Chapter 13: Adventurer (4)
The silver figure stared at the adventurers. "Activate battle mode," it said.
The silver figure's vision expanded; it could now see everything surrounding it. It could see the narrow bead of sweat on the brow of the male sword master, it could see the veins on the mage's forehead. It could hear the low thrum of Arnold's heartbeat. They were waiting for it to attack first. And attack it shall.
Silver liquid dripped down its arms, lengthening its hands and hardening them to form blades. It lunged. Arnold raised his shield, aiming to block an attack that never came. He wasn't the target, but he realized that too late. The silver figure appeared right before Aurora, its blade high in the air. It had judged her to be the greatest threat; her energy signature was the highest out of all the people there.
Its blade descended.
"SWORD BLITZ!" Kenny shouted.
Right before the blade landed on Aurora, Kenny intercepted, clashing blades. With a grunt, Kenny heaved the figure away, successfully defending Aurora.
"Thanks!" Aurora said to Kenny.
He stared at his blade, seeing a dent and a crack had formed where they had clashed. If they had continued, his blade surely would have shattered. The silver figure stared at Kenny, reassessing him.
The silver figure's internal system sounded. Its body suddenly grew taller and slimmer, its limbs and blades lengthening. It realized speed was more beneficial here. On its face, its two eyes merged, forming one large eye in the middle of its head. More silver liquid dripped to its legs, hardening at its feet to form blades. The group tensed. A golem that could alter itself—they had never heard of such a thing.
"SWORD BLITZ!" Anny shouted, appearing right beneath the golem. She positioned her blade right beneath the figure's head, thrusting upward, smiling. She had caught it. Suddenly, she saw the figure's eye turn towards her. Her gaze widened as the creature disappeared. Her attack missed completely.
The figure appeared a few meters in front of her again, its arm blade glinting red with foreign energy. It took advantage of her imbalance.
It swung its bladed hand, an arc of red energy rushing towards Anny, aiming to split her in two. Anny couldn't dodge. That was when she realized—it had baited her. It knew she would take that chance to attack, and it had punished her greatly for it. She was going to die.
"SHIELD!" Arnold shouted.
He appeared in front of Anny, slamming his shield to the ground as an energy field appeared in front of him, taking the shape of a shield. The arc slammed into it, slicing it in two, and went on slamming into Arnold's shield, causing a deep gash to appear on the shield—and on Arnold's eye, blinding his right eye.
"HEAL!" Sona shouted as a green glow covered Arnold, healing his eye.
The silver figure turned to face Sona, its singular eye scanning her.
But as it prepared to charge at Sona, it was interrupted.
"FLAMING LANCE." Aurora said, as she summoned a large fire lance that was hurled at the figure.
The figure jumped back, narrowly dodging it as it slammed into a nearby wall, causing an explosion.
They seem to shout right before they launch an attack. By memorizing the sounds they make, I'd be able to know which attack they would use, it thought to itself.
The figure vibrated as two identical figures materialized beside it. The figure in the middle pointed at Sona, and they all rushed towards her.
"PROTECT SONA!" Arnold shouted, as he launched himself at one of the figures, sword raised high.
"CLEAVE!" he shouted once again, swinging at the rushing silver figure, but his attack didn't connect. His blade phased right through, causing a massive gash to appear on the ground. Illusions, he thought. He turned, seeing Aurora alone. That's when he realized they had been tricked—Sona wasn't the target at all. He looked around, searching for the real silver figure, and that's when he saw it. Aurora stood there, preparing to chant a spell. Defenseless. The silver figure appeared behind her.
"AURORAAAA!" He shouted, but he was too late.
The silver figure's blade pierced her chest, drenching her clothes red with her own blood. It raised her in the air before swinging its other hand, decapitating her in a gruesome fashion—all the while staring at Arnold. It flung her body to the side, its blade still dripping with blood.
The figure stared at the rest of the group. It had taken down their biggest damage source. The healer wouldn't be effective if it instantly killed them. Suddenly, the male figure holding a sword shouted, rushing at the figure, his sword hanging low and behind him, glowing blue with the same weird energy. The large figure with the shield tried shouting at the swordsman, but the man didn't listen.
The figure was surprised at the creature's stupidity. Organics surprised him to no extent. It stood still, bracing for the attack. The boy appeared in front of him, shouting something—probably the name of his attack—but the energy being displayed, it judged, wasn't enough to cause major harm. The sword collided with its body, unable to pierce it at all.
As I thought, their weapons can't cause damage to me. Though the foreign energy traveled through him, causing some minor irritation. I need to experiment further with that energy, it thought.
It raised its arm high in the air, bringing it down on the boy, splitting him directly in two. Too easy, it thought with satisfaction. It then turned to the rest.
Arnold stood there, shocked at Kenny's death. He had tried to warn him, but he didn't listen.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sona screamed, as she fell down, tears flowing from her eyes.
Arnold turned towards Sona.
"Anny, take her and escape. Go and inform the guild about this. I'll hold it back," he said, facing the monster.
"But—"
"GO, NOW!" he pressed.
Anny nodded, grabbing onto Sona, hauling her over her shoulder. She then rushed towards the exit, looking back at Arnold. A tear escaped her eye as she turned, running.
"Good luck," she shouted.
Arnold smiled. At least he got those two to safety, he thought. He turned to the monster ahead of him, his face hardening.
"COME AT ME!" he said, an orange aura radiating from him.