Legolas smiled and pointed at the corpse by his side, " I am afraid that you will be the one to join him on the other side".
Aya pull out the knives from the back of her waist and walk slowly towards Legolas like she was taking a stroll through the park. Aya's knives were pretty big in size, they were 2 Kukri but were oversize for the used of Barbarians. It was quite scary.
Legolas knew it was going to be a very difficult fight but he still didn't think he could lose. His previous fight was pretty easy and was against a Level 16 rogue that barely left a scratch on him. In his mind, the skills that Aya had were exactly the same and as such, another easy fight was about to take place.
Legolas was almost right. The reason rogues were fear more than Assassins by other classes was simple. When they fought an assassin, if you could somehow survived the initial barrage and the assassin was out of the shadows, half of the fight was already won. Obviously, this was considering that both fighters had the same level of expertise.
On the other hand, the maximum title for rogues achieving the highest level in their class was Shadow Trickster. As rogues reached higher and higher in Level they gained a lot more skills that allow them to evade or parry then counter-attack with deathly force.
It was very stressful to engage them in combat from the mental aspect of a fight. The mental concentration of the rogue's opponent need it to be extremely on point. As the fight against a rogue ensue, a seed of doubt always develop. It was this doubt that made it so hard to fight them. Sometimes you saw a flaw to be exploited but once you acted on it you would pay dearly. Against a rogue every mistake was severely punish. Even though the majority were followers of Balthazar, they were children of lady Luck.
Although Legolas saw most of the skills a Level 16 had to offer, underestimating an opponent could cost him his life.
Legolas biggest flaw was his overconfidence. He has been praised as a genius most of his life and never truly had a challenge. Throughout history there were a lot of geniuses that were killed in the cradle. Who knows when Legolas would kick a steel wall and disappear from the Realm of Elysian.
As Aya was getting closer, she started activating her sustainable abilities. First, she activated sprint, followed by Bladeweaver, and last but not least Phantom Steps. Phantom Steps was a Level 17 Rogue Combat Art that further increased avoidance , parry, and toughness. This combat art relied on fancy footwork in order to create and optic illusion that will disrupt the ability to gauge distance and position of the opponent. It was called Phantom Steps because the opponent will see mirages of the user every time they move at a fast speed.
Legolas also activated his sustainable Combat Arts and grabbed his two swords. He had to kill his opponent quickly. The absorption of energy from the corpse helped him to restore most of his energy but he was not at 100%.
Legolas took the initiative and attacked. He disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind Aya in a stabbing motion. Legolas had a smile on his face thinking he had surprise his opponent but the wave of pain coming from his knee made him grimaced.
As he jump back, Legolas took a second look at the image in front of him and realize it was a phantom. He look down to inspect his knee and after not seeing any blood, he sighed in relieve.
Even though his knee was not shattered, the damage was done. From now until the end of the fight his movements would not be as crisp as before.
Aya's experienced was too vast. She was Level 18 but she was close to being 40 years old. For various reasons she had stop trying to level but she never stop practicing her skills. She had reached a very advance Level in their use. In the moment Legolas try to Ambush her, she used Phantom steps to dodge and confused her enemy, then through the used of Lucky Gambit she threw an empowered kick to Legola's knee cap.
Aya didn't give Legolas any time to breathe. She was on him like white on Rice. Her clever use of phantom steps made it extremely hard for Legolas to lock on to her real position.
In desperation, Legolas used a skill that had been unlock through the mastery of his sword. He fed chi energy to his swords and Vortex Slash was activated. With a spinning motion, Legolas swung his 2 swords in a wide arc releasing a little bit of energy from them. When the skill finished, there were pieces of hair in the air and there was blood on the snowed cover ground.
AHHHH!!
Legolas screamed as pain came from his waist. On the left side the pain came from the front and on his right side it came from his back. He felt wetness coming down his legs and knew he was bleeding. This was the result of a Lucky Gambit empowered Slash but it was not over. Aya's third slash was coming his way.
Using his 2 swords in a cross manner Legolas was able to parry Aya's finishing blow and with the recoiled he created a little bit of distance between them.
Sigh.....when it rains it pours.
Aya accelerated to keep up with the now cornered Legolas. Using her foot work once again to confused Legolas, she lounge an attack with her Left Kukri in chopping motion trying to cut into Legolas' Right shoulder. Legolas try to meet steel with steel but he was met by a phantom once again. Pain came from his abdomen as the business end of the right Kukri was being withdrawn. Fortunately, It wasn't a Lucky Gambit empowered hit or it would have been the end.
Sweat drip down Legolas forehead and his psychic had taken a big blow. He was at lost of what to do. If he didn't attack he will take damage and if he attacked he would take even greater damage, his only choice was to run away as fast as he could but it was too late.
Legolas was already caught on a spider web and there was no way to run. Aya would not allowed it. He had killed a comrade and only blood would let her friend rest in peace.
After withdrawing her knife from his belly, she quickly moved to Legolas back and activated her Combat Art Kidney Stab. If the stab landed, it would be game over. he would be incapacitated and unable to do anything else.
Legolas felt death was upon him and instinctively activate Mirage.
"Ho oh!"
" Not bad. You do have some skill, but I am pretty sure that came at a cost"
It was the truth. This was the second Mirage that Legolas had used and some of his ligaments tore apart. That was his final card and there was nothing else he could do. He felt helpless.
Seeing Aya coming his way once again, Legolas resigned himself to his fate and closed his eyes.
Kekeke!....Kekeke!
A very raspy voice sounded close to Legolas. " I came to see what was the hold up boy... kekeke!... didn't think you were too busy dying"
Kekeke!
Legolas opened his eyes and saw a tiny creature half of his size holding a very peculiar staff. Legolas look around expecting to see Aya but she was gone and so was the corpse of the other Barbarian.
"Don't bother B-o-y. S-She is gone."
With a wave of his staff, the small looking creature cast a healing spell on Legolas and helped him walk away.
Right when Aya was about to give the Coupe de Grace to Legolas by stabbing his heart, she felt an extreme sense of danger overcome her. She felt a wave of cold starting to creep in and dodge to the side. It was a Shaman's Icy Winds spell. However, the aura she felt was Dark and Creepy.
She looked in the direction the spell came from and what she saw made her retreat. She saw a tiny creature come into view. Its body was cover with green smoke in an aura like fashion that float upwards. From time to time screaming faces will form from the green smoke and move around the creature before disappearing into the green smoke once more.
A Defiler!!
Defiler was a second evolution Shaman that specialized in the used of evil spirits that amplify the potency of poison and disease spells. The Baleful Aura was their calling card.
Aya didn't know if more people were on their way from the enemy side and decided it was time to leave. It was very important to relay the information that they had acquired in exchange for the life of her Comrade. She took the corpse of her friend and quickly left the area.