CRACK!
Athelei had to dive to his side as the earth shook and the foundations of the Arthime mansion were damaged. Chunks of stone had crashed into where he was just standing.
He leapt off of the balcony of his room, entering free fall before his wings manifested for a split second to slow his descent.
'An enemy!' Athelei held his breath as he witnessed a long, serrated dagger abruptly flying towards him.
Fwoosh!
The blade slashed through his dainty form, cutting straight through his abdomen. Athelei was cut into two halves... but those two halves recombined just a moment after.
SNAP! SNAP!
The cracks of a whip sounded out as Athelei summoned his tails and instantly retaliated. Two red lines appeared on the Exiled's chest, cutting through his clothes but not his skin.
'He's tough... Likely a peak Rank 1 body-strengthening Evolver, or a Rank 2 Evolver.' Athelei watched as a tick of [Mana] was taken off of his status screen.
With a gleam of light, Athelei glared at the human who was targeting him. His hands were shaking slightly as the emotions of human fear bubbled in his mind.
His body had released a variety of chemicals, triggering that familiar fight-or-flight response.
"Haaa," Athelei allowed himself to breathe, unsheathing his Needle of Motionlessness to parry and dodge the upcoming strike.
Clang!
Daggers clashed, and despite Athelei's use of Tangible Will, a nick appeared on his cheek as he was launched back. Droplets of blood flowed, but somehow the wound was healing swiftly.
Athelei could feel the mysterious Boon of Longevity doing something to the wound.
He could feel that the pain receding and the wound was closing, but somehow... he felt his life drain away slightly.
Athelei's brows creased as he thought, 'Does the regeneration of wounds cause humans to lose bits of their lifespans every time?'
Unfortunately, he could not continue to move along such a train of thought at this moment in time. The dagger-wielding Exiled was dashing towards him, with eyes displaying a pinch of surprise.
As coincidence also had it, the Exiled and the young child executed their Analysis Skills at the same time. The latter added in a little extra as well.
Athelei was jolted by muffled electrocution, while the Exiled felt a chill run through his spine.
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Jloire
Health: 21/22
Mana: 2/2
Energy: 16/19
- Peak Rank 1 Evolver.
- Exiled as a Serial Assassin known for targeting church ministers.
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'So it was the former type,' Athelei sighed in relief. Fighting a skilled Rank 2 was beyond his abilities.
Athelei then noticed a bonus screen appeared beside the results of Inspect.
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You have disrupted an enemy's attempt of Analysis Skill execution. Sneaky has reacted.
- Skill progression updated.
- Unlocked skill branch: Ghostly Lurker.
- Unlocked skill branch: Mysterious Duelist.
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Athelei squinted while the Exiled Jloire froze for a moment. Jloire's screen displayed a bunch of question marks—which was something he had never experienced before.
Their scuffle entered a momentary lull, but they swiftly flung their bodies forward once more. A white wall crumbled to the side of the battle as a landslide occurred nearby, bringing about a jarring shake of the ground beneath their feet.
Athelei had to preserve his balance on the shaking earth with his tails.
SHIIING!
The sound of a sword being unsheathed gave Jloire a premonition of danger. Before he made his strike, he pulled his dagger back and dodged.
Clang!
Athelei had taken out the Mind-Splitter, using one of his tails to wield the blade. Jloire successfully reacted to his attack, but it gave Athelei an opportunity.
A Hunter pattern appeared alongside a Gust pattern, both tinted by a silvery Tangible Will.
Gone was the bronze Tangible Will that Athelei had a week ago. His efficient meditation and affinity for mental techniques had washed away even more of the gold that he had absorbed from Irene.
His Tangible Will was now being dyed with his own colours.
Fwoosh!
Athelei launched his Needle of Motionlessness through the air as Jloire was recollecting himself from the ambushing Mind-Splitter. Flesh was pierced through, but Jloire did not feel any pain.
No... It was more like he could not feel his entire left leg.
"What—!" Jloire gasped as he lost his balance and a sword-wielding tail flew after him.
He moved his hand out to parry again, successfully avoiding another wound. But there was another tail heading for his left leg. It coiled around the dagger embedded in his flesh and pulled it out after a bit of exertion.
Jloire tried to grab at the second tail, but an orb of Tangible Will appeared right beside him and blasted his hand.
"Shit! How?!" Jloire stumbled back and was shocked at how bizarre his opponent was.
At first, he thought he had bisected the child after his first attack, but he was surprised to see that he had only cut through the boy's clothes. The supposed wound was nonexistent as if he slashed air instead. Then there were the tails, and then there was that Rank 1 Dictator status. And finally, there was that Tangible Will that had appeared out of thin air.
A lot of the things Jloire was experiencing now was out of the norm.
Children at Rank 1? Never before seen. A human with tails? Never before seen. The ability to ignore a slash through the body? Only seen in Nightwalkers. Launching Tangible Will from somewhere other than the body? Jloire had experienced it for the first time.
One after another, things that Jloire had not calculated kept occurring, spoiling every single one of his plans.
Ssuk!
Jloire felt another part of his body go numb after his hand was blasted by Tangible Will. This time it was his dominant hand, and thus, his knife fell out of his grasp.
Jloire was then hit by a wave of water, kicking him off his feet and slamming into the still-shaking ground.
"Agh!" Jloire felt his spine get slammed onto the debris that littered the earth. A painful jolt ran through him, and the Needle of Motionlessness found another part of his body to numb.
Then there was a short "Whoosh!" as the Mind-Splitter flew onto his neck, creating a shallow wound that began to bleed.
Athelei scrunched his brows upon seeing such a small wound and thought, 'A strong body indeed,' as he used the Needle of Motionlessness and plunged it into Jloire's throat.
Ssuk!
The man was now mostly immobilised, and yet still breathing.
Athelei then used both of his tails to grasp the Mind-Splitter as he imbued the blade with silvery Tangible Will.
Whoosh!
The wind whistled with Athelei's slashes and a human head was lopped off. He then reached out to grab the fleeing residual consciousness and promptly devoured it. Athelei watched as his [Mana] counter was resupplied with a single point.
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Mana: 11/14 -> 12/14
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Athelei then recollected his belongings and moved to a new area. There were more enemies wantonly rampaging around the mansion, and he wanted to nab a few more of their consciousnesses.
But the landscape was not friendly to him. Athelei could fly, of course, but doing so would reveal a lot about himself, which was something he did not plan to do.
'Perhaps in a different setting, I would...' Athelei thought to himself as he leapt over a collapsed room and headed towards Lady Karire's tower where a battle was clearly raging.
There were flashes of lightning and two liquid-like lights of Tangible Will. Such things spelt the word [battle] oh so clearly.
A huge worrying crack had also appeared on Lady Karire's tower, and the Mystic Patterns were incredibly dim. Her tower was threatening to topple over with the violent shaking of the ground below it.
BOOM!
Suddenly, there was a white, spherical explosion somewhere to the side, and Athelei watched as Apple's body streaked over his head, landing somewhere off to the slopes where a few Undead Remnants were climbing.
"The Nightwalkers are still as violent as ever," Athelei wryly chuckled as he dodged another falling chunk of stone.
He took the opportunity to glance out into the distant safe zones. The sight before him made him freeze in awe, and thus he was almost hit by another falling chunk of rock.
The entire Lotus mountain was sinking.
Lights aplenty shone again and again in a light show of death and destruction as the tall mountain gradually sank into the waters. With every inch that the mountain descended, there was a shake of the earth. With every metre came a large wave.
The sea beasts were all charging towards the sinking mountain, vying for the marble egg in Weizhe's hands, but the Nightwalkers, the Banishers, and the Exiled were also there. Ulthasiair was leading the charge, circling the sinking mountain, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Athelei saw all this and thought, 'It's going to be a long day...'