[Echoing Thunderclap], one of the most powerful skills I have developed, was now completely sealed by the enemy. Among the four enemies, there must be one who possesses foresight and another who has psychic skills, including telepathy. Without a combination of those two skills, it was nearly impossible to block my [Echoing Thunderclap] after all.
“Minerva, Hekate…”
I turned to the two behind me, who had complicated looks on their faces. As I am right now, I can’t even ensure that they will be safe with me.
“I’ll create an opening for the both of you. During that instant, return to Yu Na and relay this situation!”
There’s a 90% chance that Yu Na was already aware of my situation but is being slowed down by other enemies. However, there’s also the 10% chance that she and her tamed monster’s detection skills are sealed, preventing them from noticing the gravity of the situation. Furthermore, sending the two away would be for the best, not only for them but also for me.
“Sir Will… But—”
“No buts! Trust me and go!”
The enemies are already moving to attack once more, giving me no time to explain further. I couldn’t see their faces, but from the link, I could feel their worry and guilt, which added to their feeling of being useless. I wanted to comfort them and tell them that wasn’t the case, but the four zodiacs were just too persistent, not even giving me a moment of respite.
With only a sword in hand, I moved to deflect all attacks coming for us three. It was so hard that I was required to focus fully on reading their attacks and blocking them before they even moved. Their base stats were better than mine, after all!
Even though the four weren’t attacking in sync, their continuous barrage was enough to not give me time to counterattack. If I stop defending for even a millisecond, then death will quickly come and embrace me, for sure.
For a full minute, their attack didn’t even have gaps, making me covered in sweat as I exerted all the muscles in my body and fine-tuned all my movements. As I was slowly losing hope, the attack of Virgo, the flute user, hit the man using a hammer, causing him to fall face down on the ground.
‘Chance!’
I quickly moved, taking advantage of the small opening, and gathered all the energy I could into my blade. A long and bright light covered the edge, creating the illusion that my sword grew longer.
With all the power in my body, I swung the sword across, aiming for all four of them who were jumping around chaotically. Virgo, the furthest of the four, was able to easily dodge. However, the other three weren’t as lucky and needed to use their weapons to block my blade.
At the last instant, I activated Lifeblood over 100% output, creating enough power to send the three flying. Within that short moment, I turned to the two girls behind me, my eyes relaying my order.
Hesitation was drawn all over their faces, but they didn’t miss the chance and escaped. With their speed, they should be able to reach Yu Na’s office in about two minutes.
“During that time, I’ll play with you, Demon Tamers!”
[Lifeblood] and [Echoing Thunderclap]—the combination of these two skills is definitely my best in terms of instantaneous damage. However, it wasn’t like those were the only skills I could use.
“Phew…”
I breathed out as slowly as I could and watched as my breath turned into a puffy white cloud. My body is literally boiling from the continuous activation of Lifeblood, but I can’t disable it right now, lest I die from four demigod-level enemies.
After analyzing the current battle, I realized that what I’m lacking right now is speed. Speed to dodge their attacks and launch counterattacks safely. Knowing this, from the myriad of minor and major skills I have, I chose a specific one immediately.
“So you all can see my attacks? How would you handle an ever-changing attack coming at the speed of sound then?”
Instead of letting my energy ravage the surroundings, I controlled it to stay inside my body. Not only does doing this thin down my presence, but it even condenses the energy I could use, providing both speed and power at any point I desire.
“I’m not a fan of sword styles, but you guys left me with no choice!”
Standing straight, with my right side forward and my sword aimed directly ahead.
“Myriad Phantom Blades, First Form! [Blooming Rose]!”
From the enemy’s perspective, I must’ve vanished like a phantom from my position. However, the truth was that I was simply using all my energy, focused at the tip of my toes, and leaped forward. The sword in my hand was spinning on a small axis as I jumped, creating an afterimage of a thousand blades.
“Kuh!”
The one I targeted was, of course, the only one of them who wasn’t back to full health—the Zodiac carrying the hammer. The attack was too fast for them to predict, and I even changed directions thirty times after seeing the minute movements they did in retaliation for my previous motion.
He blocked the sword coming from ahead of him, snickering after realizing that my attack had failed. However, the instant the blade touched the hammer’s handle, his face turned dark.
The sword… Passed through. It was nothing but an afterimage!
Before he could turn around to where I was, behind him, my sword had already found its way to his heart, piercing through. I didn’t take chances and twisted the handle, aggravating the wound, before moving far from him.
The man with the hammer fell once more; however, this time, he wasn’t coming back up ever again.
“LEO!”
The one using a gauntlet shouted in surprise.
“You! How dare you!”
Angry from seeing his comrade die, I suppose, the man rushed to where I was. However, just as his fist landed on my face, the image faded like a mirage. As before, it was nothing but an afterimage.
He seemed panicked, jumping forward and turning around with his arms crossed to block, but unfortunately for him, he wasn’t my target. With all my energy concentrated on the tip of my toes, I can move hundreds of meters in a single step. Using that, I went to the most troublesome of the enemies and waved my sword.
“…!”
The woman, Virgo, noticed my attack and quickly raised her flute to block it.
*CLANG!*
“As expected. You’re the one with foresight!”
I had my suspicions from before but wasn’t too sure. However, now, I am fully convinced that she was the one who could see snippets of the future. I don’t know how far she could see or how fast she could process it, but she definitely couldn’t block thousands of blades at the same time.
“Myriad Phantom Blades, Tenth Form! [Senju]!”
Using the blade covered in energy to vibrate the surrounding air, I was able to create literally thousands of swords the same as the one I was holding. Furthermore, they are arranged in such a way that each strike would land on different parts of her body, eliminating any space to dodge other than backward.
As expected, she did move two steps back, dodging the blades… Or so she thought. After all, why would I leave such a glaring flaw in a skill? Of course, it’s just a trap!
*SHIIIK!*
Using the momentum from her backstep, the sword in my hand sank deep into her back and out of her abdomen. Before the pain could even register in her mind, I waved the sword upward, cleaving her body, spine and all, into halves.
“Two down.”
As I turned to the other two, flabbergasted as to how I was able to kill two of them in an instant, my body suddenly staggered, causing me to kneel down. After all, focusing energy on one point causes enough pressure on the body part that it wouldn’t be weird if it exploded. I had been using that several times in one second just to gain the upper hand.
However, it caused the muscles in my leg to stiffen from fatigue. Now, I can’t even stand up, much less move.
The two realized my state and didn’t miss the opportunity. Aries charged forward with both fists covered in a fiery blaze. Gemini, on the other hand, didn’t disappoint and used all his tentacle-like hands to attack me.
“… Idiots…”
I wasn’t expecting them to fall for my acting, but well, I guess I was just a head above them in terms of trickery. Although my leg did suffer injuries, I could simply heal it with potions. Using a small vial hidden under my sleeves, I had already recovered from the fatigue and was ready to attack. Yes, it was a simple sleight of hand!
The two’s momentum was so great that they couldn’t stop instantly. Seeing that I was moving to attack, they steeled their resolve and increased their speed instead, clashing with my blade in the middle. 𝑖𝑟𝘦𝒶.𝒸𝘰𝑚
*CLANG!*
However, with a simple swing of my blade, the two fists and six tentacles flew back from the impact. While receiving their attack, I also angled the counter to come from a little below them, causing the two to leave the ground for a short instant.
“Guess I got lucky you were dumb.”
Without missing a beat, I waved my sword as I activated another sword skill.
“Myriad Phantom Blades, Third Form! [Hundredfold Strike]!”
Unable to move midair, my blade met their soft body and left nothing but a red stain on the ground.