294 Chapter 294: Blood Apocrypha

"Looks like I won't be able to defeat you if I don't get serious."

Elder Liu was musing to himself as he drew a real lance. Not the blood spear that he had been conjuring this entire time, but an actual spear made of metal. He twirled it to fend off Redfield's thrust, and unlike his blood spears, this weapon didn't disintegrate or boil away from the sheer heat of the red-haired mercenary's flames.

"There won't be any difference in the outcome," Redfield declared confidently as he swung his spear. Liu parried it, and despite his advanced age, he held his ground firmly against the younger man. While the two of them were locked in combat, a couple of poisoned throwing knives streaked through the air, silver tinted with purplish venom.

Anastasia had thrown them at Liu while he was currently distracted by her comrade.

However…

"!!!"

A couple of blood spikes erupted from the ground and formed a barrier. The poisoned knives embedded themselves deeply in the blood structures, the red turning a toxic violet. Liu allowed them to crumble away, not even turning to look at his second assailant as he focused on warding off Redfield's relentless attacks.

"Tch."

Anastasia clicked her tongue irritably, but she continued to weave through the battlefield. It wasn't just Liu, but the entire Blood Slaughter Sect had unleashed blood lances and spikes throughout the area, attempting to impale the fiercely resisting silver Wolves mercenaries. Fortunately, none of the mercenaries had died yet.

Brent was proud of his comrades, of his disciplined and well-trained subordinates. However, he knew that the reason why they hadn't sustained any significant casualties yet was because the officers were holding off the big guns. Brent himself was keeping Spartacus at bay, denying the Bloody Berserker any victims.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Spartacus roared in laughter as he pummeled Brent, but the mercenary captain absorbed his blows well. Guarding against the barrage of earthshaking punches, he held his ground firmly despite the earth splintering underneath his feet. "Puny man, why aren't you fighting back?!"

Was the guy blind? Brent was in no way puny. Okay, he might be small compared to Spartacus, but he certainly wasn't tiny at all. Especially since he was much larger than the rest of the warriors fighting throughout the tomb. Then again, Spartacus was insane, so whatever.

"You really want me to fight back?" Brent's lip curled, and he hammered Spartacus in the midriff. The bloody berserker doubled over and dropped to his knees, only for Brent to smash his own knee into the guy's face, breaking the metal quarter-mask and driving the shards deeper into the berserker's flesh. Blood spurted as the goliath toppled over.

For only a few seconds. His hand twitched and he jolted back upright with a guffaw, reaching out to crush Brent in a murderous embrace.

Fortunately, the mercenary captain had reflexively dodged that by withdrawing to a safe distance. He whirled around and kicked the goliath in the face, sending Brent hurtling backward.

Even then, Brent knew that the Bloody Berserker wouldn't go down from that sort of attack. Not with such terrifying regenerative abilities. Taking a deep breath, he bounded after the cartwheeling Spartacus, determined to finish him off before he could fully recover.

While he did so, Anastasia and Redfield continued to double-team Liu. Anastasia weaved through the field of erupting blood spikes, gracefully evading them. she twisted and turned, making it hard for stray Blood Slaughter Sect disciples to land a direct hit, and replied with poison knives that instantly took down more than a few. Hopping elegantly over a particularly long and powerful blood lance that surged out from under her feet, she spun in midair – almost as if in slow motion – and flung a couple of poisoned daggers at Liu just as he was parrying a strike from Redfield.

"Can't let my guard down for even one second, huh?"

The elder sighed as another couple of blood stakes burst from the ground to intercept the knives for him. Twirling his spear, he managed to knock Redfield back, but the younger man was darting through the forest of blood spikes and making use of his superior speed to confound him. Switching his trajectory abruptly, he came from the flank, hoping to take Liu by surprise. As he anticipated, Liu turned to block the blow, but it turned out to be a feint. If Redfield could just strike from a direction that Liu didn't expect…

Unfortunately for him, the old man was a seasoned veteran who had been through countless battles. He recognized a feint when he saw one.

Almost as if he possessed precognitive powers, Liu flipped his spear up and over and deflected Redfield's lance without even looking at his opponent. Redfield gritted his teeth and turned to brute force, hoping that his youth would provide him the edge in a contest of strength.

However, Liu had him beat in guile and cunning.

"!!!"

Redfield reversed his steps in reflex, and not a moment too soon. Dozens of blood spikes erupted and pierced through the space where he would have been occupying if he had gone through with his charge. With an enraged bellow, he shattered the barrage of blood spikes and tore through the obstacle to get to his opponent.

At the same time, Anastasia hurled another couple of poisoned knives that almost disappeared in the jungle of blood blades.

Reacting almost on instinct, Liu stepped to the side and landed a blow on the charging Redfield, who managed to twist just in time to parry the deadly spear. At the same time, another thicket of blood lances shot upward to swat the almost invisible knives away from their target.

"Huff…"

Panting, Redfield staggered backward, swinging his spear. Liu effortlessly blocked it, and then sent another barrage of blood spikes to impale the red-haired mercenary. Fortunately, the fire mage wisely backed off and retreated. Nimbly landing on the ground, he began jumping and evading a series of erupting crimson spikes that were hell-bent on impaling him.

"Kuh!"

Grounding his teeth so hard they almost cracked, Redfield darted through the growing foliage of red, and was forced to widen the distance between himself and the target. One of the spikes burst from right under him, however, taking him completely by surprise. The mercenary hastily brought his flaming spear down to intercept it before it could pierce through his chest and rupture his heart. The sheer impact from the assault actually flung him high up into the air. Sparks continued to rain downward as the blood lance screeched against his spear.

"Impressive. To think you managed to block that."

"You talk too much!" Redfield grunted, winded from the effort of just barely hanging onto his life. Before he could incinerate the offending blood spike, however, a bunch of blood appendages whipped out and attempted to pierce him. Gathering his mana into his body, Redfield maximized his physical reinforcement spell and hardened his Ba Qi aura.

That quick thinking saved him from being punctured into a human pincushion, but he now found himself completely trapped and immobilized by hundreds of blood appendages that were coiling around his limbs and holding him firm.

"I see. Armament Ba Qi is really quite the amazing technique. It's extremely versatile and can be used for both absolute defense and devastating attacks."

Liu almost seemed like he was soaring in the air, but in reality he was riding upon a snaking tendril of expanding blood. Holding his spear in both hands, he readied for a lethal thrust.

"But even that absolute defense can be pierced once I get close…"

With a roar, Redfield activated his fire spell, almost turning his body into a supernova. A colossal fireball ignited and incinerated the forest of blood appendages that had ensnared him, the tremendous shockwaves forcing Liu back and sending him skidding across the ground. Embers drifting around him in an almost spectacular display, Redfield slowly descended to the ground, his spear blazing.

"…I see." Liu nodded, immensely impressed by what he saw. "It appears that you're no ordinary mercenary. The Silver Wolves deserve their reputation indeed. I had always thought that Feng Hai alone was the main pillar of your guild, but I guess it is only natural that a prodigy would draw similar talents to him."

"Hmph." Redfield narrowed his eyes, which burned almost like twin suns. "So do you surrender?"

Liu threw his head back and laughed. "I would never!" he then straightened his head and studied Redfield. "Those fire spells…that spear…that Armament Ba Qi…I wonder how long you'll be able to last, expending such vast quantities of mana. Perhaps you are the one who should surrender. I promise I'll deliver a painless death."

"It seems like it's useless to talk." Redfield leveled his spear, the immolated tip pointed straight at Liu's chest. "We'll decide this in battle."

"Fine by me!"

The two of them charged at each other, the collision of their spears igniting yet another colossal conflagration that engulfed the better part of the dig site and send massive shockwaves buffeting the other combatants.

"Kuh…" Anastasia shielded herself for an instant, and she narrowed her eyes, unable to see past the blinding inferno that now consumed part of the barrier. "Those guys are really going at it. I've to find an opportunity…"

She then ducked her head as a blood blade sailed through the space where her neck had been. Without looking, she reflexively threw her poisoned knife at the source, and the Blood Slaughter Sect disciple went down with a strangled gurgle. Not bothering to pay attention to those she deemed as small fries, Anastasia navigated her way toward her comrade.

"!!!"

She never made it.

A volley of blood arrows landed upon her previous position, forcing her to vault backward. Cartwheeling in midair, Anastasia threw out her hand to propel herself backward. Skidding for a few meters, she glanced up and saw another barrage of blood arrows rising high up before arcing to crash down upon her.

"Little tricks," she muttered disdainfully. Spinning her daggers, she slashed the air in front of her and almost appeared to open up a tear in space-time. Of course, it wasn't anything so fancy. Anastasia was simply leaving a stream of venom that drifted before her. Infusing it with mana, she turned it into an acidic barrier.

Within seconds, the corrosive fluids appeared to solidify, yet somehow maintain the appearance of viscosity.

"Acid Armor."

The hail of arrows slammed into Anastasia's Acid Armor and dissolved instantly with a hiss. Acrid fumes billowed outward, momentarily obscuring the former Assassin from view.

Her assailant paused for a moment, looking around warily. She refused to lower her bow and instead summoned another blood arrow, notching it and aiming it into the center of the thick vapors. Taking a deep breath, she waited for her target to show up.

"!!!"

Sensing movement behind her, she dove to the ground and rolled. A poisoned knife struck the dirt next to her face, and she just managed to get to her feet when a flash of silver hinted with purple venom snaked toward her neck. Lowering her bow, the blood mage quickly conjured a short sword of her own to parry the dagger before it could cut into her flesh.

"I should have known it's you again," Anastasia murmured with a scowl. She was irritated that she couldn't take the warrior out instantly. Perhaps her assassination skills had gotten rusty. If so, she had to intensify her training.

On the other hand, she felt as if this was a good thing…that she was really leaving her past and the career of murder behind…

"You're not worthy to fight Elder Liu," the Blood Slaughter Sect warrior spat as she slashed at Anastasia, who effortlessly deflected the blood blade. "I'll be your opponent."

"Fair enough." Anastasia replied with a shrug. She would have thrown another quip, but she was still a former Assassin. The attitude of staying silent and wasting as little words as possible was still deeply ingrained within her. As long as her target was still alive, she was going to focus every bit of attention into eliminating her instead of getting distracted with taunts and thus discarding the element of surprise by giving her position away.

While the two ladies dueled, I was brought back to the present when the gargantuan fist of Xue Tu's Blood Golem pulverized the rock where I stood a millisecond ago. Thousands of razor-sharp petals danced and drifted freely, slicing into its thick hide, and Green Dragon swatted the hulking monstrosity back with his tail. Even so, the cuts and wounds regenerated almost instantly, the smooth surface of the Blood Golem seeming to bubble and expand before mending itself.

"Where do you think you're looking at?" Xue Tu snarled. I shrugged.

"That's the problem with being a first-person narrator. It's so hard to keep track of everything all at once. And if I pay attention to another fight scene that doesn't involve me so that I can account it to my readers, my opponents complain that I'm not taking them seriously."

"Oh, shut up!"

Xue Tu wasn't impressed by my ability to break the fourth wall. He intensified his attacks, his Blood Golem lumbering after me again.

"I'll crush you! And then Lilith will be mine!"

I sighed. "Dude, you do realize that Lilith will never be yours regardless of whether you get rid of me or not?"

"Oh, just shut it! Can't you play along and behave like the typical protagonist for once? You know, start shouting about how you'll never hand Lilith over to me, and then arrogantly beat me up before warning me to never get near any of your heroines again? Just so you can monopolize all the beautiful girls in your harem?"

"I hate harems, and I will never have a harem." I tried not to roll my eyes. "And this is reality. In what reality would so many beautiful girls fall in love with a single, plain-looking, ordinary guy, and just decide to share him among themselves? Seriously? Besides, Anastasia will eliminate any girl who so much as looks in my direction."

"Whatever! I'm going to kill you in broad daylight!"

"What?! Why? I already told you that I have nothing to do with Lilith. She isn't attracted to me at all."

"I don't care about logic!" Xue Tu directed his Blood Golem to obliterate me with a punch, but the immensely powerful yet slow and clumsy familiar completely missed. I bolted away from the crater that its huge fist left. While I was running, Xue Tu's lip curled. "Okay, cheap shot!"

That also missed. I managed to hop upward and tuck my knees to my chest, spinning above the Blood Golem's arm. Even as the immense fist left another crater in the earth, I landed in front of a stunned Xue Tu.

"Kneel, knave!" I sneered as I whirled around and kicked my assailant. At the same time, Green Dragon pulverized the Blood Golem, one of his claws gripping the poor familiar's head and stomping it into the ground.

"NOES!" Xue Tu hollered.

There was some sort of applause. I looked up and gaped as a slightly older Blood Slaughter Sect disciple strolled up to our position, clapping his hands.

"Okay, apologize to Sect Leader Xue Tu."

My jaw dropped at his audacity. "Dafuq? No way in hell."

"YOU BASTARD!" the newcomer roared. "I'm going to kill you for not giving me face!"

"…okay." I sighed and shook my head. This was going to be a long day.