Chapter 67: The Dichotomy of an Effervescent Moment (1/2)
Despite being large and heavily armored, the warrior wielding the two-handed sword was ridiculously fast. So much so that it reminded Mike of a fully enhanced Brenden, but with significantly more skill. If he hadn't dodged in a desperate way, the sword would have struck him before he had the chance to respond.
The warrior rested his weapon on one shoulder in a cocky manner. ”I do believe this rat actually dodged my strike. How about that?”
”Stop playing around and finish the brat, Keld.” The one holding Sera said, apparently the leader of the trio.
The Oracle was still hanging from the impaling spear, unmoving. It looked like the injuries she'd sustained had rendered her unconscious.
”Yeah, yeah. I'm getting to it. It's not like you'll be dying of old age or anything.” The warrior named Keld answered with a laugh, eliciting a growl from the leader.
Without any preamble he strode forward calmly, looking to all the world as if he were just casually walking down the street. Once he got close to Mike, his arms blurred into a diagonal slash.
Mike quickly fell into a Flowing River stance, and redirected the blow down and to his right, allowing his opponents blade to bury itself in the tile of the rooftop. Even with such a maneuver, the sheer force of the blow jarred his arm.
He lowered his center of gravity, spinning in close to the warrior and shoving him with his shoulder, before directing a stab at Keld's eyes, about the only portion of the helmet that looked vulnerable.
The armored warrior simply leaned back, allowing the thrust to skitter across the side of his helmet, before grasping Mike's sword arm in one of his hands and flinging the young adventurer across the rooftop.
Mike slid across the tiles, and rolled to his feet ready to fend off whatever follow-up attack was coming, but Keld hadn't moved yet. He resumed the cocky stance of his, with his sword resting on one shoulder.
”Hey boss, this guy's pretty good. Do you think he's some famous knight or something?” He asked in a jaunty mood while pointing with his free hand.
The leader sighed. ”Joran, help the fool out. If we wait for him to finish, we will be here all night.”
The glaive wielder nodded silently, before launching himself at Mike in vicious rush.
”Hey! This was supposed to be my kill!” Keld yelled as the other armored warrior passed.
Mike was forced to defend with all of his skill as Joran attacked with blistering speed. Minor injuries started appearing over his limbs, the glaive punching through his alchemically treated leather armor like it was nothing.
[Seriously, why do I bother wearing any armor? It doesn't seem to do anything for me.]
Joran finished his rush with a horizontal sweep that Mike was forced to block, sending him skidding across the rooftop again. Only his quick reflexes allowed him to stop before he flew over the edge, He grabbed onto the ledge long enough to halt his momentum, before pulling himself back up.
The armored warriors were patiently waiting for him again. Mike was a little confused by this tactic. The leader of the trio kept hinting at a pressing time deadline, but they allowed him to ready himself every time they attacked.
[Some sort of honorable demon cultists?]
A sudden wave of dizziness overtook Mike, causing him to fall to one knee.
[What happened? Did I lose too much blood?]
He glanced down at his injuries to see that they had already healed, but his veins were turning black around where the wounds had been.
Kald broke into a burst of laughter. ”HAHAHAHA, how do you like Joran's glaive, Serpent's Kiss? Every blow delivers a deadly poison that will dissolve from the inside. Now die in misery.”
”Poison?” Mike said with growing horror. He quickly checked his [Status] only to be overcome with a existential depression. The (Rank 4) next to his Intermediate Poison Resistance skill was like a blazing insult from the System. As he watched the number ticked up to (Rank 5).
A vein started throbbing in his forehead, as the dark lines of poison vanished from his limbs.
”I was angry before, but now...now its personal.” He muttered darkly.
[Screw preserving my mana. I'm going to DESTROY these M************!]
He mentally examined one of the new additions to his [Status] while preparing the mana to make use of it.
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- Intermediate Elemental Magic (Tier 2, Rank 3) -
Rank 2 Effect: Enhancement Magic
- Enhancement Magic -
Skilled practitioners of Elemental Magic learn to mimic the enhancement spells of other branches of magic, allowing them to temporarily increase attributes. The attribute enhanced varies based on the type of magic used.
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