The appearance of the dark entity surprised not only the female swordsman but also Ersin himself.
Based on the appraisal results he received from various experts, he was sure that this sealing crystal has a Mana Art called Energy Erosion similar to Mana Sap which is a Tier 1 skill.
However, unlike the weak Mana Sap that could easily be canceled by the target, the Energy Erosion could not be stopped until the skill was over or when the target has already depleted its energy.
This is the finest artifact that he has when dealing with someone stronger. A Grand Magus can't escape this ability so he's expecting that this 'Grand Knight' in front of him wouldn't be able to escape as well.
Once her energy was depleted, any of his Tier 2 Mana Arts can easily pierce through her flesh!
Soon, the dark entity flew toward the swordsman followed by the cloud of smoke…
Of course, the mysterious female swordsman didn't stay still as she slashed toward the dark entity. As Ersin expected, it was completely ineffective as the dark entity he summoned didn't budge at all!
It continued aiming for the swordsman! She could only try to move back since she doesn't know what kind of ability this dark entity has.
"Hahaha! It will chase you forever! It's better to stop moving now so I can kill you painlessly."
Ersin laughed seeing that his Ephemeral Mana Art is really doing its job. Although he was a bit unsatisfied that the Energy Erosion is not instantaneous, he still felt better seeing how the dark entity could not be killed by sword strikes.
He then glanced at the five men who should have died by now under the onslaught of his members.
However, to his surprise, they were still standing filled with energy! He can see various Elemental Mana Arts hitting them only to be nullified!
It seems that these people have strange Mana Arts to weaken the damage they were receiving or perhaps, they all have the same defensive magic tools.
"Hey! Can't you see that Elemental Mana Arts are not good enough! Just use your swords and cut them in half! We're no longer capturing them! They already killed two of us! They have to pay with their blood!"
Ersin ruthlessly said as he no longer cared about the orders of the Tower Master. They can just fabricate a story, or better yet, not report about this battle at all.
As soon as they switched to their swords, Ersin glanced at the female swordsman who seemed to have a decent movement technique. It wasn't as agile as his Water Treading Steps but it is quite annoying to deal with since it was an instantaneous burst of movement speed.
Whenever the dark entity gets closer to her, she would move so quickly and gain a distance from it by about 3 meters. She doesn't seem to be able of doing this continuously as he noticed a delay in her movement.
The problem is that the dark entity he summoned wasn't fast enough to catch up to her…
"Hmmm?"
He suddenly noticed that the swordsman drew another weapon that was previously strapped to her waist. It was a seemingly normal short blade without any aesthetic design on it.
Nevertheless, after pulling it out, she no longer escaped from the dark entity and decided to attack it!
'It's my chance!'
Seeing an opportunity, Ersin decided to attack as well. So once she failed to cut his summoned entity, she would no longer have a chance to use that burst movement technique that she was using earlier.
"Earth's Hand!"
The ground surrounding the swordsman suddenly turned softer as several hands made of soil and dirt started appearing…
Screeechh~
As soon as the entity and her short blade clashed, a screeching noise made him dizzy!
He tried to see what was going on only to witness how the dark entity was ripped into two by the short blade!
The piercing, high-pitched sound seems to have come from the summoned creature after being cut in half!
'Ughhh… This is bad…'
The noise not only affected his mind but also his control with Earth's Hand… The Mana Art was forcefully canceled giving him a strong backlash…
His Mana Flow was disrupted and even as an Archmage, he has no way to stop this and could only wait until he naturally recovers.
Unfortunately, the woman will certainly not allow him to escape!
The next thing that he saw was the sharp blade heading toward his face!
***
"Hurry! The leader is still breathing! Thankfully, his defensive magic artifact took effect at the last moment."
One of the members of the 12th Dragon Rider Squad immediately helped Ersin after seeing that he was still breathing although his face was bleeding.
They immediately tried to use their healing potions to stop the bleeding but because it was only a mid-grade potion, the scar was still there making his face scary.
Nevertheless, this is better than dying from the loss of blood.
After several minutes, Ersin opened his eyes and saw that some of his members were trying to rest. A few of them noticed him waking up and immediately went to his side.
"I'm… I'm still alive…" Ersin muttered as he glanced at the battlefield.
There were five dead Forest Wyverns on his left. Beside them were the eight bodies of his squad members.
Seeing that there were pieces of cloth covering their faces, he knows that they were already dead.
It means that only seven of them survived…
"What happened? Did you kill the criminals?" He asked.
He didn't find their bodies but there might be a chance they still succeeded in the end.
Unfortunately, the vice leader who survived the battle shook his head.
"Based on what I observed, the female swordsman was pushed to her limits as well. After she tried killing you, her movements became sloppy. Because we were worried about your condition, we tried to surround you and helped you get out of her range. We battled defensively and they managed to escape in the end."
"Ugh…"
Although he was prepared, Ersin couldn't help but feel empty after hearing this. Their members died for nothing. He can't just leave it like this.
"Where did they escape?"
The vice leader thought for a moment before he answered.
"They were probably headed to the Heinen Fog Forest… They might use that dangerous place as their temporary base out of desperation. Or perhaps, they might be hoping to get to the other side and continue heading towards the Martial Arts Alliance's territory."
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