Chapter 119: Act 52 – Chase and Escape
Brendel had barely burst out of the room when the skeleton clad in red armor behind him began to creak and move, slowly turning its body as the motion transitioned from sluggish to fluid.
At the same time, several Wind Elemental Spiders crawled out from the rubble, returning to the young man’s side. Brendel noticed there were four left in total, and the signals from two of them clearly indicated they had each identified corresponding targets. The Wind Elemental Spiders communicated in the language of Toniru, and while Brendel had not truly mastered this tongue, he seemed to understand their meaning—they weren’t far from him.
(This note references that Toniru is a legendary location in Vaunte where the King of Wind Elves resides, known as the Wind’s End of Toniru, or the Mountain of Storm Stillness; numerous wind elemental beings gather here, forming different tribes, and their language derives from ancient rune languages, known as the Wind Language Family, which remains one of the few magical scripts today. Thus, the Wind Language of Toniru is a fundamental course for Elementalists—especially Storm Delegates.)
This eased his mind a little. However, given the limited intelligence of these little creatures, they could not discern whether the magical items they found were indeed the elemental revelation scrolls he needed. Brendel had to make the judgment himself.
There were two targets in total—one approximately thirty meters to the south and another fifty meters to the west. After some thought, Brendel decided to head towards the west, where the auction house’s lower exhibition room led, which seemed more promising—only retracing his steps carried its inherent dangers. While contemplating this, he recalled two of the Wind Elemental Spiders to prevent them from inadvertently entering the graveyard.
On the other side, the hollow eye sockets of the undead ignited again with soul fire.
Brendel understood he had little time, but his condition was hardly in good shape; his Spear of Radiance was lost among the debris—he had no time to search for it, Charles was gone, and his right arm felt nearly broken—with no sensation remaining. The Wind Elemental Spiders weren’t much help either, and the Queen Wind Ring was still in charge mode.
The exhaustion brought on by depleted mana whispered at him, yet thankfully, his physical stamina remained above half, and his life wasn’t significantly diminished.
He stood unsteadily in the corridor, thoughts racing. The cursed crossbow bolts were of no help against the undead, but perhaps there was an option to crash through a window on the second floor, onto the densely populated streets below. However, this wouldn’t prevent that terrifying undead from continuing its pursuit—life signatures were incredibly sensitive to the undead, and there was no chance of hiding among the crowd. Especially in open spaces, his chances of escaping the crossbow-wielding executioner were slim.
He spat; the executioner wasn’t without weaknesses, but the absolute disparity in strength left him with no options.
He could almost hear the undead stirring behind him now. Brendel shook his head to dispel that thought and hurriedly moved through the corridor filled with crumbling walls. In the brief moment, the small auction house had become as though it had encountered a storm, and the previous contest had irrevocably altered the terrain here. However, he couldn’t afford to think about that; if the undead caught up, he figured he wouldn’t escape more than ten meters.
“I must think of a way.”
Suddenly, he spotted the remains of a skeleton soldier not far away—his handiwork from not long ago—and an idea sparked in his mind.
With a crack, the giant skeleton in blood-red armor emerged from the room, gripping a battle axe upside down. It hunchbacked its massive form, with dry, yellowed ribs stabbed into its spine like bone swords, encircling a central flame that burned brightly. It was clad only in shoulder armor, a helmet, and a simple skirt of bone, as the bone plates, tempered by chaotic power, were tougher than ordinary metals.
It turned its head, the empty corridor silent. It paused momentarily, its previous sensations of life signatures indicating that the weak human was moving along that corridor, but at that moment, those signals had grown faint.
Brendel lay beside the skeleton’s remains.
He exhaled gently, then held his breath; he attempted to steady his heartbeat, letting his blood circulate as slowly as possible to avoid drawing attention to himself in the undead’s sight. The executioner indeed slowed down, and Brendel’s life signs gradually faded from its gray vision. It seemed puzzled, instinctually sharpened by lingering cunning, causing it to reduce its pace.
To avoid falling into a trap.
Yet, it wasn’t entirely unable to see him; the young man knew this.
He carefully pried the black steel long sword from the skeleton soldier’s grasp, moving slowly and lightly. Though his heartbeat was slow, each beat powerful, like a drum muffled with cowhide, resonating against his fragile nerves. Whether it was an illusion or not, the massive skeletal figure was inevitably getting closer.
Less than ten meters.
At that distance, if this Madara general were to explode into action, Brendel would be severed in two. He found himself instinctively glancing around, subconsciously checking if his head was still on his shoulders.
The undead drew closer with each passing moment.
Brendel could no longer maintain his calmness; the steadiness fostered in gaming could only hold so long in this high-stakes situation. He cast a glance at the looming skeletal figure—the Madara General’s guard, notorious for their swift ruthlessness and relentless slaughter on the battlefield. Their massive axes were close to four meters long, delivering over twenty tons of force with each swing; every encounter with them on the battlefield forced humanity to pay tenfold or even a hundredfold in sacrifice.
In Karasu’s war records, there were tales of undead wizards dispersing entire infantry regiments with dozens of general guards. On the frontline, these towering monsters, akin to moving iron towers amidst chaos, were the subject of countless terrifying legends.
Of course, humanity also possessed elite units capable of standing toe-to-toe with them.
But Brendel had yet to reach that level.
As the executioner’s gaze fell upon him, his heart raced uncontrollably, pounding in his chest. His blood surged, as if infused with life force, prompting the towering undead to pause slightly—a chill instantly enveloped Brendel.
It had seen through his ruse.
Yet, only a few seconds had passed.
Brendel felt a chill sweep across his forehead; any slight movement could provoke an attack, but even maintaining this stasis couldn’t last for more than a few seconds. He glanced at his status interface, realizing that a few seconds wouldn’t do. He needed more time, just a bit more; he suddenly made a decisive decision, rolling to the side.
The massive skeletal figure reacted immediately, raising its battle axe—one metallic side reflecting cold light against Brendel’s face, draining color from his cheeks. The colossal monster surged forward like a gray specter, its axe dragging sideways, creating a deep gouge in the wall, the cold blade plowing through bricks, causing shattered debris and embedded wood to erupt outward, forming a rapidly advancing trench.
The auction house’s underground corridor had reinforced walls, but under the executioner’s twisted strength, they felt as weak as tofu. With a sweep forward, the wind pressure and crack reached toward Brendel. But the young man feigned a movement, as he rolled to one side, pushing forcefully off the ground, leaping in the opposite direction.
The giant skeleton’s axe struck the ground, causing the stone floor to shatter and debris to scatter. Brendel darted between the giant undead’s legs— the executioner roared from its empty neck, its soul’s shriek echoing as it retracted the axe to stab downward. But Brendel dodged left and right, quickly grabbing its femur and turning to the side. Each time the enormous skeleton attempted to turn its axe, the ceiling jammed the long handle.
In a flash, Brendel had evaded three attacks; it finally came to its senses and reached down to grasp this crafty human.
Fifteen seconds.
Brendel had held out long enough.
As the executioner’s enormous hand descended, he ducked his head to evade it; as his charging skill entered cooldown, he activated it, his speed bursting forth instantly, granting him nearly double the agility compared to the monster. He surged forward like a lingering shadow while his left hand swung the sword with explosive force toward the wall ahead—
With a force nearly at level 20 crashing against the wall.
The black steel long sword let out a mournful cry, fracturing piece by piece. But the wall loudly imploded inward, with bricks becoming interlocked jaggedly. Brendel discarded the long sword, delivering a punch with his left hand that crashed the wall down. He leapt inside, and sure enough, it led to another room on the other side, where the Wind Elemental Spiders were already waiting for him after circling through the sewers.
He was close to his target.
But the executioner had drawn nearer still. Brendel couldn’t afford to hesitate; the last bit of acceleration propelled him like a shooting star as he burst through the doorway of the room. Just as he cleared the entrance, the massive skeleton behind him roared forcefully, crashing through the wall. It howled and raised its head, splitting the cracked wall apart with its hands—dust cascading down its helmet as it thunderously pushed forward.
The two chased each other in the narrow space, and the auction house had drawn a terrible fate—the executioner had turned into a human bulldozer, with the layered walls of wood and stone crumbling into powder against its nearly fifty levels of strength. It surged forward, each wall promptly disintegrating to dust.
In an instant, it had passed through three walls. From the outside of the auction house, part of the circular structure had collapsed with a resounding crash.
Brendel was frantic, calculating the distance—two more rooms—and he swiftly drew a dagger from his belt, tossing it back. The executioner blasted through without stopping. The sharp blade merely left a white scratch on its bone; it raised its head, barreling toward a Wind Elemental Spider, but the enormous skeleton swatted it aside with a single punch, turning it into a blue paste.
Brendel slipped through another room.
The executioner raised its axe again for a second time, sending a chill down the young man’s spine; time seemed to run out.
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