Chapter 45 Tough Battle

Leon looked at the three frightened humans with an unknown emotion bubbling in his chest. He suddenly did not feel like killing them. They were humans, after all. He was once human, and he did not really want to kill them. But then again, the situation called for it.

'I can sense Holy Energy coming from the girl at the back.' Nedra's voice whispered at the back of his mind, and he turned to look at the only girl in the group of humans. He had seen her performance before, and knew that she was a mage. Kaladin could probably handle her if he went all out.

Just after Leon turned his attention to the girl, the green haired boy stepped between them, blocking Leon's vision of her. He seemed to be particularly overprotective of her. A few more seconds passed before Leon spoke again.

"Well, I guess it is your back luck that brought you here. I cannot let you leave here alive. I hope you understand." He said with a sad, morose tone, and then waved his arm. That single gesture was all it took to send the millipede army rushing forward with an endless fervor.

"Run!" Malaki exclaimed, and leapt forward, his shield glowing with a bright gold light. He slammed the base of the shield into the ground and roared, activating one of his defensive skills. This skill was called <Absolute Wall> and Malaki had only gained this skill through an extremely rare stroke of luck.

The <Absolute Wall> skill granted him an impenetrable defensive barrier for thirty seconds, but he had to trade out his entire mobility for that time, meaning that he could not move.

Adrian saw his friend's sacrifice, and his eyes shook. But he knew that he could not save Malaki, as the other man had resolved himself to his fate. Gritting his teeth, Adrian grabbed onto Bella's wrist and turned to run.

Seeing this, Leon did not stop the two, he only looked at Nero and Nedra before nodding at them and telling Kaladin to follow him. The warrior and millipede queen would remain here to handle the fight with Malaki, while he and Kaladin would handle Adrian and Bella.

Leon and Kaladin immediately set off after the two retreating adventurers. Their advantage was shown now, as they knew the terrain much better than the two adventurers did. It did not even take a minute before the two mercenaries found themselves trapped in a corner.

Adrian gulped and turned to the blond girl beside him, looking at her with a strained smile, "I guess this is it, huh? Sorry, I messed up this time." He said, "But I'm not going down without putting up a fight." He turned to face Leon and Kaladin as a furious aura surrounded him as he stepped forward with his blades drawn.

Seeing that the human had made up his mind to fight, Leon also took a step forward.

"Make sure that the girl does not escape." He told Kaladin as his sword glowed with a bright blue light. He wanted to pit his strength against the human's, so he could see how strong he had gotten so far. The millipedes and centipedes were poor scales to use to gauge his strength.

Only a couple of seconds passed before the two clashed! A flurry of sparks showered onto the ground as their swords grated against each other.

Adrian gritted his teeth as he pushed down with his twin blades, trying to force back Leon, but Leon's strength was greater than his, and he easily withstood that force, gathering up his strength, before throwing Adrian back by a couple of feet. He immediately followed up with a downward strike, which Adrian blocked from crossing his swords and holding them above him.

"Argh!" Adrian grunted in pain as an immense weight fell onto his shoulders. His knee dug deeper and deeper into the hardy soil, and he could feel his bones begin to creak.

A beam of golden light suddenly struck Adrian from the back, flowing into his body, and giving him a radiant glow. He felt a great amount of vitality flow into his body and revitalize him. At the same time, several notifications popped up in his vision.

[You have received Asteria's Blessing. Your max HP has temporarily been increased by 20%.]

[You have received Michael's Blessing. Your Strength and Dexterity stats have temporarily been increased by 10%.]

As Kaladin had yet to attack Bella, she had used that precious window to quickly use some of her aces. These Blessings were not easy to gain, and required her to be a follower of both of these Gods. It took a lot out of her to use both of these blessings, but it was a necessity at the moment.

Before she could catch her breath, a bright light appeared in the corner of her vision, and she quickly raised a wind barrier. Hot, furious flames licked the ground around her, burning into it as if it were paper. With a whimper, she quickly fell back, quickly casting a water barrier to replace the wind barrier. She would have little to no more time to look after Adrian if she wanted to survive this encounter with this skeleton mage.

Adrian felt like his muscles were bursting with power. A guttural roar tore out of his throat as he pushed back against Leon, finally gaining a proper footing. With the boost from Bella, his strength now rivaled Leon's. But that was not all. He activated another skill as soon as he could, causing the golden glow around him to suddenly take on a crimson hue.

<Blood Rage>!

<Blood Rage> Was a skill that was unique to Adrian's chosen class, the Berserker. It was a boosting skill that burned up Adrian's own vitality and health in order to give him a massive boost in strength. Although it was powerful, he could not use it for long, and had to manage it wisely, or else his opponent would not have to do anything, and simply watch him kill himself.