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1072 Words
If any of the four of them were alone, they might have struggled, but with their varied skill sets, they were able to take the boss out without much fanfare. And its loot turned out to be quite interesting.
It was a small hourglass that created an area of accelerated time at the cost of spiritual strain for everyone inside it, along with a boatload of mana. Considering Matt, the latter cost might as well not exist, but the former was a fairly harsh condition.
The hourglass only sped up time by a factor of two, so they couldn’t abuse it and completely remove their healing cooldowns, but it did let them rest completely in just an hour of real time, allowing the rest of them to recover mentally, albeit not spiritually, from the challenge they just cleared.
As it turned out, that was a good thing because just minutes after entering the second level of the sixth floor, they felt a familiar someone else flaring with Genesis Energy not far away.
Despite the signal almost instantly vanishing from their Genesis Energy perception, they were close enough to easily catch up to the lone fighter.
Long Zhiyuan looked almost as surprised to see them as Matt was to see him.
Given their previous enmity, Matt didn’t hesitate to send a burst of [Cracked Mana Spear] at his fleeing back. But just like before, his robes rose and blocked the neutral mana attack.
Not willing to let such a strong enemy Young Master live if they could help it, the four of them chased him down.
It immediately became obvious that he had already fought his way through this portion of the ruin, as there were no monsters present. He was seemingly intimately familiar with the layout of the ruin and was able to run, fly, and dodge his way through the rocky cavern leading them on a chase to a portion of the ruin he hadn’t cleared trying to lose them on the copies of other delvers still lurking in the forest.
They chased him to the neighboring ruin which turned out to be a winter one, which Long Zhiyuan smartly refused to enter, and forced him to take a [Wind Cutter] to the leg from Susanne after she cut her way closer, reappearing in a different spot while already invisible to land the blow. Blood flew, and the Young Master pulled back for a moment, interposing a physical shield between himself and Susanne. She instantly broke the shield with her next attack, and the man lost what looked like half of his left hand.
He tried to use his Concept to fly away, but Matt threw his own Concept against Long Zhiyuan’s, shattering the working and sending him tumbling to the ground. Aster hit him with [Kar’tan Greets His Foes], which only resisted his movement for a moment before he smartly spent a large chunk of mana on a [Cleanse Corruption] to remove the effect. Before too long, his mana would be exhausted, and he would be easily crushed.
Liz was the closest, and lashed out with [Blood Whip], but Long Zhiyuan sprang back at her with a skill enhanced lunge and slashed out with his trademark flaming claws, catching Liz in the face despite her attempted dodge.
Her helmet crumpled in, and Matt winced as he saw the double break on her jawbone. It was healable, but Liz would be in pain whenever she ate for at least the next week.
Long Zhiyuan took advantage of Liz staggering back to continue his retreat, but Matt cut him off with a [Crescent Sweep] combined with a quick [Mana Charge], throwing the sword with everything he had.
It spun through an arc to blow through the latest shield that Long Zhiyuan had thrown up before biting deeply into his back.
As Matt’s blade completed its arc and returned to him, he caught it and raced forward.
In theory, he could use the skill while moving, but it was his first time casting the skill in true combat, and he didn’t have that level of control yet, forcing him to pause.
Still, Aster was right there and picked up the slack, catching Long Zhiyuan in his good leg with a burst of [Snowbank] to cover him in clinging frost.
Susanne reappeared from somewhere, with her sword inches away from bisecting the Young Master when lightning flashed around the man. He teleported just out of range, and he narrowly avoided falling on his face as he redoubled his speed.
Liz was already back on her feet, and threw her spear at his fleeing form, guiding it with [Blood Manipulation].
Long Zhiyuan proved he was a top-tier Young Master as he dodged the attack at his back, and in his roll, sent out an enlarged claw strike empowered with earth mana at Aster. Matt retrieved and triggered a talisman to block the strike without breaking stride, allowing Aster to land an [Ice Spear] on the Young Master’s chest.
Aster jumped on Susanne’s shoulder and started pulling ice and snow from the adjoining ruin, throwing it at the fleeing man and encasing him utterly, literally freezing him in place. It didn’t hold for very long, as Long Zhiyuan erupted from captivity in a burst of flames, using the explosion to boost his speed and further the distance between them. He looked fairly singed and still had some ice clinging to him, but wind and fire whipped around him, lengthening his stride tenfold.
Matt redirected most of his mana to the combination of buffs that boosted his physical speed, sent the rest to [Air Manipulation], and took off after the Young Master. Just as he got close enough for an attack, ten new points of Genesis Energy appeared in the distance.
With the newfound urgency of needing to kill Long Zhiyuan before they entered into a larger melee, Matt swung a glowing sword at the Young Master’s neck, only to have it blocked as he raised his left arm between the blade and his head.
Whatever skills and equipment the man had was enough to stop the strike cold, but given the way his arm fell afterwards, it was at least broken. A good wound, and the man shouted in pain and annoyance as his defensive robe was torn. Then the new team of ten reached them, and Matt lost the opportunity to finish off his opponent.
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