Izroth was currently walking off the main pathway inside of the Towering Oak Forest. According to the information he received from He Huian, he had to cross through the Towering Oak Forest in order to reach the first landmark, a roped bridge stationed in between two waterfalls.
'It will take me around two hours to reach the Blazing Tempris Domain at my current pace. However, that gives me some time to finally look through a few things.'
Izroth opened his inventory and a few moments later, the Blade of Lightning that was on his back had vanished. In its place, a new sword appeared with a faint violet aura lingering around the dark blue sheath.
If one closed their eyes and listened closely, they would be able to hear the sound of the wind blowing and lightning crackling as if it were waiting to strike down from the heavens. The hilt of the sword was azure in color with yellow and white markings woven around one another.
Izroth grabbed the hilt an unsheathed the sword.
Woosh!
The moment Izroth unsheathed the sword, a powerful wave of wind blew around him as if it were expelling everything from his current location.
As Izroth looked down to examine the sword he saw that there was no blade attached to the hilt. Then, the fierce wind that blew around him after unsheathing the sword, along with the crackling lightning, had converged at the tip of the bladeless hilt in his hand.
Soon after, Izroth could see his own reflection in the pure azure colored blade that formed and it appeared to be forged by the power of a storm itself. It was slightly longer than the Blade of Lightning, however, the sword itself felt incredibly light.
Weapon Name: Sword of The Storm
Weapon Rank: Epic
Weapon Level: 40
Requirements: 500 Attack
Attack Damage: 1,000
Weapon Skill Storm Surge(Passive) - Every time the user completes a successful attack and every 3 seconds they are in combat, the user gains 1 stack of «Storm Surge Charge» (MAX: 50). Use «Storm Surge Charge» stacks to activate any of the following effect(s). The user begins to rapidly lose «Storm Surge Charge» stacks after remaining out of combat for 20 seconds.
«Tempess Strikes» - Consumes 10 «Storm Surge Charge» stacks. The user gains the wind element for physical-based weapon attacks which increases their range by a distance of 10 meters for 10 seconds.
Cooldown: 5 minutes
«Lightning Cage» - Consumes 20 «Storm Surge Charge» stacks. The user forms a 10 meters cage of lightning anywhere within a 15 meters range. While trapped inside the cage of lightning, enemies become «Paralyzed» for 5 seconds and receive a 20% damage increase as lightning damage from all sources.
Cooldown: 10 minutes
«Great Storm» -Consumes 50 «Storm Surge Charge» stacks. Summons the great storm with fierce winds that resides within the blade of the «Sword of The Storm». The great storm disorientates enemies inside of it while releasing a large amount of random sharp «Blades of Winds» that deal 100% of the user's attack as damage. This damage ignores 50% of enemies defenses and has a high chance of causing struck enemies to «Bleedout» for 5 seconds. «Blades of Winds» can «Critical Hit».
Cooldown: 1 hour
Special Note: A blade forged from an ancient great storm.
'It is worthy of being an epic ranked weapon. Just the attack damage stat alone is extremely beneficial.'
The Blade of Lightning Izroth was using before, although it was a rare weapon, it was only level 15. While that rare weapon only increased his attack damage by 100 points, the Sword of The Storm boosted his attack by a monstrous 1,000 points! Normal monsters around his current level would not be capable of surviving more than a few casual swings with his current attack damage.
Izroth returned the Sword of The Storm to its sheath after he finished going over its effects.
'I should open the treasure chests I received from the event as well while I'm at it.'
Just as Izroth was getting ready to remove the chest from his inventory, he felt a strange breeze of wind pass by him.
Izroth narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced behind him as he reached for the Sword of The Storm and swiftly turned around and swung it upward in an arc.
Ding!
'Oh? Who's this?'
Izroth's blade clashed with two crimson bladed daggers. There was a white aura lingering around them which gave away the fact that they were rare weapons.
At the moment Izroth parried the incoming attack, he immediately followed up with a Serpent's Bite as his leg shot towards the assailant like a venomous snake striking out at its prey.
However, instead of hitting a solid object as he should have, Izroth's leg shot right through the assailant's body as if it were a mere illusion. Soon after, the assailant's body turned into a congress of ravens that swarmed towards Izroth and limited his vision.
Although Izroth's vision was limited, he did not panic at all. After all, with his Heavenly Golden body, as well as, the Five Cycles Pills his other senses were still more powerful than ever. He listened closely through the caws and flapping wings of the ravens. For a single moment, it was as if everything slowed down around him and was moving at a snail's pace.
At the same time when a black feather fell from one of the passing ravens, Izroth's ears twitched as he heard the faint sound of something cutting through the air.
Ding! Ding!
Izroth reacted near instantly and intercepted both of the attacks with his blade. After the second attack, Izroth was able to make direct eye contact with his assailant as their blades connected.
She was around 145cm tall and possessed a petite frame. Her long black hair flowed freely all the way down to her ankles. There was a face mask pulled over the lower part of her face which hid her appearance, however, even with the face mask, it was still difficult to completely hide her delicate face.
However, the thing that stood out the most were her eyes. Her eyes were the color of an orchid. Though, what Izroth noticed was that she possessed the same look in her eyes that he had seen a countless number of times back in the Seven Realms.
"Are you Izroth?" The girl said in an icy cold tone of voice.
"Proper manners would indicate that you ask someone their name before attacking. However, you are fortunate that I just happen to be Izroth." Izroth responded in a carefree manner.
"Indeed, fortunate." The girl said as she pushed the weapons lock and used the momentum to launch herself backward. She did multiple backflips and when she finally stopped at a distance of around 10 meters away from Izroth, she vanished into thin air. She was incredibly fast!
'Her speed is at least double my current base speed. Her attacks are also precise and well-timed. Alright, I can use a little help testing a few things.'
Izroth stood perfectly still without making a move. He was partly curious as to why this person was searching for him. Even more, he was curious as to why they suddenly attacked him without provocation.
There were a few people that would not mind seeing him die a few times over, however, he did not believe that they would go through the trouble of sending someone else after him. The only people who he could think of was the group he ran into back during the time he first met Zi Yi and Guan Yu. It was a group that called themselves the Headhunter Syndicate.
"Are you from the Headhunter Syndicate?" Izroth asked in a casual manner as he suddenly swung his sword towards his left side.
The girl instantly retreated while remaining stealth in the process. The look in her eyes gave away her shock. She could tell that swung was not random at all. If she continued on with her attack, that strike would have swept right across her neck with ease. If not for the fact that her agility was higher than his, she may have not been able to get away unscathed.
Woosh! Woosh! Woosh!
Three shurikens soared through the air headed right towards Izroth. He kicked off his left foot and avoided the shurikens as they plunged into the ground he just stood on moments ago.
All of a sudden, the girl appeared out of thin air in the same direction Izroth was retreating in as she slashed at his torso with one of her daggers.
Izroth quickly loosened his grip on the blade in his hand and spun it until the sword itself was upside down as he held it with a reverse grip to block the incoming dagger.
Woosh!
Izroth's Sword of The Storm passed right through the dagger as if it was never there to begin with. The body of the girl became distorted as it soon dissipated into nothingness. It was another fake.
'Interesting. She creates fakes that act as an extension of herself making it impossible to tell them apart from the original body. However, it appears that the fakes can be dealt with in a single blow.'
Right as Izroth's blade swept through the fake and it disappeared, the shadow beneath his feet became briefly distorted as if something interfered with it. At the next moment, a small hand carrying a dagger within it came flying towards Izroth from below. The attack was actually coming from his shadow!
"I am called Azalea Wraith, remember it. As for the Headhunter Syndicate... Never heard of them." Azalea said as her dagger was stuck halfway into Izroth's body and her entire body came from out of the shadow.
"I'll remember it." A voice suddenly sounded out from behind Azalea as she felt shivers run down her spine.
The figure that Azalea had her dagger stuck into began to flicker constantly before soon vanishing. It was a trick!
"You seem to enjoy using fakes. Therefore, it only seems fitting that I return the favor." Izroth said as his silhouette flickered throughout the surrounding area. Soon enough, there were more than five constantly flickering afterimages of Izroth.
Izroth's body, including that of his flickering afterimages, became surrounded by a strong gale of wind.
'Now, let's see what the Sword of The Storm can do.'
...
"Follow them!" Owl ordered as he, along with his group, chased after Luna's group into the arboretum.
"What the heck is this place? A garden?" Du Cheng said as he looked around and saw strange looking plants everywhere.
"Where did they go?" One of the group members said as he walked forward as he searched his surroundings. However, after walking forward a few steps, he suddenly felt something slowly creeping up his leg.
Giiiiyaaaah!
"Watch out!" Owl tried to warn the player, however, it was too late.
"Gaaaah!" The player looked down and saw that a group of vines had latched onto him. They shot up his body and completely engulfed him into some sort of a plant cocoon.
Owl's facial expression darkened as he noticed the shifting movements of the plants around them.
"We've walked right into a trap. We'll fight our way through!" Owl growled as he crossed his talons.
Although he said that, he knew that it would not be easy. The entrance where they came in through was completely sealed off by a solid plant wall. However, the most frightening part was that there was not just one, two, or even ten plant monsters.
"How did they get through this place? They must have died instantly!" Du Cheng said as his facial expression turned gloomy.
There were over thirty level 32 elite plant monsters surrounding them from every direction!
...
Some time ago just as Luna and her group entered into the arboretum...
"Nana, whatever your plan is you better do it fast. Those guys will catch up any moment now." Jia reminded.
Luna nodded and said in a calm tone of voice, "Everyone spread out and attract as many elite enemies as you can."
Everyone was shocked by Luna's statement. Was her plan all along to die in this place?