Chapter 43
Khali might face the group of rookie mages, but an order mage slayer was in a different league. They were experts in anti-mage techniques, using mixed abilities and magic as well as anti-magic tools, not that he needed anything like that to clean the floor with Khali. But it was also very suspicious that the order had sent someone of that caliber against Khali.
‘Now that I think about it, I didn’t do anything to reveal my identity as a guardian. How did they find me? Khali wondered, but the enemies didn’t give him time to reflect.
“Kill him!” The leader shouted, sending a spear of fire towards him, the other mages quickly following suit. The mage slayer also ran towards him, hurling weapon-breaking daggers.
Khali dodged the spells without turning around thanks to the sensory field while summoning great water bubbles towards the daggers. The daggers lost momentum after passing through the water bubbles and exploded harmlessly against the floor.
Deciding this approach was futile, the mage slayer stopped wasting mana and sped towards Khali. The mages quickly stopped their spells for fear of hitting the mage slayer and focused on support him. Enhancement spells have been released further improving your skills.
‘I can’t let this turn into hand-to-hand combat!’ Khali thought quickly, conjuring spikes of ice across the floor. Unlike Athos who could fight as both vanguard and rearguard, Khali was a pure mage. He had trained his body only to the extent that it would not be killed immediately if an enemy got too close.
.....
The mage slayer slashed with the dagger three times, sending out blade auras that cut through all the ice spikes. His boots suddenly glowed and he moved so fast that the mages watching thought he had disappeared, before reappearing behind Khali.
“Cum!” Khali screamed in pain, a deep gash protruding from his right shoulder. The mage slayer attack was too fast for his eyes to follow, but not his sensory field. He felt the approach of the dagger to his neck and leaned to the side at the last moment, saving his own life.
The ice under his feet also went slick and the mage slayer slipped a little, so his attack wasn’t accurate.
“...You dodged. It’s the first time anyone dodged this attack.” The mage slayer spoke for the first time, a little surprised. He had activated the boots enchantment, Lightning Step, in addition to the haste ability itself, a combo that never failed to eliminate a target, at least until now.
The boots enchantment tripled its movement speed for an instant, while the skill increased approximately another 50%. The mage slayer had gotten so fast that even he had trouble keeping up, causing his attack to be telegraphed. Even so, it should be an attack impossible for a mage to detect.
‘He’s got good reflexes.’ was the magekiller’s thought as he resumed the offensive. The boot enchantment had a cooldown, so he couldn’t activate it successively.
Khali took his wand in his left hand and froze the wound, preventing more blood from spurting out. He tried to retreat hastily, but the mages launched explosions and other spells, cutting off his escape routes. In desperation, he tried to make hurriedly a wall of ice between himself and the mage slayer, but it was broken in a single blow.
The mage slayer stretched out his left hand and the magic ring on his hand released a flash of light blinding Khali, but the latter didn’t bother, perfectly sensing the enemy’s movements.
“Shadow body.” The assassin muttered. Khali’s shadow suddenly opened its eyes and took on a three-dimensional shape that rose from the ground. Khali shot shards of ice at the shadow, but they passed through the shadows that make up his body harmlessly. Unlike the light element that needed to become physical to deal damage, darkness was intangible and difficult to block.
The assassin tried to stab him from the front while the shadow’s body held him from behind, draining his strength. Khali cursed inwardly, his body refusing to respond as he tried to block the mage slayer. The mage slayer’s blade possessed a magically enhanced neurotoxic venom, capable of paralyzing a gray troll, one of the monsters with the highest regenerative capacity and resistance to toxins within two minutes.
Khali lost control of the body, but the assassin didn’t stop. He plunged both daggers into Khali’s thighs, causing Khali to fall to the ground. He stepped on his left hand and took out his wand, ensuring he couldn’t use magic. Lastly. he pierced the back of the neck with the dagger, killing him.
“I guess conjuring you was overkill after all.” The assassin muttered to himself, looking at the shadow body. He wave the hand and the spell disappeared.
“Is he dead, sir?” One of the mages approached, asking respectfully. He didn’t know why a mage slayer was here, but the moment he appeared, all authority passed to him automatically. The rank of mage slayers was far higher than low-ranking mages like them and the order is very strict when it comes to hierarchies.
“Yes. My orders were to eliminate the target.” The magekiller spoke looking between the mages. “Which of you is the leader of this group?”
“It’s me, sir.” The leader stepped forward, saluting him respectfully.
“What is your mission in this city?” the mage slayer asked.
“The mage responsible for guarding the border reported the state of the city, so we were ordered to help restore order to the city, but my familiar, a terrestrial mole, smelled rock worms so we decided to investigate and discovered an underground base. under the city sewers. We informed the order and they ordered us to investigate and eliminate the cause.” The leader made a full report.
“Intelligence captured some members of the word keepers and after interrogating them, they discovered that some of them were gathering in a nearby village for the extraction of an infiltrator and his apprentice from this town. Members of my unit are already on their way to the village and I was sent here to eliminate both the infiltrator and the apprentice.” The mage slayer said.
“That man had an rock worm as a familiar, but I saw no sign of the apprentice.” Ricley reported, waking up after being completely healed.
At that moment, they heard an explosion in the distance and saw flames start to rise in the noble area.
“I think I know where to look for it.” The mage slayer spoke, before turning to the leader. “Take this man and kill the apprentice. You should be able to do at least that much, shouldn’t you? I’ll follow you just in case, but I must keep my hidden presence.”
“Yes sir!” The group leader said, before turning to his subordinates and starting shouting orders. Ricley carried Khali’s body and sank into the earth, while the others moved across the rooftops and provided cover if the apprentice was stronger than expected.
They let their guard down and suffered casualties for Khali, but they wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
*****
“I came here prepared for a battle, but you were already finished when I arrived. What a disappointment.” Ricley said in a mocking tone.
“You... son of a bitch.” Athos spoke with difficulty. He tried to absorb world energy quickly, but Ricley stopped him.
“No, you won’t cast magic!” Ricley yelled, mistaking Athos’ natural ability to absorb energy for a spell. He placed his hand on Athos’ back and pushed him down, causing the spears to sink even further.
“GAHHHH!!” Athos screamed in pain, the blood pooling below him. If the bleeding didn’t stop, Athos would die in a few minutes.
“Your fucking master almost killed me today you know?? And to make matters worse, he embarrassed me not just in front of the unit leader, but in front of the mage slayer!! Do you know what this will do to my career?” Ricley took hold of Athos’ head and lifted it, bringing his face close to his.
Athos glared at Ricley with hatred, but that was all he could do in this situation. He tried to ignore the wounds and gather the energy of the world, but Ricley stopped him once again.