Chapter 179 Hunting the Crusaders part II
"KNEEL"
Commanded by the voice immediately the warrior fell and kneeled.
"What?" he questioned, baffled by the situation however before he could even recover, a blade was already aiming at his neck.
"Damn it!" he exclaimed coating his body with an aura.
A sound of steel clashing reverberated as the swordsman's aura managed to block his attacker's strike.
"Gravity one hundred times" said the voice and the force that pulls everything in its place strengthened in a specific place.
A crushing sound came after and the swordsman's body hit the floor. Auras are connected through the minds of their wielder, if they get distracted or waiver their aura will disappear. As soon as the swordsman's body heavily hit the floor his mind became unstable.
This moment was immediately seized and the black figure planted his sword on his opponent's body.
While he had taken one crusader more explosions transpired with mages bombing the place. Wind and heat mix together and hit the little silhouette who is standing among the mechanical knights.
The rustle of scorching wind blew his hood and a hair of sunset rose among the burning place.
[Creator I have been noticing this fact ever since we fought some non-magic users]
"What fact is it?"
[Creator, despite them using swords I still haven't seen anyone manifesting sword intent, all I can see are auras, wasn't aura a martial intent? Shouldn't it be exclusive to martial artist only?]
"Not exactly Jeremiah, weapon users are also masters of hand-to-hand combat, that is in case their weapon were to be broken mid-battle they could easily switch to bare hands. For your question about why we only encounter aura users, it's because sword intent and other weapon intent are extremely difficult to achieve. Only a selected few can manifest it"
[I see so that's it, I wonder what will happen if we encounter someone with an aura and sword intent]
"That, would be a disaster" the boy thought so while using the stone of death as his veil, however as he covered himself with darkness something suddenly pulled his attention behind his back.
[Dodge!]
His mana suddenly spikes up and his mind immediately conjures any spells that can be cast easily.
"PANG!"
A spell called Wind Hum was compressed and fired on the attacker's face, giving Apollo time to cast another spell.
The chanting bracelets on his wrist glow signifying its effect on assisting the mage who wears it. And with its assistance, the young mage was able to control his spell freely.
"Gust" Apollo suddenly said casting another basic spell, a wind spell which the boy compressed in his hand, and fire through the field hitting a person whose appearance was hidden by the surroundings. With two spells hitting their target the momentum of the attacker has died down.
[That is a very useful stealth ability]
"Jeremiah copy that"
[Roger that]
The gears of the system flare in his eyes reading the flow of ki on his opponent's body. With the flow of energy being visible in his eyes he could conclude what action his opponent would take, and efficiently prepare for it.
Finally, the boy's opponent answers the provocative spell that blasted his face. He charges forward with his sword drawn, his movements swift and calculated. The boy on the other hand anticipates the attack, deflecting the sword strike with his own blade. However, unlike his previous opponent, this one seems weaker thus Apollo was able to cast mid-level spells.
The moment he deflected his opponent's blade, by taking it to the side he cast another spell and aimed it at his opponent's face. A banging sound rang when he fired a fire spell but once the smoke cleared an aura had blocked it.
"So he can do aura, I thought he was an assassin type"
With Apollo engaging in close combat the spells from the mages didn't seize instead they became even more fierce. They start targeting the very person he is fighting, though Apollo feels their interference is unnecessary since he has the mechanical knights by his side.
Back to the boy's opponent who uses his agility and enhanced reflexes to counter each spell and physical attacks that target him. This opponent seems to go faster with each passing second. Apollo just observes and sees how he uses his aura to cut through the high-level spells that come towards him.
And as soon as he made another strike to cut another spell the boy immediately fired a bullet on his head.
"BANG!" rang the gun while the bullet was dodged, though Apollo wasn't the least surprised. Instead, he appeared right behind his opponent executing the same technique his enemy used, and made a powerful thrust. All his mana and ki were focused on one point to break through the aura shield. Though the bullet was successful in wrecking the enemy's energy.
The sound of the flesh being thorn was heard accompanied by a cry of pain however the blade didn't stop. It continued until it went through his body finally taking his life.
[More enemies are coming]
"Okay"
Everyone becomes occupied as the battle intensifies.
{Apollo we have secured the documents so you can use your toys freely}
"Ah, so the space spell work"
The boy thought while dodging a saber that almost cut his throat.
He then dodges a series of high-speed slashes, and narrowly avoids a war hammer's deadly strikes. Apollo counters with precise strikes of his own, using his sword to create openings in his opponent's defences.
"I have too many opponents"
[Watch your back]
"How about you help out"
[Nah I like watching you fight]
"Lazy" he mutters as he dodges another strike from the war hammer. Then he lunges forward to close the distance and stabs the person who holds the hammer. With one of his attackers gone, he switched gears to enhance his vision.
"Change weapon" he whispered and his hand shone and his weapon changed, a bow now resting on his hands. He immediately draws its string and magically three arrows emerge. As he let it go the air made a whistling sound as the arrows flew through the air.
"Argh!"
"Where did these arrows come from"
"Damn it!"
A smirk emerges on the boy's face seeing how the darkness from the stone of death masked the arrows' presence.
"Hoo.." the boy draws his breath as he combines his spell on the tips of the arrows.
"Go" he commanded and the wind spell inside the weapon blew up as soon as he released the string. Then as it flew, it began to multiply shooting the three people who were about to attack. With those three dead, he immediately changed his weapon and paid heed to Jeremiah's words.
[Someone is coming be prepared]
He held his sword and steadily blocked the invisible sword that came towards him. However, his new opponent is relentless. He uses his superior combat skills and tactical knowledge to adapt to the boy's fighting style, countering with a series of powerful blows that test the boy's patience.
As the fight intensifies, Apollo deploys a series of spells, creating a thick cloud that obscures their vision. He uses the cover to reposition himself and launch a surprise attack from above. This made his opponent momentarily disoriented by the smoke but quickly recovered. He uses his advanced senses to track the boy's movements, launching a barrage of sword slashes to flush him out.
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But as the smoke subsides he discovers an empty place with no one standing there. Only the floor full of sword slashes can be seen, no cloaked enemy, instinct then kicks in telling him to run. However it was too late, a gunshot rang and before he knew it blood was already flowing out of his body.
"Damn it" he could only say as he finally succumbed to the darkness.
"Are they more?"
[Yes, but we should probably keep some alive since we need them for information]
"Alright, by the way, can you scan the place and see if we can find anything here"
[I was about to suggest going around the training hall since I have scanned something, it's good you have thought of it]
"So what did you scan?"
[I found a faint fluctuating energy underneath the training hall, here is the map]
"I see I'll go there"
Then the boy pulled his cloak and immediately disappeared. The mages of the tower on the underhand just look at each other before summoning their spirits to track down the boy. Among them was Arthur and Gavin who immediately looked at the marker they put on Apollo.
"He is going down?" Gavin said feeling a bit confused but continued to move his fingers to manipulate the mechanical knights.
.
.
.
"It's so dark" Apollo can't help but voice out while taking a hidden passage he discovers through Jeremiah.
[Just continue walking Creator!]
He voiced out making the boy curious as to what energy Jeremiah sensed. Then at the end of the narrow tunnel, a room welcomes him.
"What the hell is this" the young mage couldn't help but exclaim as he saw what the room contained.