283 One Slash
Pheew…
Skullius breathed out a sigh of relief.
Finally..
His gamble had paid off.
As the bars coated in light which he had summoned vanished, his eyes roaming over the corpse of the Tier 5 Devouring Lantern Alpha Wolf, he couldn’t help but wonder what could have happened had his plan not worked.
The whole idea of his plan had spawned from his earlier fight with the carp in the lake.
When he had conjured the spots of light to illuminate what was happening in the water, he had noticed that nomatter how much force was applied on them, they wouldn’t budge from their position!
Be it the raging waves of mana saturated water, or the Primus coated waves of energy that were emitted by the powerful boss carp, nothing would push them around from the position they were directed to move in by Skullius.
If that indeed was a basic trait of [Just Light], Skullius intended to use it to stop the fast figure of the wolf.
However, at the moment, his manifestation of [Just Light] lacked a tangible attribute. It was no more than simple light that had no substance.
Perhaps this was because his affinity towards [Just Light] was still, nil.
Thus, Skullius had coated it around bars made from [Evil Darkness], hoping that this would solve the issue.
Thankfully, it had worked..
The light gave the bars the immovable attribute that resisted even the incredible force of the speeding wolf!
As for the idea of making bars specifically…?
Well, Skullius had spent seven days in a cell, so one could decipher from that what they would.
The Discount Human edged towards the body of the creature and extended his hand, absorbing the Null Life Essence.
‘Thankfully, I managed to kill it myself, otherwise this whole thing would have been for nothing. Then again, no one would help me even if I was in danger…’ Skullius thought.
If one recalled, the description for the Vehement Bone Nullmancer skill, [Apostle Summon] was to kill the target for the skill by oneself which meant that outside help was not permitted.
This had been one of the reasons Skullius gave Red Rage the consent to help Gertreld as he really wanted to make sure he was dealing with the wolf ALONE.
“I hope time isn’t an issue for the summoning…” Skullius said as he stored the corpse of the wolf in his ring.
Luckily, it was already approaching evening and with his experience from raising Red bro, time didn’t seem like an important issue.
“ARRRGGKKK!”
Skullius was torn out of his thoughts by an inhuman shriek!
The Summoner who was a distance away stumbled and fell as one of his limbs seemed to have been severed!
He held the stump to his right hand which bled profusely and grit his teeth, sweat flowing from his temples as he madly yelled at the retreating six wolves that remained from the nine, the rest being in pieces on the ground!
The lone figure of Natalika that remained sitting with her sword on her lap before… remained exactly as so.
The blind swordswoman hadn’t made any physical motion or gesture but three wolves had been killed!
The serene Aura that had expanded before was still radiating around her, creating the illusion that it wouldn’t cause harm if one approached, but anyone with even a lick of IQ could tell that this was not true.
“Attack you fools! We’re bound by a contract for Boron’s sake! Kill her!” the Summoner screamed as the portal he had been about to conjure disappeared when his hand was severed from nowhere.
The wolves rushed ahead, three of them opening their mouthed where a darkness welled within, three radiant lights flickering with different colours in a triangular formation!
The vibrant red lights glowed brighter than the others, becoming tangible gems that the wolves swallowed as in the next instant, they got down on all fours and emitted slim bursts of energy that hurtled towards Natalika!
The other wolves followed from behind the between the beams, going for the kill with their claws.
As the beams of energy which rattled the ground with their trailing lights reached Natalika’s Full Body Aura, they… were severed.
The beams of bright red energy bounced off Natalika’s Aura as if they had hit a sturdy wall and became perfectly sliced pieces of energy that dissipated after they were detached from their source!
The wolves that had shot the attack were shocked but those that had advanced did not stop, the one which led the charge slashing with its mana coated claws as it reached Natalika, doing the exact same thing its dead partners had done.
As it did, it felt the force of their claw attacks… ricochet back to its body, from its paw to its chest clean slashes splitting its body!
Natalika remained still as this occurred while the Summoner’s heart beat quickly as he panicked.
What was this?
What manner of Swordsmanship was this?!
The other wolves that had been about to attack retreated after seeing what had happened to their companion.
Their steps lead them back to their Summoner who didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
‘Seriously?! Was it all for nothing?! All those contracts I made, promising these beasts sustainable use of Master Boron’s power…! It’s all wasted! If only I was given a blessing, I could have…!’ his thoughts chaotically pounced against the walls of his brain. ‘No! I’m not done yet!’
The Summoner pointed his remaining hand ahead, a portal appearing before him!
This one oozed of a vicious power, its height almost reaching four meters while its girth matched that number as well!
Incredible!
The power which radiated from the portal was immense and from it, a massive snout started to emerge, with scaly, wrinkled nostrils protruding from the massive construct!
Something huge was about to come out!
The Summoners trump card!
The man pushed all his focus as a look of relief plastered his face. Relief mixed with joy!
“THERE! Let’s see if your lousy sword can—”
SHIIIIING!
Before the Summoner could finish his sentence, Natalika appeared a meter before the stunned wolves who stood in front of the large portal and slashed with her striped sword in a beautiful but cold downward arc!
Her sky blue Aura waded from around her and coated her sword’s edge, turning it into a bright, sky blue curve as Natalika used a Technique that was only relevant when she used this once a day aspect of being an Advancement Stage combatant!
‘Demented Blindsword Technique, Crazy Cleave!’
As Natalika’s sword left a trail of after-images in its descent, multiple slashes appeared over all her enemies.
Vertical incisions split the wolves into six bloody parts before they even knew they were dead while, shockingly, as Skullius witnessed…
The portal was split into twelve perfect strips!
…!
The energy construct was split by Natalika’s blade!
The snout which had been in the midst of emerging sustained shallow cuts over it but still, the whole portal started to spark and crackle as it was actually torn to pieces by a sword strike!
However, asides from it being slashed by Natalika, the portal also started to dissipate because…
Its Summoner who was behind had also been sliced into six pieces!
“Argh….” the Summoner breathed his last as he fell to his death.
Natalika breathed out a sigh as she watched the portal break down, the creature that had been about to come out of it retreating before the portal collapsed completely.
‘What a waste…’ she thought, referring to her use of Full Body Aura.
She had thought she’d have to face the Alpha wolf but with her unnaturally keen senses, she could already infer that Skullius had beaten her to it.
Her technique which allowed her to manipulate vectors of force was unique to her, birthed by her honed senses which she applied to discern forces that she could direct anywhere she wanted.
Demented Slash for instance, reversed whatever the trajectory of her sword slash would be in order confuse her opponents.
With her more advanced techniques, like Crazy Cleave, she could multiply one force, like her slash, into multiple attacks that were far stronger than those of her base.
With this technique, she was fairly recognised as the third strongest in the Harem’s Guild, behind Tulnas and Renialid, though that position wasn’t hers alone.
Natalika stored her sword as she thought more about what she had sensed from Skullius’ battle more than her own, wondering if she could ask Skullius a million questions regarding it.
However…
‘Looks like this fight is getting heated. A victor should emerge soon…’ she thought as she turned in the direction where sand and lightning tangled in a hostile mix.