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Book 4: Chapter 138: Strike
Book 4: Chapter 138: Strike
Book 4: Chapter 138: Strike
The dark corridor was endlessly long, no one knew where it led to. The route ahead, hidden in the shadows, was like a deadly beast expecting its prey to walk right into its waiting mouth.
Frantic footsteps broke the silence. Several figures appeared at the end of the corridor, sprinting toward the other end, like time travelers who vanished without a trace.
“I think we only have one pursuer behind us.”
Choobchoob had her eyes closed and was surrounded by a green glow. Although her hand was on Durance’s shoulder, her speed was no weaker than her male companions. Even if she could not see, she was extremely sensitive to presence with her clan’s ancient technique. Hence, she could clearly perceive the slender silhouette of their pursuer.
According to the princess’ intel, he seemed to be someone named… Shiloah?
Her limbs were starting to feel cold. She could detect the strange man’s invincible aura though he was only a rank nine like them.
Rather than calling him invincible in a sense that he was undefeatable… It was more like he was unharmable.
He was like one of those bosses in the video game whose HP bar faded a bit at one end. Only god knew how much HP he had. Even if you managed to grind his HP bar countless times, he would just reveal another HP bar in a different color.
“If it’s just one enemy, why don’t we just get rid of it?”
Rossdel, already extremely humiliated by the fact that he was being chased after like a weak dog, proposed with a fierce glint in his eyes.
“No, you must not turn back at all cost!”
Leshiah’s pressed voice came from the spectrum stone in Durance’s hand.
“Putting Shiloah’s terrifying strength aside, technically speaking, you guys are not being pursued by only one enemy.”
“Not only one?”
The revelation got Durance frowning in confusion. Flashing Strike, his family’s sword technique, was fast, accurate and powerful. As a result, identifying the enemy’s location and strength was critical. Hence, having excellent vision was paramount. In fact, it was a skill that every Aneva family member must train from a young age. It was not an exaggeration to say that among an army of ten thousand strong, Durance could accurately perceive… the mole at the corner of a weak soldier’s lips.
However, no matter how hard he looked, he was sure that there was only one person chasing after them from behind.
“Don’t be deceived by what you see. That strange man named Shiloah, has another face named Gaz growing on his a?s?s?.”
“On his a?s?s??”
A certain keyword immediately piqued Lucas’ attention. He leaned over, not forgetting to jut his a?s?s? out while running with a joyful smile on his face.
“Could it be that the strange guy named Shiloah… Is an a?s?s? guy like myself? Looks like I should find time to make ? friends ? with him.”
“…”
Did this guy decide to be true to himself and live his ideal life?
Lesiah’s voice came out of the spectrum stone once again. “Remember what I told you before? These weirdos each have their own special abilities.”
“I thought you said that was just something you made up to confuse the enemy?”
“The abilities were made up, but it is true that they each possess a special ability.”
The expression on everyone’s face immediately turned serious.
“As I have explained, Shiloah’s ability was [ All-seeing ]. He could read his target as long as they were in his line of sight.”
“Everything…”
Durance fell into a deep thought. That was indeed an absurdly terrifying ability.
Not just because it was an ability similar to mind-reading, but…
“Everything? Wait…”
Choobchoob was suddenly panic-stricken. “What do you mean by everything?”
Lesiah fell silent for two seconds. “It means everything: your past, your thoughts, things you’ve done, whatever is happening or has happened. He could see them all. In Shiloah’s eyes, you are fully transparent.”
“What? Even the events in the past?”
Choobchoob paled, like she just remembered something bad. “That means…”
“Ohoho, as expected of the princess to have figured out everything about me.” Unbeknownst to anyone, the distance between them and Shiloah had shrunk greatly. Although no one could say how close he was, he was close enough for them to see each other’s pores on their faces.
The monochromatic makeup on his face was bizarre and somewhat appalling.
Shiloah had a blissful smile on his face, even though he just got kicked heavily by Lady Cornelia. It had been too long since he last experienced the rush of chasing after his prey.
Not long ago, he only get to either torture that weakling of a princess or be tortured by that insane dragon girl. That was not at all enjoyable because in the end, he did not even get a lick of his lovely princess.
Gaz had fainted from excitement, after getting kicked in the face by Lady Cornelia. Without anyone else fighting for control, Shiloah finally felt that his entire body was his again.
What an ecstatic feeling this was!
He sharpened his claws while watching Choobchoob who looked strangely petrified. Like setting the shaky wooden building in her mind on fire, he chuckled. “That’s right, little girl. I can read you like an open book. I can see everything you have done and what kind of a person you are.”
Shiloah was thoughtful enough to keep his concealed meaning subtle.
Yet the suspense was killing Choobchoob.
“Ohoho, you seem agonized, little girl. Do you want me to say it out loud to relieve you of that mental burden?” Shiloah drawled, like he was a child threatening someone for candies.
It was simple, yet effective.
!!
Choobchoo felt a squeeze in her heart. Fear coursed through her veins, making her limbs grow cold.
Not that! That was the only thing that she must not let others know!
“DIE!”
Choobchoob’s eyes widened as she yelled.
Her usually gentle eyes were now filled with the hysteria that her dark secret was going to be exposed.
“Choobchoob!” Durance’s eyes widened in shock too. He knew what Choobchoob was going to do, but was too late to stop her.
She drew her longsword. Battle-qi mixed with blade aura that had been condensed for more than decade, emitting buzzing noises like space was unable to contain this power and was beginning to collapse.
“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! GO TO HELL!”
She turned to pounce on Shiloah, with the force of unsuppressed rage.
“Ohoho. I love feisty little girls like you…”
Shiloah caught her longsword with his sharp claws. Since he had all of Choobchoob’s data, he naturally knew her strength. She was nothing more than an ordinary human. Unlike those dragons, who were rare to encounter!
“Ohoho, how relentless!”
Shiloah laughed mirthfully and pushed his hands out, like he was going to get serious. His black shroud suddenly swelled up, as though there was a strong gust blowing beneath him.
The expression on Choobchoob’s ghastly pale face contorted again at an extremely frightening force traveling up her hands. It was so strong that her hands trembled, numbness crept in and soon after that she lost the feeling in her arms.
What a terrifying physical strength her opponent had!
Although Shiloah got beaten up by Lilith several times, he was still a powerful being who had survived a round of fight with Lilith when she was going all out. How could a normal human warrior possibly stand a chance against him?
Thus, Choobchoob had already fallen into Shiloah’s trap the moment she tried to take him down with brute force.
She gritted her teeth and was planning to withdraw when she realized she couldn’t move her hands. It felt almost like they were glued on the hilt of her longsword.
“You…”
“Ohoho, how could I possibly let the little mouse I caught run away?” Shiloah moved his slender and python-like neck so that he could look at Choobchoob on eye level. His smiling monochromatic face was right in front of hers. The unmasked cruelty in his eyes made Choobchoob’s scalp crawl the way it would if she was sent to an ice cellar.
“Brother Durance, save me!”
She whipped her head around and cried for help in alarm, her eyes brimming with tears. Combined with her adorable face, she looked pitiful.
Durance narrowed his eyes. What was Choobchoob hiding? …It was enough to suddenly turn her into a different person.
In any case, this was his primary concern after learning about Shiloah’s ability. Mind readers were most adept at controlling their victim’s emotions. Every human had their own little secrets after living long enough in this world.
It was only a matter of how much secrecy.
Although Durance would not lose his mind like Choobchoob if his secret got exposed by this strange man, it would definitely still affect him in some way. Therefore, mental cultivation was always most important for any swordsman.
At this moment, both Lucas and Rosdell turned their attention to Durance.
Rosdell and Durance never got along with each other, but ironically, he was the person who understood him the best. Therefore at critical moments, he had faith in this noble blonde gentleman’s judgment.
Durance slowly moved his hand to the hilt of the golden rapier hanging on his waist. He felt uneasy about not being able to feel the familiar aura in his rapier.
Taking a deep breath, he purged the restlessness from his heart as much as he could.
Cumbersome emotions slow down a swordsman’s blade. And the enemy before them was one that Durance needed to face in his best condition.
“Have you decided?”
Lesiah’s voice rang out. Although she could not see what was going on, she could still pretty much figure out the situation from their conversation alone.
“I have only told you the ability of that weirdo named Shiloah, but not Gaz, the one growing on his a?s?s?.”
“Well, it’s not too late to tell now.”
Lesiah fell silent for a moment before a small sigh escaped her lips. “Forget it, I’ll keep it to myself for now. In any case, Gaz’s ability does not enhance Shiloah’s strength in any way. Telling you guys now will only dampen your mood.”
“I see.”
Not enhancing his strength but could dampen their mood. It sounded like it was another disgusting ability like Shiloah’s [ All-seeing ].
“Well it doesn’t matter anymore.”
The moment Durance drew his rapier, his gaze hardened.