Eckerz, in his tattered apprentice robe, groggily stood up, still unclear about his surroundings when he heard soone say they wanted to kill him. What arrogance, he thought, forcing himself to focus on the approaching figures.
Ivan jogged closer, fully taking in Eckerz's current appearance.
His body had beco bloated, his neck and arms were partially fused with erging snake scales, and the python head on his shoulder had grown by a third. This head had shielded him in the recent crisis and now emitted a weak hissing sound.
Ivan held a sword in one hand and clasped magic-casting materials he had dug out from dicinal herbs in the other, without a second word, he decided to take imdiate action.
'Vine Entanglent'
With the final half of the spell uttered, he flung the materials to an appropriate spot ahead of him.
A black vine rapidly extended, wrapping around Eckerz like a chain.
Simultaneously, Eckerz also cast the spell 'Lightning Whiskers,' causing his longsword to coil with dazzling lightning, slightly misshapen from blocking earlier, but its edge remained unaffected.
The longsword chopped at the approaching vine.
Lightning split the dark night.
The black vine was severed into two pieces.
Toyennes had praised the Vine Entanglent for its malleability, a trait Ivan rembered and utilized. The severed vine did not disperse but continued to float and wrap around him — one segnt coiled around Eckerz's arm, the other around the black python head.
The python head, indeed having been severely damaged earlier, could not escape the entwining vine.
Eckerz casually swung his sword twice, slicing the vine targeting his arm into four pieces, which then disintegrated back into energy particles.
"Whoosh!"
Following the vine was a stab from Ivan.
Under his apprentice robe, he was cloaked in a thin layer of Combat Energy, like wearing a fitted black sh shirt. Leveraging his agile steps, he unleashed his strongest strike, the trademark move of Bat's Eyes — 'Bat Ring Dance Stab.'
The two swords collided, emitting a crisp sound.
The tip of Ivan's Quillen Sword cleverly circled around the recoil, still aiming steadfastly for Eckerz's heart.
Such a familiar strike!
Eckerz was more injured than it seed; attempting to move, he was too slow. A figure inexplicably erged in his mind, also delivering such a stunning strike, which he had evaded slightly back then.
The sword tip pierced the heart.
Eckerz's mouth slightly opened as if he wanted to say sothing, but Ivan, grasping the sword handle, twisted it forcefully, severing the last thread of life.
Ivan withdrew the Quillen Sword, and as Eckerz was falling towards the ground, he delivered another sword strike, severing the still-struggling python head, then another stab to ensure he was fully finished.
"Damn you, Ivan, how dare you kill Eckerz, Sorcerer Toyennes won't let you get away with this," the voice of the little green winged snake blared in frustration, hesitant to approach due to Billerie being nearby.
What's done is done.
This was Ivan's first kill, and perhaps due to all he had experienced, he felt no discomfort.
He ignored Lahr, crouched down, and reached into Eckerz's pocket, searching out a book which he promptly stuffed into his own pocket.
"Interesting," Billerie cast a glance at the little green winged snake.
Seeing itself outnumbered, the winged snake couldn't stay any longer and fled. It needed to report everything to Sorcerer Toyennes; dealing with Billerie at the mont seed too daunting.
Perhaps because it had submitted an alignnt, Billerie no longer eyed Ivan with its piercing gaze.
"This is the lab's entrance token; the passcode is 'Lahr is a great snake.'"
Ivan voluntarily tossed the copper token and inford Lahr of the set passcode.
"What a fool," Billerie caught it with one hand and his huge body slithered aside.
The remaining two had to hasten to keep up.
A mont or two later, Billerie, without a sound, plunged into a pond, leaving the two who had followed him dumbfounded.
What does this an?
The two waited patiently for a while, but the water in the pond remained still.
Pearney said somberly, "Now we've beco chess pieces without any value."
Ivan subconsciously retorted, "A chess piece without value is not a chess piece." After saying that, he realized it precisely described their current situation.
The two exchanged glances, realizing that Billerie no longer planned to manage them, and they gained temporary freedom.
"What should we do?" Pearney patted her head, finding the situation increasingly baffling, "How about we stay by the ship and seize it to break out of these waters the mont the opportunity arises?"
"Let's wait for dawn, Billerie, having got what he wanted, will probably stir up a storm in no ti." Ivan understood that seizing the ship was not an easy escape from the island.
The two dared not continue to stay by the pond and, without a particular destination in mind, wandered leisurely.
"Well hidden, I never expected you to be a Knight. That last sword move was quite good."
"It's just not necessary to ntion it everywhere."
Pearney suggested, "I'll take you to a place, safer than wandering around here."
"Okay."
Ivan nodded in agreent.
What Ivan did not expect was that Pearney took him to the ruins behind the castle, away from the castle in one direction.
"We'll stay on the edge, one of the places where I hid before." Pearney led him to a collapsed wall, weaving left and right before expertly slipping into a crack caused by a subsidence underground, arriving in a narrow cave.
The cave was clearly man-made, small at the entrance but wider inside.
"You're really brave." Ivan didn't know what else to say, this place was definitely the epito of hazardous buildings, a slight mishap could cause multiple collapses, basically a perfect spot to bury oneself alive.
"My courage was honed right here." Pearney sat down on the dried grass on the floor, leaning against the cave wall.
Recalling her previous life as a well-pampered noble young lady, Ivan fell silent, all thanks to Sorcerer Toyennes's misdeeds, no wonder Billerie wanted to end him so badly, in fact, Ivan also wanted to strike him a few tis, but his strength just didn't allow it.
A new day.
Faint glimrs of light made their way into the crevice, and Ivan knew it must be daylight.
"Wake up quickly."
He noticed a slight noise, listened carefully, and felt the surrounding cave walls faintly vibrating, quickly waking Pearney who was still sleeping.
Pearney looked at Ivan with a puzzled expression, her face serious.
"What's wrong?"
"I heard noises, the surroundings are vibrating."
"You're overthinking it. I told you, despite it looking like it might collapse, I've secretly reinforced it; it won't co down easily. This isn't caused by collapse but so sort of attack, the surroundings are very stable."
Pearney, not having heard the noise he ntioned, naturally didn't believe him and thought he was overly worried.
Ivan wouldn't tell her about his exceptional hearing and didn't argue with her. Instead, he made his stance clear by leaving the cave and climbing towards the upper part of the crevice.
"Keep up."
"Why are you so unreasonable?"
Pearney watched him, slightly frustrated, but reluctantly followed.
She had just left the cave entrance when she saw Ivan pounce towards her, toppling her unprepared self back into the cave.
Before Pearney could scold him, they heard a loud 'boom' outside, debris and rubble fell into the crevice, the little light in the cave disappeared, and this ti she heard the continuous vibrating sound, the ground all around them shaking persistently.
Clearly, sothing big was happening outside.
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