Chapter 77 - Seventy-Five

POV: Leonel

I see the two creatures emerge from the crowd of misty black creatures and immediately knew they held another level of danger; as Thilgon did, exchanging a quick glance at me.

In an unspoken truce we each take one to deal with, spreading a little more apart as my golden eyes focus on the creature in front of me.

I analyze him, the way he walked to the way his clawed hand went to the side to unsheath his sword, his movements wide and firm, smooth yet not slow.

From being so tall he was bound to have a very long reach, which only gets worse when the point a long big sword at me, the menacing blade covered in a green aura that swirled like smoke around the silver edge.

With white eyes were partially covered by the helmet, giving him a threatening look as the sharp edge framed his eyes into an angry expression.

Out of nowhere he starts swinging the blade as if weighted nothing, the speed and reach surprising me as I dodge back, only to have to sidestep him.

I was trying to keep my distance by using some range attacks when I hear Thilgon scream at me:

"Weak spot over the back!" I use a bright ball of light to blind the knight as I step back, his blade almost reaching, passing beside me.

I narrow my eyes at that and with a flick of my wrist a golden arrow formed on the curve of my sword and shot out from my blade, but on contrary of my expectations the knight didn't dodge nor slashed at my attack, he simply received it head-on as if it was nothing, the arrow piercing deep into his shoulder right between the armor plates, however ending being melted away by the goopy black substance as it consumed it like acid.

He advances again, his sword held high as he swings it down while running, the long big blade carrying the destructive power of a mace under the strength of his movements as he swung it around, and out of options since my arrows had no effect nor stunned him as I hoped for, I blocked his blade with mine, a contrasting blow between a silver blade against a goopy long mass.

One of the runes that I had imprinted along the sword starts to shine and burn with a shisshing sound, making the edges of the blade shine with a golden glint, only for my eyes to go up were the blades touched and see why the rune reacted; his sword was melting mine!

Not wanting to test my fate and have that weapon touching my body I swing the blade sideways, taking it away from an attacking pose and managing to back off.

Only for him to follow in persuade.

I suppress the annoyance I felt as I block another strike, deepening the damage on my blade. Knowing that in close combat I was bound to lose, not wanting to risk touching him if the same substance that the blade was on his body, I once more drive him away, but this time I pull the blade up and make it shine blindingly in front of him, giving me enough time to widen the space between us, going up the wooden balcony and sheathing my sword, no point it keeping it up only to be further damaged than it was already.

I take out my new weapon, still unsure if it would work, but finding the opportunity to test it out in the current predicament; even more because it was a ranged weapon.

I take it out from under my tunic; a long, whip silver chain.

It was difficult to maneuver like any whip, worsening with its ledge and weight, but this weapon didn't need to be as accurate as my arrows; its ledge and material were the important points.

Simply because, in every metal hoop, there was a rune engraved in each one of it, the strongest the higher it went.

As the knight once more rushed forward, clattering metal and bringing an acrid smell with him, and was about to reach the first step up to the balcony I rotate my wrist in a circular motion, bringing the entire whip-chain in the air over my head, a silver line chasing after oneself like a serpent going after her own tail, spinning as a hurricane as the speed increases, joining with my air maneuvering, the strong wind holding him back and locking him in place, unable to advance.

Only those attentive and observant enough would be able to see that, from time to time, the tip of the whip would slash out, but not eager for blood, it would actually hit the wood and the ground, seemingly rather clumsily, perhaps the effect of being spin too fast, slashing out from time to time with the strength of the movement.

And yet, on the contrary, every move was deliberate and intended for every place it hit the chain left an imprint behind, almost unseeing by those involved in the battle, the shape of the rune imprinted on where it touched.

I stop rotating the chain suddenly, but I do not give the knight enough time to move further than one step as, with both my hands, I stretch the ledge of the whip in front of me, the last hoop being firmly gripped under my palm as I infuse it with my energy.

"Bloom of One Hundred Hits!"

The places I hit before and had a rune imprinted on them now shone a bright golden light, looking as if a bud had bloomed with pure sunlit as from its center hundreds of golden arrow shootout and flow like sparrows into his direction to sink in deep in the knight, coming from above, bellow, surrounding him, having his figure covered from head to toe in no time, damaging his armor along the way.

And yet, with a furious impulse, he melted the arrows once more, leaving a scar-less body in front of me; but that was to be expected, I wasn't worried about doing meaningless damage to him, but finding his weak spot on the back, that's why I attacked using a magic with such a widespread.

And that area was duly noted and noticed by my elven eyes, a circular zone on his back, the only place that truly suffered some damage from the arrows, letting me know where the invisible hitting spot was.

I narrow my eyes in a confident way, sending my mind in a calm yet attentive state as adrenaline pulsed inside my veins, making all seem relatively slower.

The creature shakes its body before locking eyes with me once more, that many arrows bothering him as it hit almost every inch of skin exposed; and damage the armor to the point of bending inwards, so the knight reaches out and with brute force pulls the metal plates off of him, then the helmet, having it role and meltdown to the side as his body came to view.

At first I'm forced back by the strong putrid smell that are freed in the air, covering my face with the sleeve of my tunic, but as he starts to advance I have a quick look at his appearance.

And it is even worse than before.

His face has a pair of white sideways eyes blinking separately that resembled a spider, his mouth a mere oval hole with tiny teeth that went all the way in, and on his cheeks there were claw-fangs things that clicked and clacked like crab claws, all covered before by the metal plates that weirdly seemed to be assembled into his goopy skin.

But the rest of his body… was truly weird, and explained why the armor was needed in the first place.

It was as if his blood was made of corrosive acid and in a constant state of consuming itself up, making so the regenerative abilities of the body could not fully keep up; so that all of the skin and part of the muscles were consumed, leaving some bones visible and organs exposed, the heart clearly evident in the center as it shisshed while bumping, being the most damaged one for bringing and carrying the acid blood, looking like a mass of meat and goop desperately trying to keep up.

That was not a chance in this world that his creature was still alive; I just hoped it had no conscious and could not feel any pain, for I could not even imagine that level of suffering and pain.

He starts climbing the steps with a brutal swag on his body, ready to pounce and strike, oozing even more of that green aura mixed with melting goop dripping off of him and hitting the wooden boards.

Having seen his style of fighting and knowing where to hit and what to use, I was ready to try and bait him into a more close-in environment where his bigger long sword will get stuck, so once he moves closer I try not to let any explicit evidence of my intentions as I back of slowly, furthermore because, as far as I understood, these creatures lacked intelligence and complex moving patterns were beyond their reach, most dodging and dashing appearing as the result of a more extreme attack from my part.

Which means, something or someone was making that, sometimes, they would quickly react in a safer way; if not they would simply advance and attack, unconcerned by any damage they could receive.

Being far more aware that it was meaningless to attack the main body I spin around, my tunic moving with the wind as my other hand holds the ledge of the chain at the same time that the last hoop starts cracking and breaking up into tiny pieces, until only a silver powder was left behind and carried away with the wind.

So it couldn't take the input of magic more than once… A pity, I had paid a good penny in these chains, though they are test projects so every failing gives space to learn more.

He finally reaches the balcony I was in, going straight to attacking once more as I start blocking his attacks with my chain, holding it with both hands and stretching it in front of me, and once I found an opportunity I would use a kicking motion to thrust air forward and stun him, only to have him advancing once more in no time and lunging his sword forward like a spear, the ledge worrisome as I dodged pass the rooms and into the living room, doors and woods being cut along the way.

As I had no place to run to he thinks he has the advance, starting to swing his sword around as I crouched and dodged to the side.

Until, that is, his sword hit a stone wall and got stuck there for mere seconds.

But it was enough for me, even more because I was waiting for it.

I saw my opportunity there, so I grabbed it; literally. While his blade was still stretched out I quickly lock it in place by circulating it with my chain, one of the runes in the middle shinning as the whole silver line seemed to twist and turn until it was covered by a blue-white aura with the form of a serpent, locking the blade on it's embraced as it was melted away with it, both fusing into a mess of metal and goop.

But I did not stay to watch until the end, I quickly bounced forward and took my sword out, using the still shocked state of the creature in my favor to slash his weak spot on the back with an unsheathing quick movement, increasing the damage of the blade by using an Air Slash.

And just like that, with a single mistake from his part, the fight was over; but that is what true fighting is, one misstep can lead you to your death.

I sheat my sword once more, watching as his body melted away and the goop stained the wooden boards, cracking my neck sideways, letting the tension out of my shoulders, but not my focus as I look outside.

The fight isn't over yet.

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Author Note: Husbando is sooo cool!! o(￣ ◇￣)○