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1040 Words
He wasn’t able to kill him, as the mage immediately fought the spell with his own version, but it gave Matt enough time to cut their melee fighter’s leg off.
On the other side, Long Zhiyuan drove his clawed hand through one woman’s throat, and after ripping her windpipe out, jumped over a blade swipe with [Puddle Jumper].
Matt didn’t pass up the opportunity and cast [Mana Bolt] at the man, but the sphere under his robe rose and blocked the attack once more confirming the robe was purpose built to counter neutral mana spells.
With a [Mana s***h], Matt cut down the third-party mage and finished off their melee fighter that he had just de-legged but took a cut to his forearm in return for the final blow.
He hurt all over, but he knew that he wouldn’t have time to drink a healing potion before being forced back into the fray. Just as predicted, Long Zhiyuan finished ripping out the final melee fighter’s heart, then turned and picked up one of the fallen delvers to use as a human shield. It was an unconventional tactic, and it allowed Blood Hand to get within grappling range of Matt, with only a few shallow cuts to show for it.
As they fell to the ground, Long Zhiyuan took the advantageous top position, and despite Matt’s best efforts to block, he took a raking blow empowered with an air spell across the face. As soon as the strike connected, his face was set afire with pain and blood. Matt could tell that the man had been taught well, as he was locking space down with extreme force, preventing Matt from teleporting away. Though that must have been a particular focus for someone who excelled in short range combat.
In an effort to get Blood Hand to back away, Matt brought out a handful of sand from one of his spatial bags, then pulsed [Sand Manipulation] with as much mana as he could afford. Unfortunately, Blood Hand didn’t attempt to contest the skill with the less efficient [Earth Manipulation], and instead recalled another shield to block the force of the blow. He let himself be pushed away, putting the backup shield away a second later.
Wishing he could still cast [Hail] and [Ice Manipulation] was a futile hope, but Matt knew there wasn’t much else he could do to slow the Sect man down.
Swapping his blade over to his other enchantment configuration for a second, Matt blocked a [Mana Bolt] with [Mana Barrier] and returned the attack with a [Fireball] cast from the tip of his weapon.
The change in casting position caused Long Zhiyuan to react too slowly, and he caught the spell in the face.
Even Long Zhiyuan’s robes couldn’t block all of the spell, and half of his hair was set ablaze before he cast [Create Water].
For the first time in the fight, the two of them paused and just stared at each other.
Long Zhiyuan said something that Matt could only piece together as an acknowledgement of some kind, with his limited understanding of the language, and then he lunged at Matt once more.
Their fight was interrupted by an explosion that came from the main battle, and they both paused as they saw what looked like a sun being born in the center of the fight.
A ball of fire appeared and exploded before sucking all the expelled energy back into its center of gravity and reforming into an even larger mass.
The second explosion was larger than the first, and it caused anyone still able to retreat to do just that.
Matt and Long Zhiyuan separated as they scrambled to get away.
Even as he did so, Matt inspected the area for Liz and Aster, and found them running in the opposite direction along with Susanne, mostly unharmed.
The fifth explosion of the sun was seemingly the last, but while Matt stuck around, Long Zhiyuan and most others seemed to fully retreat.
Calling out to the retreating figure with what little of the Sect language he remembered he said, “Run you chicken noodle soup.”
Or at least that was what he hoped he had said. He also made a mental note to never mention how much his Sect had slipped in front of Luna or he would never hear the end of it. He could do some self-study on his own time, and she would never know.
Once more entering the now blackened cave, Matt saw his team doing the same with a few others.
Everyone who stayed was Empire, Guild, or Corporations, and they immediately started looting the battlefield.
After collecting the spatial items and undamaged weapons and armor from the bodies that he and Long Zhiyuan had killed, Matt hobbled over to his team.
Pulling a healing potion out of his spatial ring, Matt downed it but could feel that it wasn’t as effective as it could be. He was at the healing cooldown once more, and he needed time for his body to recover. Time to rest and recover was something he didn’t have though, nor did he expect to get much any time soon. He would need to hang back and avoid as many fights with other cultivators as he could.
Pulling off his helm, he poured another healing potion over his still-bleeding face and held the flaps of skin in place even as Liz came over to him.
“What was that?” he asked, as she started wrapping his forehead with a compress.
Aster yipped something, but Susanne answered, “Some item. A Monsters Collective guy cracked it with his last breath. I don’t know where he got it, but it created that weird-ass sun thing.”
Before they were able to say anything else, a man walked over to them before dropping off a pile of loot.
“Here are items not devoured from the people you killed.”
Liz thanked him and introduced him to Matt, dipping in and out of the Guild’s main language. “Thanks Claude. White, Claude. Guild Hero, and good guy who helped us out in the melee there. Had our back when another team tried to ambush us.”
- Writer
