Leon was excited to fight, but he was not alone. As the other A ranks scattered through the fort noticed his presence and rushed to corner him, a strange presence passed over them.
A lady in white stood at the highest point of the fortress. Her lips were curved in an alluring smile, and her bright red eyes looked like it had been doused in the blood of her enemies.
"Where do you think you're going?" Nedra's voice was sweet like honey, boosted by her powerful skills and the tiny bit of Divinity that flowed through her body and core. It applied a temporary dazed effect to the A ranks, despite their strengths.
One particular Mid A rank that was close to reaching the official standard of High A ranks was closer to Nedra. As soon as his eyes clouded over, Nedra's body blurred, and she appeared in front of him. There was no weapon in her hands, and she held onto his chin. Her red eyes flashed with light briefly, and a tint of scarlet bloomed within the man's green eyes.
"River!" Someone called out to the man but he was unresponsive. Nedra smirked and stood back, allowing the Elf to stand properly. A moment passed and his eyes regained their clarity, but he was not the same as he was moments ago.
"River! Are you alright? Get away from that wench!" A High A rank called out as he charged at Nedra, brandishing a spear.
CLANG!
The sound of weapons clashing against each other rang out and the Elf wielding a spear looked shocked as his comrade, River, blocked his attack.
"River? What's wrong with you? Snap out of it!!" The spear wielding Elf already understood that his friend had been bewitched. He was scared, as he now knew that Nedra's power must have been something incredibly strange and strong for her to instantly bewitch a Mid A rank.
"OUT OF MY WAY!!!" The Elf pushed River aside and dashed toward Nedra, intending to cut her down and end the spell. The misconception he had was that Nedra was a mage that was good at bewitching spells and poorer at close combat, as was the norm in cases like this.
However, he did not expect to be met by a pair of Kamas that instantly materialized in Nedra's hands. A powerful force that could only belong to Nedra was transferred through the weapons and to his hands, causing his fingers to go numb.
Seeing that he was losing the battle, several of his other comrades rushed to help him while the rest continued to handle Leon. They could not unleash their full power because of the explosive damage that they could cause to the fort. But even still, if they concentrated their attacks down to the smallest points, they could still unleash devastating single target damage!
A female Mid A rank Elf hung back and condensed a magical bow and arrow from her mana. The bow and arrow emanated a dazzling white light as she pulled back and aimed for Nedra. The ambient mana in the air began to swirl as it was attracted to the tip of the arrow. As the mana gathered, the pure white arrow was stained black and emanated a dangerous aura.
Nedra's eyes narrowed when she felt the danger from the arrow. Most of her attention was focused on keeping the consciousness of the Mid A rank Elf under her control as he was. What she had done was simply use her array of powerful mental skills to overpower and shake the Elf's mind, and then impose her will on him. It took a lot of mental strength and mana to keep everything under control, not to mention the fact that he was constantly struggling to break free from the depths of his mind.
But even though she was under stress, that did not mean that she was powerless.
Whoosh!
A gust of wind blew, catching the ends of her dress. With the gust of wind, her body suddenly moved, vanishing from its spot. Through subtle mental manipulative waves, she was able to reduce her presence and vanish from the sight of others. Plus, she was moving extremely quickly.
She abandoned the fight against the other Elf and dashed straight at the bow wielding Elf. The Elves obviously knew who she would target and immediately reacted, putting themselves in the way of the Elf to intercept Nedra.
However, they were thinking too simply. As Nedra ran at the Elf, she also reappeared at the spot she had been before she vanished, a small smirk playing on her lips.
The Elves did not know what to believe! They felt a real threat from the supposed phantom that was rushing at their bow wielding comrade, but they could also feel a heavy presence from the Nedra that had just reappeared.
"Clones! They must be clones!" Someone called out.
'Indeed.' Nedra thought. Her true self was actually neither of the Nedras that the Elves could see! Instead, she had turned into a small bracelet around the wrist of River, the Elf under her control! She had done this in the moment when she turned him into her puppet. She had simultaneously created a clone while shrinking and morphing her real body under the noses of everyone present!
As the person announced that they were most likely clones all the Elves jumped into action. The thing with Nedra's cloning ability was that her clones carried basically the same power as herself! So the Elves still needed to put in full effort if they wanted to deal with the clones and River. Not only did the clones carry her same power, but they also had all her combat experience, turning them into terrifying fighters.
Whoosh!
The bow wielding Elf let go of the pitch black arrow that shot straight at Nedra's clone. The clone dodged it and continued forward, but was shocked to find that the arrow had turned back and continued chasing her!
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