Blast waves rippled out after An’s fist collided with a ball of fire. The assault itself wasn’t much of a threat to An, however the surrounding terrain wasn’t as durable. The once thick forest had long since been converted into ash and the ground beneath it gradually became molten.
Another two bursts of magic closed in on An however he avoided their strike with subtle movements. Throughout the fight, An had tried to locate his opponent, yet the enemy was able to elude his spiritual awareness.
Behind him, a figure phased into view and with it, a large blade easily twice An’s height. The blade dropped onto An with an unimaginable force. Despite the ambush, An’s gaze and attention remained on the surroundings.
He twisted his torso and smacked the side of the blade with the back of his fist driving its trajectory off to the side. The blade carried through and a pulse of magic followed its strike path gouging out a section of molten ground.
An’s eyes glanced once at the bald man before turning his attention back to the surroundings. Unlike the danger obvious to him, An’s focus was instead on finding the Assembler supporting him from the shadows.
Flickers of silver entered his vision and An once again deflected the magic with an abnormal calm. As far as difficulty and threat were concerned, he had enough leeway to calmly assess the situation. Upon his initial engagement, An only sensed the bald man with his spiritual awareness.
It wasn’t until he was ambushed while engaged in the fight that he discovered another Advanced Assembler hidden in the shadows. The revelation drew a cold sweat from An, however his thoughts remained on the fight.
From his pocket, An pulled a coin out and flicked it towards a seemingly empty region of space. The coin broke the sound barrier and reached the destination in a split second, it then continued off into the distance.
An clicked his tongue in regret at the missed opportunity. Though slow, he was gradually starting to feel the presence of the supporting Assembler. Battle experience and adaptation to the environment honed An’s awareness and he was able to pick up the small fluctuations in magic.
The bald man appeared at An’s side once more with his blade in motion. The side swipe was eager to split An in half at his waist, however An only jumped up to avoid the blade and then used his foot to embed it into the ground.
An’s palm struck against the bald man’s chest in retaliation, however it phased through as if he were fighting a ghost. In the next moment, An took a page from Sol’s experiments and detonated magic while his fist was still inside the amorphous figure.
“Argh!” The man leaked a grunt and his figure reformed in the distance. A trail of blood fell from the man’s mouth, however he didn’t appear harmed. With furrowed brows, An rushed towards the man. The enemy was too weak to harm him, yet too durable to die at his hand instantly.
The nagging feeling in his mind forced his hand and An moved to end the fight as quickly as possible. The hidden threat wasn’t a priority as long as they remained hidden. An’s figure flickered each step he took leaving only an afterimage behind.
The moment he closed in on the bald man, the two started exchanging blows with An dodging the occasional magic launched at him. As he prepared a heavy strike, An’s figure slowed upon feeling a familiar awareness sweep across him.
He grinned and executed his attack holding nothing back. Magic detonated with his strike and the bald man’s blade warped from the pressure. Despite that, the man remained in place and withstood the blow.
As if on cue, a dense bolt of fire magic reached out from empty space to strike An’s back. An failed to dodge the blast as it was timed well with his strike, yet there was no fear on An’s face. The magic nearly reached him when a familiar figure flickered behind him.
Adjusting her position, Dorothy reached into space and grabbed its very fabric. Magic flooded from her body and with a yank, she ripped the space itself. Following true, the bolt of fire disappeared into the void.
Dorothy exuded even more magic and dispersed it into the environment. The glowing particles left trails in the air as they swirled about. As she glanced around, her spiritual awareness picked up the void of magic and her body flickered to the location.
Dorothy’s leg swept across the air and came into contact with the hidden Assembler blasting her from the shadows and into the light. The Assembler halted her momentum with bursts of fire and her crimson hair and eyes bore into Dorothy as if she were her worst enemy.
Taking the stare straight on, Dorothy felt a pinch of confusion. The enemy appeared uncertain and there was hesitation in her eyes. “Where’s Sol?” The question leaked from Dorothy, yet she already had a nagging feeling.
“The girl’s taking down the rubbish…” An replied while knocking back his opponent. His face soon scrunched up as he realized what the irritating feeling he had the whole fight was. He immediately shouted out his realization: “They’re a distraction! Leave this King to deal with them. Save Sol!”
The two Assemblers reacted immediately upon hearing An’s yell and rushed to strike the two. Determination was plastered across their face and An could easily feel the extreme release of magic from their system.
If the fight up until now could be considered a distraction, then it was clear the attacking Assemblers moved away from buying time and towards elimination. Along with that realization, An discovered why the enemy was so weak initially. They were clearly holding back!
He gritted his teeth and moved to engage the members, however a remote blast forced all the Assemblers on site to halt their movements. Dorothy and An’s eyes opened wide in astonishment as the spectacle.
Far into the distance, past the trees, rocks, and molten arena, stood a silver pillar reaching for the sky. Dorothy was the first to notice the situation. The magic she spread earlier to detect the hidden Assembler was gradually ripped from her control and drawn towards the pillar.
With only a glance, Dorothy and An moved at their greatest speed in opposite directions. “Shit! Chase her! This King will take the kid!” The bald man and women took chase a moment later. Explosions littered the forest leaving trails of destruction that neared the silver pillar.
While An and Dorothy were trying to reach Sol, Sol herself was nowhere to be found. In her place was a silver deer with crystal blue eyes situated at the base of the silver pillar. The beast only glanced back at the pillar before its attention returned to the man standing across from it.
Standing there with furrowed brows was a man in his late twenties. Aside from him, the surrounding individuals were laying dead on the ground. Assemblers, Knights, animals of the forest, there was little distinction to the death spread out.
“Arggnnnh.” The man’s attention returned to the deer that grunted. Perplexity revolved through his gaze and there was a sense of loss on how he should proceed. Initially, the girl was at death’s door, so what’s happening now and why is he helpless?
Magic tore at the man’s clothing as it spiraled into the silver spire. He raised his hand and conjured a bit of magic only to see it whisked away before it could construct into any meaningful spell. Despite that, he could feel the magic that pulse through his body had remained under his control.
How unfortunate that his specialty lay outside of body reinforcement. He felt his greatest mistake in planning was to personally take action instead of leaving it to the monk. After he came to terms with the situation, his gaze drifted into the distance where explosions were gradually nearing.
Though puzzled at the two distinct and distant locations, he understood that An was on the way at the very least. Following that thought, he turned his attention back to the spire situation before him. The beast patrolling in front of it paused and turned it head as it felt the man’s attention.
“If this King can’t kill you using skills, then this King will settle with brute force…” While saying so, magic flooded his system and reinforced his body in the most basic of ways. His spells may be unavailable in the current environment, but even someone unspecialized as him would have their ways of enhancing physical attacks.
Considering his knowledge of Sol, the man understood he could simply overpower the girl with the massive quantities of magic stored within his soul. Magic filled his body to the brim and whisks of it could be seen leaking from him.
The leaking magic followed the rest and spiraled into the spire. The man branched himself and kicked off from the ground. His body accelerated beyond human cognition and appeared behind the beast as if he teleported.
His fist was in mid swing and magic he pressurized congealed at his fist. The spire was only centimeters from his fist when strands of a silvery metallic thread reached out from the spire to intercept him. To his astonishment, the threads absorbed the impact of his strike as if they were liquid and splattered across the spire.
