I believe if I used this skill against the bandit chief there was no guarantee that it would work. His level was high and I don't wanna waste the opportunity of a surprise.
The knife went through his mouth and struck out from the other side. Blood began trailing down as I propelled it sideways and then stuck his throat again in fear he might not die instantly.
I was aiming to take him down with one strike but before I reached the targeted spot he shifted to do his work of chopping, leading to this terrible state.
The man who was cooking shouted cursing at me and then made a run for his bow near the large table. In the rush of the moment, I threw the axe at him using Power Thow which struck his back. He fell forward and then started up elbowing his path away.
He is not dead! Fuck and the Hammer guy got alerted.
He slammed his hammer on the floor as he made his presence known to me.
"You insect how dare you enter my domain?" he bellowed, his eyes looked red.
Insect? Yo, he seriously called me a bug?
The next moment he rushed at me with his fast reflexes lifting his hammer in the hope to crush me. I dived out of the way as dust flew around.
The striking impact was massive and if I were to block that head it's almost impossible not to get heavily injured.
I summoned my Red blade and clashed with him as weapons collided. I thought he would be sluggish while using his massive hammer but he was well rounded in that aspect.
He was keeping up with me as well as maintaining his fast pace according to my blows. The power difference was clear, I had a swift and easy-to-lift sword and he had a hammer which I presume was no less than fifteen kg to twenty kg.
If I were to fight him hand-to-hand combat he will body me in no time.
I jumped backward, trying to predict his future movements. He slowed down and took a step back maybe doing the same thing as me.
"You made a huge mistake, coming here, boy." He spat on the ground. "Tell me who sent you? Hugo? That fucker is still not satisfied even after chased me out"
I remained silent. Who hugo?
We orbited maintaining a distance. Thankfully he was bare-chested unlike before, his armor lay inside his tent. I guess he was relaxing while thinking his men can deal with me and he got no time to wear it back.
"You are tight-mouthed" He smirked.
I ignored him creating my strategy to deal with him in my mind. First I will get close to him and wait for an opportunity to blast my fire spell on him just like I did with Bear. All I have to do is catch him off guard and then finish him in one go.
I seized him up and down, the distance was not too long I could reach on mere seven or eight long steps.
I leaped forward, making sure he saw me coming and prepared to block my strike. He put on his hammer at the front to block my upcoming strike but I moved past him without engaging the weapons.
It was an easy assignment to slip past his front. I pointed my hand at him as he realized what my motive was. The flames brushed through my hand like a flamethrower for a straight few seconds.
I huffed as a bead of sweat cropped up on my forehead. The pain struck like a needle but I was smiling, heck yeah I did it.
There was a guard, a transparent defense the same one as Scott. I stumbled back seeing the protective transparent shield waver into nothingness.
He breathed out deeply, crouching down to maintain his balance. He had put everything into the shield and blocked my attack, I drove back away from him.
"That was unexpected," He spoke out, tired.
"I can say the same" I answered back. He stood back to his feet.
I failed. How did he know that spell? Was he also learned from the Academy?
"I had my day in the Academy of Winterberg. A whole year before they kicked me out for stealing something precious" he justified seeing my expressions. "You know, the stupid things like rules and regulations"
I wiped my face with my forearm. "Why didn't they kill you if you stole something important? Or the thing held no value in their eyes?"
"It was valuable! It's just we got caught before making our way out" He replied, going into deep thought. "only if we achieved our goal. I would have been bathing in gold instead of hiding here like a rat."
"why bother telling me all that?" I raised a question to lengthen the conversation. I need a breath before I carry on the fight.
"You reminded me of a friend who worked with me on that quest but chose to attack me to obey the orders of Hugo" He responded with a smirk. "He died quite a gruesome death"
[Ding! The bluff of Courage is over.]
Fuck I almost forgot about that bluff, it was only for five minutes and I have wasted it like nothing. My brows knotted together. Even after having that bluff on my side I wasn't able to surpass him then what chances do I have?
"Ark! Use Fear," I told him mentally but the system responded instead of him.
[ Fear - Recharging... 3:24 hrs. ]
Puck. Then I have to use anything I can to survive this battle. I looked around to see where Ark was and was dumbfounded to see him near the fire pit.
He was sitting on the bandit's chest and slapping him to death. What the fuck was he doing? Is this how he attacks? But can he kill him with that?
He was the same guy who had got hit by my axe yet refused to die.
Ark stood up slowly and then walked up to the fire pit. The Bandit chief followed my gaze and was now watching him.
Ark took a handful of burning coals from the pit and then moved to the laying bandits sleeping place. He then stretched out the bandit's mouth and shoved it inside in one go. The bandit booted and struggled to free himself from him but the lich maintained his hands on his closed burning mouth.
"..."
I and the Bandit Chief both were speechless. The body of that guy went limp as Lich stood up striking an elegant pose as if he did some noble job.
Ark flashed back at the Bandit chief making him take a few steps back in fear. If I had no idea what he was I would have done the same after seeing his terrifying appearance. He still somewhat retained his position of undead monster even if he had no abilities like them.
"Get your ass here and help me deal with this shit" I mumbled.
The Lich dissolved into the ground sending another panic attack on enemies' way. The Bandit chief jumped away several steps, eyes searching around in fear of the unknown thing.
"What is that thing?" He questioned, eyes running around restlessly.
The shade slowly approached him and stopped beneath him. I had no idea what he was intending by merging with the shadow of the chief but I thought it would be best if I do what I am best at. Killing!
"He is the herald of Death" I smiled saying out loud and followed him with Shadow Strike.
I was in the air behind him flashing my weapon ready to strike but just like I expected he had sensed my movements.
He shifted back as I missed my shot, The red blade gashed his throat missing in a few inches as he moved back.
However, he wasn't able to step out of the shadow as if it glued him to the ground. His eyes went wide and the hammer fell. He panicked and tried to pull out his feet from the dark shadow on the floor.
He desperately tried to change positions that he had completely forgotten I was his opponent. My strike cut off his hand then slashed across the face inclined. Blood sprayed around as the third strike dug inside his heart.
He vertically fell rearwards, the feet still clasping the floor. What was that?
The chieftain was dead. I have successfully killed him and of course Ark weirdly helped me. Was that his skill? Shadow trap?
Finally, it's done.
Now there was nothing left for me to do. I will take a rest and then go back to where I came from to celebrate Lunar Festival.
The festival of the moon goddess.