Chapter 17 Chapter 17 - Bitter Struggle (1/2)
CHAPTER 17
BITTER STRUGGLE
Lino felt all hairs on his body stand up as he frantically ran forward, immediately activating the effects of his Primal Spirit of Wind – Li. His speed didn't skyrocket immediately, but increased over the span of few seconds. Auras that were closing in behind him grew distant for a moment, but Lino knew that he was far from being in a safe position. Half a mile in front of him was a deep shrubbery followed by a thick forest. He had no clue what it's called or where it led to, but being in the open with seven of the chasers was equal to a suicide. Hundred meters or so before reaching the forest, Lino suddenly took a gigantic leap, drawing a beautiful arc through the sky as he rose up to nearly twenty meters in the air.
He couldn't sustain his incredible speed even with the increased physique after reaching Level 30 and undergoing the First Evolution. Rather than burning out immediately, he decided to cancel his massive speed halfway through to save up on stamina. His arc crusaded him over the treetops for nearly fifty meters after entering the border of the forest before he finally started losing momentum. By his estimates, he had put nearly a mile of distance between him and the pursuers, but he knew it wasn't enough. He landed forcibly onto a thick branch of a tree, breaking it in the process and plummeting down onto the ground. However, as his falling speed decreased, he was able to forcibly stabilize himself and burst forward once again, dancing in-between the trees.
His legs hurt like hell, and he even felt that a few bones were broken, but he didn't dare halt even for a second. He immediately urged mpyrean Writ> to regenerate his legs, ignoring even his relatively-recovered wrist. The forest he entered with Aeala in tow was truly thick, to the point that even sunlight didn't manage to pierce its way through. After running for nearly thirty seconds, however, his heart froze for a moment. Despite his definitely inhumane speed of running – considering the unfavorable terrain – the seven auras were actually gaining on him. While it appeared minuscule, he knew that the gap would only decrease over time, as he could only sustain his current speed for a most five minutes before depleting his stamina entirely. He didn't dare gamble on the fact that the seven who were chasing him would run out of gas before he did, as he had absolutely no clue what kind of changes they underwent after the 'transformation'. Another great disadvantage he was facing was the fact that he lacked any knowledge about the current place. He only knew that he was near the Second Mountain in the Umbra Mountain Range, but, beyond that, he didn't even know which direction he was running in.
His mind continuously worked like mad to come up with ideas that would allow him to escape, but it was all for naught. He didn't have a single martial art – or even item – that could aid him right now. In addition, he was even unable to activate the Primal Spirit of Wind as he wasn't on the flatland. In the end, his choices plummeted to only a single one: fight. Direct confrontation was out of question. Even before their 'transformation', just a single out of seven of his pursuers were enough to spit him to death, to say nothing now. If, by chance, he was to confront the Patriarch directly, he probably wouldn't even know how he died. He still had nine Magic Darts encased in poison within the [Celestial Rod], but he gathered that they were probably on the lookout for such attacks after what happened with Vyeala. At most, he theorized, he'd be able to kill four of them, excluding the Patriarch himself. Although Aeala didn't understand the circumstances as well as Lino, his crazed expression told her enough. She, in the end, has yet to recover from the shock the massive, black shadow inflicted on her heart. Unlike Lino, she was just an ordinary person. The only reason she even knew of cultivators was because she was born in the Clan of them.
Yet again, she was forced to reassess the youth that was bravely carrying her on his shoulder. After witnessing how he crafted a massive shield in such a short span of time, she felt the gamble she took was worth it. However, after seeing him absolutely decimate people she believed to be gods, she was left in the utter state of shock. She realized that she hadn't taken a gamble, but rather more of a surefire way of escape. Even after he had killed Vyeala stealthily, he didn't seem panicked and looked rather confident in his escape. It was only after the black shadow emerged from the Vyeala's corpse and suddenly scattered in the black shower that his expression changed. Aeala felt it when the Patriarch's three swords landed onto Lino's shield. Although she didn't even suffer a shockwave from the attack as Lino used his own body to protect her, just the passing wind created quite a few gashes on her skin. Yet, the boy in front of her who couldn't be older than sixteen bore the brunt of it, having enough awareness not to become overwhelmed but rather immediately recover and continue running. Even now, there wasn't an expression of dismay on his face, just a form of crazed resoluteness that stirred even her heart that she believed had turned frozen long, long time ago.
Lino, on the other hand, finally steeled his heart and grit his teeth as he lowered his speed somewhat. Besides conserving stamina, he also had to take action soon if he wanted to have a chance of surviving. The longer the chase went on, the lower his chances would be. If he had known beforehand, he'd have started guerrilla warfare against the seven the moment they entered the woods but, alas, it was too late to regret. At the moment, he had three tools that could aid him: the shield, the necklace and the rod. The first could at most block one more attack before being completely destroyed. The second could block 3 attacks directly, while the rod could kill four – five if he was lucky. Naturally, he had to properly used all three tools if he wanted to have a chance.
A mere minute later, Lino felt that the seven had reached the hundred meters mark behind him. Muscles on his calves suddenly bulged as he sprung upward nearly fifty meters into the sky, shifting around midair as he summoned one sword after another from the necklace, sending them flying with careless abandon. He didn't hope to even injure them with the attacks as the swords were not of the greatest quality, but he needed distraction. One sword after another fell from the sky like rain, bursting trees apart on their way and kicking up a minor dust storm. Lino was still descending when he noticed several explosions which sent his swords either flying back into the sky or into smithereens. Eighty meters… seventy meters… at the sixty meters mark, he felt Patriarch's Divine Sense wash over him. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, at the moment he landed, he gripped the [Celestial Rod] and let loose all nine Magic Darts at the five of six Prime Elders. Because of the dust, and the fact that the darts themselves were almost impossible to spot with naked eye, the darts moved incredibly stealthily, crossing the distance of sixty meters in less than a breath of time.
Without even waiting to see the results, Lino resolutely turned around and ran. Luckily, there was a small patch of clear land, roughly four hundred meters long, allowing him to increase his speed to gain some distance. After re-entering the forest, his frowned face suddenly relaxed as a faint smile appeared. Aeala was slightly startled seeing it; up to now, she didn't dare utter a word from fear of distracting him, but she almost gave in and asked why he was smiling, barely holding back.
The reason for the smile was rather simple: Lino was truly lucky, as he had managed to actually kill five of the six Prime Elders. Besides the fact that only two auras were on his tail right now, his Level also increased to 33. Because of that, small portion of his wounds were healed quickly, and his exhaustive state recovered somewhat. While he was far from his peak condition, it was better than nothing. Still, it was only just the beginning. If it were only the six Prime Elders that were chasing him, Lino would be 100% certain that he'd be able to kill them all, but that wasn't the case. In the end, the greatest headache was still the only Soul Realm cultivator – Patriarch Varick. Because of the Divine Sense of the Soul Realm cultivators, it was almost impossible for Lino sneak in an attack, much less one that would threaten the Patriarch's life. In addition, he was out of Magic Darts, so he'd have to kill the remaining two pursuers in the straightforward fashion, which he wasn't looking forward to.
After running for roughly two hundred more meters, he began slowing down in anticipation. The crazed expression returned on his face as his lips curled up in a rather devious-looking grin. He looked like a maddened murderer who was locked up for decades finally being given a chance to unleash hell upon the world once more. Lino's heart beat crazily, while mpyrean Writ> resonated with it, circulating even faster. Incomparable power filled every fiber of his being as he felt his body lighten like a feather, while strength filled his muscles to brim. This was definitely not Lino's personality; he was always more of a shrewd person, one who'd take the beating ten thousand times, waiting for the opportunity to retaliate. If it were past him, he'd have run with reckless abandon, not even humoring the thought of fighting back. However, something inside of him snapped. As though a thread that was loosely connecting his sanity had finally disappeared, incomparable desire for battle, blood and death gushed into his very soul. All his senses heightened considerably, while the bits of fear he felt deep inside his heart disappeared completely. It wasn't as though he was overwhelmed by sheer madness; on contrary, he felt that his mind was never clearer than it was right at this very moment. At the same time, it's not as though he suddenly became someone who can directly contend against two massive powerhouses that were chasing him. The only thing which truly changed was his state of mind, and clarity through which he was able to process his thoughts much quicker than before.
In didn't take long before the two pursuers caught up to him. Both had extremely crazed expressions as veins pulsated throughout their entire bodies, deep black and purple in color. The pupils of their eyes were dyed in deep maroon, surrounded with pitch-black darkness akin to that of an abyss. Both their bodies had grown to nearly three meters in height, far surpassing what a human was capable of. Even the tallest human in records barely reached two-and-a-half meters and, even then, the only thing he felt was pain as his bones were unable to properly support him. On the other hand, the two before Lino seemed full of vigor and life. Lino's brows creased for a moment as he tightened the grip on Aeala before drawing out a sword from his necklace. He only had nine more swords stored inside, and he wagered that, if he didn't completely run out of them or even die, he'd have one or two at most remaining after this battle.
No words were exchanged between the two parties; as soon as the Patriarch and the last remaining Elder – First Elder Rayel – entered twenty-meter radius around Lino, six swords abruptly appeared above their heads, shimmering in dark, black Qi. Both signaled with their fingers at the same time as the six swords screeched like mad, rotating in circles as to gain momentum before discharging toward Lino. The latter was well aware of the incredible force the swords possessed and had no intention of facing them directly. He abruptly spun and shifted his body sideways before erupting with massive force, leaping nearly ten meters in a single jolt, evading the six strikes. He immediately retaliated by sending two swords flying – both toward the First Elder – but it did nothing as the latter simply swiped his fingers gently, disintegrating the swords midflight. Such sight shocked Lino for a moment; that Qi was definitely not normal. Attribute Qi? Lino thought as he once again evaded the six swords by a leap. Ella mentioned that it's incomparably rare, and that only geniuses have them. These two definitely aren't geniuses… could it be the work of that black shadow?
No matter what, though, his task of killing the two suddenly increased in difficulty, and not by a small margin. According to Lino's observation, the Qi had an attribute similar to decay, as it simply overwhelmed any matter it touched and turned it into nothingness within a short span of time. If he were to come directly in contact with it, he had no doubts that he'd die within seconds. For convenience's sake, before the third interval of attacks arrived, he chose to test the Glog Primal Spirit on Patriarch Varick.
[Varick Endo – Human – Level 78 – Soul Realm Mortal]
Titles: Patriarch of the Clan, ???, ???, ???
Occupations: Patriarch, ???, ???, ???
Martial Arts: ???, ???, ???, ???
Damage: ???