light as he closed the distance in three rapid steps.

Natasha saw him coming and instantly struck her batons together.

TING!

A blinding flash burst forth. The undead recoiled, its body twitching as it flinched away from the light.

Alex didn’t waste a second. He swung his odachi in a straight vertical arc—

SWISH!

But his enemy was no fool. It twisted its body at the last moment, the blade narrowly missing its mark.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

Yet instead of frustration, a grin stretched across Alex’s face. His lips moved in a whisper—

"Rebound."

Ting!

The tip of his blade struck the ground—then bounced. Like a whip recoiling, the odachi sprang upward with blistering speed.

Alex, muscles honed from relentless training, seized the momentum. His grip tightened. He twisted his wrists—

And slashed.

This time, his attack was lightning-fast, far beyond his previous swing. The odachi carved diagonally through the air—

SLICK!

The undead screeched as the blade dug into one of the rusted nails pinning its wretched body, the force behind the strike sending a violent tremor through its frame.

The beast cried as it flew away—its body convulsing.

"It hurts?" Alex asked with a grin.

Natasha realized that to leave damage, she also needed to hit the nail.

Twirling her batons in the hand, she advanced towards the enemy.

Her focus was sharp, and her steps were almost inaudible.

She reached behind the undead, raising both batons to strike another nail.

However, this time, the undead was cautious, as it simply blended in the darkness, and Natasha missed her mark.

A surge of Soul Energy made the hair on his back stand straight as Alex warned, "MOVE!"

However, it was too late

*KHREWWWWW*

Waves of ultrasonic sound resonated from the small parting of the undead’s mouth, sending Natasha flying back.

Her ears rang. A sharp, piercing pain stabbed through her skull as she tumbled across the cold ground.

Alex gritted his teeth. His vision blurred for a moment as the sheer force of the sound wave pressed against his chest, shaking his bones.

The undead, now fully merged with the shadows, let out a guttural snarl.

Alex forced himself to move despite the lingering pain. His grip tightened on the odachi. He couldn’t let the bastard get another chance.

He switched blades, holding a slim katana this time, as he advanced toward the inhumane in a straight path—his speed simply non-achievable by a human.

A silver blur ran towards the nearest pillar and zapped toward the other. The silver line advanced toward the undead.

*Grrr*

However, the undead was able to follow Alex’s figure with its eyes, which explains why it reacted just in time.

The moment Alex closed in, the undead twisted its body, dodging his strike by a hair’s breadth.

But Alex wasn’t just swinging blindly.

The moment his katana missed, his foot slammed against the pillar behind the undead, stopping his momentum in an instant.

Then—

CLANG!

His blade clashed against a nail just beside the undead’s head. A spark of light flickered as metal met metal.

Alex’s grin widened. "Caught you." but that was his mistake to draw so close to the monster.

*Grab*

The monster ignored its pain and grabbed Alex by his neck.

Alex tried to back away but it was simply impossible. The inhumane was way too strong.

"Aghh! Leave m-ghh!" Alex’s word died as the undead brought him higher at an astonishing pace, before releasing his body from the height of the cloud.

Alex’s body flailed, trying to grab anything to stop his fall—but there was naturally nothing.

The impact of the fall might have hurt a little...but what followed after the drop was simply overwhelming.

**SCREEEECH**

The funnel of sound waves crashed into him like a tidal wave, slamming into his body with brutal force.

Alex’s vision blurred. His eardrums felt like they were about to burst, his skull rattling from the relentless screech. The sheer force sent him crashing back down, his body slamming into the earth with a sickening THUD.

Pain flared through his bones. His grip loosened, his katana slipping from his hand.

Natasha’s eyes widened. "Alex!"

But before she could rush forward—

The undead descended.

Its blackened claws stretched toward Alex, its eyes glowing with eerie malice. It wasn’t going to let him recover.

Alex, dazed, forced his muscles to move. His instincts screamed at him—Move. Now.

But his limbs were sluggish, the lingering sound waves still wreaking havoc on his nerves.

The undead’s claw swung down—only to be stopped as a massive force struck him from the side.

"Ugooooh!" The Taurus snarled as he pushed away the undead.

Alex looked at Edric in astonishment. The boy hasn’t completely transformed, with his lower body taking the shape of a beast but his upper body was nearly the same—explaining why the undead wasn’t sent flying away.

"You okay, bud?" Edric asked as he offered his hand to Alex.

Alex’s bones were still vibrating but he didn’t delay in getting up.

Back with the undead, Natasha and Rebecca were already on the monster.

Although they were barely able to touch it with their current speed and restriction on their soul energy, they were at least keeping the undead away from Alex.

"I will go help them," Edric said as he switched to his wolf form...but only his arms and legs transformed.

"I look like a joke..." Edric laughed in self-mockery. His current self was like an abomination from those sci-fi movies.

The raven-haired didn’t let the anomalous situation drag him down, as he rushed towards the trio with a howl of warning.

"Alex!" Sarah and Celestria instantly joined him—the former taking out a potion that she fed him.

Alex gulped down the potion, but, "It feels just like a sweet liquid..." He wryly said.

Sarah had a grim expression, "Everything that contains soul energy is becoming useless within its domain. It’s such a helpless situation."

Celestria added, "And trying to attack the being from outside its range, is impossible. Amanda and I tried just now."

Alex glanced in the forest, and indeed, Amanda’s ice pillar could be seen in the distance, which signified that the two girls tried and failed at their attempt to injure the foe.

Things weren’t in their favor. Slowly, Natasha and the others within the domain of the undead were losing their Soul Energy, and their movement was becoming sluggish...and considering how hastily the undead was explaining its domain, it wouldn’t be long before its reach extended to the capital.

And once the undead’s claws reach the common folks, it would become incredibly difficult to stop it.

’Can’t you help here?’

[I can but your body won’t be able to bear it.]

It was like the Curse was expecting the request since he replied instantly.

Alex clicked his tongue. All the routes seemed to be blocked, eh.

In that case,

"Sarah, I need you to retreat along with others, since I don’t think I can control the next attack I am about to launch."

The Saintess’s eyes widened slightly as she asked, "Is it dangerous?"

Alex nodded, "It will be painful but I won’t die for sure. So just be ready to heal me."

Celestria fidgeted on the side as she said, "Why does everything come down to you hurting yourself?"

Alex grinned but didn’t say anything.

Soon, Celestria and Amanda moved away, as Alex took a normal wooden sword from his inventory.

Holding his breath, he muttered, "It’s about time I use it."

°°°°°°°°°

A/N:- There was another incident that nearly pushed him to use the technique. Well, thanks for reading.