502 Chapter 502: Four Heavenly Kings (1/2)
”Reinforcements?” I repeated incredulously. Craig grinned as he glanced back at me, straightening up from his earlier stance and resting his spear on his shoulder.
”Yeah. And I'm not the only one.”
The Black Swordsman lunged forward, seeing that the new opponent had seemingly lowered his guard. However, he didn't manage to get far. Lightning flashed and a burly figure descended from above. The Black Swordsman barely evaded it, whirling to the side, but his new assailant twisted around and whacked him with his thunder hammer. Even though the Black Swordsman successfully parried the massive weapon, there was a loud crack of thunder. Golden electricity exploded between them, throwing the Black Swordsman back.
”Theodore!” I yelled, recognizing my senior.
”Yo.” Theodore Hammond hefted his thunder hammer up before slamming it against the ground. Sparks flew, lancing toward the stumbling Black Swordsman who had only recently regained his balance. He blocked the huge spark, but smoke billowed from his obsidian blade.
Incredibly, he was unfazed from the lethal electricities. He was already lowering his sword down to point it at Theodore, kicking off the ground to charge. Theodore brought his hammer up, ready to swing it down to meet him.
He didn't have to.
A torrent of divine flames erupted and engulfed the Black Swordsman, hurling him back. His armor smoldering and almost turning red from the sheer heat, the Grimaldus expert dove out of the flames, coughing incessantly. He rolled up to his feet, only to get a flaming kick in the head from his latest assailant. Even as his head snapped back, an ugly burn materializing over his cheek, he didn't hesitate to swing his obsidian sword.
”Whoa!”
Dong Fang Yue Chu jumped out of the sword's range, flames wreathing him protectively. Hee clamped both of his hands together and unleashed another stream of superheated flames that washed over the Black Swordsman and immolated him, but as usual the formidable warrior just cleaved the inferno apart with a single slash.
The four of us managed to regroup, while the Black Swordsman dropped to a kneeling posture to catch his breath. As Dong Fang Yue Chu landed next to us, he waved.
”Been a while, hasn't it, Richie?”
”It has indeed,” I agreed as I took a deep breath to stabilize myself. ”Man, am I glad to see you guys! How…?”
”We were the nearest unit that received the distress signal coming from here,” Theodore explained as he swung his hammer to unleash another bolt of lightning, which the Black Swordsman swatted away with his sword. ”So we came here as fast as we could.”
”Yeah, we were visiting Flandor City anyway, to check out your new students, since it's the summer vacaction and all.” Dong Fang Yue Chu chuckled. ”But we didn't expect to meet up with you so soon!”
”Eh?” I pushed my glasses up as I stared at them. ”You didn't tell me?”
”We wanted it to be a surprise,” Dong Fang Yue Chu explained sheepishly as he let loose another jet of flames at the kneeling Black Swordsman, who cut the fiery projectile down. ”Didn't expect you to be working in a middle school camp.”
”Well, seems like you've gotten yourself into trouble, as always!” Craig chuckled as he charged forward with his spear thrust forward. ”Let's show this sucker the strength of the Four Heavenly Kings of Jing Tian!”
”Wait, what?” I was joining him, flanking the Black Swordsman and striking him from the side. The Black Swordsman somehow managed to fend off both Craig and me, but his movements and precision had visibly dulled. ”What Four Heavenly Kings?”
”Oh, you haven't heard?” Dong Fang Yue Chu sniggered. ”That's what our schoolmates have been calling us, ever since the tournament.”
”Pay them no heed,” Theodore grunted as he swung his thunder hammer at the back of the Black Swordsman, who blocked his heavy strike, only to be blown back by an explosive clap of thunder. ”You know how students love gossip.”
He was a student himself, though…well, he was going to graduate this year.
For now, I focused on the Black Swordsman ahead of me. Craig and I executed a pincer attack, attempting to overwhelm his defenses, but our formidable foe spun about like a whirlwind, somehow parrying all of our brutal strikes in an elegant fashion. He charged up black mana in his obisidian blade, trying to unleash another of those massive attacks of his to nuke the field, but Dong Fang Yue Chu engulfed his blade in purifying flames.
”!!!”
The Black Swordsman's eyes widened briefly when he saw the crimson flames swallow up the black mana that had coalesced around his obsidian blade, only for his spell to be nullified before he could cast it. With a growl, he swung his sword to knock us back, but Craig, Theodore and I relentlessly struck, with at least two of us moving in to attack whenever our opponent's attention was focused on one of us.
We traded over a thousand blows, our weapons clashing and sparks flying. Occasionally the Black Swordsman would try to unleash one of his big spells, but Dong Fang Yue Chu would purify them. Of course, Yue Chu's purifying flames were not omnipotent, and the Black Swordsman was still able to pull off smaller blasts, battering us aside or injuring us with violent shockwaves, but at least we could prevent him from nuking us.