Chapter 28: Surrounded
'Let's see if I can kill it swiftly.' Abium suddenly raised his right hand, pushed Helena to the side, and pointed his finger at the incoming Death Knight.
As the undead horse arrived less than 5 meters away from him, an orb of reddish flame suddenly appeared out of thin air and flew towards the Death Knight's head at an unimaginable speed.
Before the Death Knight could see the [Fire Orb] spell, it almost arrived in front of its face, touched the metallic helmet, and exploded with a terrific bang.
The next instant, the flame erupted in the middle of the dense forest, released a powerful shockwave, and destroyed the Death Knight's head in a blink.
Meanwhile, the undead horse stumbled due to the earlier bang and tried its best to stop its momentum.
On the other hand, the headless Death Knight slowly from the horse and landed in front of Abium.
"Well, that ended smoothly." He nodded with a smile, took a few steps forward, and arrived near the headless skeleton.
Then, he bent down a bit, picked up the silvery sword and the sheath from the skeleton, and stored the sheath into his spatial ring.
After that, he held the long sword within his grip, slashed at the nearby plant, and nodded.
"It's an excellent sword." He muttered.
In the meantime, the Apprentice Necromancer got frozen in stiff for a moment and soon widened his eyes.
Soon, a wickedness-filled voice echoed in the gloomy forest.
"Hehehehe... Interesting! So, you are also an apprentice Mage, huh. But you already used half of the measly amount of mana in your body, though. How are you going to fight me?"
Abium felt a hint of mockery in his tone.
Then, he threw the chipped sword towards the other side, looked at the Apprentice Necromancer, and soon frowned.
At that moment, he saw mysterious runes and strange characters engraved on his left hand and felt uneasy.
"What are you doing in these woods, Necromancer?" He asked cautiously.
"A dying soul doesn't need to know that. Hmm, a half-elf is not a bad sacrifice to perform another ritual." That Apprentice Necromancer stopped for a second and continued with a bright tone.
"Such a pure soul will definitely please my master."
Abium's lips twitched as he heard the Apprentice Necromancer's speech.
He knew the fight was inevitable, but fighting with this apprentice necromancer would be like fighting with an army.
'As long as I watch out from those curse magic spells, I'll be able to kill him.' He muttered inwardly and was about to move forward but suddenly stopped.
He then looked at the nearby bush, towards the backside trees, and spoke coldly.
"Come out! I can sense you all." He said while pointing the sword tip at the left side bush.
The next second, five people who wore regular linen clothes and leather armors came from different directions and surrounded him.
They all appeared to be around 30 to 40 years old and held different weapons.
At that moment, Abium also turned towards Helena and asked with a chuckle.
"Why are you still acting? Also, from when did you start working for the 'Order of the Dead' organization?"
On the other hand, Helena showed a confused expression on her face and soon clicked her tongue.
She took a few steps backward, wiped the fake tears from her cheeks, and spoke calmly.
"We are only obeying the orders from Lord Viscount to clear any outside threat. Although you are pretty nice to me, you shouldn't have come here alone, kid."
As she spoke, she gave him a pitying look.
The Apprentice Necromancer suddenly touched his left hand, noticed a strange reddish glow from those words, and frowned.
"Master is summoning me."
While speaking, he shook his head and waved his hand.
"Capture this Half-elf and bring him to the hideout. I need his soul, so don't kill him yet. I will go and check why Master is summoning me."
He turned towards the eastern direction and walked away with his other undead skeletons.
Meanwhile, Abium curled his lips upward and waited for the Apprentice Necromancer to disappear from his sight.
Although those warriors had already surrounded him, Abium wasn't anxious.
In truth, he was waiting for another person to show up.
'That guy is still hiding behind the left side tree. It looks like he is waiting for me to loosen my guard.'
He then looked at the front, saw Helena was holding a short sword in her hand, and furrowed.
At that moment, he also shifted his gaze towards the two black-haired warriors who stood behind her and analyzed them.
They appeared to be around 30-years old and held swords in their hands.
'The guy in her left side is a Second-Tier warrior with a basic sword aura skill, while the guy in her right side is an average Second-Tier warrior with no important skills.' He nodded inwardly, retracted his gaze, and glanced at both sides.
A blonde-haired man stood on his left side, while a brown-haired man on his right side. They held a long sword and showed a solemn look. As for their strength, both were peak Second-Tier Warriors but had no sword skills.
Lastly, the last person who stood behind him was a short 40-year-old bald guy, and he held a broadsword in his hand. But unlike others, he appeared to be the weakest among the group.
'Although he is also a Second-Tier Warrior, he appears to have poor eyesight. Hmm? He also seemed to have some problems with his left leg. He is my perfect target.'
'Wait. Something is not right. Helena and others want me to attack that bald warrior?' He furrowed his brows, turned around, and locked his gaze on the bald warrior.
Then, he took a deep breath and sprinted towards the bald warrior like a lightning bolt.
He didn't hesitate for a single moment.
Abium arrived closer to the bald guy in a blink, aimed the long sword at the other party's neck, and got ready to thrust it forward with full force.
Meanwhile, the bald warrior's expression went intense as he saw the enemy's speed, and he took two steps backward in panic.
Simultaneously, he gripped the broadsword's hit with both hands and slashed at Abium's direction crazily.
Meanwhile, a smirk appeared on Abium's face.
He looked at his opponent like a snake looked at its prey.
At the same time, he captured every movement of his opponent, calmly evaded the slashes, and predicted what the bald guy would do next.
The next instant, he tapped his hand, suddenly took an 'Amber Stone' from his space ring, and threw it towards the bald warrior's face.
When the warrior noticed an object appeared out of nowhere, he got startled and tried to cut it with a slash.
As the sword edge made contact with the Amber Stone, the Emelite Shards released a strange power due to the sudden friction and ignited the Fire Essence.
The next instant, the ignited fire reacted with the Emelite Shards and created a devastating explosion.
Boom!
A powerful fire explosion appeared in the middle of the wood and enveloped the bald warrior's head.
"W-What?! Argh!" He screamed in pain as the explosion caused multiple wounds on his face, and he went pale.
He also tried to extinguish the fire on his head but couldn't.
Half of his left side face was torn apart, and his white teeth, along with blood, drenched his left side shoulder and shirt.
Simultaneously, the bald warrior inhaled the smoke and started coughing while shutting both of his eyes tightly.
Meanwhile, Helena and the other four warriors were utterly stunned by the sudden events and tried to move forward to help the bald man.
On the other hand, Abium seized that chance, aimed his long sword at the bald warrior's chest, and was about to thrust it but stopped in midway.
He felt that his hair on the nape stood up and warned him about the danger.
'No good!'
Abium quickly ducked and rolled away from that place.
The next instant, a sunshine sword aura cut through the place where Abium stood before disappearing.
He soon saw that a humanoid figure covered in the darkness appeared next to the bald guy and looked at him coldly.