Chapter 1029: Sneak Attack
Em-Sul looked at the strange surroundings with keen, appraising eyes.
He had been dragged in so fast. There had barely been any time for him to take action, as right after his Territory was crushed, sharp, piercing damage hammering into his chest, he hadn't quite had the chance to replenish himself with Creeds.
'How did this Territory suddenly get immensely stronger anyway?' Em-Sul asked himself while standing up straight, the dumbbell-like artefact in his hand gripped tight.
That too, had happened very quickly.
It was as though the Territory of the beast that was in league with Bright Storm was bolstered by some kind of divine influence; like a blessing that augmented all its qualities.
Of course, that wasn't the case.
Looking around, Em-Sul saw an odd, cloudy environment.
The Majestic Territory, Reign of the Unending Exigencies' Imaginary GeoScape was constructed out of dark blue clouds.
Figures that vaguely resembled trees, misshapen and lumpy because of what formed them, decorated the canvas of deep black that surrounded them.
Em-Sul was right in the middle of these cloudy shapes, though only the first line of 'trees' was truly visible to him, even with his enhanced sight.
The area he stood in, which was a plain full of long, cloudy, dark blue grasses could not have looked more ominous. Strands of dull light poured only within its circular mass from the heavy clouds above, which seemed to mask what might have been a blue sun.
Em-Sul sighed, and then he immediately muttered a Creed to replenish his energy reserves. His eyes darted to the left, and then to the right.
His expanded sight might have been limited, but he wasn't so crude that he couldn't perceive vague outlines hiding behind what he could see of the cloudy forestry.
'They aim to sneak attack me, huh? Pretty good strategy considering that I can hardly sense anything within this place...' Em-Sul thought.
When all was said and done, it seemed his enemies were sure that this Territory alone wasn't enough to kill him.
It was good that they acted with that in mind.
The Harmonic Ember around Em-Sul's neck was suddenly engulfed in a white haze, and at the same time, the Faction Leader summoned what looked like a clam from his spatial storage. ...!!!
Right then, something moving at nothing less than the speed of lightning slammed into Em- Sul!
What was more impressive than its speed, was its sheer size. Whatever had suddenly charged out of the darkness was a fat, bulky monstrosity nearly ten meters tall and almost half as wide!
The creature was quite ugly; its face quite like that of an ogre, if identified according to otherworldly detailing.
Two long fangs protruded from its bottom lip, their yellow colour highlighted by the vibrant bluish white light gushing from its perfectly circular eyes.
Wart-filled ebony skin wrapped all over its muscular body, which was struggling to push against Em-Sul.
Indeed, the Faction Leader had reacted without much difficulty.
His body was coated with a thick, viscousy Nitros that expanded two meters from his body, contending against the giant before it.
Em-Sul raised a brow.
'This much shouldn't be expected to distract me, right? They are not dense. This means...'
The Faction Leader turned, and in the nick of time, he managed to catch a glimpse of a figure adorned in a voluminous lustreless set of dark grey armour - helmet and all - covered with uneven lumps.
Floating above it, were two disks stacked on top of each other, with two steel balls visible on the topmost one.
The Faction Leader staggered and hissed in pain.
The quick roll he had done to escape being pounded into the ground had forced him to exert unneeded pressure on his wounds.
'These two... Both of them seem to be capable of rendering my Nitros useless for defence. Is this part of the Territory's Primary assault function?' Em-Sul questioned, but before he could try to find any answer, his instincts flared.
His head whipped behind him, and his eyes caught on to the figure of the hideous ebony giant which had streaked around him without him noticing.
It threw its arm sharply at Em-Sul again!
The Faction Leader, realising that he couldn't afford to attempt to judge the nature of this strange creature's abilities conventionally and dodge, decided instead to counterattack. Unfortunately, just when he pounced at the beast, a crushing force blew into his back!
...!!!
Em-Sul's face strained with pain.
It wasn't just some ridiculously voluminous force.
Something else was at play.
He felt his flesh twist horrifically when a fist bashed against it!
While the agony the Faction Leader felt was formidable, equally as tenacious, was his will to
dismantle all obstacles that took him lightly!
In a shocking display of both speed and ferocity, Em-Sul whipped his left hand - hanging
from a thread of flesh as it was - and grabbed that of the armoured figure firmly.
The Faction Leader's eyes flared.
He then pulled with immense force, dragging the figure along as he lunged at the burly
monstrosity on his flank, but midway through the action, he felt a tug greater than the force
he was currently exerting.
The armoured figure resisted being dragged like a rag doll, and instead sent a left hook hurtling towards Em-Sul's face.
The Faction Leader felt the same odd influence he had felt from the ogre-ish monster waft
from the armoured figure's fist!
Again?
What was this odd power?!
He desperately made to avoid it, but seven unseen forces blew multiple holes through his
body with merciless impact!
The large, burly monster he had turned to had finally landed its attack, and it seemed fatal.
In the next instance where Em-Sul seemed to almost fade out of unconsciousness, the armoured figure shook his arm free from of Em-Sul's grip and made to grab the spherical gem
around his neck!