Chapter 141: A Battle without Maha Mana (2)

It took longer than Evan had thought it would need him to reach here. It was just past morning he made the journey to reach here from the south, and when he finally reached the fortress, it was already evening. It took him more time than he thought to search for the fortress. And worse, after locating the fortress, he found it was abandoned.

Even looked at every nook and corner of the fortress and found no soul inside. After making a safe transition for Lillian and Lan, Evan had the thought of helping Wrik and others as the payment of the kindness they had shown him and his two companions, but it appeared he came a little late. 

After searching a little, he found the building was not abandoned long ago. It could not be more than half a day. 

Evan racked his brain to search for a reason to find out why they had abandoned such a place. And what he came up with looked nothing good to him. He had the news that Wrik and others had a terrible relationship with Scythe—the person who was supposed to be the winner of the game. 

"They have to abandon the buildings," Evan thought out loud. "Things must have progressed faster than I had assumed."

In the end, he could only blame himself for getting here late, but he had to make sure Lan and Lillian were safe—they were his responsibility before he could do anything for others.

Sighing, he came out of the fortress. It appeared he was late and things had turned for the worse. Should he look for them in other places? To the fortress of Scythe?

Evan trotted towards the way as he could not come up with an answer, but then his spine turned cold. He looked behind to find a masked fellow standing behind him.

The mask was rather uncanny and eerie. It had the design of yin-yang in black and white, with a black tear on the white side and a white tear on the black side below the place where the eyes should have been. Flame markings in black and white went from the forehead to the back of the head. The guy was wearing a black cloak that hid everything about him other than the thought that this guy was dangerous.

Scythe. Evan's mind rang. He had not seen this person before, but he heard rumours, a lot of them, actually. With all that, it was a child's play to recognise him. With an attempt, Evan brought out his sword, though he did not attack as the Scythe had yet to show any hostility.

Scythe just stood there for a while, silently. He was alone, none of his underlings could be sensed in the surroundings. But the person in question seemed to have no concern. He looked at the dying sun and then at the white cliffs of the mountain. He seemed to care nothing about the person in front of him, too.

"What do you want?" Evan asked. His palms gripped the hilt hard, and his eyes narrowed. 

Scythe finally came back to his senses and looked at the fellow standing ahead of him with a sword. He did not answer the question, but asked another one. "Are you looking for the people who call themselves Salvation?"

Scythe's voice was as Evan had heard in the rumours. It was monotone, and the mask filtered out all the emotion from it, leaving only a gruff voice that hit one at the heart. 

"Yes," Evan said. He could not lie here as this masked fellow must have seen him searching in the empty castle.

Apparently, Wrik and others chose the name 'Salvation' and waged war against Scythe. Even though they did not even clash once as far as he knew, but all the deeds they had committed were mostly against the guy standing in front of him.

They had established an army of half a thousand mahasayer out of nothing and made rumours that made Scythe worse than he really was and made them the apostle of salvation. If it had happened with him, he would be mad and hunt down Wrik and others like crazy, so finding Scythe here was not unfounded. 

"Are you close with them?" 

Evan was about to answer, but then remembered he was not obligated to answer any of the questions.

"Say, yes or no," Scythe asked again in the monotone voice. "Your fate might depend on it."

"Neither," Evan answered. His eyes were on the enemy. "They helped me a few times. I am just here to repay the favour."

Scythe tilted his head towards Evan. Maybe looking carefully at Evan and deciding about something that Evan did not understand.

"I guess it will do it," Scythe said and in the next moment, he was just before Evan. 

An arm was just about to knock him on the chest when Evan raised his sword in a block. 

.. . 

Wrik moved slowly and quietly, in the snow-filled mountain, keeping an eye on the enormous fellow.

"Outlander, you think you can hide from me?" Arjamith shouted, scanning his surroundings. It was not as dark to make him truly blind, but he was having quite a problem in sight.

And there was that mist, too. He did not know if it was another play by the outlander as he recalled they had a female mage who could manipulate mist and messed up with all the senses. Fortunately, the mist now only made a problem in sight—that was why he could not confirm.

Abruptly, he saw a moment of a silhouette in his left. His legs moved just as fast as his foot and pierced the shadow he saw. But the thing his spear pierced was nothing but a wood while the true shadow appeared to form from his behind and dealt two quick slashes on the joints of his right knee.

Wrik did not make more swing left instantly in the shadows. 

"You maggot," Arjamith shouted. And saw the thing that he pierced was a log of wood that was carved crudely in a human silhouette. "Do you think your dirty trick could win you against me?" 

The same play happened again. This time it was again on his left. Arjamith swung the spear like before, but he was more prepared. Just when he felt the disturbance on his right, the spear bolted fiercely in the other direction and before the shadow could come closer to him to make a blow; it pierced again. 

But Arjamith's face turned uglier. It was another log.

Wrik sword still came and assaulted his opponent's lower body in the joints again. At the same spot, and this time it hit harder than before. It was the place where the legwear was weaker for allowing moments. With the assault one after another, Wrik was able to break its defence and reached his opponent's knees. 

In the previous blow, Wrik had rendered most of its defence and now he hit the sweet spot where it hurt like hell.

"With the face of an Ogre, you have the brain or an ogre as well," Wrik said. He was not sure if he would succeed in his play. In the first, he threw only one log, and Arjamith fell for it. There was nothing surprising there. It could have happened to him as well, but if Wrik was in place of Arjamith, he would never fall for the trick again, even though he used two logs on the second term.

"I will kill you," Arjamith said, twisting his lips in anger and pain. He moved his spear again that still had the log bound towards Wrik. With the mad swing, the log threw away from the speed towards Wrik. 

Wrik dodged the log, but did not try to run this time. He met the spear and felt the force of Arjamith again. It was the same as the two battles he had with Arjamith. The huge guy uses too much force if he gets angry. 

He could barely block the spear and Arjamith was forcing it towards him even more. Sucking in a cold breath, Wrik twisted his head behind and let his sword go along below the spear. His moment was agiler than Arjamith. He bolt downwards and dealt another blow to the arm that was holding the spear and then twisted his sword to hit him on the thigh. 

Wrik rolled instantly as he was successful in dealing the two blows. He was more than satisfied with the assault he made on his opponent's arm, but not so in the thigh. Wrik did not linger more unto the last blow as he had to get away from him. 

"Anger is the mind, the mind-killer, my friend," Wrik said, standing up immediately.

"You have grown stronger than before, Outlander. And more devious," Arjamitth said, shaking his right arm heavily. "I thought it would be your pointless struggle, but it seemed you have prepared well." 

"Duh," Wrik mocked. "Do you think of me as an idiot? I never play a game where I do not have the confidence to win."

"Good," was all Arjamith said after hearing the mocking. His lips curved upward and his eyes showed the mad glee of battle spirit. "Then show me what you got."

The two people met again as the spear, and sword met in the air, making metallic noises. None of them showed any mercy in the duel.

____________________

Vote power stones and golden tickets if you appreciate the work. 

Join Privilege to gain 50% discount for the entire month with only 2 coins.