Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 190: Blinking Bodyguards

Just as their plan was forming, a surge of mana was aimed straight for them from underneath, only for it to shoot upward.

Astrid was already well prepared for such an event, she was practically waiting for it. No way they didn’t know they were already here, so her Mind Barrier protected the surface of the floor.

A huge explosion rocked her barrier, even destroying all three before she created more just to be safe. Once the cataclysmic explosion had ended, the entire floor was erased.

“Now!” Daniel ordered, and in an instant, the plan was enacted; showcasing their professionalism in spite of having just suffered a surprise attack.

The speed users including Daniel and Losef leapt down the hole while Astrid created foot holds in mid-air. If she was to directly control them, their speed would be a fraction of what they could manage on their own. With them having such high Dexterity, finding the footholds wasn’t an issue.

Astrid also created a battlement down below as the ranged users dropped down and started firing. Of course, this all happened in a matter of seconds.

With her initial job complete, Astrid turned her attention down below where she noticed her target preparing something–a skill. The mana churned around with his robed figure at the centre.

It seemed that her original assumption was an answer melded out of both thoughts. He indeed had to channel his mana into making strong spells, but he was also strong. Fusing the both together only made him even stronger. However to Astrid, channelling skills were a no-go.

He’s quite far. Astrid thought. She was uncertain if her soul interruption skill could reach, but she was all for trying.

She recalled the sensation from when she was back in Zephyrion’s inheritance. Using a soul attack was difficult, and even now at her current strength, it was still an arduous task. However, she relished the challenge. It was the perfect attack to halt the mage’s spellcasting, and if she could do it consistently, then she didn’t have to waste a massive amount of mana to block their skills–or even worse–risk the attack shattering through her defences.

Astrid reached deep down until she grasped something, then, she spat it outward; straight for the mage.

The soul attack was entirely invisible to the naked eye–it didn’t even have a mana signature as it billowed toward the masked, robed person in the middle of the warriors.

Just by their robes and masks, it was evident they were from the ‘Order’. She didn’t know why they came down here, but her attack was almost landing. But it was losing steam. Since it had already left her body, she no longer had control–she just had to hope it reached.

C’mon. Astrid clenched her fists as she stared at nothing. Not even she could see the attack as the mage’s mana swirled. She could feel the mana beat against her heart–it was something that even her Mind Barriers couldn’t contest against.

She could sense it. From the numerous battles she had experienced, it was more like a second sense of what she could defend against, and what should be avoided at all costs. This was one of them.

The ranged users also realised what was going on and attempted to fire their skills at the mage, but a towering behemoth of a… person blocked the hit with nothing but their own body.

With a quick check using Psych Domain, Astrid realised that the man didn’t even have a heart. Or at least, the vivid red that should be there was absent.

It wasn’t just him. The vast majority of the robed people lacked them.

Just as the mana reached its peak, Astrid’s soul attack penetrated the robed figure's body. Seamless, without detection–the radiating magic skill was halted.

Blood ejected out of the mask as the effect was even greater than Astrid could have imagined. It seemed that he had put his all into the offensive skill, and the soul disruption had a severe effect as it stopped it mid cast.

Realising the attack had stopped, Daniel moved at a blistering pace toward the mage. Of course, Astrid wasn’t done, she had an innumerable amount of skills hidden up her sleeves, and she intended on using them all.

Illusions swept out, covering the speed users. In a blink of an eye, one body transformed into two, then four.

Daniel moved from left-to-right, mixing up his real frame from the illusions. The mage might have the Intelligence to detect it, but it was evident that the skill interruption had harmed something deep within him. He was incapable of letting the others know where the real attackers were.

So, Daniel attacked. His eyes lit up with various lines, and his iris flickered as if to decide which one to follow. In a split second, his vision settled. His blade moved. In a flash, his curved blade aimed straight for the mage’s throat.

However, before the blade could meet its target. Astrid felt a sudden burst of mana. It was far too fast for her to simply detect it, let alone counter it. Thankfully, it wasn’t a destructive skill.

In an instant act of teleportation, the massive bare chested man blinked in front of Danei’s blade.

Daniel’s eyes changed, but it was too late to deviate his blade all the way. All he could was choose the best path possible. His wrist flicked into a seemingly impossible angle as his blade sliced through his chest. However, when it hit bone–it was evident the wound was insignificant to the human monster.

Astrid didn’t know how it managed to teleport, but it seemed it was the mage’s doing. It made sense. If he was capable of teleporting to destinations using space magic, then it seemed that he had placed some sort of marking on the man–like an instant warping bodyguard.

Commanding her clone to bombard the warriors with an endless torrent of [Crashes], she patiently watched her attacks unfold. They devastated the weaker warriors, but the stronger ones resisted them without much trouble.

It was shocking. Not even Avemoth could escape unscathed from her brutal attacks. And the fact that they didn’t even have a heart meant they were some sort of undead.

Level ??? - Undead Corrupted Bodyguard.

| Level ??? - Undead Corrupted Bodyguard.

| Level ??? - Undead Corrupted Bodyguard.

It was the same for all of them.

The other speed users attacked, but the same situation occurred. In a burst of mana, the bodyguards would just blink to defend the mage.

Astrid’s original plan was to enter Mind Domain to stop the mage from using anymore skills, but the translocation being used wasn’t a skill that he had to concentrate on. Rather, it was activating without him.

She was hesitant on entering her Domain. The mage’s body was injured, but that wasn’t the same within the mind. He would be able to mount an attack, and who knows what he was capable of within her Domain.

If she could press her advantage in the real world while the mage couldn’t use any of his skills, it would be the safer outcome.

So that’s what she did. But first, she had to uncover what the hell was causing the bodyguards to instantly transfer to locations.

Astrid grabbed one of the weaker guards and reminded everyone not to attack it before sinking her mind into their body.

The familiar sight of corruption entered her vision. At first, she wasn’t even thinking of getting rid of the corruption because it would take too long, but honestly, she might have to. Twitching her fingers, she moved onto her plan. Detect what the hell was cursing them to teleport–and remove it.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t difficult to find it. Astrid wasn’t sure if it was because she was so familiar with the corruption, or if her knowledge of the human body was reaching a level that she wasn’t even aware of, but she had found it.

It was exactly as she had guessed; it was a brand. But instead of being placed on the flesh somewhere, it was planted straight into the dead heart. Well, it wasn’t exactly as dead as she first thought.

There was no red, but a faint energy swirled within. It was barely discernible. Something told her it wasn’t regular mana, but something else entirely.

Death mana, or energy? Astrid wondered.

She had heard of necromancers wielding the power of death mana to incredible efficacy. The images of when she had first awakened her powers and travelled into the underbelly were still vivid. After all, the image of that lich was stuck within her mind like a pervasive glue.

Well, she didn’t really want to get rid of it. So she didn’t mind. She quite liked how she could remember all the details at the beginning of her adventures.

Focus, Astrid. Astrid thought as she delved into the heart with her mind connection.

To her surprise, unlike a normal dead heart that was shrivelled, and grey. This one was healthy, beating. Yet it didn’t have the same life force as a normal living person would have.

Branded on the surface of the organ was a rune inscribed with intricate mana. She couldn’t even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to be so accurate, or how careful the mage would have to be in order for the heart not to break.

At first she attempted to unravel the mysterious rune, but she quickly realised that it was impossible to achieve in the short time that she had. So she had to resort to another method.

Thankfully to Astrid, breaking things were her forte.

She connected to the intricate inscription and [Crashed] it.

The heart was obliterated into nothingness, and the mana within the brand was disintegrated. The twinkling residue of mana seeped into the corpse’s flesh, but it didn’t do anything.

Even more surprisingly was the fact the walking corpse wasn’t affected by having its heart blow up. He received damage, sure, but it was just a flesh wound that any warrior could receive and walk it off.

The fight continued, yet the man that Astrid had removed the magical inscription of was no longer able to warp next to the mage.

Having her experimentation work, Astrid moved on to repeating the process of the next bodyguards that Daniel, and the others were having trouble with thanks to their freakishly evolved bodies.

But it was clear that the mage also had other skills up his sleeve…