First, generating and accurately directing the lightning bolt towards a distant target requires a lot of control.
Second, Eldrick possesses a vast amount of mana for his body, making it impossible to fully control it, meaning he shouldn't be able to launch such lightning bolts.
Third, if a genius dwarf like him could release such lightning bolts, he would have done so from the start and eliminated me within a minute at most.
What drove someone supposedly genius to act hastily and try to strike me directly? Does he underestimate me due to my low rank? But that doesn't make sense either.
Due to my lack of visible mana and my intentional concealment of my aura, determining my true rank takes some time, and devices can't do it no matter how long they take, especially those reliant on mana.
Also, Eldrick has seen me before avoiding and taking down dwarves at rank B. This, combined with not knowing my true rank, makes it impossible for him to underestimate me.
Again, a combat genius like him shouldn't make such a hasty decision without reason. I looked at my sword, noticing a semi-transparent mark on it as expected.
{Commandment of Sloth}
I released energy toward the mark on the sword, destroying it immediately.
The lightning bolt that was about to strike me suddenly veered off course, hitting a spot far away from me. Such low precision... my guess was correct...
But Eldrick is truly impressive! Even the mind-control skill of the Puppet Master didn't escape my sword and the Commandment of Sloth's attention, yet Eldrick managed to place a mark on me directly, unnoticed by both me and my sword.
I speculated a few things. Perhaps the nature of the Puppet Master's skill didn't require any hiding, allowing my sword, which the skill didn't apply to, to notice it?
This conclusion suggests that my sword doesn't have as many exploratory capabilities as I thought. However, the second conclusion was more convincing to me:
Is it because Eldrick's mark isn't inherently aggressive like the Puppet Master's skill?
This means my sword is only sensitive to direct influences and doesn't care much about such marks that don't do much. If my guess is correct, the sole function of this mark is to determine my coordinates and transmit them to the lightning hammer, which then strikes me automatically.
After each lightning bolt, the accuracy is adjusted based on the target's speed, size, and perhaps even movement.
After a certain period, the speed and accuracy of the bolts increase to near perfection, making them impossible to avoid.
Such terrifying equipment... placing a mark on any target without them noticing, then escaping using the wings, and the hammer does the rest.
Even if his target is someone of a higher rank, it doesn't matter if they don't notice the coordinate mark.
A mark that even bypassed my sword's perception, and I wouldn't have discovered it myself without my knowledge of Eldrick and his problems with controlling mana.
I placed my sword on my right shoulder, looking wearily at Eldrick descending from the sky.
"This is going to be tiring..." I sighed, gripping my sword tighter.
Now that I understand how the hammer works, that trick won't work again, but the situation is still extremely dangerous even if he fights me head-on like the first times.
As I said before, parrying a direct hit from him requires me to attack with the full release of the Sloth Seal. Even doing so, I don't escape unscathed; the path I'm on leads to inevitable defeat.
I can only use the maximum output of the Commandment of Sloth once more, and then it's over.
I can't use mental effects on him due to the power difference between us, and it would be difficult even if I were of the same rank. The only reason I could apply Sloth's effects on Sebastian was that he was already exhausted and sleepy. Meanwhile, Eldrick is in perfect condition and probably has ways to resist mental control and illusions.
Someone with his skillset is supposed to have strong mental protection...
I can't use mental sloth effects, I can only block once, and I have no way to attack him.
He intentionally separated me from Killian and likely left him to the other dwarves, perhaps assessing me as the greater threat because he couldn't determine my rank precisely.
I took a deep breath; this is the power of a rank -A genius! I'm completely helpless!
Even with my full analysis of his combat style and equipment, landing a single hit on him seems impossible. Fortunately, my goal isn't to defeat him.
I pointed my sword at him, trying to steady my mind as much as possible.
'My goal is to wait for Jin to arrive. I assume he's engaged in a more critical battle right now. If things get too dangerous, I'll summon him.'
Eldrick vanished into the air due to his incredible speed, and I raised my sword vertically.
I must survive, no matter the cost!
***
With the same person on his back, Killian was dodging attacks from the surrounding dwarves with no chance for a counterattack.
Most were at his rank, but a considerable number surpassed him, reaching rank -A.
As someone who could read the moves of an expert in mental arts like Sebastian, these dwarves weren't particularly challenging targets.
Their minds were slightly harder to read due to their exceptional intelligence, but they were still within his reach.
Unfortunately, his body wasn't as strong as his mind and skills... His endurance was the best since his body was modified to work for long periods, but his strength and speed were still slightly below par.
He would have been fine as he was if his enemies were just rank B dwarves, but they were much stronger than that. Additionally, the dwarves' encirclement was becoming tighter, and even he was struggling to find an opening to escape.
It's not that he couldn't read their movements; he could do that easily, but he simply couldn't find any openings. His ability wasn't about creating opportunities to exploit but rather sensing danger to a certain extent. He's not omniscient, after all.
The minds of these dwarves... creating a situation with no escape should be utterly impossible, but they had done it.
A heavy spear flew toward him from behind, threatening to impale the person on his back. Dodging this spear would require enduring something worse.
"You won't!" Killian shouted loudly, throwing the person he was carrying at the last moment.
"Damn it!" He gritted his teeth, the spear piercing his leg and pinning him to the ground.
"Where will you run now?" one of the surrounding dwarves shouted as they began to leap toward him and the other person like waves.
He knew what he needed to do, but he hesitated a bit.
'This might reveal his identity... which could lead to extremely bad outcomes...' He gritted his teeth again, his screams of pain and hesitation were audible.
In the end, his hands moved in a strange formation, and mana spread throughout the area.
"Wake up! Daristan!" he shouted loudly just before sustaining severe injuries. The nearest blade was about to strike his face in about a second.
"What is happening here?" Daristan opened his eyes to a horrifying scene, unsure of what to say for a moment.
However, it seemed quite simple. Dozens of powerful dwarves were leaping over him with clear intent to kill. He would die if he didn't do something. He placed his hand on his Blond hair, and many memories flooded his mind. The seal Killian had placed was the only thing preventing him from waking up with those memories.
He immediately scowled, unable to vent his anger on anything but everything around him.
{Moon Dance}
The skill he inherited from his father, who had died about four months ago.
The thought of forgetting that man for months angered him greatly, and the thought of being far from achieving his goal during that time angered him even more.
A strange white blade materialized in his hand, short and extremely light, resembling an assassin's weapon. He moved immediately, revealing his aura at rank B, the blade in his hand whirling around him and cutting everything within reach.
If the air were tangible, it would have been cut as well; his sword was that fast. The dwarves about to strike him with their weapons didn't even realize how they died, while those specialized in ranged combat retreated instantly.
Shooting at Daristan who is surrounded by their allies like mosquitoes, was impossible, but even after everyone except their target was dead, they couldn't act immediately.
They never expected him to survive that encirclement, let alone kill everyone around him.
Ignoring the distant dwarves, Daristan immediately headed towards Killian.
Killian blocked the blade that was supposed to pierce his head with his palm, the pain he felt was illogical. His left foot was impaled, his right shoulder, his palm, and his mechanical arm held another sword.
Fortunately, Daristan arrived just in time, sparing him from taking another stab.
Daristan danced around the dwarves at an incredible speed, finding those at rank B+ and below with their heads on the ground while clashing with those at rank A- and above.
Killian pulled a healing potion from his storage and drank it, the same ring Jin had given him after the final purge of the Puppet Society.
The potion was of the second highest rank of potions, like the one that had fully healed Cassian after Vantos destroyed his body.
The pain subsided immediately, allowing him to stand somewhat crookedly.
The injuries he sustained were no joke. If it weren't for the edited body from the Puppets Society, he wouldn't have survived even with such a potion.
Even so, standing was still a difficult task for him.
"Get down!" Killian shouted loudly, wanting to at least support his lord.
"Rest there without much talk! I'll handle them!" Daristan shouted back, but he still descended as Killian had instructed.
Legacy Skill: Moon Dance, a highly versatile skill said to have never been used to its full potential by anyone in the MoonHold family, not even its greatest leaders whose names were etched into history books.
And now that the family had been completely destroyed, Daristan MoonHold was the only person who possessed it.
The sole survivor of the destroyed royal family, whose destruction led to the outbreak of the First World War of the modern era...
A prodigy character just like Jin and Darian...