Although her internal condition was getting worse, Hilda found joy in the fact that she would soon take care of Ashton's killer with her own hands. At the same time, she applauded Ronny in her head for surviving till here despite the odds stacked against him.
'Jer, what do you think? The guy's speed seems abnormal even if we take his lightning element into account.'
Gerish contacted the Adept ranker he had known for so long and asked him about Ronny after watching him battle the way he battled. Jerry confirmed his suspicions:
'You've not turned senile after all. That's right. Ronny's perception of danger is too sharp to be attributed to the speed boost provided by the lightning element. Even while maintaining his speed, he almost has no blind spots.
I'd say he is using a time-element artefact or something similar to help him fight this way. He doesn't have the mana signature of a time element spell.
And since even I can't detect it, the time-element artefact must be of transcendent grade. It's a higher ranked treasure that can still be used by a lower-ranked rat like him. Hehe! You know what that means, right?'
Jerry asked while flashing a mild smile on his face as he looked at Gerish from a distance. The latter also showed his only two front teeth while replying:
'That means the death of two Aces is worth it if we can get our hands on this treasure. Hahaha! And here I was worrying about what I should say in my report. This is terrific. I want to finish the bastard right off to get my hands on that treasure.'
Jerry nodded at Gerish's suggestion before responding:
'That's right. It might sound like overkill. But in about a minute, we'll both move in and kill this rat and all his friends in one sweep.
We've already respected Hilda's dying wish by staying put this long. We'll give her one more minute and see if she can wrap things for us. Either way, stay on standby and wait for my instructions.'
Jerry had decided to forget his rank and kill the Ace ranker in about a minute because he had realized that Ronny was carrying a treasure with him. the guy had started a countdown in his head as he watched the battle unfolding with great interest.
Meanwhile, Hilda was busy enjoying every moment of her revenge with her dying breaths. She wiped the stream of blood from the corners of her mouth and said loudly:
"Hahaha! I must say that you are pretty skilled at running, Ronny. But how long can you keep up your struggle?
What's there in life that a guy like you finds interesting? Maybe in death, we will find our salvation. You should accept your fate and die with me.
Incessant Rain of Green Death!"
Hilda talked ecstatically as she guided some of her arrows towards Ronny's presence she was feeling with her mana sense. She had created a dense shower of arrows around herself to keep Ronny from approaching her. Meanwhile, she guided some of the arrows to target her constantly moving opponent.
'Erni, this is not sustainable. Let me out. You are hurting yourself this way. I'll finish them all as fast as we can before we leave this place.'
Reen pleaded with her master as she fixed the freshly opened wounds that kept popping all over his body. Ronny denied her while dodging some more arrows, only to end up trading them for a reduced number of arrows.
'Listen to me, Reen. If I'm right, this will not be the only team the Illuminati has tasked for the cleanup. I don't know what kind of arrangements they must have made at this place over these years. We risk….'
Ronny used both of his time-element spells to observe the only relatively safe patch amid the acid arrow rain. He made his way there while continuing his talk with Reen:
'We risk getting everyone on our back at the cost of taking care of only one team led by an Adept ranker. What if a Master ranker is tasked with capturing us after they find out your rank?
That being said, it'd be foolish to think about the future if I didn't have my present secured. Don't worry though. Contrary to what the situation entails, I'm not a masochist.
You'll make your appearance. We just need a solid opening for you to do so. I'll tell you when. Stay prepared.'
He kept an eye on his surroundings as well as his teammates. He spread his mana sense further and observed Belar's condition specifically.
Belar was barely surviving against his opponent, that too with his fellow anthropes' help. He would often rely on them to defend against the attacks aimed at him.
'Now's the time.'
The butcher thought to himself and gave commands to his teammates over his ID stone:
'Guys, it's about time we said goodbye to these fuckers. Remember, you need to retreat to your left as soon as you throw the vials I've given you.
We need to be in sync for this to work. The drop will take place within 3...'
The butcher dodged some more arrows while giving instructions to the Anthropes. By now almost all of the clothes he had worn were in tatters because of the acidic nature of the arrows. He also had red patches all over his body that would release smoke because of the instant corrosion and regeneration that took place.
The butcher's mana storage was expanding at a rapid pace. The mana circuits were stressed as they were. Plus, all the running had shaved off his stamina.
He threw his daggers in the air with an impressive force. He threw them towards Hilda while imbuing them with enough mana to fight off the corrosive arrows that the daggers would encounter in their paths.
'...2…'
The butcher took out a set of vials from his storage and held them by his mouth as he was running towards Hilda. Next, he retrieved his katars– Diceros Left and Right.
'...1…'
The butcher said this to his team as he gripped his freshly drawn weapons. The clothes on his body had disappeared by now. His chainmail armour, which he wore inside his clothes, barely adhered to his torso. He was basically naked from his waist down.
The butcher stepped into the inner circle of the concentrated rain of arrows surrounding Hilda. Some of his flesh started melting despite him concentrating on his defensive mana layer as a result of the increased acidic contact.
'....0…'