Chapter 461: Speed
The two Generals surrounded the Arctic Emperor Cobra from two opposing sides, doing what they thought would make it difficult for the beast to react.
The battle erupted in the midst of it all, but the addition of two powerful Generals made it so that there was practically no one other than the Colonels of the army that could stay close, especially since the Generals were riding steeds that bolstered their power by another level.
And this was exactly the opportunity that Sylas was waiting for.
The Arctic Emperor Cobra roared, its hood flaring as it seemed to "try" to cast a skill, only to fail.
The short hesitation caused the Generals to lag behind, resulting in a vicious tail whip. The General and his steed went flying through the air, crashing near the area City Lord Orciulius stood and wiping out another large portion of the army.
Then, the Arctic Emperor Cobra actually began to turn and run.
City Lord Orciulius frowned. 'This beast has some intelligence... Chase.'
He made a few hand signals and several more Generals moved. But under Sylas' control, the retreat of the Arctic Emperor Cobra, though seemingly imperfect, was steady.
The wounds began to accumulate more and more, but the Arctic Emperor Cobra continued to close in the distance on the portal.
City Lord Orciulius' frown deepened. At this rate, it was going to manage to escape. The worst part was that the Generals were only adding to the casualties of the city.
Sylas was very careful not to kill anyone, but the Generals weren't the same.
The best part was that these kills didn't count toward Rolland's total at all because they were under his own faction.
Only when they killed the stray beast would it count for something.
Suddenly, Rolland sprung into action.
Sylas stood to his feet at the same instant. He didn't expect that Rolland would be so decisive, but that only proved he was more of an impatient man than he thought. In that case, that would only benefit him.
He shot onto the battlefield, weaving through practically undetected in the chaos.
He was an Earl, no one with status too low would dare to tell him to do much of anything.
The Arctic Emperor Cobra was about to be stalled. The power of City Lord Orciulius was too great, especially within the city.
Scales sprouted across Sylas' skin and his Speed skyrocketed. He dodged out of the way of a beast's claws, sweeping it off its feet as he slid down between its legs.
He hopped back to his feet with an almost exaggerated smoothness that made it feel like he had never been on the ground at all. Not a single time did his Speed drop below his max. In fact, he was still accelerating.
On the other side of the battlefield, the Arctic Emperor Cobra blocked a palm from the City Lord and was sent a bit away from the portal. Clearly, the City Lord was trying to knock it away, moving it further from its goal.
'Not yet...'
Sylas had the Arctic Emperor Cobra fail to cast another Skill as he closed in.
He wasn't a far distance away to begin with.
He could only control the Arctic Emperor Cobra so perfectly when within the 50-meter range of his visualization.
The only reason he hadn't closed in the distance already was because weaving through a battlefield and running a straight distance obviously required different levels of strain.
However...
'Now.'
The City Lord descended with another attack. This time he had pulled out a sword, one that looked not too dissimilar from the one Azrael had wielded. It was a black straight sword that seemed to vanish into the shadows when it was swung.
And right at that moment, the Arctic Emperor Cobra activated <Arctic Howl>.
The Skill rebuffed the City Lord's strike, catching him off guard for a moment. This was the first time the Arctic Emperor Cobra had actually succeeded in casting a Skill.
But the City Lord was prepared for a follow-up, reacting quickly, only to find himself frozen in place.
Sylas had manipulated the Runes in the air, forcefully changing the effect of <Arctic Howl> to <Arctic Howl Mutant>. He had already evolved the Arctic Emperor Cobra to be able to withstand his Freeze Ice-Poison Rune, so the rest was easy.
As expected, the City Lord broke through it instantly, only for Sylas' eyes to flash.
<King's Bind>.
Rolland was frozen again.
He had sensed that it was someone else who cast this skill and realized that he was caught in a trap.
But just as he was about to break free again and see who was coming from behind him, the Arctic Emperor Cobra's tail descended.
If it was just one temporary bind, Rolland would have still had the time to dodge.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
But after two binds, the time it took for him to counter both of them gave the Arctic Emperor Cobra the chance to send him flying...
Right toward the portal.
Rolland's eyes widened as he unfroze in the air. What was happening?
He was ready to cast a skill to orient himself, avoiding the portal, but that was when a forceful rush of telekinesis slammed right into him.
The second push stacked on top of the first violent counter by the Arctic Emperor Cobra.
Then, for inexplicable reasons, the beast he had been chasing all this time vanished from his sight. All that was left was a man covered in scales.
Rolland's eyes widened as he came to a realization at the same instant he was swallowed up by the portal.
Sylas' feet never stopped. According to what he knew about portals, Rolland would be ejected a decent distance. However, it wouldn't be long enough that he couldn't come back.
The only reason he was even able to do this in the first place was because the restriction on Rolland as a City Lord had been loosened by the Quicktime Event.
Simply put, this was likely going to be the only chance he had of ever killing Rolland outside
the city.
And he was going to take it.
He needed Speed. He needed to reach the portal before Rolland could make his way back, and avoid these Generals while he did so.
Chapter 462 Only He [Bonus]
Sylas had thought out every meticulous detail, but he knew that this would be among the most dangerous situations he would face.
However, he seemed to have an icy coolness to his gaze.
The feeling of his body being under his complete control was intoxicating, and he seemed to step beyond a limit.
His body came to a sudden forceful stop just as a blade sliced through where he would be.
He spun to the side, pressing a foot against the ground with such forcefulness that the thin ice caused by the earlier cracked.
His toe made contact with the solid ground beneath, eliminating all the slippage in a single instant as he burst forward.
A green glow covered his body, and his weight dropped drastically.
He practically glided through the air, moving like a shadow as he stopped, jerked, and accelerated in movements that were far too smooth to be natural.
Sylas' weakness had always been his movement.
He didn't have any sudden teleportation abilities, and he lacked any Speed-related Skills that could bolster him in a timely moment.
But at that instant, it seemed as though he had become his own Skill.
His body moved like a well-oiled machine, and he took into account every aspect within a small five-meter range.
If he kept it to 50, it would be impossible for him to scan the entire region.
But when he limited it to just five, it was as though he had a bird's eye view of his entire area.
Everything was in the palm of his hands, and the world was his oyster.
He ducked and rolled, slipping out of the way of a stomp by a General's steed's hoof.
Reaching out with a strong hand, he grabbed onto the reins, swinging himself back up to his feet and knocking the General off thanks to the horse being shaken off balance.
The sounds of his feet hitting the ground were practically like the delicate pitter-patter of rain, drowned out by the roars and clangs of the battlefield.
Then, with another step, he accelerated past the last wave of attacks, entering the portal with a final stride.
… Off in the distance, not long after Sylas had entered the portal, a group caught up quickly after, their expressions changing.
If Sylas had been here, he would have recognized them as Sylphs.
However, for some reason or another, they hadn't participated in this battle.
That said… this was also within Sylas' calculations.
The Sylphs that acted outside the city weren't under the same rules as City Lord Orciulius.
They weren't part of the city's military, and they also didn't have Noble Titles.
The system would never allow that.
At best, they could enter the city, but if they tried to participate in the battle, the Generals, Nobles, and other officials would react much the same way any other military would react to civilians trying to join a battle.
As expected, they had hardly appeared when a shout came from a certain General Sun.
"Why the hell are there civilians on this battlefield?! Get them the fuck out of here!" "Detain them! They might be the secret masterminds in the dark!" The words of the officials made the Sylphs curse under their breaths.
This was exactly what they were worried about, but they couldn't hold themselves back when they saw Rolland being schemed against.
Now it seemed too late to do anything.
"Retreat.
" "They're trying to escape!" "Dammit! The army's in a mess!" Hidden on a building rooftop opposite to where Sylas had originally hidden himself, Sunniva watched this with rapt attention.
Sylas had given her a task, and thanks to the bindings of Nosphaleen, she was still following them.
Her only task was to see if she could pick off these Sylphs should the opportunity present itself.
Of course, it was a low-risk sort of task.
Sylas didn't really care if she succeeded or not.
In fact, his goal was something entirely different… If she succeeded, then good.
If she didn't… then good.
As for what his thoughts were, only Sylas himself knew.
… The world flashed around Sylas, and he found himself spiraling out.
'Great Celestial Wall…' Sylas recognized where he was immediately.
However, the instant he did, he had another huge epiphany.
Why did he know the name of the Great Celestial Wall, but not recognize the Mountains of Giza? They were both wonders of the world… He didn't have the time to think about it.
He found himself falling from the skies and realized that the fact the portal appeared here had helped him out a great bit.
He was ejected from the portal far enough that he was falling down the side of the Great Celestial Wall.
This must have been what happened to Rolland as well, making it difficult for him to make it back to the portal in short order.
But that was only the first part of the problem.
That was because there was an army.
In fact, there might as well have been two… one on the side of the hordes of beasts rushing in this direction, and the other coming from the government of this region.
That was when Sylas realized something else as well.
There must have been so few Generals on the battlefield in Orciulius City because the rest were stationed outside of it to stop beasts from overrunning their walls.
Sylas analyzed all of this before he landed on the ground.
Snow crunched beneath his feet before a white tiger lunged at him.
It was a beautiful creature, and far more regal and powerful than its pre-Summoning counterpart.
Unfortunately, it was facing off against Sylas.
Sylas leapt backward, his body still enveloped in a green hue as his telekinesis made him lighter.
He pushed off with both feet, then landed past the tiger's claws and onto its head.
BANG! The tiger's head was driven into the ground as Sylas leapt up and back to the wall, grabbing onto a crack and pulling himself up the rest of the way.
He landed on the wall just in time to see both the chaos and City Lord Orciulius about to make it to the portal once more.
n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om.
Comments
Post a Comment