Silent Steps gave a quick flick with his wrist as three throwing knives flew towards Izroth. They were encompassed in the same dark energy that surrounded his very own body.
Izroth slid his foot and stepped to the side with a swift motion to avoid the first of the throwing knives. Just as the two remaining knives were ready to pierce through his body, Izroth's entire body jerked and suddenly shifted in the opposite direction to avoid them as the deadly aura around his sword died down.
Although his Flickering Steps has ended and he was even slower than Silent Steps at this point, Izroth still possessed both the Heavenly Golden Body physique and the Superior Perception passive granted to him by the Five Cycles Pills. Therefore, he did not have much trouble when it came to keeping track of fast movements.
The knives that Silent Steps tossed out may as well have been moving at a snail's pace.
'Hm?'
Izroth noticed that Silent Steps' right foot shifted and turned to an inward position. After seeing what he was up to, Izroth instantly pushed off his back foot and appeared in front of Luna.
Ding!
The sound of metal striking metal echoed throughout the battlefield as Izroth's sword intercepted both of Silent Steps' daggers that were aimed at Luna.
"You're persistent!" Silent Steps said with a look of disdain on his face.
Izroth maintained a carefree expression as he did not even bother responding to Silent Steps' words. From the moment he turned his foot, Izroth knew exactly what he was up to. The throwing knives was just a half-baked attack to try and distract Izroth while he went straight for Luna.
'It has been a long time since someone has treated me as a mere secondary target in a fight.'
Woosh!
Izroth's launches an instant counterattack with his blade as it quickly disconnected from Silent Steps' daggers and made an upward arc. The sword passed right through Silent Steps' daggers as if they were not even there to protect him and cut him all the way from his lower torso to his forehead.
Izroth used the First Sword Form: Converging Paths as it was available for use as it had only bit just moments ago that his bladed wind attack struck Silent Steps.
As his body took a direct hit, a faint glowing dark aura could be seen following along the path he was cut by Izroth's sword. A few moments later, it disappeared and he remained completely unharmed.
Even after a direct critical hit from Izroth's first sword form he was still not showing any signs of receiving any sort of damage!
"It's useless! Your weak attacks will have no effect on me!" Silent Steps said as he laughed.
'It's possible that my attacks will have no use against him until I deal with the Five players over there. However, I refuse to believe that his skill is without a limit.'
While the easiest solution would be to eliminate the five players nearby before attempting to kill Silent Steps, Izroth did not want to use that method.
Since Silent Steps has so much confidence in that skill of his, Izroth wanted to prove a certain point to him. That point was that no matter what skill he learned or how strong he believed himself to be, in the end, only one fate awaited Silent Steps when he chose to directly oppose him.
"If you're so eager to die first, then so be it!" Silent Steps said as the dark aura encompassing his body became thicker and more concentrated. All of a sudden, the daggers that Silent Steps had been holding all along began to fuse into his hands. Not too long after, Silent Steps now had those same daggers sticking out the back side of his hand. They were now a complete part of him.
The change occurred in the blink of an eye as he wasted no time and began his assault. He attacked in a reckless manner and left many openings for Izroth to exploit as he slashed away with his daggers. However, in return, since he did not have to worry about covering his vital points and was unafraid of taking an attack just to succeed with his own attack, it put him in the favorable position.
Luna had already retreated to a safe distance as Silent Steps lashed out at Izroth. She positioned herself in a way so that she would be in range of both Izroth and Azalea. Luna also chose her spot based on the fact that there were still seven people who had yet to join in on the fight. From her current position, she would be able to react immediately should the need arise.
As for Owl and Du Cheng, they were unsure of what to do. They did not want to make fools out of themselves and fight against Azalea since they were unable to even see her movements. Unlike Savage who was a plate wearing class, they could not afford to take those barrage of attacks head-on.
They were also unable to touch Luna since Silent Steps said that she was his prey. Then there was Izroth, however, he was currently fighting against Silent Steps and they did not know how their boss would react in his current mood.
No, they knew that he would definitely just yell at them for getting in the way and then find some way to punish them later. Therefore, there was nothing they could do but sit back and watch!
As for the five players who were being used as a part of Silent Steps' Dark Hecatomb, they were trying their hardest to defend themselves against the randomized attacks brought on by Azalea.
She was simply too fast! Not only that, but every single time anyone thought that they had managed to land a solid hit on her, their attacks would either phase through her body or she would turn into numerous ravens. It was incredibly frustrating and they wanted to pull their hair out. If not for Savage pulling away most of her focus, they were unsure if they would have lasted this long.
But, between Azalea's attacks and being a part of Silent Steps' Dark Hecatomb, it was causing quite the heavy burden to fall upon them.
'It's not the same.'
Izroth thought to himself as he evaded and parried the torrent of attacks coming from Silent Steps. During this fight, he could not feel the slightest bit of improvement towards his Heavenly Golden Body physique.
There was also the fact that the passive skill he gained from consuming the Heart of the Heavenly Dragon Pill, Well Tempered, was not improving by much at all. Compared to his brief combat encounter with Azalea, this fight felt extremely lacking in multiple ways.
However, to begin with, Izroth did not hold out too much hope when it came to someone like Silent Steps who depended on such a vile skill just to try and get ahead of others.
Skills like Dark Hecatomb would easily cause a player's actual skill level to decrease once they became too depended on it. After all, habits were hard to break. It was as if Silent Steps had forgotten that he was a rogue-type class.
"What's the matter? You can't keep up?!" Silent Steps laughed mockingly as he pressed onward with his attacks on Izroth. He constantly had Izroth on the retreat and he knew that it was only a matter of time before he overwhelmed him.
Izroth, however, did not have the slightest look of panic in his eyes. Instead, his facial expression was as calm and carefree as always.
'There's no benefit in continuing this fight.'
"Disappointing." Haishe said as he observed the fight between Izroth and Silent Steps. This fight was completely one-sided and the saddest thing was the other party was completely unaware of it!
"We're leaving." Haishe ordered as he turned to walk away from the area. The four players that were with him were confused at first, however, they had already chosen to follow Haishe and so they obeyed his orders.
"Why are we leaving?" One of the players who accompanied Haishe asked.
"That fight has already been decided. There's no point in staying around to see the end. Besides, I believe I've finally found a way to bring Igazanali to my side. With their support, Silent Steps will be as good as finished. Of course, such a meeting must happen face to face." Haishe responded.
When Luna saw that Haishe and the players with him were walking away, she was puzzled at first and thought that they were up to something. However, given their previous confrontation with Silent Steps, as well as, their seemingly lacking interesting in this matter, Luna concluded that they really were just leaving.
Silent Steps was becoming more and more aggressive with his assault. The dark energy around his body erupted in a powerful surge as his daggers streaked across the air. One could see the look of absolute confidence on his face that came along with feeling in control of the battle.
Ding! Ding!
Izroth dodged and parried away Silent Steps' attacks and just as he knocked away the second dagger his sword, it sped forward with an oppressive aura to accompany it as it swept clean across Silent Steps' body.
"As I said before, it's usele-!" Silent Steps was just about ready to boast, however, that all changed when he heard the sound of someone scream out in disbelief. He recognized that voice as one of the five players who were within his party.
He kicked back off the heel of his foot and took a brief glance towards the direction of the players. Instead of five, there were now only four players standing there. As for the one he just heard howl out, Silent Steps was just barely able to catch a glimpse of his dissipating particles.
When the other four players saw that one of their teammates had died, they were shocked!
"Impossible!" Silent Steps said to himself. The Dark Hecatomb linked all five of the players lives together and then those lives became directly connected to him. In the most basic of terms, if someone wanted to kill him while Dark Hecatomb was activated, they would first have to deal enough damage to take care of whoever he was linked with.
However, it was not that simple. At the moment, Silent Steps was able to link with up to five other players. One could think of it as having a joined HP bar between all five players with five checkpoints.
When those checkpoints are reached, a player joined using Dark Hecatomb pays the price instead of Silent Steps himself. However, while the damage Silent Steps receives impacts them, the damage they take does not affect him. But that was not what made Dark Hecatomb such a fearsome skill to go up against.
Its strongest point was that the user received a frightening boost in their combat prowess by "borrowing" from the players they were linked with. In other words, it was almost as if Izroth was fighting the strength of six players meshed together.
By the time Silent Steps returned his focus to the battle at hand, his entire body shook to his core as he was greeted by the sight of a demon with piercingly cold and heartless red eyes. That demon released an overwhelming amount of killing intent that made the dark energy from his Shadahi transformation seem as if it were a mere joke.
But, it was not a demon that greeted him, but rather it was Izroth's Sword of The Storm that descended upon him. The illusion was a part of the fear effect attached to the current skill Izroth was using, the Second Baneful Sword: Kill. The fear effect, along with the natural destructive power behind it, was amplified thanks to Izroth pouring some of his Essence into it.
Not only that but the skill he used before it was the First Baneful Sword: Destruction. Therefore, the damage of Second Baneful Sword: Kill was doubled!
The killing intent produced by the skill lasted only for a split second before completely vanishing. It was followed by an eerie silence as Izroth returned his Sword of The Storm to its sheath before walking right past Silent Steps.
"If you wish to seek me for revenge, then I welcome your attempt. However, I will not be so lenient next time." Izroth halted his steps.
Silent Steps was both dumbfounded and speechless. What did he just do? There were still four other players left so how was it that his body was turning into particles?! But, as he turned his head and saw that the other four players were also dissipating along with him, realization slowly began to sink in.
With his newfound power, he thought that he would remain unchallenged amongst all players. No one could even dream about defeating him, even those members from Heaven's Law were nothing to him! However, with just two simple swings of his sword, one player was able to completely shatter his so-called power, along with his newly reinforced confidence.
"If there is a next time, I hope you will be ready to accept the consequences." Izroth said in a carefree manner as he continued walking forward step by step.
Silent Steps stared at Izroth's back and for some reason, an unexplainable and unrestrained amount of rage flowed throughout his body at that moment. He felt insignificant an as Izroth walked further and further away it was as if he was being looked down on and toyed with this entire time.
This filled him with a never before level of hatred and fury that he had never experienced before. He had been made a fool of for the last time. The healer, Haishe, the person looking down on him right now, everyone would pay! No matter what it cost him!
"Ahhhhhh!" Silent Steps could not find the words to express his wrath and was only able to let out a terrifying roar before ultimately fading away.
Izroth turned his attention towards Azalea who was currently fighting against Savage. However, the outcome of the battle was as clear as day. There was just no way for Savage to lay a single finger on Azalea.
'Oh? It looks like she's just about done with her fight.'