Chapter 259: Escape!

Listening to the man's rather ominous words, I was forced to use [Blink] to narrowly dodge a swing of his axe, and the moment I appeared somewhere else, I was stabbed in the foot by another mercenary; luckily for them, I wasn't able to retaliate since I was required to dodge yet another attack from the man that would've probably killed me.

'Tsk, he's much stronger and faster than before.' Thought Alexander with an ugly expression as he eyed Boss, who blitzed towards him, leaving behind a trail of steam while his axe whipped through the air at immense speeds.

Quickly raising my swords, I used [Expand] on them, causing them to grow to just about twice their original size while I used them as shields to protect me from the incoming axe; however, I also planned to use the force of the impact to send me flying out of the circle of mercenaries that has surrounded me, and hopefully the encampment as well.

Yet, despite expecting the attack, it surprisingly never came, though I wasn't stupid enough to lower my swords and instead just blinked away in a different spot, only to immediately get pierced in the thigh by that sniper up in the tower, causing me to internally hiss.

"I've been tricked once today… It will not happen again." Said Boss solemnly as he dashed toward Alexander, dragging his axe through the ground, only for deadly flames to gush outwards onto the ground.

Watching him fling chunks of magma at me, I used powerful gusts of wind to cool them off before hitting them back toward the man. I also launched sharp blades of wind myself, ignoring the numerous arrows from all around me.

'Seems he saw through my plan; that's great.' Thought Alexander sarcastically as he quickly leaped backward, barely dodging the axe that otherwise would've cleaved him in two, only to be hit in the stomach by the front part.

Wincing, I quickly regained my bearings and was forced to raise my swords as I resisted an attack that slammed me into the ground, breaking several of my bones; it only got worse as he continued to wail on me from above with his axe, forcefully pushing my body deeper into the pit I created.

Inwardly cursing at my predicament, I tried to use this opportunity to utilize [Teleport] since I wasn't requiring much thinking right now, and it was working, though I wasn't able to finish as my leg was suddenly grabbed, only for me to be yanked out of the ground and slammed into another piece.

I quickly rolled to the side, dodging his axe, which stabbed into the ground, turning the touching pieces of earth into magma from the intense heat while I swung my sword at it, yet I only managed to cut a small piece off the blade as he had retracted it quick enough.

Leaping onto my own two feet, I gritted my teeth and decided to charge the man, taking the initiative in our fight as I swung at him with my swords, prompting him to masterfully deflect my blows to the side while; however, unlike with Vanye, he wasn't doing so with the same amount of ease as her despite being stronger and faster.

This time, when I swung my swords his way, I used the skills expand and [Shrink], rapidly changing their sizes just before he deflected my swords, causing him to constantly make mistakes while I slowly chipped away at his axe. However, that only happened a few times, since after a while, he simply opted to stop deflecting my swords and merely dodged by keeping out of harm away, even when expanding my swords to nearly three times their normal size.

'Tsk, fucking great; he's just going to stay on the defensive when I attack, and then if I try to leave, he's going to change strategies. It's smart, and that's why I freaking hate it.' Thought Alexander as he narrowed his eyes at the man while clicking his tongue in annoyance.

Since I didn't have a plan on how to escape, I just continued to attack; it gave me a chance to think a little, and the mages weren't able to attack me, forcing me to only deal with the archers, but it didn't matter where they hit, so I was fine.

 Glancing upwards at the sniper, saw her already aiming at me, but that wasn't why I was looking at her, I was trying to see if would be possible to swap positions with her using space mana; I could already teleport someone without touching them using my eyes, but could I swap positions?

'Heh, I'm getting desperate, aren't I?' Thought Alexander wryly as he shifted his focus to the man who kept dodging his attacks.

Such a thought was pretty stupid; even if I could theoretically do it without intensive practice, I wouldn't be able to do it right now at all times.

If I could just create a decent distance from my opponent to use as a head start, I was somewhat confident I could escape; however, he's still a little too close for my liking, not to mention I've got to pull out the arrow in the back of my thigh, which is going to hurt like hell.

Clicking my tongue in sudden eureka, I used expand once more, though this time, I used it on both my swords and my arms, causing them to elongate as I slashed at the man, taking him by surprise as I created another shallow gash on his chest.

However, he didn't back away, probably knowing if he gave me any more space, I wouldn't hesitate to flee, and unfortunately for me, he was correct; after all, this wasn't a battle I could win, my opponent had already proven he is too strong for me, let alone the fact he's being back upped by probably close to a hundred mercenaries that'll stab me if I get to close to them.

'Got any genius plan, Zartha, that will save my fucking life?' Asked Alexander as he continued to attack the man, injuring him every few attacks, though they were merely flesh wounds, nothing noteworthy.

'You've got two lives, Master.' Replied Zartha coldly, her words causing him to scoff as he turned around and dashed away, causing Boss to rapidly lunge at him.

Just as I turned around, I blitzed toward the circle of mercenaries while my opponent dashed at me, and just when he was about to get near me, I vanished and appeared behind him while slashing downwards, leaving behind a deep gash.

'Heh, what was that about not being tricked again?' Thought Alexander in amusement as he landed on the ground while backing away, using the chance to yank the arrow out of his thigh, only for another to pierce his stomach.

With a twitching expression, I glared at the sniper while removing her arrow from my stomach after cutting the arrowhead off; I shifted my focus to my opponent, who gave me a cold glare, causing me to wince internally.

"That is twice I've been fooled, so I can not blame you, only my incompetence for not seeing through the trick." Said Boss as he coldly eyed Alexander, who calmly stared at him while secretly preparing to teleport.

After he finished speaking, he clutched his axe with both hands and lunged at me, though I stood my ground and raised my sword as I eyed him; just when his axe was about to slice me in half, my figure vanished.

Clutching my bleeding chest, I glanced at the nasty wound his axe had managed to barely inflict on me before I teleported, though I couldn't even sigh in relief as an arrow pierced my chest, causing me to turn and look at the encampment off in the distance, which was still far too close to comfort, hell, I could even see the man from before dashing towards me.

'F-Fucking hell, I can't catch a fucking break.' Thought Alexander as he tossed a fireball onto the ground, burning his blood while dashing into the forest.

Yanking the arrow out of my chest, I flung it behind me and speedily ran through the forest, though even with my speed, I saw someone was slowly catching up to me, causing me to push myself even harder while I prepared to teleport, and this time, somewhere much farther.

"GET BACK HERE!" Yelled Boss furiously as he dozed through various trees, leaking a path of burnt destruction wherever he ran.

Several seconds passed, and before he could catch up to me, I teleported once more; this time, while I was still in the forest, I landed beside the remains of a burnt cabin, causing me to plop onto the ground as I sighed in relief.

"Haa, thank you fucking Eywa; I only had like a few more uses of teleport before I ran out of mana. All those fucking blinks burned right through my mana." Muttered Alexander as he stared into the sky and blew kisses to Goddess Eywa or to whatever God was watching over him.

After a minute or so of lying down, I decided to get up because, one, I needed to reunite with Lazuli, Vanye, and Vanimo, and secondly, it was not like I was all that far away from the Mercenary encampment; if that man knew where I was, he could probably get here within two hours.

"Alright, time to reunite with my adorable little cyborg." Said Alexander as he absorbed Trina and Zartha into his body while jogging through the forest.