The golden-armored soldier who went by the na Zahhi Schneller proclaid himself a god, but sothing didn’t add up. This contradicted Asumi’s information.
The gods of the Khan race once ruled over a whole continent with their followers, only to be wiped out by the curses of the very god they had destroyed. If Asumi’s story is to be believed, then Zahhi must be lying, but it makes no sense for him to lie at this mont. What was going on?
“Nuuh! This pressure, don’t let your guard down!” Master said.
“I know that without you telling ,” Jude replied.
However, I had no room to spare for seeking answers to my questions at this mont. Zahhi in front of us had lost his golden armor and now stood in nothing but undergarnts. Yet he emanated an overwhelming aura that sent shivers down our spines just by confronting him. There was no room for any unnecessary thoughts.
Even the self-assured Jude had his spear pointed at Zahhi without a hint of his usual composure. My instincts were ringing alarms like never before, and to be honest, I wanted to flee right then and there.
However, I wasn’t in a position where that would be allowed…. and above all, exposing my back would likely result in my death. It seed that the only way to survive was to fight with all my might and erge victorious.
[Hmm, a language I’ve never heard before. And the taste of the air and the sensation of the earth beneath my feet are different… Could this be another continent?]
While we were in a state of extre tension, Zahhi looked very calm. He seed more concerned with assessing his own situation in front of us. It was as if he didn’t consider us a threat.
However, the reality was that there was such a significant disparity in power that his complacency was justified. Instinct warned that stepping in thoughtlessly would lead to a swift and effortless death, much like plucking a flower. We couldn’t even move as our blades were pointed at him.
[But still, what is this feeble body? Although it’s far from mine, I can sense my own essence within it. A descendant, perhaps? But why am I inhabiting the body of my descendant? I can’t recall; my mories are hazy. I understand nothing.]
Zahhi seed perplexed as he examined his own body. Master and Jude probably had no clue about what he was saying, and although I was struggling to catch everything, I had a rough understanding.
According to Zahhi’s mutterings, he didn’t seem to comprehend what was happening to him.
Furthermore, it appeared that the body he was in wasn’t his own. This might give us an opportunity.
[It seems he’s asleep, but I sense the presence of my comrade from behind… I should try to get answers from him. At any rate, let’s finish all the thinking after I deal with these ones.]
“He’s coming!”
Zahhi, who had been lost in thought, finally turned towards us. Just as he himself had ntioned, it seed like he would deal with us before contemplating anything further. Master raised his voice, and Jude widened his eyes, determined not to miss any movent.
I, too, remained vigilant, but I was also confused. This was because, despite declaring his intention to kill us, I couldn’t sense any killing intent emanating from him.
However, I quickly surmised the reason for this. Most likely, we were not being seen as enemies by this guy. There is no one who actually emits murderous intent every ti they cut grass or crush insects. To Zahhi’s eyes, we appeared to be no more than that.
Zahhi floated gently and conjured a tallic straight sword out of thin air before gripping it in his right hand. He had probably created it using spiritual arts, and both its activation and construction happened in an instant. His mastery of spiritual arts seed to be in a league of its own. I didn’t know if the man before us was a god, but he was undoubtedly a formidable entity.
“Nuh!”
[Ho?]
“Shh!”
“Hmph!”
Why floating, Zahhi closed the distance without conveying any preparatory moves. He swung his sword, which Master deflected with his poleaxe. It seed Zahhi was impressed by the unexpected block.
Jude and I didn’t let that split-second opening go to waste. Jude thrust like a flash towards his throat, and I launched a low, swift attack at his legs. Without a word, our coordination was impeccable, the result of choosing the most effective moves instinctively.
[Haha! Surprisingly skilled, aren’t you?]
“What!?”
“Ugh!”
However, Zahhi dealt with our attacks while wearing an amused smile, even chuckling as he did so. In an unbelievable turn of events, he seized Jude’s spear and delivered a swift kick to my face. I instinctively crossed my arms to block the kick, and simultaneously, Zahhi pulled the spear he grabbed closer while thrusting with his sword.
Jude didn’t hesitate as well. He moved forward without resisting the pulling force and leaped upward, narrowly avoiding the sword. Only the tip of his spear was grazed. Moreover, during his leap, he twisted the spear, causing Zahhi to release it.
I, too, reacted quickly to the kick, leaping backward just in ti to minimize the impact. I then rolled on the ground to break my fall. My right arm’s exoskeleton, which had taken a direct hit when I crossed my arms, was shattered and bleeding, but fortunately, it wasn’t broken. Healing had already begun, so there was no cause for concern.
“Nuh!”
[Hmm…]
Master, who managed to parry Zahhi’s sword attack, swung his poleaxe. It seed to have been quite heavy, as there was a slight furrow on Zahhi’s brow. Master’s strike, delivered with his entire body’s force, possessed a power that could make even gods tremble. As expected of master.
Thanks to Master, an opening appeared once more, and Jude and I launched another assault on Zahhi. In response, Master changed his fighting style; he now focused on thrusts rather than powerful swings. It seed like a tactical adjustnt to overwhelm our opponent with the combined efforts of the three of us.
While the emphasis often went to the strength of our strikes, it was evident, as seen in his earlier parry, that Master excelled in techniques as well. When facing two spears(one spear and one poleaxe) and two swords attacking from different angles, even soone who called themselves a god seed to be feeling the pressure, as indicated by the deepening furrow on his brow.
[Hmm… Facing three opponents might be a bit tricky. In that case, let’s add sothing of my own.]
Right after these words, Zahhi conjured a diamond-shaped shield in his left hand. It seed that his preferred combat style involved a balanced mix of offense and defense using both sword and shield.
The addition of the shield completely changed the situation. The four weapons of the three of us couldn’t touch Zahhi anymore. His sword and shield defense was nearly impenetrable, and he deflected everything with a composed expression.
“This bastard, underestimating us like this!”
While sweating profusely from his forehead, Jude roared as he employed ice spiritual arts. His spear’s tip was enveloped in ice, giving birth to ice blades.
The blades he created weren’t rely extensions of the spear’s tip. They extended from the base of the spearhead, both left and right, forming a cross-like shape when combined with the handle.
“Shaaaah!”
“Don’t get all heated up, you fool!”
Jude vigorously swung his ice spear in every direction. Despite his reckless assault, which discarded defense in favor of aggression, Master had no choice but to assist him. I found myself in the sa position.
Jude’s consecutive attacks were a sight to behold. The sharpness of his thrusts remained, but he incorporated sweeps and strikes with the spear’s butt, making his movents unpredictable. With the increased length and width of the spearhead due to the ice blades, I doubted I would have co out unscathed if I were in Zahhi’s position.
[Too predictable. Do you think such tricks can work on ?]
“What!?”
However, our opponent proved to be too crafty. Up to this point, we had relied on Master’s movents as the focal point of our strategy, with Jude preventing any counterattacks with his sharp thrusts while I attempted to disrupt our enemy’s defenses from difficult positions. Yet it seed that abruptly altering the roles of Master and Jude was too much to handle. A slight disruption occurred in our coordination, and Zahhi skillfully seized that opportunity.
He deftly used his shield to deflect the ice blades, and with each powerful thrust, he hamred away at the ice blades with his shield, shattering them. The impact of the shattering blades sent Jude sprawling, exposing a fatal opening.
“Youngster!”
[Die, brat…?]
“Ugh!”
Master’s poleaxe, swung to rescue Jude, was deflected by the shield, and Zahhi’s sword closed in on Jude’s neck as if drawn towards it. However, before the strike could land….my tail hurled his body forward.
I believe I did a good job in saving Jude’s life. However, the cost was significant. My tail, which could be called my fifth limb, was severed from the middle. If I hadn’t blocked off my sense of pain beforehand, I might have been writhing in agony.
“Well done, disciple!”
[It seems I underestimated you. That grotesque form of your body wasn’t just for show.]
“…Damn it!”
Master smiled happily as he spun his poleaxe once before assuming his stance again. Zahhi shot a resentful glare, while Jude, seemingly frustrated, alternated between glaring at Zahhi and . Hey, what’s with that attitude, even though I saved you?
Just as I was starting to regret helping that Jude guy, a spiritual attack from Lady Altissia flew in from behind. Zahhi swiftly slashed it with his sword, then let out a deep sigh.
His stance seed to be full of openings, but for so reason, my sense of caution heightened rapidly upon witnessing his actions. It appeared both master and Jude shared the sa sentint, as none of us made a move.
[I, the divine one, shall bestow death directly, and yet it is obstructed… My interest has waned. Let us put an end to this ga.]
“Do you understand what he just said, disciple?”
“He said, ‘Let’s put an end to this ga’.”
“Tch! Don’t get cocky!”
Jude tried to put on a brave front, but his voice faltered a bit. He must have understood the implications of Zahhi, who had thus far faced us with ease, now going all out.
The tension-filled atmosphere was shattered by Lady Altissia’s spiritual attack. As Zahhi sliced through the intensified spiritual attack with his sword, which now had a greater impact than before, the three of us sprang into action simultaneously. Instinctively, we knew that waiting would an certain death.
[Child’s play.]
“””Wha-!?”””
Zahhi muttered sothing in a mocking tone, and in an instant, the three of us were sent flying, blood splattering in all directions. I couldn’t see anything, but it seed we had been struck. At the edge of my vision, the shimring fragnts of master’s armor strangely appeared beautiful.
As we lay on the ground, only Master and I managed to rise to our feet. Master’s tal armor and my exoskeleton had apparently protected us… but Jude, who had been wearing light armor, seed to have suffered significant wounds. He wasn’t dead, but he lay there convulsing with a copious amount of blood flowing.
“Guoh!?”
“Guh!?”
Zahhi wasted no ti and rcilessly pressed his attack on master and , despite the fact that we had barely managed to stand. While he hadn’t completely disappeared from my sight, having seen this move before, I judged that there was no chance of evasion. All I could do was thrust my sword in front of the blade, which was closing in on my neck.
Imdiately after I heard the sound of sothing breaking, the white blade sliced through my chest again. It seed that the white sword I had been holding in my right hand had broken. The black sword remained intact, but that was simply because I hadn’t had ti to thrust it. If the sword had approached from the left, it would have been who was broken.
Master seed to be in a similar situation, with the shaft of his poleaxe snapped in two and his abdon cut. He tried to stand, using the shortened poleaxe as a makeshift staff while clutching his wounded belly, but he couldn’t muster the strength and remained on one knee.
“Huff… huff…”
[Oh? You’re still standing. Quite resilient.]
Even though both Master and Jude beca incapacitated, I managed to rise. It was a reckless act made possible only by suppressing the pain. In reality, my legs were trembling weakly and devoid of strength.
Just standing was a struggle, and I was far from being in any condition to fight. However, escaping at this point was impossible. I didn’t even have the energy to run away.
However, I couldn’t give up on living. I had a mission to survive for a hundred years. Fulfilling that mission now seed nearly impossible, but as long as I was alive, I would struggle until the very end.
[That unwavering will to live… It’s quite unpleasant.]
“Ugh…”
It seed that Zahhi was displeased with my decision to stand. Floating towards , he deliberately sliced through my trembling thigh as if my exoskeleton didn’t exist, easily cutting it, and I fell to the ground, face down.
Still refusing to give up, I hurled the broken white sword while attempting to slash his leg with the intact black sword. However, ruthlessly, the remnants of the thrown sword were blocked by a shield, and before I could swing, the sword impaled my left arm, pinning it to the ground.
[I rember now. That unyielding gaze of yours… It resembles the accursed child of the forest. Truly detestable… Just die already, abomination.]
Zahhi remained afloat in the air as he lifted his knee. I realized he was trying to crush my head underfoot, and just as I understood his intent, he brought his foot down. I could do nothing but glare at the sole of that foot, which for so reason seed to be descending slowly, all the while keenly aware of my own helplessness.
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