City of Sin

Book 5, 92

Secret Sword

Richard’s face flushed red as a bloodthirsty aura began to seep out from his body. This was the first time he had used Sacrifice to power a grade 9 spell. Although this Wail of the Banshee had been simplified so he could cast it with his current abilities, it was still far beyond the power of a regular grade 8 spell.

The Daxdians suffered catastrophic losses. The slave ants gathered here were around level 15 on average, so even as cannon fodder their deaths were a huge loss. Most of the others were grievously injured, with the skaven certainly maimed for life.

The surviving Daxdians looked at him with burning eyes, all kinds of roars intersecting as they charged forward to attack. However, Richard just smiled as he withdrew the dagger form of Carnage from his case, and an amber moon appeared above his head. A crimson aura enveloped him completely, his hands so red they seemed to be dripping with blood.

The enraged enemies had no chance to respond.

Amber crescents flew out from Richard’s location, the air rippling almost like water as they pierced through their targets. Unlike Mario’s attack, every ripple of sword light had traces of crimson within. Some only had specks of this red energy, while others had their entire edge laced in the colour.

From a bird’s eye view, it was almost like a yellow rose was blooming in a puddle of blood. The Daxdians quickly lost balance and fell down, their bodies cut apart at various angles. Even the fastest to react had suffered multiple cuts on their arms, and after a moment whatever they used to block was spurting blood endlessly. Even worse, the wounds were starting to decay at an alarming pace. A Daxdian with draconic scales and a crocodile-like mouth screamed in horror as its entire jaw turned into grey dust.

A mist of blood enveloped the clearing, hiding Richard’s figure. It dissipated in less than a minute to reveal him still standing in place, but now there were no corpses around. All that remained were tiny pieces of flesh.

Terrifying! Richard himself felt his heart nearly come to a stop. Combined with the power of his truename and the evolved Lifesbanes, the Ring of Fate had destroyed everything in a ten-metre radius! Some of the surviving Daxdians started to retreat slowly, while the rest were too frozen with fear to even move. The experts had been in the first wave in an attempt to take Richard out as quickly as possible, but that had completely backfired.

As the flowing blood turned into a crimson steam, the morale of the camp plummeted.

Richard surveyed his surroundings, his heart still thumping at the realisation of how much power he had wielded. His form seemed to be completely stable right now, but he could feel the lack of energy start to burn his body from within. All of his organs raged with pain at the exhaustion, taking nearly all of his effort to calm down.

Was the eternal war in the depths of the abyss also such a scene?

A vicious roar suddenly shook Richard out of his momentary daze, the enemy legend immediately abandoning its fight with Beye and rushing towards him instead. However, Beye was no ordinary saint. The enemy immediately paid the price for the impulsive decision as she effortlessly stuck behind it and slashed its back. A flower of blood bloomed in the air as she made a metre-deep incision, causing the enemy to roar and give up on its swoop.

“Hurry up and get rid of the mess!” Beye screamed from above, “I need help here!”

“Fuck off!” Richard answered, “It’s not that easy!”

It hadn’t been long since the start of the fight, but he had used Sacrifice to activate a grade 9 spell and then used Mana Armament, Lifesbane and the Ring of Fate in tandem to attack. His mana instantly hit rock bottom, and if not for the remaining enemies he would have dropped to the floor and fallen asleep right away.

Still, Richard just cracked his neck and stowed the elven sword away, pulling out the other half of Carnage before bounding across the blood and flesh.

The closest Daxdian was a tall centaur captain, but its chest and forearms were gashed to the bone. One could see the wounds still spreading further apart, courtesy of the Lifesbane. However, he was still the strongest enemy in the vicinity. He was shocked to see Richard heading towards him, but quickly roared in range before lifting his forelegs to try and stomp down.

Richard just raised his left hand, causing a lightning bolt to paralyse the centaur for a moment. Seizing the opportunity, he left an afterimage behind as Carnage buried itself to the hilt.

It was only then that the battle resumed. Richard quickly retreated, side-stepping an attack as he cast a binding spell on another Daxdian who was rushing over. The enemy was only stopped for an instant, but that was enough time for Richard’s silhouette to flash past. The Daxdian barely noticed his rib being torn apart, only able to look down in horror as his organs started to pour out from within.

A nearby skaven that was struggling up was finally sent to its grave, after which a dazed enemy was sent to the ground with another lightning spell. Slash after stab, spell after spell, Richard slowly eliminated every single survivor in the area. He wasn’t particularly fast, Mana Armament wasn’t activated, but his movements were strange and always caught the enemy’s weaknesses.

Still, there were occasions where he had to overdraw on his mana once more. A draconian managed to circle around to his back and swoop down, forcing him to flash with sparks once more as he jumped over the attack and slashed at the enemy’s back. He even had to spend two spells and four more thrusts before the enemy died.

At this point, there were less than ten Daxdians still alive. They looked at Richard like he was a natural predator, the fear evident in their eyes as they fled back into the caves. Unable to catch them all at once, Richard just sighed in relief. He could barely even stand with his remaining strength, forget searching through the caverns to find these last enemies. Leaning against his sword, he looked at the battle above. He had no energy to aid Beye right now, and even hoped that she would carry him back home.

The two powerhouses in the air noticed that the battle in the camp was over. The legend roared in anguish, while Beye silently activated the dense crimson energy of Lifesbane to its fullest. A mist of blood immediately appeared around the two, the killing intent almost palpable.

A moment later, the enemy legend screamed in pain before fleeing into the depths of the darkness. Beye just floated out, her entire body soaked in blood like a battle goddess that had walked out of hell, but once the enemy was far away she suddenly dropped from the skies.

Without even the time to be shocked, Richard cast Featherfall and dashed towards her landing point. Even with the spell he had to jump to catch her, and the two fell heavily to the ground and only stopped after a few rolls.

“Ugh!” He begrudgingly took out the Book of Holding, converting the last remaining spell within into mana to power Mana Armament. He picked her up in a bridal carry, swaying to his feet and beginning to walk.

Beye’s body was extremely soft and powerless, clearly because all of her energy was spent. She was also covered in blood, but he didn’t have the energy right now to check the extent of her injuries. His brows furrowed, “Can you still walk?”

“Carry me back,” Beye answered weakly, “I need... the old geezer.”

“Damn it! Didn’t you want to kill the enemy legend? I was still hoping you’d carry me back!”

“Stronger than I expected. Come on, walk faster, or we won’t have the chance to leave.”

Richard just snorted, shifting her onto a shoulder before walking out of the barracks. Several enemies peeked out from their holes, their ferocity starting to return, but a few sparks at his hand from Mana Armament sent them running away once more. He sighed once again, heading towards the City of the Unsetting Sun.