Four in front, eight behind—this situation is definitely spelling death for me in a complicated way. ｂ𝚍𝚘𝚟ｌ.ｎｔ
The four rushed towards me, swords in hand, and aimed straight for my vital parts: Head, neck, heart, and jewels. Wait, scratch the last one. He changed it to aim for my midrib.
Although I could see their actions, I couldn’t evade them at all; after all, I was mid-jump. There’s no way to maneuver in the air and dodge. Just as I thought, “Ah, I’m dead,” four pairs of daggers flew, blocking the incoming swords.
“…!”
Taking the chance, I used [Shadow Movement], stepping on one of the four’s shadows by kicking him in the chest. Wait, scratch that; based on the sensation, it was a girl, not a dude.
After getting inside the shadow dimension, I quickly dashed to a nearby alley and popped out. After all, running on foot is much faster than traveling through the shadows for me right now.
*Clang!* *Clang!*
As soon as I popped out of the shadow, a blade brushed past my face, followed by two spinning daggers. Looking closely, one of the four was standing before me, and judging from the footprint on her robe, she was the one that I kicked before.
“…”
Behind me, there are two of the eight from before, glaring at the girl up front. Looking back, the others were engaged in a chaotic brawl, not sure if it was staged to distract the guards or just plain them being from two different factions. The air around me started to get prickly and cold, filled with killing intent.
I quickly turned around and ran toward the pair. As I did, the girl behind my back rushed with her sword once more and slashed at my open back.
*Shiing!*
And as I expected, one of the two parried the sword for me, while the other tried to attack me with a dagger in hand. At that moment, I revved up my Lifeblood to the maximum output, giving me speed and power matching a God tamer for a brief moment.
I pulled the assailant’s hand, tugged hard, and threw him over my shoulder, slamming his body toward the lone attacker. I could feel his body stiffen, not expecting a sudden counterattack, further delaying his reaction.
As soon as I threw him, I saw the female assailant raise her sword to slash at the one I sent flying toward her. The other robed figure quickly attacked, interrupting the blade and saving his comrade.
I, on the other hand, took the chance to dash as far as possible from the ensuing chaos. With just three steps, I was already out of sight. As soon as I confirmed that they were far enough, I reverted Lifeblood to normal levels and heaved a deep sigh, wiping the cold sweat off my forehead.
“That was too close for comfort.”
Warily, I turned another corner and headed toward the place I was aiming for. After all, sooner or later, the spies would sniff out my location. However, after reaching the end of the alley, I realized that I made a mistake.
“… I ran towards the wrong direction…”
two choices. One: pass through them, taking advantage of the chaos, or two: go around them, but risk them intercepting me The place I was aiming for was now beyond those who were fighting chaotically up in the air and on the ground. Now, I have two choices. One: pass through them, taking advantage of the chaos, or two: go around them, but risk them intercepting me halfway.
“Well, no need to think, I guess. It’s the same either way.”
I’ll just blast through in one go!
I turned back, activated Lifeblood at the maximum output, and dashed. The buildings flew past, making for a dizzying route. However, it was much safer than going over the rooftops where I would be completely visible.
Soon, I was finally in range to hear their battle sounds again.
“…!”
But as expected, it wouldn’t go as I wished. As soon as I was within the range of their detection skills, all twelve of them turned toward me and rushed. What’s worse, the four from before stopped holding back. Large waves of skills came flying, making sure that I wouldn’t have anywhere to hide, they even locked the space around to prevent me from moving to the Shadow dimension.
“Guys, chill out!”
I screamed in horror, finding that I have no other places to run to. The eight from before seemed to have given up on protecting me too, for some reason. Maybe they thought that interrupting such large skills would not be worth their trouble.
“Damn!”
Having no other choice, I took out the gun and changed its form to a pair of pistols. Then, I sharpened my sight as I stared ahead, loading a special case of bullets that was made specifically to defend myself.
There were three large balls of various colorful energies headed for me and one that was spread wide like a wave. The latter would be almost unstoppable for me, but the other three could be used to my advantage and stop it.
I aimed the pistols at the parts where most of the energy was concentrated and pulled the trigger.
*BANG!* *BANG!*
Two bullets flew with extreme precision, weaving through the air and leaving a black line of energy behind. When it touched the outer part of the energy balls, the bullet’s case started corroding. However, the speed wasn’t enough to turn it into dust before reaching the skill’s core part.
The bullet, loaded with Dark and Shadow Energies, passed through the core and left a trail of their energy to disrupt the precise construction of the skill. Immediately, the energy balls imploded, taking out the nearby wave and the last energy ball too.
“Kuh!”
However, due to proximity, I was sent flying by the blast. My back slammed into one of the buildings around me and smashed a hole in it. Although it hurts and I feel like some of my bones have broken, I have no time to lie around and wait.
I jumped to my feet and quickly rushed ahead, bypassing the spy-turned-assassins who were similarly sent flying by the explosion. Since their energy signatures were larger than the rest, it was easy to find them and steer away.
“… I did it!”
Finally, after a few seconds of running, I managed to reach my destination. It was none other than the training center. Now that we’re this close, the gods could surely detect my presence.
I quickly turned off Lifeblood, which I kept running a little bit too long, and rushed inside the place. Sorry to the other civilians, but they should be left alone unless they blocked the assailant’s path.
I ignored the welcome of the attendant at the desk and ran through the long hallway. However, before I even reached the place I was aiming for, I saw the door was already open.
“…”
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
Just as I reached the entrance and peeked inside, my hunch was proved correct.
“Will! Go to your girls now!”
God Zeshion quickly shouted as he saw me from the entrance. His face was stern and full of anger. He was holding off about a hundred or so demigod tamers alone. The only bad thing was…
“Sh*t!”
Those demigods were stuck near the entrance, which happened to be closer to me than Zeshion was. Hundreds of pairs of eyes glared toward me, and without missing a beat, they sent attacks as fast as lightning.
I couldn’t activate Lifeblood in time and could only watch as the myriads of weapons and skills flew towards me, overflowing with killing intent.
*Snap!*
A snappy sound echoed, and my vision turned upside down. Before I realized what happened, I fell to the bed and got buried in a soft embrace.
“Leader, you were alright?!”
“Master! I’m so glad I made it in time!”
I tried unburying my face from the soft mountains sandwiching me and realized that I was being hugged by Ember and Fang from both sides.
“Everyone… What…?”
I was just outside the door earlier, and now I’m here. Did Ember teleport me? Looking around, we were all inside the master’s bedroom, the largest room inside the villa. They were all gathered around, without a single one missing, with Igni watching the doors warily and ready to attack at any moment.
“Right! God Zeshion!”
He was still out there, fighting hundreds of demigods. Even with his power, it should be difficult to handle their numbers without causing damage to the surroundings.
He could basically blow everything away, but the deaths and damages that would ensue would be greater than what the Demon Tamers did in their two previous attacks combined.
“…”
However, providing backup would be difficult too. As the enemies were demigods, we couldn’t fight them head-on. At most, I guess I can use my sniper rifle to thin their numbers, but I fear them splitting their large group and delaying Zeshion while others aim for us.
“Where’s Goddess Zeta?”
I asked since I haven’t seen her outside with Zeshion. Given her personality, she should’ve cleared these tamers in a snap, but her not being present gives me some uneasiness.
“…”
The girls’ faces turned grim upon hearing my question. Ember’s face turned serious, and as the last one who should’ve been together with her, she answered.
“Goddess Zeta… Was gravely injured and is currently being treated by Goddess Eta.”
