Chapter 216 - Poison

That presence alone was enough to make Zaos stay on guard, but he couldn't help but feel some shivers when he saw that weird man wearing dark clothes all over. His expressionless face made him look like a corpse since Zaos couldn't see any glow in his eyes, but Zaos knew that they were the eyes of a real killer.

Crow walked toward Zaos without showing any concern. It almost looked like he couldn't see him. Still, then when Zaos held his sword with both hands and prepared an attack, the enemy suddenly disappeared and then reappeared in front of him in the blink of an eye and then tried to pierce his throat with that weird curved sword.

Zaos moved backward to dodge the attack, but in the end, his neck still got slightly cut by the blade. Despite having almost lost his life, Zaos didn't have much time to counterattack since he sensed the smell of something weird coming from his neck… it was probably poison. The wound was shallow, so Zaos decided to ignore it but soon changed his mind when his neck began to feel numb. Without thinking twice, he used Cleanse.

Your Poison Resistance has reached level 01.

"Oh? I see now… it was thanks to you that these people left the mansion alive," Crow said. "I didn't imagine that you could be this good at offensive magic and even know a spell that counters my poison… the rumors about you aren't exaggerated."

"You are the one who gave Ferdinand the drug to make everyone fall asleep," Zaos said. "Why go through that kind of trouble? Why not kill everyone instead of that?" 

"You are half correct. I didn't give Ferdinand any drugs. I made one of Lord Orleand servants put one of my sleeping drugs in the food and the wine," Crow replied. "We might need some prisoners, so we couldn't afford to kill all of them with the same poison."

"A hypnosis drug… that is why you can control these soldiers with a single whistle," Zaos said.

"That is right," Crow said. "Thanks to you, my assassin's reputation will take quite a blow, so I decided to kill you myself. Don't feel bad about it, though. It won't hurt all that much."

Crow disappeared and reappeared close to Zaos again. His speed was even greater than Elmar's. Zaos tried to block the attack with his sword again, he managed to put his sword to protect his neck and heart. But at the last minute, Crow moved his sword and aimed at Zaos's fingers. Zaos's felt shivers when he noticed that, but at the last moment, he escaped the attack and only got scratched.

"You are surprisingly quick to react despite the fact that you carry such a big weapon," Crow said. "Still, for how long you will manage to do that?"

Your Poison Resistance has reached level 02.

Zaos won't have time for big swings. He will need to focus on the compact ones. He assumed his Ox guard and then considered the options of enhancing his body and sword to increase his speed, but Zaos didn't have much mana left. He just used a little more to use Cleanse on his hand, after all. 

Without magic to enhance his attack speed, Zaos couldn't attack in that stance carefully. If he misses a strike, Zaos will end up completely wide open, after all. Crow observed Zaos's stance. He seemed pretty relaxed in that stance, so even Crow couldn't advance and attack without some caution.

Crow disappeared, and then Zaos moved his sword, and then when he reappeared, Zaos saw him move backward while the sword almost touched the assassin's head. Just as Zaos had expected, it seemed that the enemy could only be that fast while moving in a straight line. Zaos also got pretty faster in the last year, so he could understand the enemy's speed.

Despite his attack, Crow completely dodged the sword, but fortunately, he didn't have time to move to the side and then try to attack Zaos. That being said, Crow still looked strangely calm. Crow suddenly stopped attacking and watched Zaos in silence, but then his left side suddenly began to move under his dark cloak, and then a rapid-fire crossbow suddenly appeared. Zaos moved his sword again and somehow reacted on time to block the projectiles. However, his arm got scratched on several spots because the sword's handle wasn't thick enough to protect him.

As if that wasn't enough, Zaos felt his right arm growing numb… even the bolts were poisoned. Zaos used Cleanse again, but in that fraction of a second in which he could use his main hand properly, Crow dashed forward and tried to cut Zaos's left side. In the end, Zaos got tired of the poison and decided to accept some risks. Crow's sword pierced Zaos's left side, but then he felt shivers for the first time in a while when Zaos's left hand moved toward his arm. Crow tried to retreat, but in the end, he was forced to leave his weapon behind because, with it, he wouldn't be able to escape.

Zaos sighed. He grabbed the sword and pulled it from the wound. This time, the numbness was spreading faster. As expected, with a bigger wound, a lot more poison entered his body. Zaos used Cleanse again, but things were terrible… he only had enough mana to use it two times. Zaos stored the poisonous curved sword on his back to use if he has the chance, but then he frowned when he saw Crow showing another a copy of the same.

Your Poison Resistance has reached level 03.

Your Poison Resistance has reached level 04.

Your Poison Resistance has reached level 05.

"This isn't good…" Zaos said and then took a deep breath.

Since he was exhausted and didn't have enough mana to get rid of the poison too many more times, Zaos had to end that fight quickly, but Crow could read him like an open book. He wouldn't rush the fight and make a mistake. In the end, Zaos decided to make the enemy taste a little of his own poison in a different way, he pointed his crossbow toward the enemy and fired all his remaining bolts.