Chapter 160 - Initial Retreat
.....
Saint Heaven Kingdom, Holy City, Shunkai Forest.
The battle of the experts is reaching its peak.
Lawless and Azacel were exchanging blows with a powerful force behind of each of their strikes. And every time their weapons collided with each other, a deafening sound and powerful shockwave were created and sent on all directions.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Boom!!
Rumble!!!
Lawless' doule-headed battle-axes and Azacel's double-edged greatsword collided once again and stayed in that position in the middle of the crater while looking at each other eyes.
"You really are not some ordinary guy. I wonder about your real identity,
" said by Azacel with a smirking smile.
Lawless smirked at his words and replied.
"Heh! Trust me; it is better for the both of us not to reveal my identity.
"
After that, Lawless put more force on both of his arms before pushing his battle-axes forward.
"Hah!
"
Azacel was pushed backwards by his opponent, forcing him to take two steps backward. Then Lawless' battle-axes were suddenly set ablaze with alternating deep-purple and dark-red flames.
'Racial Special Ability: Demon Flames Reinforcement'
And immediately after that, Lawless swung his battle-axes forward, transforming them into a bunch of blazing silhouettes that was leaving a trail of flames behind.
'Epic Combat Technique: Meteor Onslaught'
The pupils on Azacel's eyes suddenly contracted when he saw the blazing silhouettes. On his eyes, those things are like some comets that are coming on his way. And after that brief moment of surprise, Azacel suddenly formed a satisfied grin with his lips before activating his racial trait to risen his senses while tightening the grip on his greatsword.
'Racial Trait (WolfKin): Wolf's Senses'
(First appearance Chapter 120)
After that, he channeled a bunch of Mana on that greatsword while holding it in front of his chest and planning to blocked the incoming 'comets' with the surface of the sword.
'Advance Combat Technique: Defensive Sword'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each strike of Lawless' axe was like a hammer that is pounding a metal on forging table. And every time Azacel tried to block each of those strikes, he felt that he is being hit by trailer truck repeatedly. 'What the f*ck!? What kind of attacks was this?'
Azacel started to feel the pressure from Lawless after blocking the latter's attacks for some time. What's more, he felt that Lawless had no intention of stopping. It seems like the Berserker in front him is not going to stop until he died.
Azacel gritted his teeth while bracing himself at the incoming strike.
Bang!
Azacel manage to block another strike from Lawless. He then absorbed the force of impact before using it to hop backwards to distance himself away from the TigerKin and to get some breathing space.
Unfortunately for him, Lawless seemed to be able to predict that. So the moment Azacel hopped backwards, Lawless suddenly threw his left-hand battle-axe forward and sent it flying towards WolfKin's face.
'Berserker Skill: (Modified) Death Throw'
Swoosh!
The speed of the boomerang-like battle-axe is quite fast, but in Azacel's eye, he can still react at that speed without problem. He raised his arms upwards to adjust the position of his greatsword a little and placed it in front of his face to guard it using the surface of the sword.
And that was when Azacel realized his mistake. His vision was blocked by his own sword!
"F*ck!
"
Well, it is already too late.
Bang!!!
The battle-axe of Lawless hit the surface of Azacel's greatsword, making the latter to lose some balance. Azacel immediately tried to regain his footing for as much as possible. Unfortunately, Lawless grabbed that opportunity to start another assault.
Lawless leaped forward while raising his left hand to catch the returning battle-axe; and when he do, he immediately force his body to descend on ground while swinging down his left-hand battle-axe at Azacel.
'Bestial Warlord Skill (Tier 2): Monstrous Descent'
Since Azacel's view was being blocked his greatsword, he can see Lawless movements. But even if that was the case, he still able to feel the threat coming from above. So he adjusted his greatsword once again and raised it on top his head.
BANG!!!
But since his footing was a little off, he was immediately smashed on the ground because of the powerful force behind Lawless descend. And he got massive damage even if he managed to properly block the battle-axe. What's more, he was thrown in a miserable state just by taking a single attack from Lawless.
Azacel managed to raise his head to look at Lawless face when he was still lying on the ground. And that is when he saw Lawless fierce eyes under the hood of his cloak, looking down at him.
Azacel didn't know why, but he felt an immense fear when he looked at those eyes. It is as if a monster was standing in front of him, and planning to devour a God like him alive.
"You-!...
" was the last words that came out of Azacel's mouth when Lawless took his final breath by swinging the double-headed battle-axe on his hands downwards like some sort of war-hammers.
BOOM!!!
….
At the same time, on the other side of the battlefield where Charlotte and Rayford are fighting. The Swordmaster is starting to get frustrated at what is happening.
Since the very start of the battle, Rayford was always been in the losing end at his every exchange with Charlotte. Every time he executed a skill, the Elementalist in front of him was always been ready to counter it with her spells. What's more, each of those spells was more than enough to neutralize his skills so he was always forced to use another skill to counter that spell of hers. In short, a single spell of Charlotte was enough to suppress her opponent.
What's more, Charlotte was only relying on her weird tri-colored icicles and blinks to kite Rayford; which completely frustrated him further.
Charlotte managed to see on her peripheral vision that the battle on Lawless and Azacel side is about to end so she looked at Rayford pitifully while muttering to herself.
" It looks like the playtime is over.
"
Charlotte stopped on a single spot and didn't blink away, which confused Rayford. Then he heard her voice saying.
"You are actually strong, and you might have the slight class advantage, unfortunately, your battle style is happened to be ineffective to mine.
"
Then Rayford saw Charlotte chanted out a few words that gave him chills. Since the start of the battle, Charlotte was only using 'Silent Chanting'(casting a spell without doing anyting) or simple mudras(hand gestures to cast a spell) to insta-cast a spell. But now that she is chanting out some words, it means that this spell that she is about to use is somewhat powerful.
Rayford gritted his teeth to use his berserk skill to increase all of his stats, especially his speed and attack powers. After that, he immediately dashes forward while swinging his greatsword to ward off the incoming tri-colored icicles.
His speed is quite fast and he managed to bypassed most of the icicles without getting hit, unfortunately, he found himself in trouble when he reached the 10-meter mark away from Charlotte.
He is a Godlike Player so even if he didn't have a Magic and Mana affinity as high as Magical Classes, he can still feel the fluctuations of Mana on his surroundings. And the moment he entered the area of the spell that Charlotte was casting, he knew that he fell on the trap. So he immediately stopped his charge and hopped backwards, trying to get away from this predicament for as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, an ice wall suddenly appeared behind him, blocking his path of escape. He tried to circle around it, but the wall responded on his move and blocked his path once again. And with that, Rayford finally knew that can't escape anymore, all he could do for now is to face the spell head-on.
He stopped his escaping attempt and faced Charlotte one again, then he absorbed all the Mana on his surrounding and gather them on his greatsword, making the sword to be set ablaze with a blue-colored flame. Then he pulled his sword backwards while holding it in front of his chest in a horizontal manner. Then he charged forward while powerfully thrusting his sword forward.
'Swordmaster Skill (Tier 2): Justice Sword'
Swoosh!
And that is the time, when Charlotte is done with chanting out her spell. She waved her left hand leftwards, making the water
/ice elemental Mana on the surrounding to gather towards her and creating huge water-ball. Then, on the next moment, the surface of water-ball started to swirl and created a whirlpool before shooting forward with a great speed and transforming into horizontal water torrent that suddenly transformed into a roaring water dragon later.
'Elven Sage Skill (Tier 2): Water Dragon'
ROAR!!!
Ka-Boom!!
Ratford's sword and Charlotte's water dragon collided with each other for a brief moment, creating a deafening explosion. Then the water dragon devoured Rayford as he continued to maintain his thrusting posture while persevering to dash forward. At the same time, his HP is plummeting at great degree.
Swoosh!
After few moments, the water dragon spell ended and Rayford survived the attack. But the moment he got out of the tail of the dragon, he saw another dragon rushing towards him; and it was a blazing fire dragon this time.
Rayford smiled bitterly when he saw that and muttered to himself.
"What an unbelievable speed of casting spells. I guess I don't have any other choice.
"
Then he retrieved a scroll from hi inventory bag before ripping it without further ado. On the next instant, he transformed into particles of light before disappearing on his spot to who knows where.
At the same time, Charlotte waved her left hand once again to cancel her spell before knitting her brows.
"He escaped? Looks like these guys are not here to hunt us down. It is more like to test the waters. That guy didn't go all-out either.
"
The she looked at the direction where Faker and Credo were fighting, and it seems like the battle there is also come to an end.
….
Faker and Credo's side of battle, few moments before Rayford managed to escape from Charlotte.
Credo was a Human Paladin so Faker should be in disadvantage because the former have an ocular skill called 'Divine Eyes'; a skill that was somewhat similar to Shin's 'True Sight' skill that can see through stealth and illusions. But even though that was the case, Faker is still able to hold himself against Credo with his speed alone.
Even if Credo was able to block all of Faker's strikes with his swordsmanship, he was still able to feel the immense threat coming behind with each of those strikes. In battle, the one on the offensive side should be the one that spend much more strength than the defensive side, but from the looks of what's happening now, Credo is the one that is getting the mental pressure.
His swordsmanship focused about steadiness and calmness, and that was why he always able to respond on any attack without problem. He's quite confident that he will not lose on anyone in terms of Combat Technique as long as he is using this sword style of his. But this belief of his was being shattered by this mysterious person that he is currently battling.
On the eyes of the spectator, Credo seemed to be able to block all of Faker's attack calmly, but in fact, he is only able to do this because he is focusing all of his senses on defending alone. Yes, he is only defending because that is only what he can do.
It is not that he didn't want to attack; it's just that he couldn't attack even if he wanted to. Because he felt that the moment he did attack, something terrible might happen.
Scared? Yes, maybe this should be the thing that he is currently feeling. What else other than it? Every living being is reflexively afraid of death after all. And this very 'death' is currently loaming around him continuously.
Credo suddenly became dejected because of this. Who was he? He's a Godlike Player that is being worship by a lot of people, the `Heavenly God: Credo`! And now, he is being toyed by an unknown player that suddenly popped up somewhere.
And as if adding some salt on the wound, this guy was only using an Advance Combat Technique the entire time and nothing else.
'F*cking D*mn it! Who the f*ck is this guy?'
These are the thoughts that are running on Credo's mind with fighting against Faker before giving a small opening for Faker to attack. But strangely enough, Faker didn't grab the opportunity at all. He just stopped his assaults before hopping away from Credo.
This time, Credo knitted his brows before giving Faker a weird look. Then he smiled bitterly and said to the later.
"To think that you can even see through that feint, I really like to know who you are.
"
Faker shrugged his shoulders and said.
"Believe me when I say that all of my enemies in battle died when they heard my name.
"
Credo clicked his tongue and said.
"I'm really looking forward battling you again in the future to repay his humiliation that you just gave me. But for now, let me reflect on the lesson that you have just thought me.
"
After saying that, an inta-cast teleportation scroll appeared on Credo's left hand before he crashed it into pieces. Then he suddenly transformed into a stick of light and disappeared on his previous location.
It is not that Faker let him escape; it is just if he does, that Sniper hiding in the distance will kill him with his
/her magic bullet using the Sniper's skill 'One-shot-kill'. This is also the reason why he didn't grab the opportunity earlier to take down Credo.
Faker stared at the spot where Credo is previously standing and muttered to himself.
"You just got lucky this time because I need to hide my strength, but the next time we meet, consider yourself a dead meat.
"