17 Through Tooth and Nail (1/2)

Puchi!

Riza stuck her knife into one of the lychni necks. Blood flowed and stained her clothes a deep red. Just as the other Lychnus were about to attack Riza, she grabbed the dying body and used it as a shield. Most of them hesitated, except for the woman and one other lychni. Their attacks landed on his pale body while Riza took the opportunity to use the lychnus corpse to further her enlightened state.

Tossing the body towards two of them, the lychnus gritted their teeth and caught their friend. But just as they did that, Riza dashed towards them. Their two faces paled as they realized they couldn't evade. Two lychni threw shurikens towards Riza while another four rushed to block the incoming attack on the ones carrying the body. Suddenly Riza pulled out two more throwing knives and threw them at the four incoming lychni, forcing them to sidestep out of the way.

It was at that moment, that they realized their mistake. Two of the four got stabbed in the back from their teammates, while Riza's previously thrown daggers headed straight towards the two in the back. The two lychni in the back didn't die though. They had enough time to move enough that the blade only grazed their cheeks. The two who held the body frantically set him down and reached for their blades. But before they could even touch their shurikens, Riza was already upon them. With both daggers near their necks, she ran threw them, decapitating them. More blood gushed towards Riza, seeping deeper into her clothes. She threw four more throwing daggers from her pouch, forcing the rest to defend and keep their distance.

Within 15 seconds, Riza killed three more of the lychni, severely injured two, and gave minor injuries to another two. At that moment, the energy within Riza calmed down as she finished her breakthrough. As her vision refocused, confusion was plastered over Riza's face for a moment until her memories caught up with her. Soaked in blood from the ruthlessness she fought with, she tried to remember that fighting style. If she could use that strange style to her advantage, her prowess would definitely reach another level!

Once the power of enlightenment was over, however, Riza's power output dropped back down to a normal Pseudo-novice. The mysterious light that boosted her power vanished as soon as her breakthrough was complete. Feeling her drop in power, the six lychnus looked at Riza with a blood-curdling gaze. Like a pack of wolves wanting to rip her apart, they launched a full-frontal assault. As they swung their daggers hazardously. Riza was right beside the female lychni as her arm stretched past Riza's face, barely dodging the blade by a few millimeters. Just as Riza was about to use her dagger again, the female lychni dropped her knife and kicked Riza backward, sending her tumbling down the Degasi river.

Just as Riza was 2 meters away from a small cliff over water, a man emerged from the river and pulled her into the abyss. The rest of the lychnus was dumbfounded for a moment before charging after them. Anger clouded their perception, however. Once they jumped into the water, they saw several creatures swarming around them. As if the fish were happy that prey willingly invited themselves over as food, they kept gnashing their teeth and making strange cooing. The lychni wished to escape as they looked up and saw Riza with a wide grin on her face.

”Bye!!” Riza spoke with the widest possible smile on her face as she turned away from them.

”Wait! Don't leave us!” The female lychni spoke with haste, her face contorted as she desperately wanted to jump up to kill Riza. The girl discovered that she had nothing to offer Riza, though. With no option but to fight, she cursed Riza as she unsheathed her blades. ”Don't forget my name! Nydia Eichert III will kill you!” She spat out, every word sending dense waves of killing intent into the atmosphere.

Riza had already walked away once she heard the name but discarded it from her memory. She was more worried about Sonalius than Nydia. After a few more minutes, the waters turned turbulent as Riza saw a giant shadow beneath the water. Its ginormous outline swiftly approached her as a mans figure slowly surfaced. Her eyes almost popped out of her skull as she saw a rugged man on top, peaking his body out of the water.

”Sonalius, what took you so long?” Riza spoke with fatigue as sweat formed between her brows.

”I was taming a sea creature for us to ride across the river with.” He said as he stroked the now visible creature's head. It had a long, slender body, with dark green stripes on its red scales. With a single large eye and a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth, it excluded its bloodthirsty nature. Rubbing some blood off his nose, Sonalius glanced at the hundreds of bodies before asking, ”Where did the rest of the lychni go? Did they run off already?”

”I killed them all,” Riza stated.

”Oh, okay. That makes sense.” Sonalius said. A moment passed before Sonalius realized what Riza had said.

”Wait, you killed them all?” Sonalius fumbled over his words as his eyes widened.

”Yes. I made a breakthrough during combat after observing a bird healing it's young.” Riza explained.

”Oh, alright. That makes sense with the power-up you get from breakthroughs and....” Sonalius halted as his expression became almost comical. His jaw dropped to the point where you could fit a goose egg inside.

”You broke through by observation and your own knowledge?” He asked, his voice full of disbelief.

”Yep.”