Jo had a weird expression on his face.
He made a deal with an Adventurer that traded his silence for a task he needed doing.
Seeing Nikiri Mist in front of him taking off his hood and mask while smiling as if he had just witnessed a revelation, Jo was truly baffled. 'I thought you wanted me to stay silent..? Why did you expose yourself?'
Fwoosh!
Two more bronze spheres enchanted by the Mystic Pattern, Gust, flew out just as he stood there, stunned. The bursts of wind and light forced Jo to shake his head. He had to focus. The distraction he needed was there, although not in the manner he had been expecting.
The grey figure he had previously threatened had already engaged in a messy squabble. It left the guards barely aware of his trespassing footsteps.
Meanwhile, Athelei, who should have been wounded by the blades that had cut into his body, continued to fight like he wasn't incurred a single injury. The guards had slashed his belly, stabbed into his thighs, and even cut through his throat.
But the grey human was still standing.
It left the guards wondering who they were fighting. Their attempts at using their Analysis Skills had also left them with a screen they had never seen before, adding to their confusion.
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????
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The results of their Analysis Skills gained them nothing and it even locked their Analysis Skills from being used again. Something was impeding their Skill execution and they did not know what. They could only hope that the effects were temporary.
After breaking a few bones, Athelei shifted his strategy into fleeing. He did not feel safe exposing himself for too long. Although he could match normal adults with a Rank 1 Dictator status and overpower the majority of them with his additional class supplying him with versatility, he was not fond of his chances against experienced peak Rank 1s or Rank 2s.
He could also feel his Mystic Energy reserves dropping much faster than he initially calculated. With every 'injury' he had to repair and with every Mystic Pattern and bronze orb he had to create, he had to pay with Mystic Energy.
Moreover, he already received answers to many of his questions. He now knew how he fared in a human versus human scenario.
His Nightwalker fog-body made him resistant to any incoming damage. Whenever the guards successfully landed a slash or a stab, all Athelei would feel was a slight wave of nausea as his body reformed. Of course, if his entire body was forcefully torn apart, then that nausea would turn into a headache as he gets banished back into his physical body.
'I would have to spend time healing my consciousness after that,' Athelei realised that the Nightwalkers couldn't keep coming back to life just to hound someone. They had a cooldown period they had to respect as well.
Perhaps if they kept getting their fog-bodies destroyed, they would truly perish the moment they incurred enough damage.
'It should apply to their self-destructive ability as well...' Athelei thought, before slapping another bronze sphere onto the face of a guard who had tackled him.
Boom!
The shockwave blew Athelei's hand off, giving him a wave of nausea as he reformed his fog-body. The guard however had his neck snapped, allowing Athelei to have a taste of his consciousness.
'Surprisingly full!' Athelei inwardly exclaimed, 'Why is it not a residual consciousness? Is it because I killed him myself?'
In the past, Athelei had only been feeding off of the deaths of others. If someone died in an area he prepared, he could absorb their consciousnesses. It allowed him to feast on their residues of which were small amounts, but would eventually build up.
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Mana: 4/13 -> 6/13
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Athelei then noticed a multi-coloured screen appear in the corner of his vision, notifying him of something he already felt. He could feel the leftover traces of nausea be alleviated quite a bit and the world in front of his eyes stabilised and grew clearer.
'I see... it is still the same residual consciousness, but I somehow absorb some of their Mystic Energy reserves as well for some reason. That changes things, doesn't it?'
Indeed it did, as this little discovery made things easier for Athelei. He had already prepared himself for a bad headache after getting slashed apart, but now he could well and truly flee.
"Catch me if you can!" Athelei smiled and threw out a taunt, with colourful language that can be loosely translated into, "You flat-footed bottom feeders!"
The adults had clearly taught him well.
Riled up, the five, previously seven, guards who had been attacking him with their Rank 0 - Rank 1 powers gave chase. One of the guards—aside from the one who was already dead—had a broken leg, and thus could only stay back and protect the establishment with the rest of the guards.
Those other guards were ones who were not tasked with dealing with unruly people like one Nikiri Mist. They were more passive in their guarding as they served as the establishment's sales workers.
Still heightened by his Hunter pattern, Athelei weaved through a parting crowd. He had been tempted to reap the lives of the bystanders to aid in his escape, but his human instincts were warning him against that.
He recalled Apple, who had been posing as a simple fisherman and was actually a powerful Rank 2 Evolver. If there was someone like that in the crowd, and Athelei somehow incited their ire with such a rash set of actions, then his current wishes to escape—more or less unscathed—would be wiped away.
"Someone stop that bastard! We'll pay a large copper for just one attack!" One of the guards yelled out.
Athelei spotted someone who reacted to that guard's voice. It was a hooded figure in his path, who had already unsheathed a short sword and slashed at him. Athelei executed Inspect on that figure as he ran forward.
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Llama Ise
Health: 18/19
Mana: 4/4
Energy: 18.8/19
- Peak Rank 0 Evolver
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Shiiing!
Athelei sacrificed a point of Mystical Energy. With that small sacrifice, he allowed his head to be cut into to grant him two things: a wave of nausea and an opportunity.
Llama Ise staggered back when he noticed that slashing his target's head achieved almost nothing. He was bewildered for a moment as his feet were glued to the ground. He hesitated for a moment as his sword wavered.
Boom!
A sphere of bronze Tangible Will was forced into his left cheek by a grey palm. It flew straight at him in the moment of his hesitation, pushing his jaw and twisting his head past what humans should have been able to do.
Crack!
Athelei heard the sound of Llama Ise's neck promptly snapping as the man's body was sent flying. A faint trail of fog seeped out of the dead man and he instantly devoured what left his dying body.
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Mana: 1/13 -> 3/13
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'What an unfortunate way to meet one's end,' Athelei thought as he admired Llama Ise's now lifeless body. He had snuffed out another life just like that, granting them a trivial ending.
A chill of exhilaration surged through Athelei's being and he relished in the control he exerted over what he had been seeking.
Humans were flimsy with their measly 20 health and many weak points. Snapping a person's neck or slashing into their skulls were sure-kills. Only a high defense or some awe-inspiring healing ability could save them from such a fate.
'Adults are already so susceptible to death... What more, my underdeveloped physical body?' Athelei wryly thought to himself as he resumed his escape.
With the help of Hunter and his special body, he was able to lose his pursuers without ending too many lives. But the few he had slain brought him the delight of being in control of an end. It was a different experience from simply seeing people dying at the hands of the Nightwalkers' machinations.
This time, they were ended on his terms.
'That felt refreshing,' Athelei let out a satisfied sigh as he turned a sharp corner, abandoned his blood-stained cloak, threw his clothes away, and dispersed into a near-invisible grey fog.
A few seconds later, the guards turned the same corner and saw the discarded cloak lying on the dirty ground with the figure of Nikiri Mist nowhere in sight.
After pursuing Athelei throughout the slums, they could suddenly no longer find him. One of the guards drew the Mystic Pattern, Guide, but it seemed like the pattern wasn't functioning. Its arrow kept spinning aimlessly, leaving the guards clueless.
"That fucker escaped and hid from our tracking techniques." One of the guards spat as he clicked his tongue. He was still pissed off at the humiliation and taunts he had been inflicted by that grey human. Alas, he could not vent his grievances since Nikiri Mist had vanished into thin air.
"At least now we know he's an Exiled. We can send this information to the Adventurer's Guild for some extra coin." Another guard said, kicking the blood-stained cloak by his feet.
"An Exiled?" Yet another guard questioned, "He has a face, unlike those other guys who blow themselves up like whining children. I'd wager this Nikiri Mist is some humanoid Undead Remnant."
"An Undead Remnant...?" The other guard creased his brows and gave it some thought. In the end though, he came up with nothing, "Whatever. At least we have some relevant information to hand over. Let's just head back."
The guards turned around after glancing around a few more times. Nikiri Mist had truly disappeared, and they could do nothing about it.
Unbeknownst to them, Athelei had been right beside their frustrated faces as particles they could barely see.
'And with that, I can test whoever is looking for my Adventurer identity... I just hope there's a reaction somehow,' Athelei nodded to himself. That little performance turned out nicely.