Screaming in agony, the Spearman dropped his weapon since it was his dominant arm that Benny had just sliced off. Before he could drop back to put distance between him and his two opponents, Selene jumped up and planted a dropkick right into the center of the one-armed Spearman’s chest, knocking him off his feet and shooting him across the Domain 20 meters.
Releasing her damaged make-shift weapon and stalking forward, Selene walked over to the spear, hooked it with the toe of her shoe, and bounced it up, catching it and spinning it in one fluid motion.
Turning her head and looking toward the downed Spearmen, her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of the fountain of blood spewing from the nub that used to be his arm before looking back to Benny and motioning for him to fall back and prepare a skill just in case something went wrong.
“Ahhh, ahh, my arm, you Bitch, When I find you mother fuckers, I’m gonna rip you apart limb from limb, urgh.” The Spearman howled in agony while clutching at his stump. His head whipped back in forth in search of Selene and Benny, but all he saw was darkness. Peddling backward on the ground, the Spearmen was on high alert, trying to listen for any slight rustle of clothing or tap of shoes on the grass, but he couldn’t sense or hear a single thing. His senses were thrown into chaos by the pain surging from his elbow to his shoulder.
Standing only six meters away, Selene silently stalked forward, wielding the man’s spear in her right hand; she slowly brought it up and aimed at his exposed head. Just as she was about to attack, her brain shifted into panic mode as a sense of dread overtook her. She changed plans and jumped to the side; her gut instinct was correct. Half a second later, a spiral Terra construct blasted through her [Domain of Shadows], temporarily creating a considerable space and allowing outside light in.
BANG!
Benny appeared beside Selene and redirected a second spire into the air, saving her. He snapped his head in the direction the attack originated and saw Garrison was fighting the Peak Tier-3 not far away, and they had gotten too close, nearly becoming collateral damage.
“Benny, on your left!” Selene’s voice triggered a response from Benny, who kicked off the ground and dove to the side as a thick shard of metal flew by his body, nicking him and slicing through the area between his right shoulder blade and back.
Rolling on the ground, Benny bounced back to his feet and caught sight of the Spearman as he manipulated the ambient Metal particles extending the severed bone on his stump into a pointed edge, creating a lance where his arm used to be.
Caught in a moment of distraction, the man had activated an Affinity Skill and fired it at the nearest target he could see, Benny. Luckily, Selene had been unphased by the invasive attacks of the Peak Tier-3 and was still paying attention; thus, she was able to warn Benny, returning the favor of her being saved seconds before.
Shooting Benny a glance, Selene nodded, pointed at the gaping holes in her Domain, and made a crushing gesture, forcing them closed and cutting off all light into the space.
—
Several buildings over, Cynrik was slow to get back to his feet. Sprawled out and lying on his back, he began shaking off the debris and rubble from the wall he had crashed through. Sitting up and smacking the side of his head a few times in an attempt to stop his ears from ringing, Cynrik opened his eyes and grimaced as he saw the damage notification.
-You have received 2000 points of concussive damage.-
-Current HP, 8649/12,160.-
-You have received 1285 points of blunt force damage.-
-Current HP, 7364/12,160.-
“Fuck, that hurt,” reading through the damage notifications caused by the explosion and subsequent crash into the building, Cynrik grumbled as he dug himself out of the rubble and dropped down to the ground.
‘Tobs, can you freaking remind me not to fire off big explosions when I am like five paces away from ground zero. I already get enough concussions regularly, and if I keep it up, who knows how long it’ll be before I lose my short-term memory.’ Cynrik complained in his mind as he dusted himself off and checked his body for injuries.
-Setting Reminder for Host Cynrik, the message will be as follows.-
-“Stop being stupid, you ignoramus; if you are going to fire off something that will generate a large explosion, GET THE HELL AWAY FIRST!” end message.-
Cynrik chewed the inside of his cheek for a second, speechless at what Tobs had just said, but soon gave up. There was no arguing with the sassy, monotone AI. Rolling out his shoulders and leaning back as far as he could to pop his spine, Cynrik activated [Mana Sight] and scanned the surroundings for the Brawler.
Since he hadn’t received any kill notifications, it was a given that the man was still alive, however; his current condition was unknown. Taking a blast from that range with that amount of power behind it would have quickly incinerated a being under Tier-3, but the simple fact was, the Brawler was at Mid Tier-3, and the man’s body could sustain the trauma. Adding in the [Mana Barrier], Cynrik had spotted the man use; the odds are, he may have tanked at least 80 percent of the attack.
Unfortunately, Cynrik had been in a precarious situation and blacked out upon hitting the building, so he didn’t get to see how the Brawler had gone flying into the confinement cube. Eventually, after searching for 30 seconds, he located the man, face down and in a person-sized crater on the ground.
Narrowing his eyes and relying on his telescopic vision, he noticed that the Brawler’s health had dropped significantly, and his MP was running low. Inhaling slowly and realizing he couldn’t get a clear view of the man due to him being buried several meters under dirt, Cynrik made his way over to a tree and climbed up, getting a good view of the man some 30 meters away while gulping down each of the potion types.
‘Looks like his torso armor is in tatters; that left gauntlet isn’t looking so great either; I doubt he will be using it for the remainder of the fight. That arm is also extra crispy, so unless he has some healing skills or he drinks copious amounts of HP pots, I doubt he will be throwing any punches or even blocking with it.’ Cynrik thought to himself but stopped when his keen eyesight saw minor muscle spasms running through the man’s exposed flesh.
“Tsk, break times over,” Cynrik murmured as he double-checked his assassin’s tools to ensure they were functioning correctly before tilting his neck to the side and releasing a few pops.
Not far away, the Brawler punched his good fist into the dirt and forced his body to move, getting him back upright, albeit a little shaky. Although he had been completely caught off guard by the relentless onslaught of fireballs, including the final one, the Brawler only blamed himself for underestimating his opponent. Thinking back to the short bout on the rooftop, the man found it difficult to believe that this kid was only 13. Physical appearance wasn’t reliable since everyone at that age looked closer to their fully grown selves, but the way Cynrik fought and spoke contrasted his documented age too greatly.
Spitting out a mouthful of blood and wiping his lips with the back of his gauntleted arm, the Brawler took out two Health potions from his inventory and chugged them down before looking at his severely damaged arm.
When he craned his neck to search for Cynrik, he couldn’t find him at first, raising another bottle and about to drink another health potion; the Brawler saw a flickering shadow out in his peripheral vision. Cynrik had jumped down from the tree, activated his stealth skill to buy a few needed seconds, and rushed around to flank the Brawler.
Without any time to drink the potion, the Brawler spun around and fired off a back kick, which Cynrik side-stepped and unleashed several swift hidden blade stabs to the man’s leg in response. Next, using his shoulder as a lever, Cynrik caught the leg, ducked under his shin, and yanked down with as much power as he could. The result was a loud CRACK, as the bones shattered instantly. To Cynrik’s surprise, the man didn’t react to the pain, and instead jumped up, spun around, and kicked out with his other leg, targeting Cynrik’s chest.
Thanks to the aid of [Danger Sense], he wasn’t caught unaware and had barely enough time to raise his right arm, taking the full force of the kick on his forearm, which cracked loudly, caving in at the center, while the power of the kick took him off his feet and flung him half a dozen meters away.
Skidding to a stop on his side, Cynrik gritted his teeth and looked at his right arm, which had a significant horseshoe-shaped concaved break. Glaring angrily and fighting through the pain, Cynrik gripped his right arm with his left and yanked it down hard enough to reset the bone as he stood up.
With his mind firing on all cylinders and recognizing that he needed a plan if he wanted to stall for more time, Cynrik slowly backed up, trying to put some more distance between himself and the Brawler while putting on the façade that he was about to flee. Looking rapidly in every direction with [Mana Sight], Cynrik quickly came up with an escape route; however, just as he was about to take off and begin the game of cat and mouse, he froze as several notifications came through and a sadistic grin crept onto Cynrik’s lips.
[Heh, it took you long enough; I need a patch-up; my arm is a noodle right now; hurry up.] Cynrik said as he read the notifications and changed his plan of running while firing long-ranged attacks to holding his ground.
[Gabby and I are back in the command room of my tower, but it will take me a couple of minutes to power down the skill and reabsorb the resource points I pumped into it. I will send Gabby over first and follow shortly.] Brance said as he panted heavily and hungrily devoured Stamina potion after Stamina potion.
[Copy, good work.] Cynrik replied before cocking his head to the side and shooting a creepy glance at his opponent.
“Alright, old man, time for round three!” Cynrik said as he let his right arm hang lifelessly by his side and dashed to meet his opponent.
—
In the [Domain of Shadows], Selene’s body tensed up as she read through the wave of notifications with a similar smirk to Cynrik’s on her face.
-Your party member Brance Jetlensr has killed a level 15 Tier-3 Human Swordsman.-
-Your party member Brance Jetlensr has killed a being more than ten times all of the party’s individual primary levels and a Full Tier above the party standard; rewards will be multiplied by the Maximum Multiplier a sextuple.-
-You have received 1,800,000 XP.-
-You have received 24 STR.-
-You have received 24 VIT.-
-You have received 24 MIND.-
-You have obtained 6 KIN points-
-Your party Leader has received six Tier-3 Lightning Codexes.-
-Your party member Brance Jetlensr has killed a level 13 Tier-3 Demi-Human Mage.-
-Your party member Brance Jetlensr has killed a being more than ten times all of the party’s individual primary levels and a Full Tier above the party standard; rewards will be multiplied by the Maximum Multiplier a sextuple.-
-You have received 1,560,000 XP.-
-You have received 24 DEX.-
-You have received 24 INT.-
-You have received 24 MIND.-
-You have obtained 6 KIN points-
-Your party Leader has received six Tier-3 Fire Codexes.-
The sudden influx of notifications and stat boosts from Brance and Gabby’s battle was just the signal Selene required to make her final push; spinning the Spearman’s former weapon, she raced forward with Benny hot on her heels. Splitting off from behind the girl, Benny unleased several focused jets of water, targeting the man’s legs and shoulders, which he slashed through at the cost of being thrown off balance, giving Selene just the opportunity she needed.
Activating [Void Shift] Selene phased into Dark Mana particles while keeping her current speed, going through her opponent like a gust of wind before deactivating the skill, resolidifying and appearing behind the man. Flourishing the spear, she rapidly thrust forward, stabbing him over a dozen times within two seconds until finally, the death notifications rolled in, causing Benny’s eyes to light up as he got the confirmation of their achievements.
-Your party member Selene Nilsson has killed a level 27 Tier-3 Human Spearman.-
-Your party member Selene Nilsson has killed a being more than ten times all of the party’s individual primary levels and a Full Tier above the party standard; rewards will be multiplied by the Maximum Multiplier a sextuple.-
-You have received 3,240,000 XP.-
-You have received 24 STR.-
-You have received 24 DEX.-
-You have obtained 6 KIN points-
-Your party Leader has received six Tier-3 Metal Codexes.-
-This series is exclusively published on WebNovel if you are reading it anywhere else…You Wrong, Fam. PS Check out the discord, https://discord.gg/dcxKNJEMwg