The Legendary Fool

129:

A glowing crimson spear shot forward with the velocity of a bullet, the wind resistance in its path sheared away by the sheer force behind its crystalline form.

It blurred forward in a straight line as the assassins who had been caught completely off-guard tried to react to the sudden motion their proprioception had detected. Unfortunately for the two Guild Enforcers that had gotten to their feet the quickest, a tall blonde-haired woman that had a jagged scar cascading down from her forehead to her chin and a black-haired man who was in the process of unslinging his bow, were still too slow to react to a threat that was not intended for them.

A blinding flare of light was accompanied by a loud explosion that sent Tom’s ears ringing, a cloud of smoke and debris expanding outwards from the center of the cavern, where the three main tents had been. A second and a third explosion followed, causing the black, tarry cloud to expand upwards instead of outwards.

Grunts of pain and panicked yelps escaped the assassins as debris rained down on them, from small splinters of wood to heat warped lumps of metal.

The two enforcers had been caught by a few sharp bits of metal and wooden splinters, but they had largely bounced off their armor with little real effect.

As Tom had suspected, the explosion wasn’t powerful enough to kill anyone that was outside the direct blast radius.

“Intruders!” The blonde-haired woman roared, her tone still sounding more surprised then it was venomous. Two small, double-edged axes were wielded by her in each hand, a chilly frost rapidly coating its metal blades as she charged towards Tom and Aleph.

The black-haired man was no slouch either, as he pulled a metal arrow that was tensioned against the bowstring of his obsidian longbow, an eldritch green energy blazing to life on its tip.

Tom blurred toward to meet the blonde-haired woman’s charge, his expression tight with focus as Nvein’s mimicked blade appeared in his hands. Aleph, who had encased herself in the crystal armor she liked to call Shardweave Regalia, broke out into an arcing run as she planned to evade the archer while planning on devastating the bewildered black-robed assassins who were far more sluggish to respond to the encroachment on their inner sanctum.

Tom’s blade met one of the axes of the blonde-haired woman who had swung at him in a wide-arc that had intended to behead him in a single blow.

Their weapons collided and while it was the blonde-haired woman who was pushed back, Tom’s eyes widened as he noticed the layer of frost that had encroached upon his blade and was rapidly crawling downwards, towards his hand.

He dismissed the blade and took a few steps back, eyeing the blonde-haired woman’s axes warily as he tried to plan his next move.

He could summon the mimicked blade again, but there was little point to it if parrying a single time would turn his own blade against him. While he wasn’t exactly sure how powerful the freezing effect the blonde-haired woman could transfer over was, Tom wasn’t willing to test his Physical stat against frostbite.

The blonde-haired woman hadn’t used ranged attacks against him, so Mirror World was useful.

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Well, at least directly.

An idea bloomed in Tom’s mind as the blonde-haired woman charged at him again.

He rapidly evaded the whirlwind of axe blows that came raining down on him from what felt like every direction with the aid of his Uncommon Card, Lifeblood’s augmentation ability.

Then, when the blonde-haired woman overextended herself as Tom feigned weakness by letting his extended leg linger for too long, he backstepped and let her axe bite the ground instead.

Before the frost could spread to him through the cavern’s floor, Tom lashed out with a kick from the same leg. The blonde-haired woman was sent careening away from him, but the blow had landed on her armor. It would not do her much harm, let alone kill her, but the opening was enough for Tom to get the opening he needed.

He charged, not towards the blonde-haired woman, but towards the archer instead. The black-haired archer who had been tracking Aleph with his bow as he waited for an opening, had to pivot towards him.

The long-ranged attacker was left with no choice but to let instinct take over as he understood the situation, letting his hold over the strung arrow loosen.

The arrow streaked forward in a blur of green, just as Tom’s lips curled up into a smile. Lifeblood’s augmentation effect was let go of as a mirror appeared before him, sucking away the arrow without the slightest hint of a scratch on it’s pristine exterior.

Tom didn’t get long to consider the archer’s bewildered expression as Aleph crashed into him a moment later.

The assassins that should have come to Aleph’s aid were too preoccupied by an unseen foe, as another amongst their ranks crumpled, clutching their throat as they went down. Blades were swung into thin air and arrows were fired off at random in hopes of getting the invisible assassin that was haunting them, but it was for naught.

With Mirror World floating above his head, Tom turned to face the blonde-haired woman who had taken his momentary preoccupation to try and launch a sneak attack at him.

Once again, Tom found himself being pursued by the blonde-haired woman and her deadly frost encased axes. Initially, she didn’t press too hard, clearly wary of the inert mirror that was floating above his head, but as moments ticked away and Tom dodged one blow after the next without retaliating, her confidence grew.

It was true, after all. Tom was desperately trying to find an opening in the flurry of axe blows the blonde-haired woman was unleashing, summoning his mimicked blade twice only to have to dismiss it shortly after due to her insidious frost. It was ultimately too difficult for an unarmed man to break past the defense of a skilled warrior, even if Tom was both faster and stronger than her.

Landing a blow would mean little if he lost his arms to frostbite after.

So, instead, he angled Mirror World downwards and unleashed a Greater Reflection empowered arrow that possessed 120% of the power that had been contained in the original.

It flew outwards with blinding speed and somehow, the blonde-haired woman instinctively managed to bring a single axe in it’s path.

An axe that was ripped away from her grasp with tremendous force before the arrow plunged into her lower abdomen instead of her heart.

Her eyes went wide with a mix of confusion and horror as her own ally’s arrow was embedded in her abdomen. A moment later she doubled over and began coughing, a green miasma escaping her breath every time she did. Tom watched as the vitality began to leave her skin, as it grew pallid at an alarming rate.

She reached for a potion that was strapped to her waist but unfortunately, Tom couldn’t let her, even if the thought made him sick.

The Shadow Guild had left him with two options when they had arranged an ambush against his group and unfortunately for them, Tom knew which one he valued more.

His blade found purchase where no healing potion could ever reach.

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