Chapter 153 (1/2)
Chapter 153: Where Do You Think You’re Going?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Although he was ready to make his move, Link still had to choose his timing carefully.
He wore a faint smile on his face as he sat calmly at the table, looking nothing like a man preparing for a battle to the death. Once Clyde’s wounds were properly dressed by the servants, Link reached out his hand and tapped it gently on the table. He then turned to address the Dark Elves.
“Gentlemen,” said Link, speaking slowly and clearly, “may I ask for the name of the person you are avenging? Is it Felidia? Ainos? Or is it the swordswoman Alina?”
The three Dark Elves were visibly agitated at the mention of the last name. The Warrior Norisa immediately stepped forward with his sword glowing in an icy-blue light, and the Blue Thorn Battle Aura was now activated as well.
“Listen closely, you bastard,” he said, “we are avenging the death of Lady Alina!”
“Ah, so you’re Prince Norigan’s errand boys,” replied Link. “Well then, prepare to die!”
Right at that moment, Link launched his attacks! Three Whistles suddenly appeared and headed straight for the three Dark Elves. Link had been quietly constructing Whistle’s spell structure while he struck up a conversation with the Dark Elves to buy some time. He didn’t just cast one Whistle in this brief window of time though, but three, each on for each of the Dark Elves!
As for the wand that remained untouched on the table – well, who said that Magicians must hold the wand in their hand to use it? Link was controlling it easily with just his Mana without the need to physically touch it at all.
The three Whistles hissed through the air with a piercing, high-pitch noise. Their speed was unimaginably fast, so fast that they reached a few feet away from the three Dark Elves within a tenth of a second.
Link had cast the modified version of Whistle that he and Eliard had been discussing and finally came up with. The power of the new version of Whistle was at least three times that of the original one.
The three Dark Elves could not have foreseen such a sudden attack. They were all caught off-guard and had no time think of a way to counterattack. All they managed to do was unleash a defensive shield.
Although Ainos’ Blue Thorn Battle Aura was able to deflect attacks to some degree, it was most effective in close combat and not long-distance attacks like Link’s spells, so he instinctively raised his sword to block the oncoming Whistle.
The Magician Parson, on the other hand, immediately cast a Level-4 shield spell around his body to protect himself.
Only the Assassin Hedel thought he would be smart enough to avert the attack from Link. He used Flash to step aside, hoping to dodge away from Link’s Whistle.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The three Whistles exploded almost simultaneously and they were followed by a scream of pain. Who was the one screaming? It was no other than the only Dark Elf who was confident in his own skills to evade Link’s attacks – Hedel.
Yes, Hedel was a Level-5 Assassin and his speed was indeed unimaginably fast. Still, he wasn’t fast enough compared to Link’s reaction speed.
Link had initially aimed each Whistle at each of the Dark Elves when he cast the spells, and all three of them had sensed Link’s murderous intent so they each made the moves to protect themselves. But just as the Dark Elves were making their moves, Link had changed the trajectories of all three Whistles at the very last moment – he aimed all of them at the one with the weakest defense, Hedel.
Link remembered a well-known war strategy in his previous life that you must always do the exact opposite of what your opponent expected you to do in order to win a war or a battle. He used that principle just now to completely catch the Dark Elves unaware.
Link couldn’t possibly be this dexterous with other spells for now, but he’d been using Whistle for long enough that his depth of understanding of the spell was unfathomable.
Link hadn’t directed the three Whistles to follow Hedel. Instead, he had directed them towards the direction that he predicted the Assassin to run to and detonated it there!
For a moment the whole place was lit up by the flames of the explosions and metal fragments scattered about all around Hedel’s body. The Assassin was wearing a thin anti-magic leather armor that protected him from most of the force of the impact. Yet, they did nothing to protect him from the countless metal fragments that resulted from the blasts.
Thousands of metal fragments pierced through Hedel’s armor and skin. His body was now covered with gaping wounds while his face was pockmarked with bloody gashes. Not only was blood spewing out of his body everywhere, both of his eyes were now nothing more than two bleeding holes.
As expected, though, the Level-5 Assassin possessed a strong survival instinct. Although his wounds were grave, Hedel still managed to cling on to life and escaped death. He’d even remained on his feet even though both of his eyes were now blinded. Link would no longer be facing any threats from him now, and he was finally able to breathe a little easier as one dangerous opponent out of three had been practically eliminated.
Just then, the Magician Parson and the Warrior Norisa began their counterattacks.
Although they were stunned for a moment by Link’s unexpected attacks, they had no time to help Hedel. Once they realized that Link had played a trick on them, they went straight into attacking mode and charged towards Link.
Norisa used the Battle Skill, Charge to rush up towards Link. He didn’t have a shield with him, but he was wearing a light chain mail and had the protection of the Blue Thorn Aura. At that moment, he was like a war chariot that barged through everything in his path – the table, the chairs and the wooden planks on the floor were all left in pieces in his trail.
He was only about seventy feet away from Link – with his speed, even with the furniture in the hall in his way, Norisa could reach him within half a second.
Meanwhile, Parson took a step back to get himself behind the Warrior Norisa. He then began to construct a spell structure. With Norisa’s help, he would have just enough time to cast a powerful spell, so he chose the Level-3 spell, Ice Spear!
He was most familiar with this spell, so he could cast it at the lightning speed of 0.4 seconds. He’d also modified it with Supreme Magical Skill so its power was increased to Level-4, making it the best choice for a battle with such an unpredictable opponent.
In the face of the Dark Elves’ counterattack, Link did two things.
First of all, he activated the Edelweiss shield with his magic ring. This Level-4 defensive spell was not the most necessary step, but Link activated it nonetheless just in case. Although it might not be able to completely block the Dark Elves’ attacks, the force field might slow them down and reduce their power if they managed to break through the shield, which would give him extra time to react.
Secondly, he activated the Level-5 spell engraved in the Glyph of Soul – the Vulcan’s Hand!
It was Link’s first time using the Glyph of Soul in a real battle. It felt wonderful. The moment his intention to cast the spell emerged in his mind he felt momentarily stunned and the complicated spell structure of the Flaming Hand that had been modified with Supreme Magical Skill appeared immediately at the tip of his wand.
The Level-5 Domingo Crystal was right at the end of Link’s wand and it was filled with fire elements inside it. Once the Vulcan’s Hand’s spell structure appeared near it the fire element inside the crystal flowed rapidly to fill the spell structure, and in no time at all, the formidable Level-5 spell was completed. It took Link no more than 0.1 second – even less time than a blink of an eye!
By then, Norisa had only reached 30 feet away from Link when he saw a giant hand appear right in front of his eyes. It was glowing faintly in white and its size was ridiculously huge. Each finger of the hand was even bigger than his thigh and was encircled by rings of red, hot flame.
As the giant hand appeared, it rushed towards Norisa with an astonishing force and an even more frightening speed despite its size. Even before it could reach him, Norisa could already feel the roiling heat that came from the hand and it made his knees wobble in fear.
What kind of monstrous spell is this? Norisa’s face was now as pale as a ghost and there was but one thought in his mind – run!