Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Chapter 3

Evylin exclaimed in confusion and tried to touch the blade, but Athos didn’t give her time to think and twisted the blade before pulling out the sword, shattering the heart and killing her instantly.

“Fuck! Enemy attack!” The second archer cursed loudly as he jumped back and walked away from the unknown enemy quickly, fitting an arrow to his bow and preparing to shoot while still in the air.

Athos hurled his shield at the fleeing archer, trying to stop the enemy from fleeing and reuniting with his companions. The archer crossed his arms still in the air in front of his body, to try to defend themselves. The shield would have crushed his wrists, but at least he would have come out alive.

And that might have worked if Athos hadn’t created a blade of wind in the shield, turning it into a circular saw.

The shield spun quickly and sliced off both of his hands, before continuing and decapitate him. The shield slammed against the tree and Athos turned the blade of wind into a small blast of wind, throwing the shield back at him.

Athos caught the shield in midair, locking it into the armguard. “Two less mana users, two to go.” Athos jumped from the tree Evylin was on and charged towards the remaining bandits.

Meanwhile, Dave was shouting orders in the middle of the clearing to his subordinates to stay alert, after they heard the Ranger’s warning. The archer’s screams were suddenly cut off, indicating that the archer had likely been killed.

.....

“Stay away from the trees! Use the carriages for cover!” Dave ordered and his subordinates retreated to the carriages.

Suddenly, leather bags were flung over the forest canopy and fell between them. The bags split open as they fell to the ground, releasing dust that quickly turned to black smoke, darkening the clearing.

“Careful with that smoke, it could be poison! cover your faces with cloths!” Dave tore off a piece of his shirt and used it to cover his face, his subordinates quickly copied him.

Thick smoke burned the eyes, forcing the bandits to keep them closed. Panic and unease began to spread among the bandits as soon as they heard the first scream.

“Ackk! my leg-” The scream was suddenly cut off and only the sound of flesh being cut was heard.

Athos had entered the smoke and was moving hidden among the bandits. He attacked the farthest bandit in the group and slashed his ankles, before jumping on top of him and impaling him.

He kept sneaking around, while slashing at the thugs’ knees or heels. He was not immune to smoke and also kept his eyes closed, but he was able to locate himself even without his eyesight.

Athos created a sensory-type ability for situations like this, called a sensory field. Mana flowed to the extremes of the body, such as the skin and hair all over the body, enhancing touch to a superhuman level, allowing him to feel the approach of anything around him, whether magical or physical in nature.

Suddenly, Athos felt something approaching quickly from behind him, as he aimed at his skull, trying to crush it like a watermelon. Athos turned with superhuman reaction time and raised his shield.

The impact was absurdly heavy and made the joints in his left arm crack, but Athos used his weight to his advantage. He stepped to the side, sliding the mace across the shield, and made a follow-up attack almost instantly, trying to slash Dave’s throat, aiming at the helmet slit.

Dave bent his head back to dodge it, but Athos’ attack wasn’t over yet. He used the mana blade skill, causing a blade of pure energy to come out of the sword and increase the attack’s range, slashing the right side of Dave’s helmet.

Dave backed away a few feet, surprised that his surprise attack was immediately countered. He had used mana vision to find Athos in the smoke and his eyesight was now impaired and he found it difficult to keep his eyes open.

Athos threw the broken shield to the ground and turned, still with his eyes closed, in the direction he felt the enemy and steadied his stance. He ignored the people around him, focused only on the mana user in front of him and the one he felt sneak up behind him. He had used the smoke not only to cover his movements, but also to separate the mana users from the rest of the bandits.

He knew that once the mana users died, the rest would be easy. Athos focused all his attention on the enemies in front of him and behind him, noticing even the smallest movements. He focused beyond what should be humanly possible, but his second cold-minded ability made it possible.

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Mana flowed throughout his brain and sped up his thoughts, his mind became focused and the veins in his head bulged, his brain-frying from the overworked.

Athos felt the world around him slow down, but the skill came at a high price. The mana cost was incredibly expensive and the skill couldn’t be used for long, or it risked frying its own brain and becoming a vegetable.

along with the sensory field, these abilities were his trump cards and had incredible synergy. After two years of training, Athos was able to divide his focus and maintain three skills at the same time without compromising his performance.

He had used a superior physical booster potion to conserve mana and focus, keeping an ability free for when he needed it.

Dave and the assassin moved at the same time to attack him. Both were using mana vision to locate Athos. He responded by throwing three bottles of viscous acid at Dave and turned to the assassin, confident the acid would do enough damage to kill him.

“AAAHHH!” Dave screamed in pain, feeling the metal sizzle and melt against his skin.

The assassin attacked using the multiple cut skill. Mana flowed from one dagger to another as he attacked, increasing the amount of mana spent and attack speed with each strike.

Athos only defended, the multiple slashes pressing him defensively as he backed away waiting for an opening. Small scratches continued to accumulate on his armor until Athos created an opportunity.

Athos pretended to stumble to attract the assassin and the enemy took the bait. The assassin aimed the dagger at his liver, but Athos grabbed his wrist and cut the assassin’s arm at the elbow. The assassin used his remaining arm to try to cut his throat, but Athos took a step back, escaping the dagger’s reach and slashing his remaining arm in one fluid motion.

Athos swung around so as not to lose momentum and decapitated the assassin in a circular cut. He focused his will around him and realized that more than half of the bandits had fled while he was busy fighting. The other half had gathered in a group, standing with their backs to each other and covering their blind spots.

Dave was thrashing around on the floor. The acid had corroded his helmet and chest, sticking the metal to the flesh. It was only a matter of time before the corrosion killed him.

‘The professor must deal with anyone who runs away, so I just have to focus on killing the bandits that are left here.’ That’s what Athos thought before he started the killing.

He shot wind blade after wind blade through his sword cutting the bandits’ bodies to pieces. arms, heads and torsos flew sporadically within the smokescreen. When he finished, only shredded corpses remained around him.

Athos emerged from the smoke and found Khali waiting for him outside.

“It’s over?” Khali had a huge smile on his face, seeing Athos’ brilliant performance.

‘He has grown at an absurd rate in these two years. He could end up reaching a layer of life in another 4 years of training at this rate.’ It was Khali’s honest assessment.

“It was easy, I could have done it with my eyes closed...” Athos teased him as exhaustion hit him. A terrible headache hit, him making him lose consciousness. blood trickled from his nose, showing that he had overstepped his bounds.

Khali caught him before he could fall to the ground and laid him down gently. “You did very well, Athos. Sleep well, you deserve it.”