The Amber Sword

Before moving onwards, Brendel had a look at Andrea’s status, only to be surprised by how powerful she was. The vampire girl possessed two Elemental Powers. Besides the common Soul Element that all undead has, she also had another called the Sacrificial Element. The odds of meeting someone with two elements were astronomically low, there would not even be one even in ten thousand. And of course, there were no players having two Elemental Powers.

Most bloodsuckers used their bloodline abilities to fight, but Andrea was both a Wizard and a Warrior. An Array Caster and a Dual-Wielder at that! What kind of miracle is this? I have never even known of a vampire having a class by themselves!

And written at the bottom of the card was Andrea’s skill: “Commands a troupe of dark creatures into the battlefield”.

The Pendulum Golem approached Brendel’s location. But instead of doing anything personally, it commanded the Marionette Swordsmen to slowly surround Brendel, which Brendel found strange. He gestured to Andrea before Dashing away.

He instantly closed the distance between himself and his first target. His opponent could not manage to react before getting its sword knocked away. As Brendel did that, he formed a mirage that stepped forward behind the Marionette Swordman’s back to stab it at its nape.

It was like there were two Brendel’s that formed a pincer attack, instant killing the creature.

Even so, he was not someone who fought recklessly. He turned to hide behind another pillar. But the Golem seemed to have anticipated that, slamming his staff onto the ground and roared as Brendel attacked the Marionette Swordsman, “He’s trying to run again! Number Seven, eight, Nine, advance ten steps! Number Three and Four, cross over Number One to seal the target’s path!

Brendel screamed inwards. When did Pendulum Golem’s have such a strong commanding ability? These creatures were the guards for the Towers of Babel, having high defense and attack. Moreover, they were immune to Elemental Spells, and could even manipulate time within the range of ten steps! I have lost count of how many Elementalist and close-combatants getting beaten up by this massive robot… If anything, it had one flaw: It was slow.

Which made archers the best counter for it. But that did not seem to be the case in this situation.

While Brendel was facing the trouble, Andrea was hiding quietly behind a pillar and drawing four Magic Arrays on it. Just as Brendel killed the first opponent, she was done with her drawings. It was also the time the Pendulum Golem ordered his minions to change formations. That action led him to expose himself in the range of her attack.

But Andrea could not remember Brendel’s order to attack the big one, and hot his minions. She shot a look, and picked out Seventh to be her target.

A streak of black lightning shot out from the array at the Seventh. “Patt!” It hid on the skull of the Swordman, causing it to form a translucent barrier to protect itself. Even so, its head was knocked sideways by the force.

Golems had a high magic resistance, but Andrea did not care about that fact. After all, Array Spellcasters also had tremendous firepower. The first lightning was an imprint that locked onto the Swordman’s head. She kept her finger pointed at the Seventh Marionette Swordsman. Suddenly, the array emitted an eye-catching black light before shooting ten bolts of black lightning on the target.

The shield glowed brightly, signs that it was being used to its full capacity. But finally, it gave out. Cracks appeared all over it and shattered in a wisp of smoke and dust.

Queen of Pain’s Nine Tail Whip. A Classic Black Magic.

With the death of the Seventh, Brendel found the opening he needed. Yet before he even had the time to relief or be delighted, a metallic voice roared in the arena, “Death Sentinels!”

Behind the Golem, multiple doors of light appeared and humanoid soldiers walked out with their intimidating black-spiked helmets. They were dual wielders. Besides their shoulder plates, helmets and armored leggings, they exposed their copper-colored skin, toned and lean. Just at a sight, it was obvious that they were agility based warriors.

Ten Death Sentinels were initially summoned. But atop the bodies of the fallen Marionette Swordsmen and the Wight, a door appeared and from it waled out a Death Sentinel. Although Brendel did not recognize who this NPC was, he figured that the Card in the Golem’s hand is not a Creature type, but a spell capable of turning the fallen into one of its own. At that moment, Andrea had taken down another two enemies. It may seem to be beneficial, however, it brought adverse effects in that situation.

“See that? Planeswalkers have no need for swords and blades. You’re truly the shame of the Planeswalkers. It must be my duty to eliminate you, disgrace.” His tone void of emotion.

Planeswalker this… Planeswalker that… Are you really that powerful? You’re just using your levels to suppress me! Back when I was still level 130, don’t even mention a word, I will chop you up in a second!

With the mindset and dignity as a Warrior, Brendel would not dodge an attack that he knew he could not. The Marionette Swordsmen that surrounded him were early Gold-rankers that would be easy for him to take on with his current strength. However, the remaining thirty or so Gold-ranked creatures will prove to be troublesome.

The Pendulum Golem seemed unwilling to be personally involved. He pointed his staff forwards, “Engage!” And with that, multiple layers of enemies surrounded him.

“Cover me, Andrea!” Brendel bellowed, his sword slicing apart the Marionette Swordsman before him.

The vampire girl glanced at him, speaking in an irritable tone as is she did not want to bother about the entire situation, “Got it.”

With a flick of her wrist, a Magic Array began to light up, as well as a large black net that trapped more than half of all their enemies.

It was the Abyss Web, a Dark Element spell that inflicts enemies caught in it with slow, blindness, pain, blindness, pain, deafness, weakening and other debuffs. In any case, it was an overpowered skill. But it had to be, if not, who would be willing to use a spell with such a long cast time?

Immediately, Brendel felt the overwhelmingness lessen. On the other hand, the Pendulum Golem frowned. And that was the first time Brendel had seen the machinery form any sort of emotion. He turned to look at Andrea before raising its staff, commanding two Death Sentinels to charge at the girl.

Normally, a spellcaster would activate a protection spell while slowly retreating in an attempt to counter close combatants.

But Andrea was clearly not normal.  She spliced her thumb with a bite, beads of blood forming like rubies on her hand. And with a swing of her arm, the fresh blood formed a crescent arc that shrank mid-air, turning into two slender swords that fell into her hands.

She flourished them once, allowing the twin blood-red swords to reflect the light from Brendel’s illuminating crystal; the blades were glass-like and could be seen through. Finally, she moved sideways and gave out the first hint of her capability as a warrior. She was weaker than the typical Gold-ranker, but stronger than the typical Silver-ranker. They were glistening like jewels, with a shade of scarlet that came signified the fresh blood.

She stepped back. Compared to her talent in Array casting, her abilities as a Warrior was between Silver and Gold-rank. But what was miraculous was her ability to still use magic while sword fighting. It was not long until a certain black mist began to shroud Death Sentinels’ heads. There were multiple flashes of green light, evident that they had gotten a lot of debuffs.

Originally early-stage Gold-rankers, the two were weakened to be the same level as Andrea, if not weaker than her.

But there was a drawback to spellcasting. With each time she cast a spell, Andrea’s face gotten even paler. It may be that she was sacrificing her lifeforce each time she cast a spell.

Brendel was keeping an eye on her, and noticing that she was struggling against two Death Sentinels, she telepathically transmitted, “Draw them nearer to me.”

Although he was currently being surrounded by layers of enemies, he could not stand looking at his female comrade getting bullied by outsiders.

But he did not expect her response, “Hmph!”

She was displeased for being slighted by Brendel.

She stopped suddenly and outstretched her right hand. Red lights glowed in her eyes while she rumbled, “Blood evaporation!”

In a sudden, the two Death Sentinels were grunting in pain, countless beads of blood started to leak out of their bodies and spiral towards Andrea, forming a swirling ball of blood in her palms before evaporating to nothingness. Her complexion also improved, her rosy cheeks regaining its color once more.

With that attack just now, she became a lot faster and swiftly finished off the two Sentinels. It was just that, with that attack, she could not hold out anymore. She was using both of her swords to support herself on the ground, panting heavily in the meantime.

It seems that she was no longer fit for combat.