293 Chapter 293: Blood Feud (2/2)
Brent calmly raised a hand and stopped Spartacus's swing. The ground beneath his feet shattered and tremors rippled out along with massive shockwaves as an unstoppable force slammed into an immovable object, and knocked over mercenaries and blood mages alike.
When the collision finally came to a conclusion, it appeared that the latter had prevailed. Spartacus was perspiring profusely, snarling in incomprehension as he struggled to shift the annoying obstacle in front of him. However, Brent refused to budge even a centimeter, and he raised his other hand to punch the goliath.
I could actually feel the thunder of a sonic boom vibrating throughout my body before I saw Spartacus get blown back over a hundred meters from the single punch alone.
”Holy fuck…” I breathed, almost unable to believe the incredible sight. So size didn't matter, after all.
”Hmph.” Xue Tu was completely unimpressed. ”It'll take more than that to put Spartacus down.”
His words proved prophetic. No sooner than Spartacus had crashed was he immediately back up on his feet again. It was as if the goliath couldn't feel pain. Instead, he was laughing manically, his tongue lolling about and spittle flying from his maw.
”Kill! Kill!”
”Damn it…” Liu groaned in irritation as he glanced at the monster he had unleashed upon our lines. ”The bastard has gone into a blood frenzy again. It's going to be difficult to sedate him after this.”
”You sure you have the luxury of worrying about your subordinates?” Redfield yelled as he thrust his spear at the elder, who spun his own blood spear to deflect it away from his chest. Flames ignited and boiled part of the lance away into red steam, but Liu merely restored it with more blood from goodness knows where.
”Do you honestly think you mercenaries can beat our Blood Slaughter Sect?”
”That should be our line,” Brent responded steely, and then snorted. He stood his ground as Spartacus charged at him again, and stopped his punch. This time, he actually grimaced from the impact and the ground ruptured into a crater. A frown creased his brow. ”This guy…he has actually gotten a bit stronger?”
”And he'll only get stronger and stronger from here on out!” Xue Tu taunted gleefully, his voice dripping with scorn. He dodged under a swing from Bai Ri and then parried Hei Yue with a blood blade.
”And we're doomed,” I finished for him as I rolled my eyes. Xue Tu glanced at me, shocked, but I didn't give him a chance to speak. ”Yeah, yeah. I know what you're going to say.”
”Shut up, you imbecile!”
Xue Tu tried to knock me away with a barrage of blood lances, but I blew them apart with a swing of my swords.
”You guys…what do you know about this tomb?”
To everyone's surprise, Principal Porter had emerged once more. I thought he had retreated safely to seek shelter in a more…covered area, but he had decided to show himself despite the protests of the mercenaries Brent assigned to guard him. His gray eyes were fixed on Liu, who smiled despite himself (and despite defending against an onslaught from an enraged Redfield).
”You say you want the tomb. Why? What's inside it? What do you know?”
I see. So his curiosity and thirst for knowledge had cause him to abandon all caution and seek information. Principal Porter had a good point. There must be some sort of reason why the Blood Slaughter Sect was willing to assault one of the most reputable and skilled mercenary to claim the tomb.
”Some sort of treasure, I'm guessing?” Principal Porter frowned. ”It must be really precious if you're willing to risk declaring war on the Silver Wolves just to get your hands on it.”
”We have no reason to tell you. Not when all of you will be dead within the hour.”
Liu's voice was cold and malicious.
”We'll see who will be the ones dead by the hour!” Redfield growled as he swung his flaming spear, forcing the venerable elder to retreat after his hastily improvised blood spear was snapped cleanly in half.
”Fools!” Xue Tu sneered. ”All of you are already dead! You just haven't realized it yet!”
”Yeah, I mean, because corpses can continue to move around, talk and fight as long as they don't know they they're supposed to be dead, right?” I asked, each of my words dripping venomously with sarcasm.
”Shut up!”
Oh wow. Resorting to silencing your opponent just because you got outsmarted and couldn't win a verbal duel. Very mature.
Xue Tu bit his hand and then flung his blood onto the ground. He grinned as he finally completed the advanced spell that he had been trying to cast this entire time. To my complete lack of surprise, the pool of blood glowed before expanding and growing, taking on a human shape. Within seconds, it transformed into a gargantuan figure about the same size as Spartacus. Unlike the Bloody Berserker, however, this new…thing didn't have any features. It was vaguely humanoid, but its blocky arms and legs had no fingers or toes. The spheroid at the top of its body that passed off for what seemed to be its head totally lacked a face.
Having learned summoning magic as part of my specialization in Jing Tian Academy, I immediately recognized the new monster.
”A golem,” I murmured with a nod. ”A Blood Golem, if I'm not mistaken.”
”Hah! So you know what this is!” Xue Tu crowed. ”Then you know that you can't beat me!”
…huh? How did he come to that conclusion? Where was the link between being able to identify his magic and realizing the futility of defeat? Did this guy suffer a blow to his head or something? Maybe Anastasia managed to deliver a concussion to him when I wasn't looking. None of his words were making any sense.
Shaking my head, I sighed and raised one hand, Hei Yue raised high into the air. Black Tortoise, White Tiger, Leo and Leo Minor were still around, and they were gathering around me, but I decided to show off a little and summon just one more guy.
”Green Dragon,” I called out. ”I'll be counting on you.”
In a flash, an emerald dragon materialized behind me with a thunderous roar, its twenty-meter long body uncoiling amidst a storm of vibrantly colored petals.