Reborned Top Gamer: Spell-Swordman Rule the World

39 Tall Phantoms

“Well, where the hell do we go from here?” Miranda asked once they left the gates of the city. They stood on a grassy hilltop that overlooked the city. The wind blew softly and it would have been a nice, relaxing moment if their minds were not swamped with the thoughts of their problems.

“We should try and kill monsters to gain points,” Walt said “Mythical Beast Peak is our best option,”

“What the point of defeating monsters if we can’t trade them for money?” Jenny grumbled but no one offered an answer, so they started to make their way north-west. Mythical Beast Peak was very far from York city and the journey would take days. Jenny thought about how they would have to camp outside for days since no inn would admit them and NPC hotels were way too expensive to lodge in every day.

They were not even out of the sights of York city when a huge whirlwind blew through them, knocking them away. It was unexpected but they were already a little used to getting sneak attacks, so they quickly picked themselves off the ground and pulled out their weapons. The whirlwind had raised leaves and grass which prevented them from seeing. When the whirlwind settled, standing opposite them was a tall lean man with close-cut black hair. He had piercings on his nose, lips, eyebrows, and ears, he held a sword out in one hand and the other hand stayed in his pocket.

“Who the hell are you?” Miranda yelled out. She pulled out her throwing stars, holding them up, ready to fire them at any moment. The attacker looked up at them. He had blue eyes and he was smirking.

“I am your reckoning,” he said and without warning, he lurched forward with his sword held behind him. Miranda threw her stars quickly but he dodged them masterfully. Walt in this moment, ran towards the pierced man, holding his own sword. The two of them met and hit their swords together with a loud clang.

Up close, they started to duel. The attacker brought his sword down on Walt multiple times but Walt stopped the attacks with his own sword, then he sidestepped and kicked the pierced man in the back of his leg. That did not seem to phase him at all, he mirrored the attack and kicked Walt right back, making him keel over. The pierced man swung down his sword on Walt’s back but Walt quickly turned around and with another loud clang, their swords collided. Once again, the pierced man swung his sword down, then again and again and again. Each time, Walt’s grip on the sword got weaker and he could not hold it for much longer.

Then, an arrow went flying and the pierced man had to lean back or it would have gone straight through his head. He looked back and saw Ailsa holding her bow up, about to fire another shot. Walt quickly saw that his opponent was distracted, so he swerved on the ground and kicked his legs, bringing the pierced man down to the ground. Walt shot up to his feet but his attacker quickly did the same, then they started to duel again.

Walt used all of his special moves, raining as many blows as he could but the pierced man was very good and he returned the attacks, blow for blow. Walt was too preoccupied to notice that they had been moving back and were now somewhat close to the edge of the hilltop. The pierced man suddenly did a black flip and went down, over the edge of the hilltop. Walt was shocked and gasped, then he walked towards the edge and peered down.

He never saw it coming. The pierced man did not even appear, just the same huge whirlwind that had knocked them off their feet earlier. This time, it went straight for Walt, the wind was speckled with dust that went directly into his eyes and the force threw him up, slamming him down, hard on the ground. The pierced man resurfaced at that moment, Walt felt his presence but he was dizzy and disoriented and he could not see anything.

“Walt!” Ailsa called out when they saw him hit the ground. She had urged them to help him earlier but only Jenny could really do short-range battles and if she had fired arrows or Miranda has thrown her stars or Scott had used his magic, they might have injured Walt as well. All those thoughts flew out of her head at that moment and she ran towards them, the others followed her.

Miranda immediately started to fire her throwing stars at the pierced man, Scott used his summoning skill to create mini soldiers from the grass to attack him, Ailsa fired multiple shots from her bow and Jenny used her defense skills to protect the rest of them. They bombarded him with attacks, he started to fall back, crossing his arms over his face to protect himself. He was beginning to shift to the edge again, he suddenly brought down his arms in a swift, slashing motion. The effect caused another whirlwind that blew them back and dizzied them as well.

Jenny felt seriously disoriented but she quickly activated a barrier between them and the pierced man. She helped Ailsa off her feet and the two of them helped the rest of the team. Ailsa rushed to Walt’s side and used her healing powers to help remove the particles of sand that prevented him from seeing. The pierced man slashed at the barrier, trying to break through, so they quickly gathered their strengths with Ailsa’s healing and took a stance.

“Do you think he’s with Minan?” Ailsa asked. She slung her bow back over her back and pulled out her daggers. Scott, Miranda, and Walt glanced at each other, unsure of the answer. Their opponent was very strong and could be a Minan club player but they did not recognize him, even Scott.

“It’s possible,” Walt muttered, then the barrier broke. They watched him and he watched them but he made no attempt to move. He held his sword down and his hand was back in his pocket. They all glanced at each other, unsure of what to do next since he did not seem like he wanted to attack. Miranda got irritated and was about to throw a star at him when spaced-out clapping came from behind them. They turned around and saw four men standing and watching them. They were all lean and tall like the pierced man. The one clapping had long blonde hair that flowed down his back and over his face, he had a smirk on his face.

“How impressive,” the blonde said and walked closer to them. Walt and the others took a step back, cautiously and with their weapons still out. The pierced man suddenly walked right through their midst, he looked Walt in the eyes and smiled. Miranda hissed at him but they just watched him pass them and saunter towards the new strangers.

“Who are you?” Walt asked when he saw the pierced man stood behind the blond and put his sword back in its scabbard.

“My name is Leo,” the blonde said, a smirk still on his face that Walt wanted to bash into his skull “this is Hardy, Fitch, Primo and I believe you’ve met Wyatt,” Leo said and indicated towards the pierced man who did no more than glance up at them and smile. Walt and his teammates glanced at each other with confused looks.

“We are Phantom team,” Leo said and Walt’s memory suddenly picked up. The phantom team belonged to the Minan club. In his previous life, he remembered that the Phantom team was one of the best teams that Minan had but they were often excluded from missions because they always questioned Heather’s brutality and they refused to be a part of it.

“What do you want?” Walt asked.

“We want to work with you,”

“Why?” Walt questioned with his eyebrow raised “and if you wanted to work with us, why attack us?” Leo seemed to find that amusing and chuckled.

“As you probably know, Heather wants your head in a box. I thought it was because you left the club but then I did some extra digging and found out that you did a whole lot more than that,” he chuckled again “destroying a Minan club account takes a lot of gutso and I wanted to test out your skills, so I sent Wyatt here to test you for me. Congratulations! You passed,” Leo said and laughed.

“We shouldn’t trust this guy, it could be a ruse,” Jenny said to Walt and he nodded.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,” he replied then looked at Leo who was smirking again “that does not answer my question, why do you want to work with us?”

“After you defeated Felix, Heather created a team out of his top players – Lennon, Truman, and Felix himself. They’re called Fred team and they’re Minan’s current ace team. You should know by now that Heather has sent out many players after you, including us-”

“So why aren’t you attacking?” Miranda interrupted. Her eyes shot daggers at Leo but he just smiled softly at her.

“I joined Minan to be a team player because I enjoy playing. I never signed up to be one of Heather’s tools of mischief and vengeance. My teammates agree with me. Heather sent us to defeat you, he also sent out Fred team,” Leo told them. Walt clenched his jaw and ran his hand through his hair. The three names Leo had mentioned were the toughest and most brutal players in all of Minan clubs. He remembered how daunting it was to beat Felix alone. If Fred team were to attack them, the possibility of their own team surviving would be very low.

“So what exactly is it that you want?” Walt asked and Leo stepped closer until he was face to face with Walt.

“You managed to evade Heather for a long time, I don’t know how you did it but if that i***t Barnett had not even mentioned you to him, he would never have found you. I know you can fight back and I want us to work together to bring down Minan.”