"So? How long do you think you can hold out? Don't worry, nobody will discover your corpse. I'll make sure not to leave even bits and pieces behind!"
Gurffold's booming voice echoed. A man with black hair characteristic sharp grey eyes glared at him hatefully.
There were three more men by his side. Numerically, they had the advantage. Even then, they knew it wasn't enough.
"Escaping is our priority. This fucker can make annoying wind cages. We can't let him cast one. Barn, Matrix, Sephir, y'all ready?"
"""We are!!"""
A chorus expressed their approval.
"Very well", Jeryl smiled.
This opponent was the one who boasted the most physical strength out of the three hunters. But Jeryl too, was a formidable fighter. Surely, he wouldn't go down easily. Not that he was planning to.
"Don't even think you bugs can escape! I will chase you till the ends of the earth!"
"This bastard's really damn persistent."
Jeryl muttered to himself.
Indeed. After learning that their hideout's location had been compromised, they knew they would land right into the trap of the enemy if they decided to go outside right away. Of course they wouldn't. Why would they, when they had the entire sewer system to themselves?
So they decided to relocate to another part of the city using the sewers. But things weren't gonna be as smooth as they would've liked.
They were aware of all the major sewerways, so it was supposed to be a piece of cake for them to relocate. Supposed to be. As soon as they came out of the western sector of the sewer, they knew something was wrong.
Malay was waiting for them there. Destroying her conjured golems was a pain in the ass, but they managed to escape. Of course, she wasn't going to let them go that easily. She pursued them full throttle with the intention to drain their stamina. That chase took a huge amount of time.
They were fully aware that they were being toyed with. Malay wasn't a sort of person who would give them a swift death.
So, they crawled out of the sewers to fight against Gruffold. They were aware that he bore an even more intense grudge against them, so he wanted to slay them personally.
And that's how things have come to here.
Jeryl activated his telepathy channel and started giving out orders.
["Matrix, watch out for snipings. I am sure that bitch of Malay will surely try to snipe us. Cast barriers as and when required. Sephir, we will count on your support, illusions and distractions. Barn and I will confront him directly. Sephir, you are also instructed to launch powerful attacks if you think there's the possibility of them slipping past his guard. Barn, you will switch between long and close range while I will engage him in close range only."]
A string of clear instructions were given out.
["But leader... what about escaping?"]
Jeryl smirked for a split second. Actually, he was expecting such a question. And he had the answer ready too.
["We are done escaping. I'm sure we can inflict a decisive injury on him. If we cower all the time, then naturally, we will believe ourselves to be inferior to them."]
All of them gulped. The stakes were too high. But speaking the truth, they were fed up of running away too. Throwing away caution to the wind, they had to give their best and try to take their overpowered adversary down.
Looking up at the shadowy burly figure above them, Jeryl and the others steeled their minds.
"So, let's begin." declared Gurffold unsheathing his composite sword Nahem. As soon as he did that, a burst of wind surged out, enough to push everyone except Jeryl back.
Gruffold was surrounded by a shell of wind. It was clear that he was going all out. Jeryl too, equipped his black daggers. A dark aura oozed out from his body, then it calmed as it wrapped itself around him.
["Barn. Don't misfire your light element attacks. Leader uses dark element. While he is surrounded by the dark element, light element attacks will do more damage to him."]
Matrix warned Barn. As soon as he digested the warning, the battle truly began. The two figures disappeared, leaving trails of black and emerald in the sky (the emerald was the glow of Gruffold's wind shell).
Jeryl manipulated the mana to form footholds in the air, zigzagging from one to another, trying to confuse Gruffold. But he knew very well that it won't work.
"Useless!"
With such a shout, Gruffold swung Nahem.
A composite sword was basically multiple segments of a sword bound to a string along its length, the string acting as a midrib.
Depending on how it's swung, it can act as a normal broadsword as well as expand in range. Nahem, which was swung horizontally at Jeryl, lengthened, its tip reaching him. Due to wind conjurations, there was no air resistance dulling it. Furthermore, acceleration was enhanced by the conjuration.
Just as its tip was about to gash Jeryl, he poured Mana into his left arm, strengthening it. The dark element aura extending to his dagger, he tilted it clockwise as soon as he intercepted the tip.
The result – the heavy blow was smoothly deflected diagonally upwards, where its trajectory was changed with a blow from the other dagger.
The blow had a tremendous amount of power packed in it. Jeryl's left arm was left tingling painfully. He wanted a bit of time for his hand to stop shaking, but Gruffold wasn't gonna give him that.
He flicked his wrist, forcing yet another interception. However, this time things were different. The moment it was deflected, a few end segments including the tip curved innthe opposite direction to closed in on him. That's wind control for you!
"Tch!"
Jeryl clicked his tongue as the tip clanged and was sent backwards just as it was about to reach his neck. A small barrier had blocked its advance.
"Thanks Matrix, you saved me there." But tip detacthed, heading straight for his chest... only to be deflected by a flash of light.
"Nice one Barn!"
"Hmph! Good Team you got there!"
Gruffold stated. This time he started flitting about in the air, throwing strikes hard to follow. The arbitrary, snake like sudden movements of the Nahem weren't helping either. Jeryl knew that Gruffold had decided to up his game. Even with Matrix's timely assists and Barn's sniping, he soon found himself pushed to a corner.
Actually, it wasn't possible for them to follow the moves properly. Only due to Sephir's buffs and skilful light bending, the others were able to see and process everything.
Also, Sephir was occasionally casting illusions at Gruffold, which were guised as attacks from Jeryl. At first Gruffold had bought them and tried to defend those feints, but he was slowly figuring out the difference and avoiding them.
The chances of victory was slowly slipping away from the hands of Jeryl and his team.