However, a sudden crash interrupted their advance. The figure, now on high alert, turned to locate the source—a fallen part of the roof, accompanied by a person clad in leather armor. None other than Ben himself.
"Trust me, I was just passing by here." Ben nervously smiled, lifting both his hands up in a surrender position. But the other party was too occupied by shock to trust his words.
"Kill him!!" The masked figure shouted, pointing the staff towards Ben, and in the next second, a ball of fire materialized from thin air and shot towards him.
"Why am I not surprised?" Ben muttered under his breath as he ducked the attack; it hit the wall behind him, causing an explosion uponimpact.
'BOOM'
With a shattering sound, the whole structure reverberated, as if, at any moment, it could collapse on the ground. Both parties were surprised by the impact on the building, and Ben too stepped back in an open-roofed area, wary of the impact on the building.
"Tsk... Kill him with physical weapons; try not to use any magic." The masked figure commanded as it stepped back from the fight, walking down the stairs. And the thick silver gate closed behind them.
"Well, at least they are not dumb." Ben sighed, his attention back on the battle.
"Die, you spy from Capital!" Two hooded figures attacked him with their swords at once; they didn't look very skilled in swords, but their sword was imbued with magic, making them fatal.
Ben instantly backflipped, dodging the coming blows. Each strike of the sword causes the object it touches to decay into a greenish liquid.
[ Caution: The sword is imbued with a poison element. ]
'You don't need to say that for me to notice.' Ben responded in his mind; he picked up a rock from the ground and threw it towards the poison mage.
While the mage dodged this attack, Ben locked in. 'Use skill, Crimsion Veins.'
As the skill activated, the veins in his right fist began to bulge up into a crimson red color, and the part of his hand slowly began to mutate. His nails elongated into claws, and a shade of black scales covered his fists.
"Bang!" A resonating voice sounded as his fists collided with the iron armor, leaving a dent mark on it.
'What the hell is this skill?' Ben asked excitedly as he stepped back to create distance.
[The Crimsion Veins skill uses host stamina to mutate a particular part of the body similar to your true form. ]
'Holy fck, no wonder it looked familiar.' Ben said, suing his other hand to launch a pair of blood bombs, but the mage from behind instantly cast a golden barrier, which sustained the attacks.Next, Ben jumped towards the golden barrier; this time he used crimson veins on part of his knee before launching a knee kick.
Like a fragile mirror, the barrier shattered into pieces. As Ben lands on the ground to attack once more. He instantly locked in, and using crimson veins in his fist, he aimed directly for the poison mage's head.
"Cracklee!!! " An intense thunderstorm shattered the air. Ben's senses screamed of danger, but his body didn't react fast enough.
A wave of three thunder attacks hit Ben. Sending him flying through the rubble, only to be stopped by hitting a wall.
[HP: 67/100 ; BE: 90/100 ]
Ben fell to the ground, his teeth gritted, his body shaking uncontrollably, and an unusual heat surged in him as if his veins were burning from inside.
Ben tried to stand up, but suddenly the ground beneath him turned into sand, engulfing his hand and legs before it became rock hard again.
Ben was still disoriented when he saw the poison mage attack him. Instantly, he mustered all his strength to break through the solid ground, but despite his efforts, he couldn't dodge the attack.
A hair size slash was made on his neck, and slowly his skin near it began to turn greenish before it burned like rotten flesh. The feeling was too painful for Bne to concentrate.
He stood up again, using the rubble as support to run away, but was hit by the flame mage. Bne quickly reacted and shot two blood bullets directly into the mage's belly.
"You won't escape, intruder!" one of the mages shouted, conjuring a swirling vortex of wind and aiming it directly at Ben.
[HP: 70/100 ; BE: 50/100 ]
In response, Ben, fueled by his vampire reflexes, swiftly dodged the incoming wind attack.
Unfazed by the adversaries, Ben assessed the situation. The poison mage was still unconscious, and the fire mage was unable to fight. Ben planned to create distance between them and use a blood bullet to shoot them down.
"Blood Bullet"
Ben chanted as soon as he saw enemy movement, and soon the blazing golden bullet of fire hit one of the mages trying to cross the obstacle in his way.
"Argh!!" He screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. The blood bullet had not only pierced his chest, but combined with the inferno stringer, it blasted through the mages chest, making a deep hole through it.
[ Normal Tier: Human mage is killed ]
[ Exp: +200 ; First kill bonus: +500 ]
[ System is advanced yet to obtain soul essence from humans]
[ Exp: 700/1000 ]
Ben saw through the notification, but he didn't have time to analyze what happened. All he wanted to do was run outside the church and get some help.
The longer he kept using Crimsion Veins in battle, the more toll it was taking on his stamina. As a result, his breathing became heavy and his movements stiff.
"Fuck that bastard; he can use dual-element magic." One of the mages shouted.
"Hey, you...hold on! Master instructed us not to use any magic or it will attract unwanted attention." The other mage shouted.
Looking at the lightning mage,one of the mages gritted his teeth in nager,"Shut up; the damage is already done when that newbie bastard used lightning elements to attack."
Back in the village, Ray and Alex had already noticed the series of lightning flashes and sounds, and they were already running towards the source of them.
"Isn't this the same direction Ben went?" Ray asked. He was using his magic to slightly enhance his physical abilities, making him able to run faster than normal humans.
Freya, on the other hand, was way faster with her wind magic. But somehow, Alex was taking the lead in them without even using a tinge of magic.
"Is Ben able to use the thunder element or the lightning element?" Alex asked with a calm expression; his tone of voice indicated that he wasn't even running at his full speed.
[A/N: Both thunder and lightning are different forms of magic, at least in this story. [You will know why in further chapters.]
"None of them," Freya responded.
"Then I am expecting a strong foe soon." Alex said with concern in his voice, Wolves are one of the creatures in nature who could use lightning and sonic element magic.
This was also the reason why Warewolf was one of the superior species in the food chain. Or so is true for the Beast Kingdom.
While Alex was tensed, thinking about possibilities, a large explosion attracted everyone's attention. It was coming from the same source where the lightning attack was detected. The church is barely 50 meters ahead of them.
With a booming sound, the roof of the whole structure exploded. Ray and Freya stopped on their way to look at the rising tornado of fire. It didn't take them long to guess it was a combo spell of wind magic and flame magic, and levitating amid the flame was none other than Ben.
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