Chapter 670: Collecting the eye [1]
Lazarus didn’t waste a single second and activated [Lant of Lies]. He didn’t know how much ti he had, and so, every little second mattered.
As his figure faded from the spot, he turned around to where Anne was and told her to wait for his signal.
‘I’ll voice out the signal in your mind. Only act when you hear my voice inside your mind.’
‘…I understand.’
Lazarus nodded and turned his attention towards the spot where he originally appeared and set up another statue.
‘In case sothing goes wrong. Preferably, I don’t want to use it.’
While shifting between statues thanks to Wobbles’ help was quite convenient, it also took a heavy toll on his mind and body. Not only did it make his mind foggy, but for a brief mont, he’d also feel weak.
If caught off-guard, he’d be in trouble.
Still, it was an excellent way to get out of tricky situations.
‘By the ti I use Wobble’s ability, I shouldn’t be in a position where I need to fight, so it doesn’t matter too much.’
With the statue in place, Lazarus flicked his hand toward it, sending a coral to latch onto its back. Then he rushed forward, heading straight toward where he sensed Sylas.
His movents were quiet, and his figure had completely blended with the surroundings.
Within the darkness, the muffled crash of water echoed faintly in the distance as he moved closer to Sylas. Eventually, he ca to a stop, his brows drawing together the mont he did.
‘What is he doing?’
Squinting his eyes, he saw Sylas moving around the place, holding sothing…
Because of the darkness surrounding the place, it beca hard for him to see clearly, but he understood after a few short seconds.
‘He’s looking for the sceptre…’
The thing he was holding was none other than the mirror.
In the end, he didn’t give up on his search, and he was using his ti to look for the sceptre.
‘Is the sceptre really that powerful? I understand that it used to belong to a Goddess, but as far as I’m aware, it’s broken… It’s very likely that the reason the sceptre was so strong was because of the eye. I can’t have him get that.’
Thankfully, judging from how he was roaming around aimlessly, the mirror didn’t appear to be working.
Seeing how distracted Sylas was, this looked like the perfect opportunity to strike.
As the darkness thickened around him and the distant roar of the water continued, Lazarus’s entire body tensed, bracing himself for an attack.
He waited.
Waited for the right mont to strike.
And then—
The mont arrived as Sylas turned his body away from him, facing his back in his direction.
This is it!
With a flick of his hand, he shouted.
“Now!”
His body shot rapidly towards Sylas, a red and green orb appearing in his mind, fusing together to form a yellow one as his body popped and squird, a terrifying montum rising up from his body.
At the sa ti, not far from where he was, Anne appeared from within the darkness, her body lunging towards Sylas from the opposite direction.
They were both so fast and quick that Sylas didn’t even have the ti to react before the two of them were already upon him.
BANG!
A thunderous crash rang out as waves of circular wind pressure erupted from the point where the two had struck.
The fragnted water burst apart at once, splashing in every direction as they struck the exact spot where Sylas had just been.
Their attacks were quick and precise, leaving Sylas with no room to escape, but…
“…..”
It was much to their horror to see that their attacks landed on nothing.
Once the water settled down, Anne and Lazarus were both stunned to see Sylas completely gone from where he was.
“Crap, it’s a trap!”
Lazarus’s eyes shook, but by the ti he realized it was already too late as a figure appeared right behind him, his white eyes shining faintly in the darkness.
“Got you~”
He placed both hands on either side of Lazarus’s head and pressed down, as if trying to crush it.
“…..!”
Lazarus’s face changed drastically, but only for a brief mont as Sylas’s hands ca crashing down, squeezing Lazarus’s hand into a pulp.
Spurt!
Blood spilled all over.
“Lazarus!”
Anne’s shout echoed shortly after, her figure rushing towards where Lazarus and Sylas were.,
…But she soon stopped when she saw Lazarus’s body fade away from Sylas’s hands, leaving him standing there with a blank expression.
Slowly turning his head, Sylas looked towards the distance where he spotted Lazarus’s figure.
“An illusion?”
Did he think he was stupid?
Sylas’s figure similarly faded, appearing right behind Lazarus as though he had teleported.
In reality, he had expected Lazarus to act like this from the very start, as he repeated the sa motion from before, catching Lazarus off guard.
He had been so obvious with his trap that Sylas had been waiting for him the entire ti.
“…!”
This ti, Lazarus was unable to hide his shock and surprise as Sylas appeared behind him. It was there that he understood that Sylas had long seen through his illusion and had just been baiting him with an illusion of his own.
‘Right, it’s as An’as told … He’s a master of illusions.’
By the ti he realized it was already too late, and he had fallen for Sylas’s bait as he had been secretly approaching his body the entire ti.
Lazarus was also sure that this was Sylas’s real body, and seeing how the situation had turned, he didn’t waste a single second and switched places with the statue.
‘I’ve got no choice…’
As the coral latched at the back of his head pulsed, his figure faded from the spot, replaced by a certain statue.
BANG!
The statue shattered into thousands of pieces as Sylas’s hand smacked down on it.
“…..”
Standing in silence, Sylas stared at the fragnted pieces of rock in his hand as he turned his attention elsewhere.
“Haa… Haaa…”
Breathing deeply, Lazarus looked towards Sylas, eting his gaze as cold sweat trickled down the side of his face.
“…T-that was close.”
Had he been a second too late, his head would’ve been crushed into a pulp.
He had managed to get away just in the nick of ti.
…Or at least, that was what he thought.
But…
“Was it?”
“…..!”
A voice soon echoed right behind him, and his expression changed drastically.
How? How did he…!?
“You think I’m going to fall for the sa trick twice?”
Sylas moved, dashing towards the shocked Lazarus from behind. He had been aware of Lazarus’s ability with the statue, and as such, he understood that Lazarus’s end goal was always going to be to swap places with the statue.
Having felt Lazarus set it up from the start, he played along with whatever Lazarus was planning, knowing that he’d always end up here.
He baited him twice, forcing him to use the statue so that he could deal the final blow there.
By the ti Lazarus realized it, it was already too late.
There was no stop—
‘Now.’
“Huh…?”
KACHA!
It was like a bolt of lightning had suddenly struck from out of nowhere, catching Sylas off guard.
By the ti he realized what had happened, he felt a terrifying pain over his right hand as he instinctively let go of whatever he was holding, only to see Lazarus appear not far from where he was to catch it.
“Thanks.”
Snatching the mirror for himself, Lazarus moved back, his expression calm as he sported a simple smile on his face.
Not far from him, Anne appeared, her brown hair fluttering as she looked at Lazarus.
“Did you manage to get it?”
“Yes.”
Lazarus held up the mirror, and Anne nodded her head.
“Alright, do your thing. I’ll hold him back for now.”
“…Yes.”
Lazarus didn’t waste a single second and dashed away, leaving Anne standing right before Sylas, who slowly started to comprehend the situation.
“Clever. How clever.”
“Clever. How clever.”
“Clever. How clever.”
The voices started to slip out of his mouth as he covered it with his hand. Replaying the scene from before in his mind, he quickly realized what had happened.
‘He baited just like I baited him. The entire ti… his goal has been the mirror.’
He had set up this intricate plan in order to snatch the mirror from him…
Lazarus’s train of thought was similar to his, thinking of the statue as the endpoint.
Sylas had baited Lazarus at the start to get him to use the statue’s power so he could sneak up on him and catch him off-guard, when Lazarus also thought the sa, knowing he would do that.
To be able to do that…
‘He really had a lot of faith in .’
Sylas found himself chuckling at the thought. The entire exchange had lasted no more than a couple of seconds, and yet… in such a short amount of ti, the two of them had sched against each other multiple tis.
In the end… he had lost.
The thought made him chuckle, but no smile appeared on his face.
His blood was boiling as he turned his attention towards Anne, who was standing not far from where he was, staring at him with a serious expression.
Neither one of the two said a word as Anne raised her whip and slashed down with it.
KACHA!
Her whip shot rapidly in his direction, so fast that he could barely trace it with his eyes.
Rather than defending himself, Sylas just stood there, allowing the whip to hit him, slashing his face and leading to blood gushing out as his body stumbled back several steps before he finally stopped.
“You…”
His actions caught Anne off guard, causing her to montarily pause as Sylas raised his hand to wipe the blood on his face.
“I deserve this.”
Sylas muttered, wiping the blood onto his shirt as he stared at Anne.
For his failure, he deserved to be hit once.
But only once.
His white eyes flickered as he stared at her.
Then—
He snapped his fingers, and the world surrounding Anne froze.
“…!”
Wiping the blood from his face once more, he shifted his gaze toward the distant figure of Lazarus. A grotesque cracking sound rose from within him as his bones began to snap and twist, his body contorting into sothing mangled and monstrous.
Anne stared at the scene in horror, and by the ti Sylas was done, his figure had morphed into two.
“Go.”
Sylas nudged with his head, sending his clone towards Lazarus before turning his attention toward Anne, who had managed to snap out of his sudden control.
Her face turned grim as she stared in Sylas’s direction.
‘This might be more troubleso than I expected.’
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