The sky was dark only being lit by the stars and the moon that bathed the world in its light. There were no clouds in the night sky, no rain, nothing that would indicate a storm was brewing. But lightning still managed to bear its fangs.
Crackles of energy roared around everyone present. The sound would force someone to look up, but if they did, they would see clear skies, causing them to be confused.
Joren analyzed the person who was crackling with lightning, the leader of the group of bandits that attacked them. His lightning was purple and made it made his nervous system go haywire. They all could feel the electrical currents running through the air making it feel like they were paralyzed.
The lightning crackled around his body like armor. His hair stood up and the heat it gave off was more intense than the fire Glenn could produce. "What's this? Didn't you say you were going to kill me like my men? Why are you standing still?" The bandit laughed cockily.
Joren had never been scared of the opponents he's faced before. He knew that as long as he had his power, he could overcome anything within reason. Although he was only a mid-rank 2nd circle cultivator, he wasn't scared to fight against someone who was in the 3rd circle. But that changed today.
'This guy! I can feel it! He's at the peak of 3rd circle!' The pressure the bandit gave off wasn't anything that would make Joren flinch, but the lightning prompted him to reconsider engaging. The confidence of the bandit and the way he took out Pantera in one blow made him question whether he should attack. For the second time in his new life, he was scared.
"Heh, It would seem like I was wrong about you. I had high hopes for you all, seeing as you slaughtered my men, but now, you're just disappointing." He raised his hand and lightning crackled violently. The sound of thunder drummed in the air as the purple energy flashed sporadically.
'Move!' Joren told himself. 'Move! Come on! MOVE!' As soon as lightning was about to rain down, Joren finally made his body move. With his left hand, he used mana force to push his teammates out of the way, forcing them to wake up from their trace. With his right hand, he formed a mana bullet, bigger and more powerful than before, and launched it at the bandit.
"Haha! Now we're getting somewhere!" Transforming his lightning strike into a lightning blade, the bandit sliced the mana bullet in half without any effort.
"What the-!" Joren was interrupted by the bandit as he dashed towards him at lightning speeds, faster than he could react, and like Pantera, he kicked him in the gut, sending him hurdling toward a tree.
Unlike Pantera, Joren had higher amounts of mana and because of this, he was able to protect himself better than her. The thin barrier of mana he keeps around himself was breached like it was nothing, but it was strong enough to keep him conscious.
He used mana force to stabilize himself in the air and made twenty mana arrows around himself. As he was about to collide with the tree, he positioned himself at an angle that only had his feet make contact with it and he launched himself back at the bandit.
"Interesting skill you got there." Looking to his side where he heard a voice, Joren saw a face staring at him. Within a few seconds of Joren being kicked, the bandit was already one step ahead.
Joren tried to attack but he was too slow. A lightning-charged punch made contact with his chest making a thunderous boom as Joren was flung to the ground. Not letting up, the bandit flew to the ground in an instant as if he were a bolt of lightning and kicked Joren in the back which sent him back into the air.
"Argghh!" Joren cried out in pain. He couldn't do anything. His opponent was too fast and too strong. He didn't even know when he was getting hit, he could only feel it.
Rocketing back in the sky, the bandit appeared above Joren, and a blade of lightning extended from his hand. "Farewell." He spoke, bringing his arm down attempting to cut Joren in two. But at the last moment, a streak of fire appeared and blocked his lightning strike. Glenn arrived just in time.
"Oh, it seems like you aren't going to disappoint me after all." The bandit spoke
"Lenny! Get Joren!" Glenn's fire sword clashed with the lightning blade but he could feel himself being overpowered. He increased the intensity of his flames trying to push the bandit back, but it was for naught.
"A valiant effort, but it's futile." The lightning blade changed its shape to that of a hand, grabbing Glenn's sword, and breaking it in half. The bandit put his palm on Glenn's chest and zapped him in an instant, watching him fall to the ground.
"Derry, get Pantera and Joren, make a barrier around them. Lenny, let's go!" Arnold punched his fists and earth started forming around his entire body. Lenny followed suit and wrapped the wind around his body as well. The both of them ran to where Glenn had crashed into the ground.
Derry held Joren in her arms taking him away from the battlefield, she ran in the direction where Pantera was, finding her out cold with blood oozing from her mouth.
"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead please don't be dead!" Derry felt her pulse and sighed in relief. Bruises riddled Pantera's body, her arm was broken, and a dark purple spot was located on her broken ribs where she was kicked. Derry fed her a few healing potions, stabilizing her condition, but since she wasn't a healer, that was all she could do.
"Dammit!" She made a barrier around their location and used enchantments to further strengthen it. "Ward, Protection, Trap." She chanted three spells to further solidify their safety.
Lenny and Arnold arrived just in time to make sure Glenn was okay but they didn't have time to chat so they quickly lept into action.
"Arnold!"
"Got it!" Arnold already knew what Lenny wanted and quickly sprang into action. Stomping his foot on the ground, the earth around Lenny's feet shot him upwards at high speeds which amplified his own.
"You're dead you bastard!" Lenny spun in the air at high speeds like a missile, cutting through the air like butter. The bandit looked at Lenny and smiled. He formed another lightning blade and clashed with Lenny's swords.
Because of his wind magic, Lenny was able to move quickly and attack at many angles. When their blades touched, Lenny backed away sending a slash of wind at the bandit. He repositioned himself above him and fired another wind slash. He then appeared behind the bandit and thrust his sword sending a funnel of wind that would slice anything that touched it.
"Don't tell me that's all you can do?" Lightning surged in his hand as he swiped the wind slashes away from him. He turned around and extended his hand, letting the wind funnel collide with it sending lightning all around it then clenched his fist causing the lightning to explode which in turn destroyed the wind funnel.
"Let me show you something interesting." He pointed his finger at Lenny. They both were a good distance away, but as soon as he closed his hand, he appeared right in front of Lenny in an instant.
"What-" Lenny was punched in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. He crashed into the ground at high speeds but that wasn't all. As soon as he touched the ground, a bolt of lightning struck him with high intensity, charring the ground around him.
"Arhghhhhhh!!"
The bandit flew down, lightning forming around his hand like a claw, and was about to grab Lenny, when a dome of rocks formed around him and earth spikes protruded from it.
"I won't let you touch him!" Arnold shouted
"We'll see."
"Ahrhh!" Arnold ran at the bandit while letting out a battle cry. He was big and slow, but he was strong. He swung at the bandit only to miss completely, but he kept swinging. His body was coated in earth so he was confident in his defence. All he needed was one clean hit.
The bandit dodged every attack thrown at him. His lightning had little effect on the earth around Arnold but he wasn't worried. He dodged another swing, smacking his arm out of the way. He uppercutted Arnold, but the earth armor heavily lessened the impact.
Arnold shifted the ground to mess up the bandit's footing, but he simply started floating temporarily.
"Dammit!" Clapping his hands together rocks from his armor started flying towards the bandit at high speeds, but were easily dealt with as the bandit cut down every last one faster than they were coming at him.
"How about you handle this then!" Spikes extended from the ground as Arnold used his earth magic to turn the area into a spike field. But even this wasn't able to stop the bandit. Using his lightning blade, he cut down every spike that came his way as if it were nothing. But that was not the focus of this attack. Arnold was trying to overwhelm him and strike at the perfect time.
"Haaah!!!!" Putting a ton of mana into his attack, hundreds of spikes rushed at the bandit and it looked as if he was being overwhelmed. Arnold's chance came when a spike came at the bandit's head forcing him to show his back to Arnold.
He didn't waste any time and rushed at the bandit. He formed a large layer of rock on his arm with spiked knuckles. When he was in striking distance, he threw his punch knowing that it would hit.
"That was a good try." Extending his hand, the bandit caught Arnold's punch. A large amount of lightning was poured into his hand zapping Arnold in the process causing him intense pain. The earth glove was broken and the pieces that were on his arm were all sizzling.
"But not good enough." With his other hand, he made a blade and stabbed at Arnold's heart but instead of stabbing Arnold's heart, a white ball of energy appeared in front of him and he ended up stabbing it which blew up in their faces, knocking them back.
"What the hell?!" Confused about what happened, The bandit looked around trying to find the source of the white energy when twenty mana arrows flew in his direction. He easily dodged all of them running in the direction they came from, but at that moment, two feet collided with his face, flinging him into a tree.