*Punch*Punch*Clang*Shin*Bam!*

The battle had begun with Motavu pressing his advantage against Ilyon with his suicidal charge.

Now, Ilyon followed up with the same pattern after scared memories came to mind, abandoning the plan and his well-being as he only sought to kill the vermin in front of him.

Like the frenzied snakes, both men were exchanging blood for bone as they struck fist and sword against each other for the umpteenth time.

They kept moving about while they fought, moving away from where Rowan and the large body of the dead snake laid.

The dust constantly erupting as they shattered rocks with their feet was also not helping in that regard.

Regardless, what both of them cared about was to see the other dead.

Of course, such an intense fight did not go unnoticed by the forces at the frontlines battling the wave of snakes, and as expected, confusion rapidly spread through the ranks as the forces under both men distanced themselves from one another as they all tried to reason what exactly could have caused both men to turn on each other.

Naturally, there were a few things that came to mind.

\'Could it be that they found a treasure?\'

This was the first thought as it was the most likely one.

All guilds were formed on the basis of different people coming together for a common goal, which mostly revolved around killing beasts, exploring and other related activities.

But to achieve any goal, sufficient power was needed, else a lot of things would be snatched right from your hands, and there would be nothing you could do.

That\'s why the fighting force of a guild was deemed the most important thing and it was the first criteria to judge in determining the rank of a guild.

This was why treasures that could increase the power of a guild were never taken lightly, not even for S-rank guilds.

Rather, one could say S-rank were more adamant on gathering treasures than those below, and were willing to start wars on such matters.

There were never enough treasures, and so, competition was always fierce.

As a result, it was not uncommon to find people, friends and even family members, stabbing each other in the back in the event a treasure was found.

Especially since treasures were basically tickets to a better life.

Accidentally stumbling upon a treasure of Gold-rank or higher would net you crazy sums if handed to a sufficiently well off guild.

Enough to set people for life.

So…could that be the reason those two had turned on one another?

The majority thought like this.

A few elites thought differently as they strained their vision to witness the two fighting like injured beasts, trying to tear each other apart, literally.

Fighting for treasures was good and all…but was that really it?

Some didn\'t think so, those particularly more observant than others.

\'The guild master has never fought like this even in the past. What is going on?\'

Others tried to think of other reasons before coming right back to the first answer.

\'Even if they\'re fighting over a treasure…just what kind of treasure would make them fight like that?\'

All this while, after the mage unit and the adventurers had separated, the guilders under Motavu found that they were grossly outnumbered.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense as both sides had a stare down, before moving an adequate distance away from each other.

The second in command could only grow solemn, because only now he had the glaring realization that more than half of those who came along were nowhere to be seen.

And in such a situation, the meaning couldn\'t be clearer.

They had all died.

But now wasn\'t the time to be sentimental, because Ilyon\'s forces contained all members of the mage unit, which were eight in total.

The independent adventurers, a.k.a mercenaries, mostly choose Ilyon\'s side as they judged it to be the winning side.

Another issue was that the snakes were now passing through because both sides couldn\'t work together anymore, and furthermore, they had to be cautious of one another from now on.

Meaning that they couldn\'t be completely focused on killing the snakes because of the threat of their former teammates.

Thankfully though, no side attacked the other, mostly because of their current situation, and also, no one from either side thought about interfering in the fight between the guild masters.

This was because they knew they would only be burdens. It was better to sit back and wait for a clear winner and then plan accordingly.

This and the fact that everyone was virtually exhausted. Be it mana, potions or stamina, they were already low from fighting for so long.

Especially when they had hundreds of snakes rushing forward, though the snake\'s stampede was now many times slower than when it had begun, allowing everyone to take a breather once in a while.

Since both sides were almost certain to clash the moment the battle between the two guild masters was settled, they now began to use the snakes to derail the other side whenever possible.

But they made sure to do it indirectly.

The mages targeted the swarm in such a way that the snakes were diverted towards Motavu\'s group.

All of the trees near the mountain had been burnt by fire spells targeted at the snakes, which was another reason why they were able to hold such a large swarm at bay all this time, while the nearest trees had been utterly crushed by the shower of large chunks of rocks brought forth by the evolving snake.

Meanwhile, the battle between Ilyon and Motavu continued uninterrupted with Motavu now on the losing side.

The effect of Ilyon\'s superior swordsmanship became more glaring when it was paired with madness as they fought on.

Motavu\'s skin was able to mitigate the damage done by Ilyon\'s sword with his reinforced body, but that was it.

He was taking far more damage than he was dishing out, and another problem was cropping up.

\'I\'m almost out of time\'

His life-force was almost used up. He couldn\'t keep the fight going much longer.

Yet…

\'Even with this technique, I can\'t match his pace at all\'

Motavu now fully understood why Ilyon was a guild master, but that didn\'t matter one bit.

The b*stard still had to die, or at the very least suffer a great injury, because…

\'If I can\'t do even that, after everything I\'ve been through…then it would all be in vain!\'

He would die feeling even more pathetic than before.

Motavu, a loyal, fearless and prideful fellow, refused to die in vain.

But refusing won\'t be enough, he had to think.

His thoughts whirred into overdrive like never before as he staked his entire existence on achieving this one goal.

His efforts would not be in vain as a solution came to mind!

A solemn smile formed on his face as he thought…

\'So I haven\'t completely risked everything\'

With his entire existence staked upon this plan, he began his comeback.