Chapter 76 – Grudge against the heart
Seeing the stones on his side and not on his hands, they dropped their guard a little. Aile wanted to respond, but all that came out were a few coughs. It seems he still did not get his bearing.
Cough
Cough
They had gotten close enough, two of them came towards Aile. They were going to take him. Aile knew that this was it. He has to injure them now if he wants to getaway. Once they were close, he launched the dust, then picked all the stones and thrust it in their direction.
"Ahhh."
"Ahh."
The dust cleared, and Aile was kicked again. He still had his blade on his hand.
Cough
Sploosh
He had vomited blood. He did not see how he was hit. After all, the dirt created a mist blocking Aile's view too. On the ground were the two that he had thrown all the rocks at.
They were breathing, but their condition was not good. Seeing the situation of there comrade on the ground, the commander of the group with two other rushed running towards Aile. They wanted to quell their anger by taking it out by punishing Aile. While their last member remained there, he was worried about the injuries of his comrades.
Aile had gotten up and knew that this was the instant that would determine if he can get out of here alive.
Every part of his body was hurting, but he carried on. He started to use his cultivation now. He empowered his hands and feet, and once the three came close to him, he moved his blade, and it flew in a beautiful arc as Aile intended. It went for the neck of the first person that reached him.
Puchi
Splash
Then there was a fountain of blood. The gruesome sight plus the fact that the blade cut through something changed its trajectory. He could not go for the other one's neck.
Then the blade with his increases speed due to his cultivation cut the other person's chest all the way to his stomach. Aile had to do this now, as he could not follow his original plan of going for his neck.
Swish
"Ahhhhhh"
The person tipped forward and like a plank fell down.
Blood and many other kinds of fluids, along with a foul smell assaulted Aile. He wanted to vomit. But he held it down and went for the last member, the captain.
With the little error, Aile had lost time, but he hoped that he could still catch their captain by surprise. He then put his energy on to the blade for a final strike, which was aimed at the captain's heart.
The blade moved right towards his chest.
The captain immediately kicked the ground, pushing himself back. The tip of the blade entered him and quickly got out.
Plop
Aile was not sure if it really damaged him. The captain had countered by jumping back. This situation was the worst for Aile, the strongest enemy remained alive. This was all due to his lack of experience. He did not know that stabbing someone would change the trajectory of the blade.
To be more accurate, he had no experience fighting. First, he did not expect to be almost incapacitated from that one kick at the start and now this.
That other enemy had gone after the unprotected Sara, Laila, Leia and Hazel, he also needs to get to them and defend them. Aile could not waste more time.
Aile jumped for another blow before he could get his bearing. However, the captain was fast, he got into a strong stance dodged the strike, and he slapped the blade.
Ching
The blade flew away.
Hahaha
"What are you going to do now?"
He then threw a fist, Aile moved to the side and dodged. Only to be kicked on his back.
Bang
Aile hit the ground. His head started to spin, and he felt the warm liquid flowing out of his mouth again.
He felt disorientated, and everywhere he looked, things would spin. Not only could he not see, but it hurt to keep his eyes open.
He started to cough again.
Cough
Cough
He forced himself to find the attacker, he could not just wait to be killed. He kept moving his head, trying to find the direction of the enemy. However, he could not locate him. He was not even sure how far he was kicked.
He heard movement towards him.
Step
Step
He remembered he does not need to find him with sight only, he has used his hearing to find people for so long. He can just use that. He closed his eyes and figured out which direction the sound of the steps was coming from.
He took out the little dagger that was strapped into his hand and waited for the sound of footsteps to get close. Then as soon as he heard the footsteps very close to him, he focused his energy on his feet and pushed himself forward. The dagger had dug deep into something. He had closed his eyes, so he was not sure if he got him.
"Ahhhhh," shouted the captain, sating his curiosity that he succeeded in hitting the captain and not something else. After all, he had closed his eyes for this attack.
He was pushed back by a rough hand. Aile realized that by closing his eyes, his other senses were more sensitive without him putting any conscious effort. He had held onto the dagger as he was pushed away. It was painful but not nearly as when he was kicked and punched. He also managed to get his balance and not fall.
But the problem was he felt weak everywhere, the last attack has taken everything out of him. His hand started to tremble from holding the blade. He knew that he could not perform a forceful attack again in his current state.
He hoped that his previous hit was fatal. He opened his eyes. After a few seconds, his eyes adjusted. He noticed the captain's chest wound as a result of his failed blade execution from before. He searched around it, expecting to find another one.
Aile's eyes darted around the captain's body, hoping to find another wound in a fatal area. However, he could not find anything.
He finally looked down and saw a wound on his thigh, bleeding.
"Damn it!" Aile cursed.
He had thought perhapse he was very accurate and hit the same chest area again when he could not find another wound around his heart. It seems his expectation and reality did not match.
Aile felt a sense of loss after resisting for so long it seemed that he made a fatal error. A wound to the thigh although will slow him down, but Aile did not have enough energy to keep running around to take advantage of that.
However, to his surprise, he noticed that the captain was punching the air and behaving oddly. Then it hit him. He had applied the mushroom juice on the blade against Duke White's son, making it hallucinogenic if it comes in contact with blood. It seems that there was enough juice left there to affect him now.
Aile was not sure how long he will remain in the hallucination. He wanted to deal with him as soon as possible. Every time he randomly punched, he would create an opening in his defence, allowing Aile to slash him.
Swish
Swish
Swish
After a few attempts, the captain resembled a barrel with multiple holes, blood leaking out of him from each stab wound afflicted by Aile.
Until he fell down.
Aile then punched him a few times, getting his anger out. He finished him off with a slash on his neck and a stab in his heart.
After all, he had missed his heart many times during the fight, that he had built up a grudge against it. It seemed he had gotten a few minutes to rest and recover.
He searched him to see what he has got that he could use against the last member of his team. This is because there would be no way he can have a duel with another person now.
His search resulted in finding nothing. He was disappointed. Just when he thought that he was unfortunate, came the rustling of the leaves.
Aile, who was on the ground, stood up. He was still panting, and he had not even recovered his breath.
From the bushes came out, a middle-aged bald man. He looked at Aile with a lot of anger seeing his captain's corpse. He had already seen his other two team member not long ago. One of them decapitated, and the other who had his insides fall out of him.
Aile's vision was restricted, and he could barely distinguish his green and yellow camo gear from the greenery. Aile guessed it was the member that stayed to take care of the two that he injured with stones. He hoped that those two had not recovered yet.