554 Chapter 554: Boss Battle (1/2)
When did he…?
Then again, he was seconds away from the chamber. I thought we still had some time to run, but evidently I was wrong. Damn it, we shouldn't have dallied…
No. I was misunderstanding something. This whole castle was Fan Le Lao's territory. In other words, we had been running around in the palm of his hand from the very start. No matter how much sooner we ran, he would have caught us instantly.
He must have made use of his knowledge or power over his own base to avoid the Federation soldiers and the medic who were tending to Nan Gong Ji Yan. Either that or that group had already left, probably bringing Ji Yan to the surface after sedating her.
Whatever the case, Fan Le Lao was now here, right in front of us. A few dozen meters away from our position, but it felt as if he was standing right in front of me.
Gritting my teeth, I gently placed Nan Gong Zhao Yan down on the floor, propping her against a corner. With Rossetti beside me, I straightened up and faced our enemy with clenched fists. The most powerful member of the Crimson Blood Demonic Night Clan, at least in our generation. And we were fighting in his territory.
This was bad.
Gesturing toward me arrogantly, Fan Le Lao's lips curled into a sneer.
”Return Zhao Yan to me.”
”She was never yours.”
”Fine, then.” Fan Le Lao coolly cocked his head to the side as he stared at me, his eyes raking over my battered body callously. ”I'll just have to take her from your dead body.”
”Over my dead body.”
”That's what I just said.” Fan Le Lao shook his head. ”Oh, and it seems that you've killed Xu Wu Cheng? Impressive. He was right about you, after all. I didn't think you would be this much of a threat. Not only did you kill so many of my clansmen, you even brought the Federation military and mercenaries to raid my castle, and now you are stealing my woman.”
I burst out laughing. ”Zhao Yan is NOT your woman.”
”She will be.”
I guffawed even harder. ”How? With your shoujo manga-style drama where you cast some stupid illusion spell to manipulate her memories and have her attend the same school as you, get closer to you and fall in love with you in the cheesiest manner possible? Only a delusional manhua artist would think you can pull something as absurd as that off.”
”…”
”Don't tell me you were really intending to do that.”
”It worked in Vampire Sphere.”
”Well, this isn't Vampire Sphere.”
”What are you guys even talking about now?!” Rossetti demanded, turning from me to Fan Le Lao and looking completely bewildered. ”From earlier, you guys have gone off into your own world and are arguing over something I don't understand.”
”You don't have to understand,” Fan Le Lao told her coldly. I chuckled and shook my head.
I honestly didn't know what went on in the heads of certain female authors.
”Shut up!”
Fan Le Lao's murderous aura exploded, rippling across the clearing and sending shivers down my spine. Rossetti also looked similarly affected, her face turning pale. Both of us stumbled back a little from the shockwaves, heaving as the thick, menacing atmosphere threatened to suffocate us.
This guy was on a totally different level.
”In any case, you've really drove my clan to the edge of extinction. I'm afraid I won't be able to forgive you now. Hah~” Fan Le Lao sighed and shook his head. He then raised his head to glare at me, a cold glint in his purple eyes. Huh…what was with these bishounen characters and their weirdly colored eyes? Who the fuck had purple eyes? I had never seen someone with purple eyes in my entire life. ”I didn't want to do this because you're quite the interesting fella. But you've forced my hand.”
”What, you didn't think there will be repercussions after assaulting our school, killing a huge fraction of the student population and staff, abducting a good number of hostages and trying to kidnap the rest of Zhao Yan's family, did you?”
”I did…but I must say, your actions have exceeded my expectations. Man, I really wanted you as an ally. Looks like Wu Cheng was right, after all. I should have killed you from the start.”
His eyes flashing in cold fury, Fan Le Lao swung his hand down. From the ceiling, a murderous hail of blood spears rained down upon our position with the force of meteors.
”Snow Aegis!”
I grabbed Rossetti and dragged her closer while throwing out my right hand and summoning my snowflake shield to protect us from the rain of blood spears. The crimson lances slammed against my six layers of protective mana mercilessly, but thankfully my defense held. That didn't stop me from wincing from the tremendous impacts. Every time a spear collided with my shield, I felt a tiny shockwave of mana ripple through my body.
Fortunately, I had Rossetti by my side. She did a small dance, careful not to whirl outside of my territory and into the barrage of blood spears, and I could feel her spells buffing my defense. Thanks to that, I felt the impacts alleviated slightly and I was able to solidify my defenses.
”Uaaaah!”
With a murderous cry, Fan Le Lao descended among the hail of spears, thrusting his real spear forward. I raised Snow Aegis to parry his strike, shuddering from the violent collision. Thankfully, with Rossetti's buffs, I could withstand the powerful blow. Fan Le Lao didn't seem like he was affected and he merely thrust his spear repeatedly in movements almost too fast for my eyes to follow.
Sparks flew as the thunderous spear strikes hammered brutaly against the defensive layers of mana, tiny but powerful tremors spreading across the stalwart shield to rock my shuddering body. Fortunately, Rossetti continued to buff me and I weathered the relentless onslaught without much difficulty. I exhaled and held up my right hand, matching Fan Le Lao's vicious bows defiantly. His movements grew increasingly faster, but I refused to back down and stood strong with my formidable, frosty defense.
If Fan Le Lao was growing frustrated at my refusal to fall, he didn't show it. He was coolly and efficiently thrusting his huge spear, as if believing that he would eventually be able to penetrate my defenses.