Amelia heard Keith's instructions but she was too late in responding to him. As a result, the three-headed dog managed to shake off his shackles and break free.

Now that it was free, it decided to change its target from Amelia and Sara to Keith. Keith's magic had been the one to immobilize it so the dog wanted to eliminate him first.

'Tsk, what a nightmare. I knew I should not have helped Amelia with this fight.'

Keith was instantly regretting helping Amelia out. He did not have enough time to cast another shield for himself and he ended up having to dodge the dog's advances. Huge claws tried to crush Keith as he barely kept out of the monster's reach.

"Noah, watch out. Just hang on and I will help you out."

Amelia yelled from the other side of the monster. She had finally recovered her claymore but had no opening for attacking back.

"This is so bad. Hey, maybe we should try to run away? You know, not fight this dog monster and save our lives."

Sara advised, not realizing why both Amelia and Keith had decided to fight the monster head-on. It was because they did not have a choice in this matter.

As soon as this boss had been triggered, a silent barrier had been eradicated around the group. It would make it impossible for anyone to run away from this fight. But Sara learned pretty soon why no one else was running away.

She reached the end of the clearing and smacked head-first into the barrier.

"What the hell? Since when has this been here? Is this some kind of prank that is being played on me right now?"

Sara questioned as she banged the barrier. It caused the three-headed dog to break focus and it instantly changed targets. Keith was barely able to breathe a sigh of relief as a result.

Amelia tried to stop the charging dog but the three-headed monster ignored any attempt Amelia made. It even swatted away the powerful sword Amelia was wielding in her hand.

"Sara, run away or you will die."

Now that Amelia was not able to stop the monster, all she could do was warn Sara about it. And Sara looked up for the monster to charge toward her right in time. She was extremely lucky and dodged away using her small frame.

But as luck would have it, the monster recovered faster than she had anticipated it recovering from.

"Fuck, I never thought there would come a day I will be thankful for my small frame. But I pretty much survived thanks to my current body."

Sara whispered as she dodged the huge claw. The three-headed monster seemed a little clumsy now that he was faced with a smaller-than-usual anatomy but this situation would not last long.

It was already beginning to adapt to her size. Its claws were also landing closer and closer to Sara now.

"H-Hey, what are you both doing? Help me out here. Are you not going to save me?"

Keith looked toward the child and he felt sorry for leaving her like this. But there was only one exit to this place and it was being exposed right now.

If they wanted to, Keith and Amelia could leave the child behind and run away. It would save them some trouble and get rid of the annoyance.

Keith did consider this possibility but he had to ultimately discard it.

He could run away but he was sure that Amelia would agree to it. Keith could already see that Amelia was determined not to leave Sara behind. Her sword was ready to fight the monster in front of her.

'Fuck this shit. I knew something like this was going to happen anyway so I should not be surprised in the least.'

Keith now had two options - to leave Amelia and Sara here or to stay behind with them to fight. Both had their pros and cons but Keith had already decided.

After all, making a protagonist your enemy was the last on his list of to-do things. So, Keith was not going to be able to run from this fight either.

'Ugh, it sucks. Why did Amelia have to be such a soft-hearted person? I cannot believe I am being forced to take care of a kid because of her.'

Amelia was already in-between the three-headed demon dog and Sara. her great sword was the only thing protecting the two.

As soon as the demon dog recognized that, it decided to swipe the sword out of Amelia's hand. The sudden action surprised Amelia and her grip loosened on her sword.

Keith was suddenly glad he had not decided to run away from this fight. As soon as the demon dog had decided to make the last sweep, Keith created a shield around Amelia and Sara but it required massive amounts of mana to maintain.

He was certain that he would not be able to do anything else but maintain this shield. This was his third of the day and Keith was beginning to reach his limit for the day. His hands were shaking as a result.

Once again, the demon dog proved his superior intelligence and decided to change targets to Keith. But this time, Keith braced himself for the impact. There was no way for him to logically survive without taking any damage.

'I just need to make sure I do not get hurt enough to drop out. I need to soften the blow I am about to receive.'

Keith braced himself but the demon dog never reached him. Amelia had managed to receive a sudden burst of power and she sniped the neck of that demon dog before it took a bite out of Keith's face.

'Fuck, I got so lucky. Thank God for protagonists and their bullshit plot armor. That is the only reason I managed to survive today.'

Keith panted as he waited for the body in front of him to stop bleeding.

"Noah, are you alright? You did not get hurt when I killed the monster, right?"

Amelia asked a little too late. She had still not calmed down and her body was shaking due to the rush of adrenaline she was still feeling.

She could not believe she had moved that fast or even managed to kill a monster. It still felt like a dream to her.

But one thing was for sure, it had not been a dream that she had moved as fast as she did. She had managed to kill a demon all on her own.

For a second there, Amelia had felt great power. It had felt like she was invincible and no one would be able to touch her. The rush of power had consumed her and held her hostage.

By the time she realized what had happened, the monster had been dead and Noah was inches away from death.

"W-Wow! You managed to kill that monster so easily. How did you do it? What kind of power did you use? Can I become as powerful as you?"

Sara looked beyond impressed. She looked like she worshiped Amelia and was willing to do anything Amelia asked. Keith recognized the glint in Sara's eyes that screamed desperation.

'Ugh, fuck no. I was so certain that Sara would leave us once we reached the arena, but it seems like Amelia picked up an annoyance on the way.'

But even if that was the case, there was no way Keith would be able to ask Amelia to abandon a person like Sara. That was just not in Amelia's nature to do.

"I am alright. We should get going now since we do not have much time. The competition will start any second now."

Keith reminded the two females in front of her. As much as he did not want Sara to come with them, he also knew that Amelia would get distracted if he did not bring Sara along.

"Oh, y-yes. I forgot that we competed. Listen, Amelia, we need to win this competition at any cost. I cannot afford to lose this prize. Will you help me out?"

This was foul play on Sara's part. She had managed to figure out Amelia's soft spot and now she seemed to be pressing on it.

Keith was about to interfere and hand Sara a piece of his mind when Amelia spoke up.

"I cannot do that. I am sorry Sara but I cannot help you win this time. I am here to win this competition since it is my duty."

Keith was surprised by Amelia's resolute answer. She had never been this firm before even in the game for as long as he had played it.

"O-Oh, I see. Y-You, do not need to help me out then. I will be alright on my own in this case."

Sara was hesitant to speak anymore once she realized that Amelia was not bulging despite his sob story. She had lost this time.