Chapter 259 (1/2)

Randidly winced, slightly sore from smashing into the ground. Immediately, warm, thick threads of energy from the ground traveled up through his bare feet into him, but he definitely took some damage from it that would not recover quickly. But he righted his stance as best as he could and raised his spear, facing Ciel.

Randidly wanted to capitalize on the momentum he could see had taken, based on the shocked look in Ciel’s eyes, but his muscles were continually spasming and twitching. It was a small thing, that wouldn’t affect his overall movement, but it would make a centimeter of difference. So despite his desire to seize the momentum, Randidly stood still, pressing with his will to absorb that strength from the ground helping him recover. At the same time, Randidly activated Meditation, drawing every bit of value he could from the moments of pause.

Ciel seemed to slowly find herself, and to Randidly’s surprise she didn’t seem upset any longer, but oddly excited.

“Ahaha…. Ahahah…. Yea… this is why you are an opponent worth beating. This is why… when I beat you with my own strength…” Then she trailed off for several seconds, then leapt towards Randidly, her body once more gliding smoothly over the ground. It was a much slower approach, compared to her previous ones, but if anything, that filled Randidly with even more caution.

Her previous attacks were arrogant and curt, almost dismissive. But now Ciel floated over with bright eyes and a small smile, and all he could feel from her is the pure joy that came from a difficult battle. From an opponent worth giving your all to defeat.

Which, in a way, only made his own desire to fight rise higher, curling his own mouth in a smile. But Randidly was patient; as she floated inexorably towards him, he sucked more and more Mana and Stamina into his body. There were some definite side effects of using the Phantom’s Embrace in that way.

What was most surprising was that the side effects were due to his body being unable to withstand the physical trauma of borrowing the opponent’s force like that. Perhaps the efficiency that he would do it would improve as time went on, but it was a disturbing state of affairs that his physical prowess ended up being insufficient.

“When the Wings Beat, Feathers Dance!”

Randidly’s eyes abruptly narrowed as Ciel abruptly increased in speed, and her double sided spear flicking out. In that split second, Randidly opted to meet her directly, his own, larger spear smashing outward, Empowered, aiming to cancel out some of her force. As the spears crashed against each other, Randidly immediately felt a twinge of regret. It had been too heady, being out of the prison, fighting against those at or below his stat level… he had grown slightly complacent.

Randidly’s joints ached as he forcefully absorbed the strength from her overpowering blows, getting knocked somewhat back on his heels. Then Randidly stepped forward, moving in the space between her strikes, his eyes beginning to glow emerald. A low mist appeared on the ground, a slight, distant ticking could be heard.

Immediately, Ciel hesitated, her eyes narrowing. The strength of this move of hers seemed to be a peculiar cadence and rhythm of strikes, making use of the double sided nature of her spear. But now she hesitated, as it seemed Randidly was going to use the Phantom’s Embrace. So she interrupted her previous move and raised her spear.

“The Shrike Cries over a Barren Land!”

The spear twisted around, so quickly Randidly had to rely on just his instincts. Immediately he dropped the feint of the Phantom’s Embrace, a sly smile on his face. The power of it was real, but so was the strain, and he wasn’t yet sure he could beat her with just this. But it would be a good start.

Randidly poured most of the rest of his mana into throwing up Wall of Thorns and Spear Roots between him and the force, creating a thick, dense mesh of plant matter. It was a rather messy job, but he only had a split second to manage it, so it would have to do.

Another thing the barricade had going for it was that there was some suppleness to it; it couldn’t simply be cracked by the strange, overpowering force form Ciel. It would first bend, absorbing some of the power, before it would be obliterated.

At least, that was the theory.

Randidly braced himself, stabbing his spear into the ground.

In a way, it did work, the benefit was just so marginal that it was swiftly swallowed by the blast of force. Then that wave of force, filled with root bits and thorns, smashed into Randidly, causing him to wince. The force immediately knocked the wind out of him, and threw him backwards, his arms holding onto the spear stretched to the limits.

Although the feedback from Phantom’s Embrace was bad, this was almost-