Chapter 1007 Chapter 1007 A True Terror (2)
The moment Marcus' body shattered apart; every facet of his being, along with everything on him disappeared.
"Oh! He was a spiritual entity. Its ben a while since I had to deal with one of those."
For the first time since his appearance, the mysterious man who was hellbent on killing everyone in the expedition squad showed a hint of true emotion.
Still, he was only surprised for a single second before pulling his arm back to deliver another strike. Coating it in spiritual energy, he planned to finish Marcus off now that he had reverted to his ghost form after having his physical body destroyed.
Unfortunately, Marcus was in a deep daze since his head had been utterly destroyed and he was unable to even recognize the incoming threat that was mere moments away from finishing him off for good.
Yet, the other members of the expedition squad finally managed to pull themselves together and being a counterattack after the unexpected turn of events that had them all stupefied.
"Demise."
Pushing herself, to the limit, Evette cast the tier nine death magic spell with all the power she could muster at a moment's notice. She let her rage at having one of her party members killed drive her and used every ounce of her emotions to fuel her magic. A black wave of energy pushed out of her body and rushed towards the man that had appeared from inside of the Tower of Heaven.
Evette held out both of her hands in front of her and coalesced the necrotic energy of her death magic spell and concentrated it all on the target of her wrath.
Yet, her spell that should have been capable of causing instant death to most living creatures, broke apart and revealed the mysterious man to be barely injured.
Some of the visible veins on his body had turned noticeably black, but he was still alive and quickly recovering from the damage Evette's strongest spell had caused him.
"That was unpleasant." The man said as he glared at Evette.
He then vanished once again in a burst of speed that was nearly impossible to track. When he became visible again, he was already mid punch and aiming to take Evette's head off like he had done to Marcus and Adlamin.
"Unmovable!"
Having expected the murderous man to attack Evette next, Cassius was prepared to move in front of her and protect her. He had not truly been able to keep up with their attacker's speed, but he had anticipated that he would go for Evette's head and had positioned himself accordingly.
Using the flat of his blade he intercepted the punch, Cassius activated one of his unique skills in order to take the hit.
Normally he would have easily been blown back by the power behind the man's punch, but his Unmovable kept him in place no matter how hard he was struck.
The ground around Evette and Cassis split and the air itself trembled from the impact against Cassius' sword.
Once the man had been stopped for a brief instant, Fianna loosed several arrows at him.
Each one was aimed with deadly precision, but not a single one hit.
With a single deft step, the man avoided the arrows and rushed around behind Evette. He had set his sights on her and was not going to stop until he killed her.
"Hero's Challenge."
Before the man without a status could attack Evette again, Miguel slammed his sword against his shield and used one of the unique skills he had obtained along with his Hero title.
This skill forced the target to off its effect to focus on Miguel and exchange blows until one of them was defeated.
"Tch! You lot are starting to annoy me."
Feeling a compelling force dragging him towards Miguel, the mysterious man could only cease his attack on Evette and rush towards Miguel.
He moved like a blur and was in front of Miguel in only a fraction of a second launching another of his straight punches that packed enough power behind them to kill most of the members of the expedition squad in one hit.
"Bastion Archon!"
Calling out the name of his strongest summon, Miguel had it appear in front of him and intercept the attack meant for him. The giant creature covered in stone-like armor reached out with its four arms and caught the strike that was aimed at its master.
With its sturdy body the Bastion Archon caught the man's fist. Cracks formed through its entire body, but its Unwavering Wall and Last Stand racial abilities kept it from faltering.
"Avenging Smite!"
Burning with righteous fury, Miguel slashed his sword down with greater power than he ever had before. The unique skill he had just activated could only be used to strike down a foe that had claimed the life of a comrade. This was the first time Miguel had ever been able to use this power as for the first time he finally had people that he considered close enough to meet its conditions.
A blinding red light enveloped Miguel's blade, as he swung it towards his enemy. It was a perfectly times attack that coincided with his Archon Bastion blocking the man's punch.
Yet, just as he did against Marcus' all-out attack, the man without a status reached with his unoccupied hand and caught Miguel's strike.
The red light around Miguel's sword blasted through the man's arm, but once the energy behind his attack had faded, the man's hand was only slightly burned and the sleeve of his shirt shredded.
"You're really starting to piss me off. This is the only shirt I have with me."
Seeming to be more concerned with his damaged clothes, the man for the first time used a different attack other than just throwing a straightforward punch.
In one quick motion he raised his left leg and kicked the arms of the Bastion Archon that was holding him in place.
Having already sustained a great deal of damage just blocking one single punch, Miguel's mightiest summon found all four of its arms shattering from man's kick.
Nevertheless, the Bastion Archon would not go down without getting in one last hit.
From its glowing face, the powerful celestial being unleashed a beam of bright green light. This was its strongest attack called Holy Beam.
The attack contained a great deal of energy behind it, but its target was simply overwhelmingly more powerful.
Throwing just one more punch the mysterious man that had appeared from the Tower of Heaven, cut through the beam and smashed the Bastion Archon to pieces.
Miguel attempted to use this opening to attack again, but before his sword could reach his target, he felt an impossibly strong impact against his side.
The man he was fighting had dexterously spun around and delivered a spinning kick to Miguel's left side.
By sheer instinct Miguel had managed to place his shield in the way of the attack, but without having used any other defensive skills his arm was shattered and all of the ribs on his left side were broken in multiple places.
As he was blasted away by the force of the attack, his body bent in an unnatural way and several of his vertebrae cracked.
Like Mrazivy, he flew through the forest destroying everything in his path until he hit the ground and left a giant impact crater.
"He must have either passed out or died." The man said, feeling the effects of Miguel's Hero's Challenge wear off. He could not be sure if he had killed Miguel since the young hero's body was still in one piece, but he was certain that Miguel would not be getting up anytime soon if he did miraculously survive.
Now that he was no longer compelled to only attack Miguel, the man turned his attention back towards Evette. However, when he took in his surroundings, he frowned at what he saw.
While Evette, Cassius, and Fianna were still around, the other members of the expedition squad were nowhere to be seen.
"It doesn't matter. The only path away from this area is a straight shot for hundreds of kilometers. I'll clean up here quickly and catch up to the other ones." The man that did not have a status mumbled to himself.
He then picked up a stone that lay near his feet and tossed it towards Evette.
The projectile moved incredibly fast and reached nearly fifteen times the speed of sound just from being casually thrown.
Evette, who was in the process of trying to revive Adlamin did not notice the attack coming for her and would have had her head taken off if not for Cassius' quick action.
"No!" Evette screamed as she was pulled away from her fallen party member.
While Cassius had pulled her away from being fatally injured, the tossed stone still hit her arms and tore both of them off.
This disrupted her spell and ended any chance that she had to bring Adlamin back. Even if she was in an entirely peaceful location at peak condition, she would not have enough time to cast the tier nine healing magic spell again.
"I'm sorry Evette, but we don't have the leeway to worry about him anymore. If we can't hold this guy here the others won't be able to get away. I'm not planning on going down without accomplishing anything and we will need your powers if we want to last." Cassius said, a resolved expression on his face.
He was almost certain that he was going to die in this fight, and as much as he was selfish, he cared about his party enough to give up his life for them.
Fianna thought the same way which is why she had stayed as well. She felt that it was a leader's duty to protect those under her in such a hopeless situation.
The mysterious man sighed when he saw the determination of the three party leaders.
"You must realize that fighting me is pointless. Even if you buy your friends a couple more minutes, it is not going to change the outcoming. It would be a lot less painful if you ceased struggling. I promise to put you out of your misery quickly and without any suffering if you just give up."
"I'm sure you must know that we will never stop. Even if it kills us all, we are going to bring you down." Evette said as her arms regenerated.
After giving them an opportunity to surrender, the man could only shrug his shoulders. He had figured that would be their answer, but he wanted to ask just in case it would save him some effort.
"Very well. A little exercise will do me some good anyways." The man said before rushing towards Evette and Cassius.
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