Chapter 152 (2/2)

A Circle of Flame blasted outwards, smashing the man backwards. His stats seemed sufficient to keep it to a stumble, but in that time Randidly had summoned a Wall of Thorns behind the man and ran forward. As he moved, he waved his hand and Summoned Pestilence, the air filling with the buzzing of hungry insects.

The man regained his stance just in time to get hit in the face with 100 chittering bugs, which quickly dug into his nose, mouth, and eyes, biting into his flesh. The man roared, and stumbled backwards, right into the wall of thorns, several of them sinking deep into his flesh.

Randidly leveled his spear and prepared to strike.

The man screamed again as more Spearing Roots stabbed upward into his legs. But now his spear was moving, shearing away the roots and the wall, killing insects by the dozen. Within around 2.5 seconds, the spear, and the seemingly powerful Battle Intent around it had defeated all of Randidly’s spells, and he turned forward, ready to face another.

But of course, this time there was only a looming spear. “The Inevitable Phantom Arrives.” Randidly whispered, his smile a coy one. The air around them darkened. Clocks ticked incessantly. The spear grew larger and larger, and behind it was the ghastly phantasm of a woman, Randidly’s mother, her smile pitiable and final. Before that smile, before that spear, all one could feel was helplessness.

In a battle composed only of spears, a 3 second windup for a strike is almost impossible to manage. But luckily, Randidly had many tricks up his sleeves to give him the time he needed.

The man didn’t have time to block, and the spear crashed into the man’s chest, ripping open his flesh and destroying the bones and nearby organs. The man’s body spasmed, and leaned forward, but then it froze, and the man slowly looked up, his chest cavity a mass of gore, seemingly somehow still alive.

“You-” The man started to howl, but Randidly stabbed with his spear, again and again, using Root Control to reach up and grab the man’s body, tearing away strips of flesh that he was cutting away, slowly ripping him to pieces.

Randidly even used Phantom Onslaught, just ripping into the man’s body, before he slumped forward. Even then, Randidly cut off the head and sent a few dozen insects eating down through the neck before he was satisfied.

All at once, everything he had done hit him, and all Randidly could smell was the man’s blood on his clothes, the weight of his head in Randidly’s hand. As quickly as possible, as instructed by Shal, he stored his spear into his ring and used Root Control to take the ring and throw it back towards Shal. He was about halfway there, through the relay of roots, when there was a dull roaring, and Randidly could just see a wave of Battle Intent sweeping towards him, and then he was unconscious.

****

When Randidly awoke, he was in chains. Surrounding him were several other unconscious prisoners, lying in a wooden cart. He instinctively checked for his ring, panicked when it wasn’t there, then remembered he had given it to Shal.

“Ah, good, disciple. You wake, we must speak quickly.”

Randidly looked to the side, and saw Shal, also bound in the gloom. Shal continued to talk. “Here, take your ring back. Keep it in your mouth until we are inside.

“There is good news and bad news. The good news is we are in, but the bad news is that I was recognized. I will be bound in a place… that even for me, will be difficult. In addition, I will not be able to teach you while I remain there. So we must change our plan. From my investigations, you will be tortured by Battle Intent for 100 years before you are sent out to the badlands. This is too slow. You will need to escape prior to that, and flee to the badlands. Once there, you will need to discover your own means to assist me in escaping from where I am kept to the badlands. Only then can the training begin.

“After you have reached suitable levels, or if you have taken so long there is no other choice, we will break out. It is that simple. A few pieces of advice; you will soon learn the trick of the Battle Intent torture. It will not work against you. But I recommend you bide your time.

“Second… when you make it to the badlands, avoid others as much as you can. They may kill you to alleviate boredom.”

Randidly blinked very slowly, his head still pounding from getting hit with the Battle Intent earlier. A ring rolled across the wooden floor to him, and Randidly leaned forward and picked it up with his mouth. Then a thought struck him, and he froze.

“Should we have really discussed it with all these people here…?” Randidly whispered, glancing around.

Shal nodded. “Ah, good, you are learning. Obviously not. It is why I kill them before you awoke.”

Looking around slowly, Randidly suddenly realized that they were perhaps too still around him. There was no movement. Not even the rise and fall of chests. The dim lighting had hidden it before, but dark stains surrounded the spots where these men lay. In a way, it was chilling. But in another… it was eye opening.

Randidly stared at one of the still bodies, pondering. Is this really the only path to strength…? But Randidly stayed silent, brooding over the dead shadows around him. Even if it wasn’t, this was his path. And he refused to believe that it wouldn’t lead to strength if he followed it until the end.