Scaling down the side of the mountain, I landed on the soft, fertile ground and approached the lake, though as I did so, I quickly leaped to the side, dodging a powerful beam of light; unholstering Trina and Zartha from my back, I used [Heroes Gaze], instantly spotting the attacker.
The attacker was a demon, unsurprisingly, but it was a kind I'd never seen before; there were no horns, no wings, hell, she resembled a human more than a demon; the only thing that set it apart was its glowing veins. While veins are usually hardly ever visible, this person's veins glowed with a bright yellowish white light; honestly, if it weren't because she was attacking me, I would say she.
As for the beam of light from earlier, it was actually an arrow, and speaking of arrows, a rain of them was heading for me at this very moment. Gazing at the hundreds of arrows blotting out the sky, I clicked my tongue, using [Wind Armor] to deflect the arrows as I leaped into the air, lunging towards the nearly thousand arrows.
The arrows, as if they had a mind of their own, changed their trajectory and aimed directly for me, prompting me to use [Expand] on my swords, increasing them to three times their normal size, using them as make-shift shields.
I was quickly enveloped within the hundreds of arrows, though my swords blocked most, and the ones that managed to get past were deflected with my wind armor, though the power they contained was still enough to deeply scratch my armor despite only grazing it. 'Tsk, I like this armor.'
Surviving the onslaught, I finally made it through the wave of arrows, only for a single, much stronger, faster, and deadlier arrow to be inches away from my head; she must've used the rain of arrows to launch this attack. It was too close to dodge, and [Rebirth] was still on cooldown; though, of course, with my eyes, there was no way I would've missed this.
Smirking, I didn't try to dodge or slow down; in fact, I even sped, using [Air Jump] just as the arrow dug into my skull; however, the arrow didn't truly dig into my skull. It continued onwards, entering my head, yet it didn't split my skull nor was I killed; the arrow continued, pushing onwards until it fully exited from the back of my head.
While the arrow continued to fly behind me, I glanced at the archer, who was a bit surprised, though she seemed to be more annoyed. 'So you mastered it, Master?' At Zartha's words, I faintly nodded while lunging towards the woman.
What I'd just used was a skill I'd been training this entire time; from even before setting sail to this continent, I'd been practicing to learn this skill. [Spatial Phase]; it was a skill I found more challenging to learn, even [Spatial Lock]. The skill allows me to send something or someone else into what I could only call a mirror dimension; while the object or person inside the mirror dimension can be seen, they can't be physically interacted with, just like a ghost.
Though while it was powerful, it had a few downsides; it consumed a lot of mana, which was no surprise, I couldn't send things into the mirror dimension for long, barely half a second, and thirdly, specific attacks with the space attribute can still work, such as [Void Slash]. However, it was still a potent skill in my opinion, not to mention that half those problems would diminish as I mastered and leveled it up.
Using an air jump, I lunged towards the archer, closing the distance, though of course, she wouldn't easily allow that as she fired rapidly at me while creating distance. Using Zartha as a shield, I swung Trina, launching [Wind Blades] at her, forcing her to evade, which inevitably slowed her down.
Despite my actions, I wasn't gaining any ground; evidently, being in the air while fighting an archer wasn't helping me. I did a backflip, while upside down, and leaped into the air, propelling me to the ground. Violently landing, I quickly jumped to the side, dodging several arrows before taking a deep breath, releasing a potent wave of flames as I used [Flame Breath], which I strengthened with my wind mana, making it hotter and allowing it spread quicker.
Using the flames as a cover to block her line of sight to me, I swung my Trina through the flames at the archer, though unsurprisingly, she expertly dodged it. Though by combining my eyes with [Teleport], I swapped places with Trina, appearing directly behind the archer, who, even with her back facing me, quickly realized something amiss.
However, I didn't allow her the chance. Gathering mana in my hand, I snapped my fingers, firing a quick yet weak bolt of lightning [Lightning Bolt] at her, hitting her square in the back. Instantly, her body went stiff before she collapsed onto the ground, prompting me to knock away the bow from her hands.
Just as I rolled her onto her back, I sported an ugly expression at what I witnessed; her once awesome veins were slowly turning black, and she was frothing at the mouth. Watching her life-force get rapidly drained from whatever poison she'd consumed, I folded my arms and sighed; within a matter of a minute, her beauty was no more, now she looked like patient zero.
"I mean, I was probably going to kill you, but there was still a chance you could've lived." Considering how I've come to request the help of Vampires, I intend to refrain from killing demons when possible. 'Well, technically, I didn't kill her.'
Leaning down, I pushed her cloak aside, where I saw three red V's, causing me to click my tongue; I took her down pretty fast without suffering an injury, but I used a little more than a third of my mana. "Tsk, no wonder she was so strong. If Vizords are all this strong, facing more than two is dangerous."
Seeing as how she had nothing usable on her, I summoned Trina to me, holstering them both on my back before heading to the lake; I'm sure our battle must've alerted the others.
Arriving at the lake, I leaped into it and swam to the 'bottom' which was some kind of illusion as I passed right through it, only to immediately start falling; however, before hitting the ground, I landed gracefully. '10/10. Stuck the landing.'
Unfortunately, while I may be stuck on the landing, in my haste, I forgot to learn from my previous two encounters, and it currently feels like I'm standing in the middle of an arena. Surrounding me were hundreds of blood-red armor-stands.
'Tsk, who am I kidding, those aren't armor-stands.' Already forseeing what was to come, I unholstered my swords, and just as I did so, the hundreds of blood-red armor statues suddenly came to life, only for a shield and sword to materialize in their hands.
"Ah, so you weren't blood-red for no reason. You guys are actually made of blood… Fuck me." Raising my swords, I scanned my surroundings and clicked my tongue before lunging at the nearest knight, slashing it in half, only for it to reform, since it was made of blood.
'Fucking fuck.' My actions served as the catalyst, prompting the hundreds of blood knights to lunge at me from all directions, causing me to internally cry. 'What is up with my luck!?' With nothing else to do but to fight, I did just that, fighting as if my life depended on it, which it oh so dearly did.
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War Room
Within the War Room Alexander had been looking for, soldiers currently lined the walls while Marston stood behind his Mistress, who sat at the head of the giant circular table with a somewhat bored expression.
Every so often, the War Room would shake as the tremors of Alexander's battle would reach. "How long has it been, Marston?" Taking a sip of blood from a wine glass, she glanced at Marston, who lightly bowed. "Nearly 16 hours, Mistress… Shall I bring the human here for you?" "No, leave him be. If he dies, so be it…. Though this wait is so painfully tiresome."
To quell her boredom, she'd manipulate the blood in the wine cup, creating tiny figures and having them fight, or she'd engage in a rather one-sided conversation with Marston.
"This human, do you think he'll be handsome?" "I do not know, Mistress." "Handsome humans tend to taste better… I hope he's handsome." "So do I, Mistress." "Hmm, but personality also plays a big role." "Yes, it does, Mistress." "If he's handsome but has a terrible personality, he'll taste bad; though asking for both would probably be too much, wouldn't it?" "It probably would, Mistress."
The hours continued to tick by, the tremors remaining a constant but faint background noise; though finally, when the twentieth hour arrived, the tremors stopped, causing her to faintly smile.