“Have the men grab spears and head that way,” Alex said, pointing to the wood’s edge just beyond where moonlight or firelight could pierce the gloom. “We’ll kit up in armor there. Wolf will lead you to the armor stash. Then we’ll either go through with our strike or meet up with the girls and just head southeast.”
Peng furrowed his brow. “You already secured all that armor? Damned impressive. You’ll have to share that trick with me one day. But Alex, even if we manage to free the women without any more bloodshed, we’re still traveling through the forest with minimal supplies! Even if fruit and vegetables can be found in abundance, the time spent foraging will leave us very little for travel, and we’ll be at constant risk of danger without that damned mage warding our caravan every night.”
Alex flashed a mirthless smile. “You got me on the wards, but I have the supply angle covered. Now come on! Get the men going. I’ll try to free everyone here that I can.”
Peng furrowed his brow. Yet it said something about how much he respected Alex that he only nodded, a harsh guttural whisper all that was needed for a dozen huddled figures to suddenly flow out of their blankets, powerful hands quickly clenching spear shafts before racing into the gloom, and where before there had been a dozen men, now there were instead half a dozen corpses Alex had plucked free of his ring, one of them a guard who had been patrolling the spot Alex had intended to use as an armor drop that he had let Wolf claim on his own. Between the bodies and the mounds of dirt he would later reclaim for his garden, it did indeed look like the same group of huddled, exhausted slaves; at least if you were a harried guard more worried about former friends attacking out of the blue or the wrath of your master roaring for blood than you were about utterly cowed slaves in the middle of the night.
And the looks of desperation he received transformed into profound gratitude as he gained increasing mastery of a very specialized and soon perfected method of popping free Fire-based slave bands such that five grateful slaves had been freed in just as many minutes, the remainders’ eyes desperately locked upon Alex’s own, no words needing to be wasted as Alex approached the next, before sensing his peril.
Skill check successful. 26th slave collar successfully removed. Fire Qi Absorption is now Rank 3!
Qi Perception check made: sudden buildup of explosive Fire Qi! All remaining slave collars have been triggered to self-destruct! You cannot counter this cycle!
Quickness check partial success! You have suffered only peripheral damage.
Fire Qi Absorption has absorbed 45% of the damage suffered.
You are momentarily stunned!
Your enemies are charging for the kill!
Alex gasped in horror, somehow sensing the hot malevolent presence that could only be Tang Dan even as his furious scream cut through the air. And he could only spare a final moment of unutterable regret as he gazed into the terrified eyes of the handful of slaves he had not been able to save, they too sensing their doom, shrieking for mercy a second before they burst into flame.
Alex cried out with grief and agony as he was caught by the blast despite his leap back, a desperate use of his newly-blossomed Qi Absorption skill allowing him to absorb damage that would have otherwise fried his face off, even as his armor cracked and baked, the skin of his forearms crisping as the spirit beast armor caught ablaze.
“You!” shrieked a furious Tang Dan, right hand wielding a whip of lava, left hand holding out a spinning shield of Fire Qi. “You’re the traitor in our midst! I knew there was something wrong with you, that the fear you showed before us rang false! Jianghu. You must be! No one else would stoop to Ruidian agents! You’ll burn for this, worm! And when our master hears of this, the nobles will purge your sect from all of Yidushi! We’ll string up every Ruidian we can find and tear out your livers! We’ll dance to the sounds of your screams!”
Even as Tang Dan’s eyes glazed with odd heat, the three guards with him were charging forward with dao raised.
A groaning Alex forced himself to his feet. Shocked, disoriented, but between his armor and growing understanding of flame, he had managed to avoid worse than crisped hair and forearms, injuries his odd internal interface classified as no more than a light wound and fifteen damage. Somehow, his Qi Absorption had even allowed him to suck in the scorching heat of his armor, flames puffing out, though it was painful agony moving his arms. Or it would have been, had his heart not howled with outrage, bitterness for the scorched corpses behind him that had trusted him to save them, hatred for the monster who had so vindictively butchered them transforming the hot glittering pain he felt into a killing fury. And his fists tightly squeezing his fangtian ji making it clear his forearms were far from crippled, his strength fully intact.
But all the three charging slavers saw was a recently stunned youth who had been scorched by fire, holding a weapon he couldn’t possibly use. So they were eager to make this wide-eyed boy who dared to challenge them pay with his life and whatever torments they could dream of as they closed.
Time seemed to slow as Alex’s heart raced, the beads of sweat shining from the backlight of the blazing slaves shimmering like diamonds as they hung in the air, dao raised high for vicious chops as the destinies of slavers and former victim crashed to their inevitable conclusion.
You have critically hit Enemy Slaver!
A shocked scream rang through the air as Alex’s fangtian ji windmilled forward, forcing the men to stumble and slow even as his weapon tore completely through the closest. The slaver fell to the ground, shrieking as he gazed at the flood of bloody entrails spooling out of him before collapsing in shock from the massive blow that had nearly cleaved him in half, Alex’s weapon more than able to deliver fatal blows no matter where he struck.
And Alex was already leaping back, a fierce, wolf-like smile on his face as he held his deadly weapon in a high hanging parry as the two now far more cautious slavers spat curses and closed in careful tandem, spreading out and positioning themselves to dart under Alex’s sweeping polearm and strike him the moment he seemed vulnerable.
The pair smiled at Alex, who was always desperately pivoting to keep the pair of men between him and the howling fire mage, sensing just the moment to strike as Alex stumbled with a cry.
Before the closest gasped in shocked surprise, Alex’s awkward stumble transforming instantly to a powerful thrusting lunge that would do any spearman proud, and able to strike at far greater distance than Alex had teased before. The crescent blades pinned the closest slaver’s sword arm against his torso while the sharp spear point plunged through his abdomen, Alex immediately wrenching his weapon free and leaping back as the final guard roared and closed the gap, surprisingly fast, lashing out with his weapon.
Skill check made. You have parried the blow!
He grunted when Alex abruptly smacked the haft of his ji against the dao, trapping it for only a heartbeat.
But it was all the time he needed, drawing gladius and plunging it just under the lip of his foe’s hauberk before ripping it out once more, Liu Li’s favorite close range maneuver having been so deeply ingrained he could perform it in an eyeblink, and how he exulted in the brutal slaver’s despairing cry as he collapsed, intestines spurting from his wound, only for the pair of them to be bathed in flame, screaming as heat seared his flesh, unable to bring his Qi Absorption to bear in time.
Alex cried out as pain tore through him, hastily raised arms all that protected his face as he desperately rolled and dodged, the now madly-laughing Tang Dan tormenting him with ribbons of Fire Qi winding through the air before abruptly diving for his flesh.
“Fool! You thought you could best me? You thought you had a chance against a true cultivator? Those dead fools but gave me time to focus upon my greatest art! Fire Serpent’s Kiss! Prepare to die, Jianghu worm! Your vile treachery ends here and now!”
Alex cried out and dodged desperately as yet another serpentine ribbon of flame blasted down from the heavens just inches from where he had been standing, Alex s
tumbling back, knowing he dared not hold back a heartbeat longer, eyes widening with despair to see his nemesis facing him not with a shield of flame but a stream of circling ribbons that would crisp his flesh no matter what direction he charged from, his nemesis grinning evilly, the cultivator’s hate-filled face alone high enough to see over his spinning fire wall.
Damn it! Alex should have ignored the soldiers and struck the mage before he could ready his deadly fire spell.
There was no way to strike the mage now.
The mad cultivator laughed. “Now prepare to die, fool!”
Alex ran and dodged, realizing he could hide his trump cards no longer even if he couldn’t defeat his foe, and his enemies would be that much better able to predict his movements in the future.
Then his eyes caught sight of the imposing wagons, struck by sudden inspiration.
Divine treasure accessed. Water flask removed.
“Die!” Alex screamed, tossing a flask in the air, heading straight for Tang Dan, who was not so foolish as to dismiss anything the treacherous Ruidian before him did lightly, so blasted the harmless flask of water out of the sky effortlessly.
“Ha! You think flasks full of oil or acid can stop me, worm?” Tang Dan glared into the night, frowning, before screaming in outrage.
In the brief moment he had expended blasting the water flask, his hated opponent had fled.
“Come back here, coward!” Tang Dan screamed, glaring into the night all around and spitting furious curses, before eventually snarling and heading back to the wagons, ring of fire scorching the wet dewy grass as he roared for the guards to come to him, that the time to make overly bold slaves weep for their lives was now upon them.
Stealth check successful!
Tang Dan’s cold smile never left his features. Teeth clenched with effort rarely expended by the lazy man, his eyes were alive with the sweet knowledge of his own furious might, embracing his indestructible status that no doubt made him a force to be feared amongst his fellows.
He nodded in cold regard as a pair of men hurried forward.
“Sir, the quartermaster’s wagon is utterly empty. We have no weaponry, save for our dao.”
“You don’t need any other weaponry!” sneered the Qi mage, glaring at the men over his ring of flames, now keeping his ring of fire closer to his sides as he strode between the wagons. “You have me!”
Bullrush and Adderstrike successfully used in tandem! You have made a breakthrough!
The pair of men gave relieved nods as the mage gloated in his magics, before his head abruptly exploded, ring of fire flashing wildly for a single heartbeat before winking out completely, the pair of men gasping in surprise as they beheld a furious looking Ruidian wearing scorched armor and covered in burns, which didn’t seem to slow him down in the slightest as he blasted off his back foot, catching the first surprised guard with an overhand chop that cleaved completely through helmet and skull before Alex tore his weapon free with a furious yank a heartbeat later.
The second guard shrieked in surprise and horror, drenched in sudden crimson as his two allies exploded in blood and gore, before blinking in wide-eyed confusion just a heartbeat later as the spinning ground lifted up to meet him, the final dying glimpse of his decapitated head that of a blood-soaked monster covered in blood and gore before blackness claimed his soul.
Alex took a deep breath, closing his eyes, his Qi Perception detecting no living soul save for the huddling innocents guarded by a summoned spirit in the one untouched wagon, everyone else either dead, fled, or hunting down escaped prey.
So many dying thoughts Alex absorbed as he raced through the night, feeling cold satisfaction that he hadn’t needed to use any exotic techniques to kill the pair of stunned guards, his Qi slowly replenishing as he hunted down his final target, knowing he was risking dire peril in daring to hunt the deadliest prey of all when he should be fleeing, satisfied with what he had already accomplished. But if the clang of steel and desperate screams he heard through the woods were any indication, if he didn’t have the courage to face the monster himself, all his efforts would be for naught.
He spared one final hot glare for the mage whose skull he had shattered with a flying kick that was basically the same Adderstrike as he had perfected during more innocent times, delivered with a foot stomp from the one angle the corrupted cultivator had not thought to cover.
Alex peered intently at the top of the nearby wagon, knowing he should have understood its true potential when his Qi power allowed him to flow over terrain cursed by entrapping plants. But still, he was awed to find that he could actually use Bullrush to race through the air, his breakthrough revelation gifting him with increased understanding as he sensed that just as birds soared and dipped through the air, so too could he use the power of Qi to race through any element, at least if his end point was something solid, like the lip of the wagon that somehow hardly bent with his weight at the end of his Bullrush. It was as if he had gained temporary lightness, at least for the time it took to ready himself for the deadly fire mage to strut below him, utterly confident in his own invulnerability, never even thinking to look up.
Although he intuitively sensed all this, Alex still took a moment to glance at the notification he had put to such powerful use just moments ago.
You have had a breakthrough! Experience earned. Bullrush is now Rank 3 (5)! You are an adept user of Bullrush! You may pick one advanced ability with your technique! Insight determines technique. You are now a master of Lightness. When using Bullrush, you may travel through any element, weighing no more than a shadow upon landing until you shift your feet! Finesse check needed to maintain perfect foot stillness for any extended duration. If you continue to lunge forward with weapon or will, you may hit with your full weight upon the field of battle, as you wish it! As your insight increases, so too does your mastery. Range is extended and flexibility has increased. You may comfortably use Bullrush without any maneuver penalty from between 10 and 40 feet.
“Protect the girls. Protect the girls!” Peng’s gravelly voice rang through the woods. Alex’s gut clenched upon hearing the panic in the man’s normally stoic voice, realizing that things must be perilous indeed.
His heart lurched as he heard Yong Ming’s desperate cry, knowing he dare not hold back even a heartbeat longer, biting deep of his darkest gift as his cautious jog turned to a desperate sprint, Qi Perception allowing him to dodge past root and branch in the shadowy gloom almost as well he could in the full light of day.
9
Alex froze at the horrific sight of the crimson glowing madman holding off the entire resistance. Over a dozen armed slaves and multiple collared cultivators weren’t simply being held at bay, but were being sadistically cut down one scream at a time by a laughing madman whose only goal seemed to be to torment his victims before sending the next man crashing to the ground with severed tendons and crippled limbs, delighting in their shrieks of pain.
Scar moved with a terrifying speed that sent chills down Alex’s spine.
Yong Ming was barely standing upright, pasty-faced and gasping as she struggled to hold onto her spear, her arms now covered in a dozen bleeding cuts. And Peng, furious hard-eyed Peng who must have been a former soldier or perhaps far more in the Jianghu sect, quickly unleashed a devastating barrage of killing strikes with his glaive-like cleaving polearm but hit only air, a mocking Scar’s vicious rebuttal leaving Peng desperately backpedaling as the slave master’s enchanted spear snaked out for limbs, hands, head, any vulnerable piece of flesh it could touch. It was only the most enlightened footwork that Alex had ever seen that managed to spare Peng what should have been injuries every bit as crippling as those suffered by the men even now shrieking and rolling on the ground, tendons severed, eyes gouged, limbs shredded.
Were it not for Peng, no doubt the resistance would have already crumpled, the armed men near him rarely finding the courage or opportunity to do more than occasionally thrust their spears at the laughing slaver who s
o enjoyed tearing them to pieces.
And even when Wolf, the wide-eyed boy trembling with fury and terror in equal measure, finally struck at the perfect moment, his spear blasting into Scar’s side, it did nothing. Scar’s armor glowed a hellish red at the impact point, and it seemed all the force behind the strike was absorbed by whatever enchantments were twisted about that cursed piece of armor, as the slaver wasn’t even jostled by the blow.
Qi Perception check made! Artificer skill check made!
For it was indeed cursed. Alex felt almost as sickened by the armor as he was the wielder. With his growing Qi senses somehow heightened by the peril and terror crackling through the air, so many lives hanging on the balance in this crucible between life and death, Alex saw and understood like never before.
He could somehow see the crackling flood of infernal Qi tied to the artifact Scar wore, a hideous weave of darkest taint, corrupt in ways Dark Qi could never be, forced and twisted to steel armor that even now glowed with the pressure and strain of fending off a dozen furious foes at once. Yet as hot and tortured as the metal looked, constraining the twisted flood of corruption within it, somehow it held fast.
And Alex trembled, finally understanding the nature of that hideously twisted Qi. Realizing at last how it was able to take on an actual sentient taint.
Scar’s treasure was a work of genius and madness both.
Darkest madness that could doom Scar and must have certainly doomed the creator.
It wasn’t tainted Qi alone that infused that artifact.
And Scar only laughed. “Fools! That you would dare raise your paltry weapons against me, that you would dare to defy me! The things I will do to you. The screams of agony I will tear from your lips as I tear apart your flesh!” His eyes glowed with dark glee almost as hotly as the artifact he wore, his spearhead radiating a sickly green abruptly twisting through the air to bite into the flesh of a now-shrieking Wolf, effortlessly cutting through the youth’s spirit hide armor like it was thinnest parchment, Scar’s smile growing wide as the boy shrieked.
Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reforged: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 2 Page 11