And then he was leaping across the ruined city once more, using Bullrush to zip from shattered wall to ruined ledge to broken alleyway he’d sprint across before making another impossible leap like a figure out of his favorite comic before his Qi Perception abruptly pinged with the sense of five desperately hunting cultivators now on his local visualized map once more.
“It must have been that Ruidian. There’s no other explanation! You saw how those shadow cats fought. They can hamstring, rip you open, or tear off your skull, maybe, but they sure as hell can’t make your throat explode like you were hit by a Silver Giant!” declared the most anxious-looking cultivator of the group, whose eyes were frantically darting all around, jumping at the slightest sound. And for all that his build was leaner than the other three body cultivators, Alex still furrowed his brow in worry. He was quick. Damn quick, and he would have to be dealt with carefully.
Fortunately, Alex had planned ahead, and he could only hope that Master Liu Jian’s most profitable utilitarian formula was up to the task.
The massive cultivator by his side chuckled softly. “I almost hope he was. Gone in a splash of blood. He might actually be as fast as you, Kuaisu. Hell, he might actually be a worthy challenge!”
Kuaisu’s back stiffened, anxious glances turning to something hard and cold. “A Ruidian faster than a triple cord Bronze who has embraced the flow of battle? Don’t insult me, Tang. What he is, is a treacherous, backstabbing rat. It will be a pleasure to watch him scream for his soul once we break and collar him, like all the other slaves we’ve caught over the years.”
Tang flashed a cold grin, cracking massive knuckles. “Indeed it will, brother. Indeed it will.”
Xiao Shen could be seen glaring at the pair of them as they took their ease beside one of the ruined walls overlooking what might have been an ancient courtyard. Several strange varieties of glowing fungus and flowering plants could be seen thriving on the Dark Qi all around, and Alex’s eyes widened as one very familiar species pinged upon his awareness.
Shadow blossoms. Alex was glad his interface stored a perfect geographical map of every location he had ever been to. It made learning terrain effortless, and he would certainly be coming back here before he left.
Assuming he survived what was to come.
“Don’t be fools,” Xiao Shen snapped. “This Ruidian is no sheep easily led to slaughter. He proved that with Bolin’s death, picking just the right moment to strike. Which means he knows this environment, knows it so well that he managed to ambush us, and has survived living among the beasts that almost tore you open, Tang, for days. Alone.”
“Because he’s little better than a beast himself!” snarled Tang, whipping his fangtian ji like a battle-axe more than a quarterstaff, his angry gesture and what little Alex had seen in the mad frenzy of the earlier fight making it clear he favored powerful chopping blows and overwhelming his opponent with a minimum of finesse. Of course, with his hideous strength, he could no doubt whip that weapon about with frightful speed. Much like Alex could the indestructible stone spear he held even now in Dark Qi-covered hands.
Alex frowned, noting how Tang favored one leg more than the other, noting as well the savaged boot stained with the man’s recently spilled blood.
Xiao Shen gave a cold nod, and Alex wondered how he could ever have been such a fool as to be taken in by the false mask of sympathy this ice-cold cultivator had once worn.
Never again, he promised himself. He’d never again trust anyone’s intentions unless he could somehow measure the worth of their very soul. To see the flow of gentle silver Spirit Qi echoing through the mind in tandem with kind words that could so easily be used to assuage and disarm, before going in for the kill.
“So we won’t even bother with the collar. No questioning, no attempt at parlay. You see him, you cut him down. We’ll strip his corpse, claim his ring, and bring his body for Master Bingwen’s pleasure.” Xiao’s eyes bored into his men, who quickly nodded their assent. Even the giant cultivator was nodding his head like the meekest disciple.
“Good. Now you four get in position. I’m going to cast a basic divination. If fortune favors us, his own blood will lead us right to him.”
Alex’s heart lurched at those words, eyes widening as he caught sight of a glass flask filled with crimson that the silver cultivator slowly raised as he whispered guttural enchantments that sent shivers down his spine.
Much to his horror, he could already feel the tingle of that blood, no doubt spilled from his almost-corpse when he had unleashed multiple lethal Gold-ranked enchantments before his body was thrown into this massive pit.
If that vial could actually lead them to him...
Then that threw a massive wrench into all his plans.
He had to act, and soon, or he was as good as dead.
Yet for long moments he remained crouched in shadows at precisely the angle the hunter’s eyes never bothered glancing in, tasting the breakthrough he was so close to, knowing he would need every edge he could get when he was fighting for his life in what might just be minutes from now.
His focus was on the restless Kuaisu, too fast hands twirling his spear about faster than any baton as he furtively glanced about, his every anxious twitch, every shift in balance as he blended nervous energy with a warrior’s disciplined foundation, imprinting itself in Alex’s mind until at last it came together into one beautiful whole.
Soul Sight successful! You sense the method behind your foe’s madness!
And just like that, after a good fifteen minutes of focused observation, Alex could predict the pattern of movement Kuaisu habitually fell into when not deliberately breaking his own flow, knowing just when he would turn about, twirling his spear about as his companions glared at him or ignored him completely, staring at the beaker full of what was now glowing crimson as a triumphant Xiao Shen roared out the last words of his dark enchantment.
And Alex knew just the moment Kuaisu would turn his way, Alex ducking down for the perfectly shaped piece of marble that fit effortlessly in the palm of his hand, cocking back his hand and snapping forward from his waist, whipping around his entire body in one deadly fastball special he had last thrown a lifetime ago.
And for all that it had been an oblong piece of stone fitting so comfortably in the palm of his hand and not the finely stitched leather he had once so enjoyed squeezing before unleashing his fastball, he couldn’t suppress the surge of exultation he felt, stone flying just as true as his pitches ever had.
“Strikeout!” he roared aloud as the vial of glass and blood and tainted magics exploded, the blood shimmering and spraying out in a single bloody line, right toward where he was standing.
Xiao Shen’s eye widened with surprise.
Alex smiled and gave him the finger.
“There he is. Bring me his head. Bring me his head!”
And Kuaisu was the first one to hiss and turn Alex’s way, hollering and racing forward at frightful speeds.
Just as Alex had known he would.
Before racing just as fast as his legs could take him, not needing to turn around as his Qi Perception kept track of all the reds closing in on him, Alex flashing an exultant smile as first one, then a second, then a third slowly faded behind as Alex kept his mad pace through the city, instinctively dodging past the newly made nests and hunting zones of the various predators that had been moving in, but otherwise doing his best to lure his true target away from his brethren.
And for better or worse, he didn’t have to slow down for Kuaisu to keep up. A few deliberately thrown stones smacking against walls or faked yelps as if he had barely avoided mishap had been all that was needed for Kuaisu to follow through the winding maze of broken buildings and brick walls that were the ruins.
“You think you can outrun me, fool? I’ll tear you open before you can blink!” Kuaisu roared, and Alex knew that if he wasn’t damn careful, that might actually happen. Worse, Kaisu was roaring his location as loud as he could, demanding his co
mpanions follow.
Here alone, Alex took a bleak sort of comfort. The two tanks looked beyond deadly, with foundations so strong that Alex hadn’t seen any trace of weakness or crack in their defenses that would allow him to glimpse their cores in the twenty solid minutes he had spent staring at them all so intently. But one thing they were not, was inhumanly fast, which meant that Alex and Kuaisu had left them far behind. As far as the hulking barbarian went, the run was probably straining his injured ankle. Alex had no doubt that the man now far behind.
As for the Silver, his ultimate nemesis, Alex sensed no trace of Xiao Shen at all.
Which was far from reassuring.
Still, one problem at a time.
And when a stumbling Alex raced to a narrow alley bisecting the wider path of rubble and ancient buildings Kuaisu was jogging along, he yelped with fright.
Kuaisu’s eyes positive glowed with excite glee.
“I found him! I found him!” Kaisu roared, throwing his spear so fast Alex cried out as it sliced open the back of his shoulder, just as he slipped into the alley.
“You’re dead, fool! You’re as good as dead!” Kuaisu crowed, quickly grabbing his spear still vibrating in the ground before darting into the alleyway before finding himself jerked off his feet, hands instinctively bracing for impact as he crashed to the ground, having time only to register that his boots had been torn from his feet before his senses blared frantic warning, and in a chilling feat of dexterity, he actually managed to twist around even while prone, desperately raising his spear up as he twisted his hips to spring back to his feet.
Black Swan successfully executed! 5 Qi expended! Saving throw versus meridian strain made! You have critically struck your foe! Opponent’s left forearm shattered! Internal organs bruised; spear shattered!
Your foe is screaming for mercy! Your foe is reaching for sheathed gladius.
Black Swan successfully executed!
Your foe is dead!
Congratulations! Black Swan is now Rank 2!
For several long moments, Alex stared down at the corpse, Dark Qi-covered hands tightly holding his indestructible five-foot-long sliver of stone. It was far heavier than any normal spear, yet light as a sapling with fury and Bronze-ranked strength working together in such deadly tandem.
His enemy had taken the bait, and his trap had worked perfectly. After all, any tactician or gamer worth his salt knew the importance of immobilizing skirmishers, lest they penetrate your lines and attack your most vulnerable pieces before darting away.
He has successfully lured his enemy into the narrowest alleyway he could find, the natural dip in the tiles having been filled with several inches worth of the same extremely strong alchemical bonding agent he had learned to formulate under the auspices of his former master, and what a royal pain that had been to generate and hack up, constantly having to generate 100-proof alcohol to wash out his mouth before it could gunk up his teeth and throat. If there had been one serious detriment to the speedster’s mad quickness, it was that it had left him little time to take in his environment, such as appreciating the sharp floral scent of the adhesive that had been lingering so strongly in the alleyway, which had absolutely no place in this deadly netherrealm.
Perhaps the most difficult part of his preparations, apart from his final trump card, was the special present he had prepared for Xiao Shen personally. By the time their inevitable confrontation played out, Alex was sure the man would love slugs and amoebas every bit as much as he did.
Alex flashed a cold smile before stripping the corpse, disappointed to find the spear he had hoped to use shattered beyond repair, thanks to Black Swan. A Silver-ranked finishing move so deadly it could easily burst lesser wards as it channeled the force of a tsunami in a single arcing blow, smashing right through all that opposed it.
And which had drained a total of ten Qi, over half his reserves. And it was only the rush of power and potency flooding his veins with his last kill that had allowed him to regenerate his Qi Pool so quickly. Worse, five points would be unrecoverable until he restored his damaged peripherals, which made Alex wince, already knowing how painful that would be to heal.
There was a reason why he almost never used Black Swan if he wasn’t surging on the crest of a transformative breakthrough. But in the heat of the moment, knowing damn well how deadly a speed specialist was, he had embraced his most savage strike. Even with his target tripped and prone, with his ankles strained and boots stuck in the strongest of glues, Alex knew he would get no second chance to take out that speedster.
So he had.
Though he hadn’t expected that thrown spear, and even his Soul Sight hadn’t predicted how hideously quick and sinuous that cultivator had been, seeming about to twist back to his feet like a marionette being yanked up by a puppeteer’s strings. And had the man not been stupid enough to chase Alex into a three-foot-wide alley, perfect for cleaving overhand blows enchanted by a furious storm’s worth of Qi that had smashed his foe to bloody pulp and burst Alex’s peripheral meridians...
Alex swallowed his own bile, hating how close to death he had come, wondering if this unassuming cultivator whose skull had exploded in a shower of crimson had actually been the deadliest hunter of them all.
Then he lurched up, feeling a sick sense of dread.
His matrix, his Qi Perception, sensed nothing.
No red was near him, and there was a perfectly inviting corpse for him to plunder.
But he was no fool.
“Bullrush!” he screamed in his mind as he darted away, the ground behind him exploding in metal shrapnel as Alex flitted from alleyway to ancient balcony to wall and deep into the maze again, as Xiao Shen’s maniacal laughter followed him.
“You think you can escape me? Fool! I am one with the shadows. I am one with that which will destroy you!”
Heart racing, Alex darted for all he was worth as the ground exploded behind him, pieces of steel piercing his shoulder as he weaved around yet another alley.
“Shit. I thought I had disrupted it!”
No time for regrets. It was time to move!
Mounting terror transformed to a sense of relief.
He was near his base. He’d be safe!
He felt the sudden sharp buildup of Metal Qi.
He didn’t dare hesitate, immediately Bullrushing straight up to soar over intervening walls before chaining his jump another fifty feet back behind cover as the ground behind him exploded in deadly shrapnel once more, grateful beyond words he had channeled the full potency of his last kill directly, strained peripherals tingling with a temporary boon of Qi.
Because experience stored towards his next breakthrough did him little good if he was dead.
And he was dead anyway if he didn’t move now!
Bullrush!
Quickness check made! You suffer 2 Light Wounds and avoid crippling injury!
You have dodged yet another Rupture Earth attack!
Alex didn’t bother trying to detect his deadliest foe any longer. It was obvious his foe’s vile curse had worked, after all. Xiao Shen had faded from his senses, cloaked in darkness, just as the darkness inexorably revealed where Alex was.
The tables had been absolutely turned.
Now Alex was the fleeing rabbit, struggling to avoid death at every alley and opening, Bullrushing for all he was worth, led by inspiration, impulse, and a bit of madness, until the last of the Bronze cultivator’s flood of experience had flowed through his meridians, and it was his Qi alone that propelled him through the hellish maze.
There!
Exhausted and bleeding, forced to traverse territory even he was unfamiliar with, he finally recognized where he was.
Salvation was just a few shattered blocks away!
Panting and still bleeding from numerous cuts and lacerations his body was only now healing, he would have hooted for joy, had he dared, quickly turning the corner to dash for salvation.
Only to gaze into the surprised eyes of none other than t
he hulking barbarian with his fangtian ji raised like a battle axe. Only then did Alex understand the enormity of his peril. It wasn’t just Xiao Shen that had faded from his Qi Perception. The massive cultivator before him and the pair of tanks had as well.
“I found you!” Tang roared, racing down the narrow alley.
Alex had no room to pivot around his foe, and knew death was at his back, so did the only thing he could. The only thing any decent fighter going against an axe man could.
He charged under his foe’s guard.
Bullrush and Adderstrike used in unison!
Dark Qi gauntlet pierces Earth Ward! Foe suffers Light Wound! Blow fails to break Bones of the Mountain!
Physical Weakness skill check successful!
Adderstrike footstomp to injured foot impairs opponent!
Tang howled like an animal as he stumbled back, Alex desperately darting under the man’s guard, lashing out with Dark Qi-covered fists and footstomps for all he was worth.
But Tang was no fool. He knew in those moments with Alex actually in his face that his weapon was now working against him, so dropped his ji and began pounding Alex in return with powerful hammer strikes and a headbutt that almost knocked Alex senseless.
Elbow strike cracks left eye socket! Headbutt successfully shatters septum! You have saved versus Stunning Blows!
“I will kill you for that, worm!” Tang roared into Alex’s bloodied face.
Somehow, Alex not only managed to keep from stumbling to the ground, but actually smiled into the hot furious gaze of the man who had just smashed his nose into a bloody pulp.
Before spitting viscous, awful-tasting, slime-based glop right into his enemy’s eyes as Tang’s second headbutt sent Alex crashing to the ground. Just before the air rang with a cacophony of desperate shrieks.
Foe distracted! Save versus skull fracture made! You have taken 1 additional Light Wound.
Alex quickly stumbled back to his feet, shaking off his momentary dizziness and grabbing the fangtian ji that his enemy, now a shrieking, sobbing heap, clawing out his own eyes as he writhed on the ground, was in too much agony to bother with.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior's Oath: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 4 Page 39