The Laughing Swordsman

Otis began foaming at the mouth because of the severe pain. He exerted himself fully, growing as many mushrooms as he could. Unfortunately, just a few seconds after any mushroom formed, they burned to ash.

Apollo had a relatively clear path, but if he recklessly shot forward some of the fire might catch onto him. Although Apollo didn't understand how the flame of a phoenix worked, it didn't take a genius to realize getting touched by it was probably a bad thing.

Otis realized the futility of his actions and fully disconnected his senses from the mushrooms. Unfortunately, the pain didn't disappear, just like last time.

The mycelium and mushrooms stopped growing.

As such, what remained quickly burned to ashes and began falling to the ground. Since Otis depended on the mycelium to remain so high up in the air, he ended up falling through the sky.

However, that was the least of his concerns at this point.

The pain from controlling the mushrooms forcefully was immense. However, the pain did not settle even slightly after Otis disconnected it.

In fact, the pain only increased.

The flame of the phoenix was persistent, burning things that shouldn't be able to catch fire. It was as though the fire was vengeful and would stop at nothing.

Which was quite ironic in Otis' case.

The pain continued to rise further, from torturous to unbearable.

And right when Otis felt his mind was about to break...

The pain disappeared.

Otis did not feel a single ounce of pain. In fact, he couldn't feel anything.

Because the flame burnt that function away.

In the end, Otis was only left with a slightly cold feeling, like he had truly become a statue. He slowly opened his eyes, but instead of being purely filled with anger, there was a tinge of emptiness.

Suddenly, Apollo came crashing down with his bokken pointed forth like a spear.

Otis couldn't react in time.

The bokken pierced through his heart easily, causing Otis to cough up a mouthful of blood. However, he did not scream in pain, nor did he grit his teeth.

After all, Otis could no longer feel it.

Instead, he glared at Apollo, then somehow wrapped his supposedly disabled hands around the blade of the bokken.

Apollo was about to slash at Otis with his free hand, but in the middle of his strike, he suddenly stopped.

Otis' red eye widened considerably and locked on to Apollo.

One of the abilities provided from the red eye was tracking related, but there was one more. A temporary tether was connected between the two of their souls.

Both of their bodies were restricted from moving while any damage one of them shared would also be borne by the other.

The condition for using this ability was not only being close to the target, but also making direct eye contact with them. There was also a limitation to using this ability, one that created increasingly greater pain in one's mind.

However, that was not a problem for Otis now.

A vine from below them shot upwards. The two of them were falling like statues until they were eventually caught by the vines.

At first, Otis' expression was filled with rage while his eyes appeared to be seething. However, that expression gradually left his face. Not because Otis had calmed down.

If anything, he was angrier.

However, there was no longer a way to channel that anger into his body. There was simply no feedback from gritting his teeth or clenching his fists.

The only thing left was for the negative emotions to swirl around in an empty abyss. Even though Otis only experienced it for a few seconds, he already thought it felt torturous. Otis wanted to vent his emotions so badly, but couldn't.

There wasn't even the feeling of adrenaline.

In the end, the only thing he could do was hold onto Apollo's bokken with all he had.

As for Apollo, while he could no longer move, that wasn't the same for the lightning around him. Apollo commanded the lightning to travel down his bokken and flow into Otis.

The effects were immediately apparent from Otis' rapidly blackening body. However, that didn't seem to concern him.

Their descent was abruptly interrupted by the vines Otis grew. The vines were zapped by the lightning, charring immediately. The lightning emitted by Apollo was simply too violent.

Otis' face looked dull, but his determination was far from being quenched.

Without warning, vines burst out of Otis' chest. The majority of them covered his body while some of the rest got underneath the two of them, acting as a platform.

Apollo's lightning zapped at these vines, causing a huge hole to form on them. Instead of a plant like substance as one might expect, the inside was fleshy. The smell of burnt meat filled the air.

However, while the vines took damage, they were able to hold on.

With that, the vine below them was able to push the two of them upwards. The vines from Otis' heart could only protect his body and the vine that carried them for so long before becoming ash. However, like an unending fountain, more vines poured out of him to replace the charred ones.

But that was not what Otis was putting the most effort in maintaining. It was actually the force he used to push the two of them up. Both Apollo's bright yellow hair and Otis' light brown hair danced wildly in the wind.

It was as though Otis was in a rush.

Like something was waiting for them high up in the air.

That was because Otis had a plan. Earlier on, when he was far up into the air, he could feel an unnaturally strong gale. The effects rapidly dropped when he got out of range, but Otis could tell that the pull was terrifyingly strong.

And so, he continued to endure Apollo's electrifying assault.

Until eventually, they reached a certain point.

And Otis tossed Apollo upwards.

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