Chapter 24: Broken Swordsman

Erin felt the pain in her heart grow by the minute, she had no choice now, Albert’s aura was faint but he was still alive. With about 40 fighters left on the battlefield she knew that taking down the three Magic beasts would guarantee their victory, but, how? she had already made up her mind to go the extra mile. It didn’t matter whether she lived or died as long as she was able to save everyone here.

She only had a few attack spells and only the water dragon would be strong enough to kill the Tier 6 lesser Basilisks in one hit. The only drawback was that each attack steals away part of her life force. She had already used it twice already, she knew she only had one more in her, she needed to figure out a way to kill all three of them with one attack.

First she had to find a way to get all three Tier 6 lesser Basilisks to gather in one spot. She moved the water dragon towards the lesser Basilisk that was toying with Jarret and the others. The dragon slammed the lesser Basilisk to the ground, the damage was minimal. The Basilisk got up and opened it’s mouth, a massive beam of dark green flames shot out at the dragon, the dragon did the same and a massive beam of water shot out of it’s mouth and clashed with the flames.

BOOM!

The area was covered in steam after what seemed like an explosion, the Tier 6 monster was sent flying back and slammed into another Tier 6 magic beast. The third magic beast was close to them making this the perfect opportunity to eliminate them all in a single shot, not missing this golden opportunity Erin adjusted the position of the water dragon taking aim in other to get a clean shot.

“Water Canno…” Cough. Cough. Cough…

She broke into a Coughing fit and even spat out blood, the Tier 6 magic beast still standing knew this was an opportunity to get rid of their strongest opponent. It opened it’s mouth wide, dark green energy gathered in it and rapidly expanded, it shot out with great speed as it aimed at Erin undefended body. °Poisonous fireball°

“Erin!!!” Jarret and the others yelled as the flames consumed her melting even the ground she stood on, in seconds a larger crater of molten magma formed and there was no sign of even her bones.

The air shuddered with a collective gasp, as everyone stared at the crater in disbelief, even though she was a bit anti-social, Erin would always help out when someone was hurt, healing their wounds without a second thought. They wouldn’t even want to bother her unless it was serious, it was no exaggeration to say that every one in the town loved her, not to mention, she was the strongest person in the entire settlement. Without the chief, the captain of the guard and now Erin, what were they supposed to do, they no longer had a sliver of hope.

“Phew… looks like I made in time.”

Everyone’s attention was drawn towards something, it was a strange voice that sounded positive, why? they looked around and spotted a strange man standing to the side of the sea of magma, holding a lady on his arms. She had long blue hair and wore a dark purple hooded robe, this was non other than Erin, still alive.

No one could believe their eyes, how was this possible, they had all seen flames consume her, yet she was in the hands of a strange guy in painfully plain clothing. Erin herself was stunned she hadn’t even felt the man pick her up, she had felt only the intense heat of the flames before she knew it a strange man was holding her like a princess, she felt a bit embarrassed even Albert hadn’t carried her like this.

The man looked at her and smiled, he asked in a low and gentle voice. “Are you okay?” She felt a weird feeling bubbling inside her. “Huh… y-yes am… I am fine.” She didn’t know why she was like this perhaps it was the fact that she came so close to death, or perhaps it was the fact that this man saved her life or maybe it was something else. “Don’t worry your husband is safe, he asked us to save you.”

“Us?” she turned her head and saw a very beautiful lady standing by the side of the young man, she must have arrived at some point in time.

Having confirmed the lady was safe, Tyler put her down and took a look at the current situation, he noticed that everyone was staring at him for some reason, looking at Liz who had just arrived, he could tell she was a bit surprised by what had happened.

••••••

After picking up the sword from the ground and feeling how easy it was to use, he was feeling more confident by the minute, not only did he still have the dagger but he now had another high leveled weapon. Although he didn’t know if they had any special effects or how to use them. He still felt like, with both weapons he would be able to go toe to toe with a relatively strong monster.

Boom!

They heard the sound of an explosion. (or what sounded like it) without a second’s thought Liz dashed in the direction, Tyler had no choice but to follow, he kept up with her a lot more easily than before, it seemed the sword had a passive skill to improve the wielder’s agility, a smile appeared in his face, if only he could keep the weapon, perhaps if the old guy dies, shacking his head he expelled the thought.

The town wasn’t that large so they made it to the front gate relatively quickly, before they had gotten any closer though, they saw a giant dark green fireball about to consume a lady in dark purple robes. Liz raised her hand in an attempt to cast a defensive spell to save her, but she could tell she wouldn’t make it in time, that’s when she noticed a shadow blew passed her like lightning, she could barely even make out what had happened.

Tyler used his full speed, dashing passed Liz and saving the lady, he could sense a faint connection between the old guy and this lady, which was strange, but he didn’t have time to think too deeply about it. He had promised him he would try to save her and if he could he would like to keep his promise, the bonus was one more person he could gain information from.

What surprised him was the fact that he was actually able to make it to her in so little time. This was the first time he had ever moved so fast, the feeling was exhilarating, looking at the battlefield he spotted only 6 monsters still standing, there was piles of bodies everywhere, almost none of which was intact, the scene instantly calmed him down as he felt the tension in the air.

He could see signs of fear in the remaining fighters face, judging by the amount of bodies he could see they must have lost over 70% of their comrades, with the size of the town, there wouldn’t be anyone they didn’t know amongst the dead. He had felt something similar to what they were feeling right now so he knew he had to take this seriously.

The battlefield was eerie silent for an odd amount of time, he was waiting for Liz to begin her attack, but for some reason she hadn’t and it was starting to feel weird. ‘Is she waiting for me to start, is this because blew passed her?’ He felt all the gaze looking at him waiting for him to make a move, even the magic beasts seem to only care about the two newcomers.

The pressure was just too great, not wanting to look like a pussy, he walked forward slowly. Jarret and the others felt like the gravity in the area had just been multiplied, only a step from the strange man with ordinary clothing made them all take a step back. Even though they had seen him rescue Erin, the amount of pressure he exuded made it feel like he was after their lives, what’s worst they had zero confidence in stoping him.

Erin tried her best to stay conscious, she had wanted to see what the young man was capable of, she hadn’t felt any aura coming off him, yet he was able to save her in time. With such speed he had to be no weaker than a Tier 6 Swordsman, buy suddenly, the moment the young man took a step, the atmosphere changed, with her current condition she was unable to withstand it as she lost the grip on her consciousness.

Liz wasn’t that shocked by the sudden change in the air, even though her memory was a bit hazy and she didn’t really remember what happened in the forest, she still remembered the feeling she felt before she passed out and the only one present there was him. Not to mention he was able to freely bypass the seal on that castle without the use of magic, she had briefly regained consciousness back in the forest and had seen him walk through the barrier like it was a bubble, she knew this amount of pressure could not be compare to what she had experienced.

The Tier 6 magic beast felt some pressure, they roared loudly snapping the other three remaining Tier 5 Lesser Basilisks out of their daze, they charged at the newcomers with renew vigor. Tyler felt annoyed, for some reason everyone was just standing there looking at him, just watching the monsters try to gang up on him, he wanted to snap at them but held back, he had noticed one group of ogres rushing to intercept one of the three beast.

Jarret and the others had rushed in to help, they wanted to be of use to the man who rescued Erin, the others seeing this rushed in to intercept the other two trying their best to thin out the herd. Liz wave an arm and two large ice Lance had killed off one of the monsters leaving the remaining two to the rest.The three Magic beast were angry, they charged at Tyler as they prepare to shot out another large fireball.

Tyler seeing everyone finally spring to action felt relieved, he held the long thin blade tightly, it had been more than a thousand years since he fought with a sword, for some reason he was starting to get excited, one of the magic beast was faster than the rest so that was his first target, if the fight got too hard he planned on a quick retreat.

Planting his foot firmly on the ground, he felt every single muscles on his feet, using his newfound control over his body he sent as much power to his feet as possible,

Boom!

The ground shattered beneath his feet as he exploded forward at a speed faster than light, he appeared next to the first Basilisk spinning his body he swung the blade at the monster in a diagonal slash.

Bang!

The steel like scales of the monster shattered under his blade as the monster shot back like a Cannon, flying over a dozen meters away and slamming into the ground. Tyler felt like the moon seeing this, he wasn’t sure how he got this strong but he loved it, he had always felt like an extra baggage to his friends, but not anymore (not that they were still alive) now that he had such control over his body he could now tell that his swordsmanship was seriously lacking, even with such strength he had been unable to kill the monster in a clean cut.

Not wanting to give chase he switched targets and appeared above another magic beast, he held the blade like a spear and thrusted it straight at one of the eyes. The monster groaned in pain and sent a claw strike at him, Tyler jumped off, still in the air the monster stopped mid strike and opened it’s mouth wide, spewing out dark green flames at the falling Tyler.

Tyler smiled, using his body control he twisted himself in the air, he used the momentum from the flames and launched forward slicing the monster’s top half clean off from it’s open mouth. Without slowing down he dashed straight at the third magic beast.

The entire battlefield drew a collective breath, after the ground shattered where the strange man stood, he disappeared, appearing only briefly as he sent the Tier 6 lesser Basilisk flying like a Cannon ball. It was like he was glitching his way through the battlefield, this left everyone in awe, they had never seen a Swordsman move that fast and have that much control, not to disregard his ridiculous strength. Yet, if what they just saw made them gasp, what happened next struck them dumb.