Chapter 152: Debt (1)

"Who held the advantage now?" Wrik said, recognising the place they were all teleported to.

Neck-high or even higher grasses were all around his body and it went further for hundreds of metres. Coldwater dripped on his neck and face when he motioned his head to gaze at the others. He had been to this place. It was the grassland where he had been teleported the very first day of the test and it is where he was bitten by the vipers. 

"This is quite brilliant," a voice said. Wrik looked at the owner of the voice to find it was Ben. "I thought you had some plan, but did not know it would get us all here."

Wrik did not involve in the conversation now. He needed to get what he wanted fast. The grassland was only about eight to ten kilometres from the place they used the escape talisman. It would only take about ten minutes to a quarter of an hour at best to find them.

Raising his sword above the grass, Wrik attacked Ben with a swing who was the only person he found close. Grasses fell in the one swoop as the sword went towards Ben.

"Why so serious all the time?" Ben turned to his crazier self the next moment in the fight. Fine metal like bone extended from the side of his palm and arm as the guy blocked the sword.

"Wrik, we're here," a voice yelled from about a couple hundred metres away, where Anton was fighting with the masked fellow. Fortunately, he was not alone. Evan, Davin and Michelle were with him, dealing with Scythe together.

"How long do you think they can hold on against Scythe?" Ben asked. Azure light glowed from his other arm as he swung it towards Wrik.

"That is not the question you should be asking." Wrik ducked the blade light and said. "It is how long Scythe can last against the four of them."

"It appears you do not know the extent of power Scythe holds?" Ben talked in between the moves, trying to pull distance again. 

How could Wrik let the guy go away so easily? His sword chased as the two of them were at hand's distance again.

"It seems you are underestimating our power," Wrik said as a halo of silver light appeared in his eyes. Mana swirled swifter and his perception intended further.

Wrik truly was not worried about the situation. Anton, Davin, Evan, and Michelle were the elite among elites in the test. Even if only two of them were going against Scythe, he would not be worried, much less four together. And more, there were more people here. Tanya, Fraser, who were capable of fighting. They only need a minute at best to locate where the fighting was going on.

Ben arched his brows a little, looking at Wrik. Even if the guy looked normal on the outside, he was somewhat worried. Who would not be? They were outnumbered by quite a heavy margin. 

Meanwhile, Scythe alone was going after the four of Evan, Davin and Anton in close quarters, while Michelle kept him busy with her spear of flames and fireball spells. She had already made quite a mess during the process, burning a good portion of the dry grasses and, in some place, it was still burning. Nobody blamed her. They were dealing with a monster now, have no time to worry about some misfire.

Anton was assaulting Scythe from behind while Evan and Davin were in the front. Scythe had the long scythe in his arm. Moreover, he somehow attached it with the right arm and now it was working as an extended weapon with the chains attached to it. 

With a swing of his right wrist, the chain that held the long scythe attacked the two of the people in the front. The reverse blade of the scythe was glowing with the azure light similar to Ben, but it held more force backed up by the weapon. 

Evan already knew the scythe could go only about five metres, so both of them assault by keeping a close tab on how close they were in. Anton hacked his sword from behind and Scythe blocked it with the sickle in his other arm easily. 

Then a spear of flame assaulted the masked fellow who called back his scythe and hacked down the spell. In the middle, Anton dealt a hack on the shoulder of the masked fellow, but it could not even break the armament defence with the only successful blow so far. 

But Anton was disappointed. In the short hack, he found out a weakness of Scythe. Even though the masked fellow had an abundant amount of mana and skills to back up against the four of them together, there was a surprising weakness in his armament reinforcement. 

Scythe was not using his armament defence like, but it was a like offensive skill. Moreover, it was quite shaky; it was still in place only by the sheer amount of it. The way Sophia taught them to use armament was not entirely different, but there was some distinction between them. It was as if Scythe had not learned it properly. He only knows how to attack with it.

Arching his eyebrows, Anton reinforced his blade with the extent of his force. Black smoky mist draped from his blade as he went against Scythe. 

This time, Anton was successful in breaking the defence, and it was quite easy. Though the armour and clothes the guy was wearing rendered most of the attack useless. It was not just any common equipment and had quite some resistance against most of the elements.

And in the next moment, the armament stood again where Anton attack—even Wrik was not so adept in using Armament that casually. If only it did not have the weakness then, defeating this masked guy would have been close to impossible. Kudos to that. 

"Don't hold back. Attack him with your attributes," Anton yelled. "His armament is weak against the assault empowered by an element."

The two of them nodded with an exchange of glances. In the next attack, Davin's sword grew heavier as it was reinforced by the earth attribute. Though Davin had gained no insight into the skill [Thousand Ton sword] yet, he could still use the theory behind to get a somewhat satisfactory result.

Evan's sword grew colder and more real and true than before. His attribute was metal, an excellent attribute to use in any weapon. 

The three-way battle continued. When Anton advanced, Davin and Evan tried to sneak in. Scythe dealt with the two in the front with his main weapon, while dealing with Anton proved quite difficult. Probably because he did not have prior dealings with shadow element and his armour and clothes were not resistant towards a rare element like Shadow compared to the common elements like earth or metal. 

He made a mad swing, twisting his body 360 degrees. It was a low swing, so the grass that was mostly devastated, cut again in the five-metre radius. Evan was successful in dodging. The former Inquisitor acolyte jumped the moment he saw the manoeuvre. Davin was not so lucky and was injured his front leg. 

But the worst of them all was Anton, who was quite close to the masked fellow and was so busy in his attack that he did not have the time to withdraw. The chains of the scythe strapped with his body and made him almost immobile for a fraction of a moment, but that single fraction was enough for Scythe. The sickle hacked down on Anton's chest the very next moment and he shouted in pain.

Even though the pain, Anton did not forget to take advantage of such an opportunity. The scythe was already strangling him and the sickle was pinning in his chest—that meant the masked fellow had nothing else to protect his body. 

Anton could have gone for the neck, slitting it in one hack, but he went for the mask. The shadow reinforced blade made a cross swing on the weird mask. It made a deep split on the mask just beside the nose. Some amount of blood sprayed on the air, but the mask still held on the face. 

Scythe was stunned by the blow and fell down at the very next moment. Even for a guy like him, the attack was too much. Even in his wildest dream, he had not thought someone could get attacked in such circumstances. 

"Maha blessed this fellow," swore Anton, finally withdrawing. Agonising pain was dulling his mind and there was something more he could not put a hold on.

The sickle was still pinning down his chest. Fortunately, it avoided any vital organs like the heart or the lungs, but almost half of the blade had made its way into his body. Anton was about to curse when he saw flames in their full glory weaved towards the guy on the ground. 

Michelle was preparing a bigger spell in between the moment, and Anton presented her with such a good opportunity.

And it did not end with just the flame. In the next moment, the entire body of Scythe froze in ice, immobilising him on the ground. In the meantime, Tanya had joined arms with Mechelle in dealing quite a blow.

________________

Scythe = person. scythe = weapon. It was a little confusing for me while writing, so I guess it will be more for the readers. 

The Little War ends in the next chapter. It had been quite a long journey. Phew.