Chapter 356 (2/2)

“Quiet,” Tykes growled, picking his iron ball back up and spinning it around on his chain. “I need to know. I need to know how much of the distance between us has narrowed… draw your weapon.”

Alana tensed somewhat at Tykes’ rude response. Mostly because… because it became immediately clear that his senses weren’t refined enough to see what she could see. That hovering behind the Ghosthound, adding weight to the air, was a huge monster, lurking in his shadow. It was a burnt and desolate world, it was an endless and hungry vitality, it was a woman whose body is half a skeleton come to tell you that your life is over. It was vast and thick, that monster, and it seemed… of all things, amused by Tykes’ outburst.

It laughed, and Alana heard that in that laughter the sound of a burnt out house collapsing, all soot and ash.

“Have it your way… Alana? You are in his team. Don’t let him wander to far afield.”

Almost on instinct, Alana raised her own spear and shield, pointing them towards the Ghosthound. As desolate and horrifying that these perceptions she was having were, that did not make her fear the Ghosthound, exactly. Randidly. No, more than that…

It set her determination on fire, to see that the man who she had trusted had not betrayed her trust, and had spent the intervening time becoming increasingly unfathomable. This was a leader worth following, and the reason that despite everything against them, Donnyton would never fall.

“Create an opening for me,” Alana said gravely to Tykes, as she advanced towards the Ghosthound, who simply stood there, his eyes sharp and emerald as he watched them. Tykes was clearly annoyed that she had been lumped into his team, when he intended to fight in some sort of hyped up duel in his mind, but he liked the role Alana gave to him.

Alana could only grimace as the boy grinned and rushed forward towards the Ghosthound. Cocky, and desperate to prove himself. Hopefully enough of his training kicked in for him to avoid the inevitably brutal counter attack.

Honestly, the real ideal scenario would be for Alana to cause the opening, and for Tykes to capitalize. As the most solid fighter, she should be at the front, giving Tykes cover to show his extremely destructive power. But the fool probably didn’t have the patience for this, or the vision. He would be just as likely to strike her from behind, destroying their formation.

Rushing forward, Tykes raised his steel ball, the chains clicking as the muscles of his back contracted. The Ghosthound hummed, reaching out and grabbing a spear made of roots that emerged from the ground, and pointed it at them as they approached. He remained still, allowing them to choose the moment of conflict.

Tykes roared and threw the ball forward. Alana rushed behind, past Tykes, aiming for the moment that the Ghosthound defended from the attack to strike.

Still humming, the Ghosthound used the point of his spear and touched the steel ball, applying enough pressure to guide it to the side, past him. Although his spear bent dangerously, forced to bare the weight of that attack, it did not break, and the ball rolled past the Ghosthound, most of its momentum gone.

Tykes hissed and yanked on the chain, pulling the ball back towards him, but Alana ignored that and approached the Ghosthound, spear raised. Her Spear of the Broken Ridge Mastery was a brutal, offensively focused spear style, but she compensated for that with Shield Mastery, making her ability to fight an opponent in a duel one of the top 5.

She stopped dead as the Ghosthound turned his spear towards her, holding the tip pointed towards her throat. Her instincts screamed that she could accomplish nothing like this.

Behind her, she felt Tykes leap into the air, obtaining a line of sight, and whip his ball forward, sending it screaming down towards the Ghosthound. Gritting her teeth, Alana stepped forward, preparing to rush the man, forcing an opening if there wasn’t one. She couldn’t just let him walk around, unharried.

But the Ghosthound was already moving, and she could see his spear morphing, becoming something else. He side stepped, then casually threw his spear side arm, up towards Tykes. The weapon moved so fast that it was almost impossible to follow with the eye, and although her instincts kicked in, to knock it out of the air, it was already past her, striking Tykes mid air.

He collapsed with an mmph, crashing to the ground and groaning. After several seconds, Alana became sharply concerned.

As if sensing this, the Ghosthound waved a hand. “Just knocked out, I can hear him breathing. It just didn’t seem like we would get any good training in if he was throwing that ball around.”

After cracking his neck and his knuckles, the Ghosthound produced another spear from the ground and grinned at her. “Now, let’s see how well you’ve trained without me.”