The smoke and dust gradually cleared.
Elvia slowly stood up from the pile of rubble and patted the dust off her skirt armor.
Her shattered armor gave off a dim luster under the moonlight, and the bloodstains on her cheeks had already dried. Her golden eyes cut through the lingering dust to look toward the sky.
Arthur hovered up there, his mage robe snapping in the wind.
Elvia tilted her head up, the corners of her lips curling slightly as she shouted up at the sky:
"Is that all?"
"Such fine treasures, totally wasted on a pig."
Her voice was not loud, but it sounded exceptionally clear across the open wasteland.
Arthur's smile froze.
His fingers tightened around his staff, his knuckles turning white.
A sense of humiliation unlike anything he had ever felt surged violently inside his chest.
She had actually dodged a Lightning-element Transcendent scroll—the fastest and most powerful of its kind.
This woman... this mere High-tier High Rank knight... how could she?
"You're asking for death!"
Arthur's voice ground out from his throat, hideous and enraged.
He reached toward his hip pouch, pulled out a scroll, and tore it open.
A fiery red magic circle materialized, and a fireball blasted outward.
Elvia side-stepped to dodge. The fireball slammed into the rock behind her, sending shattered stone flying.
Arthur tore open a second one.
An icy blue magic circle materialized, pouring down a torrential rain of icicles.
Elvia rolled and leaped, taking cover behind a rugged rock. Icicles impaled the ground at her feet, and shattered ice fragments scraped past her cheeks.
Arthur tore open a third one.
A fourth.
A fifth.
One magic circle after another rapidly took shape, densely bombarding the ground within his sight.
No longer aiming, no longer thinking, Arthur simply tore open scroll after scroll mechanically, unleashing a torrent of magic.
Storms, flames, ice, and lightning woven together into an inescapable net, blanketing the entire clearing.
The rugged terrain became Elvia's sole reliance.
She was like a swallow weaving through a torrential downpour, dodging left and right under the cover of the rugged rocks.
A boulder blocked a direct hit from a fireball. She huddled behind the rock as a wave of intense heat rushed over her head, singeing the tips of her hair.
Rolling out, icicles impaled the exact spot where she had been crouching moments before, freezing the ground into a sheet of white frost.
Leaping over a gully, lightning struck the rock behind her, sending a clattering shower of stone fragments crashing onto her back.
She didn't dare to stop.
Behind her, the ground had been repeatedly plowed open, charred marks overlapping layer upon layer, while the remains of dead wood lay scattered everywhere.
The entire clearing looked as though it had been clawed over again and again by a colossal beast.
Thunderous rumbles echoed across the wasteland, traveling far, far into the distance.
In the distance, low growls resounded from the demon nests.
It wasn't just one—there were many.
Those voices carried the impatience of being disturbed, along with the fury of being provoked.
Arthur's hand paused slightly, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.
The auras of demons were slowly waking up, one after another.
Several Hero Rank demons had already poked their heads out from their nests, their blood-red eyes gleaming in the dark.
A cold chill ran down his spine.
Yet soon enough, the rage of being toyed with surged back up, overriding his reason.
Gnashing his teeth, he continued to tear open scrolls.
A seventh, an eighth, a ninth.
The entire clearing had been completely turned upside down.
Dust and smoke billowed everywhere, broken rocks hovering in midair without falling for a long while. The moonlight was eclipsed by dense dust, reducing visibility to under ten meters.
Arthur hovered in midair, gasping heavily for breath.
He closed his eyes, expanding his soul vision.
Dust, smoke, darkness—none of these existed within his soul perception.
He saw that thin soul thread.
It was still there.
That woman was still alive.
The corner of Arthur's mouth twitched as an indescribable rage welled up inside his chest.
How could a mere High Rank knight survive under his onslaught?
Tracking the thin thread, his soul vision steadily zoomed in, penetrating the dust and shattered rocks.
Finally, he saw it.
A pale blue soul sphere was moving rapidly through the dust, flying straight into the air.
Pouncing straight toward his position.
Arthur let out a sinister laugh.
Reaching toward his hip pouch, he pulled out a scroll and tore it open just as he confirmed the soul sphere was about to break through the dust.
A magic circle materialized in front of him as cyan wind currents swirled and condensed inside it.
Aiming directly at the sprinting soul sphere, his eyes were filled with anticipation.
"Pay the price for your arrogant words earlier, you vile knight!"
The magic spell detonated.
Cyan Wind Blades tore through the smoke and dust, rushing straight toward the sphere of light with a sharp whistle of splitting air.
Arthur sneered wickedly, glaring at that direction.
He anticipated seeing her body ripped to shreds by the Wind Blades, looking forward to seeing the terror and despair in her eyes right before her death.
The sphere of light passed through the dust, revealing its true appearance the moment the spell struck it.
A hair doll.
Golden hair was wrapped around a wooden stake, and on its surface, two words were written in crooks and turns with blood:
"Idiot."
Arthur's pupils constricted violently.
Transcendent magic swallowed the hair doll instantly. Scraps of cloth flew everywhere, and the blood-written words turned to ashes within the blaze.
He froze.
What was that?
A hair doll?
When did she...?
A cold light flashed beside him.
Elvia leaped out from the dust like lightning, her shortsword thrusting directly toward Arthur's abdomen.
Her eyes were bright and sharp, like a leopard pouncing on its prey.
The tip of the sword struck.
Clang!
The sound of metal striking metal.
It was not the sound of piercing flesh.
Elvia's pupils narrowed slightly.
The sword tip had pierced his mage robe, only to be stopped by a fine layer of metal.
Chainmail.
Underneath his mage robe, he was actually wearing chainmail.
Cursing silently, Elvia tried to pull back her sword to strike again, but her body had already begun to fall.
She had no foothold in midair.
Arthur retreated in panic, frantically pulling a scroll from his hidden pocket and tearing it open.
A magic circle materialized before him, purple lightning condensing within it.
Elvia landed on the ground and executed a roll, attempting to dodge.
But it was too late.
The lightning blasted outward, speeding straight for her face.
Elvia swiftly pulled out a scroll from her waist and tore it open.
A gust of wind pushed her out of the way.
The aftershock brushed past her shoulder, launching her body through the air.
She crashed heavily onto the ground, rolling twice, as blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
Fragments of her armor lay scattered across the ground.
Hovering in midair and watching the severely injured knight coughing up blood on the ground, Arthur's panicked expression gradually turned to smug delight.
He laughed.
"Hahaha!"
His voice regained its former condescending composure.
"Out of little tricks?"
"You actually dared to sneak-attack me?"
He descended slowly to the ground, standing a few meters in front of Elvia, his mage robe fluttering in the night wind.
"A vile knight like you dares act arrogant in front of me."
He pulled another scroll from his hidden pocket and toyed with it in his hand as if admiring a precious work of art.
"Now, it's time to send you on your way."
Elvia propped herself up with her sword, slowly standing up.
Blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, falling onto her shattered chestpiece.
Her golden eyes held no fear, only a mocking gleam.
She sneered coldly.
"Send me on my way?"
Her voice was hoarse, yet every word was crystal clear.
"Who's sending whom on their way isn't decided yet."
Arthur's brows furrowed.
"Stubborn even at death's door."
He didn't get to finish his words.
Right before his eyes, Elvia's body vanished into thin air.
It wasn't rapid movement, nor rolling to dodge.
It was vanishing.
Completely and utterly vanishing.
Arthur's eyes froze, his spellcasting hand faltering, and the magic circle failed to launch.
He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Closing his eyes, he enhanced them with soul force before reopening them.
Elvia was still standing in the exact same spot.
She hadn't moved at all.
An illusion?
No, he had clearly seen—
Pfft—
Pain.
Blood.
A golden sword wind abruptly materialized right next to his ear, striking his arm.
Its power was very weak, leaving only a shallow cut on his arm, from which blood seeped out.
Yet Arthur's pupils contracted violently.
That sword wind... had materialized right next to him.
It hadn't swung over from afar; it had materialized out of thin air right beside his ear.
A chill ran down his back. Clamping a hand over his arm, he looked around in terror, but could not see a single trace of her.
"You—"
"You think you're the only one who can use magic scrolls?"
Elvia's voice sounded from behind him, laced with a ferocious grin.
"I fucking can, too!"
Arthur whipped around.
Elvia was already standing right beside him, shortsword raised high, its blade glinting coldly under the moonlight.
Grinning menacingly, she slashed her sword straight toward his neck.
This time, no chainmail could block it.
His neck had no protection.
Arthur's eyes overflowed with horror.
He didn't even have time to think, raise a hand, or tear open a scroll.
His shield failed to trigger.
That demi-artifact shield capable of deflecting attacks below Mid-tier Legendary showed zero reaction before Elvia's blade.
Because her attack was simply too weak.
High Rank power was insufficient to trigger the shield's passive defense.
Elvia's blade had already grazed the skin of Arthur's neck.
Originally, Elvia had wanted to capture him alive, but now, she only wanted him dead.
Swung with all her strength, the expected severed head did not fly off.
Arthur vanished.
His body vanished from where he stood, reappearing a few meters to the side.
Elvia's sword struck empty air, her body pitching forward a step from momentum.
Her pupils dilated violently.
Arthur stood beside her, the wound on his arm still bleeding and droplets of blood oozing from the cut on his neck.
His expression was no longer one of panic or terror, but a near-maniacal ferocity born of being cornered.
"Don't look down on me!"
His voice rasped out, ground from his throat.
Reaching into his hidden pocket, he pulled out a scroll and tore it open.
A magic circle materialized at Elvia's side, barely a step away from her.
Purple lightning condensed inside the circle, its glow illuminating her face in a ghastly white.
It was too late.
A trace of panic flickered across Elvia's eyes.
At this distance, she couldn't dodge.
The moment the lightning blasted outward, she would be torn into shreds.
Right at that moment—
"Don't slack off while I'm not around, my little apprentice."
Inside her mind, Shadow Blade Lynn's voice rang out.
It wasn't anxious or tense.
It was calm, lighthearted, and in her usual nonchalant tone.
In a place Elvia couldn't see—
—a petite figure materialized in front of Arthur out of nowhere.
Shadow Blade Lynn hovered in midair, her body translucent like a strand of smoke that could be blown away by the wind at any moment.
She was a spirit.
She had no physical form, no weight, and was unbound by physical laws.
Passing through walls, stones, or trees was as effortless for her as passing through air.
Including passing through a person's eye.
She raised her hand, reaching her slender, transparent fingers toward Arthur's eye socket.
There was no resistance.
There was no tactile feeling.
Her fingers passed through his pupil without impediment, sinking into his eye socket like fingers passing through a thin curtain of water.
At that exact moment—
—all of her soul force concentrated.
Her small, transparent fingers instantly materialized into physical form.
A cold, solid, lethal physical entity.
Pfft—
Arthur's body stiffened violently.
"AAAAAAHHH—!"
He let out a shriek of agony, clamping a hand over his eye. What seeped between his fingers was not ordinary blood, but a dark red liquid pulsing with magic power.
The magic circle before him collapsed, the purple lightning dissipating into nothingness as the scroll slipped from his hand and fluttered to the ground.
Arthur flew wildly in the air like a shot bird, rolling and struggling directionlessly.
"My eye! My eye!!"
His voice was shrill and agonized, laced with an indescribable terror.
Shadow Blade Lynn sat in midair, crossing her legs as she watched Arthur's wretched state, letting out a laugh.
"Heh."
The laugh was faint, barely audible in the night wind.
Ever since coming out of the Wall of Sighs, she had been trying to re-condense her soul and cultivate.
But all attempts had failed.
The faint soul force she managed to condense was only enough to launch a single materialized, Low Rank attack.
A Low Rank attack was utterly insignificant anywhere else, just like Lin Gui's Electric Spark that could only be used for play.
However, she took advantage of her nature as a spirit.
Landing that tiny attack on the single most vulnerable spot.
Shadow Blade Lynn narrowed her eyes, watching Arthur writhe in midair while clutching his eye.
With her soul force exhausted, her body grew even more transparent, like a thin mist ready to vanish at any second.
In the distance, two blue figures were flying rapidly toward them.
Lin Gui.
Irene.
They had arrived.
Shadow Blade Lynn breathed a sigh of relief.
The commotion Arthur caused was so loud that she had truly worried Elvia might get carried off by a demon in her absence.
She cast one final glance at Arthur.
Clutching his pierced eye, Arthur fished out a scroll from his hidden pocket.
The wooden body of the scroll was jet-black, and the runes inscribed upon it were dark red, emitting an ominous faint glow under the moonlight.
Shadow Blade Lynn's brows knit slightly.
She thought he was planning a desperate final gamble.
The excruciating pain and blurred vision from his pierced eye wouldn't allow him to locate Elvia's position and launch an attack right away.
Yet, Arthur tore open the scroll.
Whoosh—
His body vanished into thin air without a trace.
Not even a trace of his soul aura could be detected.
Hovering in midair, Shadow Blade Lynn narrowed her eyes. A soul within her field of vision had vanished into thin air?
It wasn't concealment, but genuine disappearance, just like... the way that kid left the Withered Rift...
Just who was this fellow, and what was that scroll he just used?
Shadow Blade Lynn was immensely curious.
But she was running out of time.
Her soul body was growing more and more transparent, fainter and fainter.
Shadow Blade Lynn let out a sigh, then retreated back into the soul bead inside Elvia's bag.
And after Shadow Blade Lynn sank into sleep—
—more and more figures of demons appeared across the wasteland surrounding Elvia.
Blood-red eyes continued to light up, one after another in the darkness.
Rate on N.U.
