Chapter 132: The War (1)

The sun was at the horizon, dyeing the wood a tint of yellow. The chilly wind blew from the north, giving a chilly vibe to the weather. It was the twenty-eighth day of the test, almost the end of preparation. Wrik wanted to start the next half of the test with a bang, and his target was none other than Arjamith, but that day was not today. 

Before moving to one of the giants of the test, he wanted to hunt down the right arm of another giant. He was planning this for a while, and might not have the chance again and today's as good as any other.

Today, their target was none other than the right arm of Scythe. A crazy maniac, according to Anton. 

"Are you sure about this?" Anton asked. Anton asked Wrik, but his eyes were not at Wrik, who was also hiding beside him, but towards the target ahead.

Ben was conversing with his men about something. That guy seemed to be an extra bit irritated today, yelled at his men a couple of times.

"Yes," Wrik said. "We will run if something goes off."

Other than him, Byul was with them. The girl insisted on going with them, and so for the past few days, she was with them in the wilderness, searching. And there was also Aeriel, the archer. Just as if note more skilled than Jacob. Her archery was higher than Jacob, but did not have that much firepower. But she took care of her job well enough. She had taken higher ground, hiding above in the trees waiting for a signal. 

"Remember, this crazy guy was not just your regular mage, like Byul, but more powerful and crazy. He seemed to well adept in close combat as well," Anton said, looking at their target. "Don't give him any chance, even if he is down."

"There are a couple of dozen men other than him," Wrik said to Byul and Anton. "Anton will go against him first while we deal with the mobs."

"Off we go." 

Saying that, the three of them moved in another direction. Anton moved towards the straight while Wrik and Byul rushed adjacent to him. 

Anton threw a shadow element infused dagger, straight at his target, crazy ben, while his legs moved like ghostly shadows straight at him.

"I thought someone was following me," Crazy Ben said with a broad smile. He ducked to dodge the path of the dagger and found the other two attacking his men. "Did not know it would be you."

Anton gave no reply, went straight after his target, but four men stood blocking his way. Raising an eyebrow, he enabled shadow reinforcement to his blade and attacked with viciousness. There was no point in showing mercy to the enemy, not killing them was enough. 

Anton attacked vital spots of the men, but the men did not fall in one or two blows. These were the men that were trained well in mana and close quarter combat, and their sole duty was to be obedient to Scythe and Ben. 

Anton sensed a wave of energy was about to attack him from the direction of Ben, whose arms were glowing with blue-azure light. He did not bother to attack the men, somersault over them as the weave of force and wind hit the empty spot. 

The weave of energy was not like the force he experienced in the past when he infiltrated Scythe's lair. Then it was blunt a force for thrashing, but now it had a sharp edge. It was just as deadly as a blade, and the crazy guy could wield in the long distances.

On the other hand, Wrik was having no problem dealing with the mobs. He already thrashed down two, when half a dozen surrounded him. Byul was in a similar situation. 

Byul was in a similar situation, already on the back foot against the joint force of half a dozen underlings. She did not think it would be easier, but it turned out to be almost impossible for her. 

An arrow shot from above, piercing the fellow fighting her, and then another. When her opponents finally found out, three of their men had an arrow stuck in her body. And there were not the only ones; Aeriel had already dealt with the archers from the enemy lines.

Byul sighed in relief. She cast an elementary wind blade on the ones who were injured, making them immobile on the floor. Though the wind blade did not have that much power, in close quarters, it was quite a useful skill. Moreover, it took less than even a second for her to cast it after her accomplishment in casting rose.

Aeriel attacked the guys who were fighting Anton. He achieved nothing in the time. He could not even scratch Ben, but that was enough. He was never meant to deal with Crazy Ben alone. They had been tailing this guy for over two days; if he went down so easily, then all the reputation Scythe had would be for nought, Ben was after all the right arm of Scythe. 

Wrik triggered the [Eye of Insights], his vision became clearer, and the mana revolution turned swifter. With the overwhelming perception, Wrik dodged the attacks of the men easily and dealt blows finding any spot. 

"Byul," he yelled towards the short-haired girl who was still in the midst of a couple of fellows. 

Aeriel dealt with the archer from the other group first and moved to the other opponents. 

"Take care of these men. I'll go after our main target," he said. He already injured most of them. Even though they were still standing, Byul could very well deal with them with the help of Aeriel.

Wrik rushed at Ben, baring his sword. The crazy guy was quite fine, and did not join Anton in the close quarters, which was Anton's speciality. With the wave of force, he attacked Anton, and it did not look like that guy was exhausting. 

Anton already has a line of blood mark on his chick, only dodging the attacks. He could not get as close as two meters in the range of Ben.

Wrik joined Anton, and just at the same time, he felt the wave of force coming straight at him. Even though it was mostly invisible, with transparent smoke-like aura; with his [Eye of Insights] he saw it clearly. The weave was not blunt, it bared force like a blade.

With the swipe of his sword, Wrik negated the attack and moved towards his target. 

Ben threw his arms right and left at the two of them as the blade of the force moved towards them in dozens of numbers. 

Wrik dodged, blocked, and moved. A couple of the attacks broke into his body, breaking the mana defence, and he reinforced with the mana again. 

"Gosh! How much mana this guy has?" Anton yelled. His, state was similar to Wrik, not too tired, but his mana reserved was almost empty. The [Shadow Reinforcement] took a lot of mana, even though he used it sparingly against the crazy attacks from his opponent. 

"Byul," Wrik yelled, coming in two-metre close to the guy, though the guy pulled back again, throwing a couple of weaves. 

"On it," Byul nodded. 

Aeriel had already joined her, finishing her reserve of the bow. She was fighting them off now with knives, and she was winning it. Byul left the few that remained to her and focused. Golden light flicked in her arm, as she threw it towards Wrik as it went like a golden thread.

It struck Wrik at the chest, and he activated the second level of the [Eye of Insights] at the same time.

[A link has been made between user An Byul and Wrik Everknight.] 

But the link was quite weak, as they were a dozen metres away. Wrik had to spare some of his perceptions to let link persist. That was why he enabled the second level of the ability.

He moved like a champion gymnastic like how Anton moved against the weaves of attack. In these couple of weeks, Wrik worked hard on his agility and body movement. He learned most of it from Anton, watching him, duelling him, and taking advice from him.

With his hyperactive mind, two sources of mana, and frantic agility, he arrived close to Ben. He was attempting a blow for a blow. 

His sword swung and so did his opponent, swiped his arm towards him. Wrik's sword hit his opponent's arm and the weave of force assault him on the chest, breaking the armament reinforcement, and leaving a vertical mark on his new armour. 

Wrik was not happy. Not because the attack damaged his armour, but his sword did not get the elevation he needed, and more, when the two: his sword and his opponent's arm collided, it made a sound like two metals hitting each other. 

"Hehe he," Ben laughed like a maniac. "You can't beat me."

"We will see." 

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