Chapter 12: The Tough Women!
2015-01-18
Author: Zhuseng Futu
Thud.
Two bursts of bl**d light appeared, followed by a body collapsing, hand clutching its throat.
Soren was becoming increasingly familiar with the technique of slitting throats; the success rate of triggering d*ath checks through targeting fatal areas during combat was also rising. If it weren’t for the lack of sufficient strength, Soren might have been able to achieve the effect of executing a decapitation attack. To trigger a decapitation attack, one must either possess more than 18 points of strength or use a charge-up technique in conjunction. With all his might, Soren could only cut into the neck bone by an inch and was unable to sever the neck directly.
His figure remained hazy, but he could now determine traces through airflow, movement, and sound.
“Greater Invisibility Spell [4th Circle Spell]; the spell’s effect is similar to that of the Invisibility Spell but does not reveal the caster upon attack. After completing the spell, the caster enters a completely invisible state, and attacks may reveal their position due to airflow, outline, or sound. The effect of the Greater Invisibility Spell weakens gradually with combat; however, it still maintains a hazy effect, granting 4 points of haziness even when the enemy perceives the caster’s position, reducing the enemy’s hit chances by 4 points. The duration lasts for 1 minute per point of spell strength.”
The Greater Invisibility Spell was undoubtedly a very powerful spell.
The only drawback was its short duration; Soren could only maintain it for about ten minutes.
Even if cast by a legendary wizard, the Greater Invisibility Spell could only last around half an hour. However, Soren had mastered the specialty of Spell Amplification. Once he advanced to the 5th Circle Spell Slots, he could memorize the Greater Invisibility Spell using a 5th Circle Spell Slot. At that time, the duration of the Greater Invisibility Spell would receive a 50% enhancement. Do not underestimate this 50% enhancement—it adds an extra five to six minutes of invisibility time.
The effect of Spell Amplification was clearly more useful in the early stages than other meta-specialties; otherwise, he wouldn’t have given up on the other meta-specialties.
Thud, thud, thud.
Soren moved as if in an uninhabited space, accompanied by faint glimmers of his blade, creating a bloody path. The enemies had no way of seeing the trajectory of his weapon attacks, drastically reducing their chances of parrying, forcing them to rely solely on their senses to evade. At this moment, enemies with high basic attributes could easily tell that those who managed to dodge Soren’s attacks generally had decent stats and specialties. Unfortunately, they still could not turn the tide of the battle because Soren’s extraordinary agility suppressed them too much.
Swish, swish, swish!
Although the battle had only lasted five minutes, the enemies finally recovered from their dazed state.
They found a way!
That was to throw weapons directly and use crossbows and short bows to sh**t. Although it might injure their own people, at least they wouldn’t be so passive, having fought for a long time without even knowing the exact positions of their enemies.
Clang, clang, clang!
Weapons were easily blocked by Soren, but he didn’t have that high blocking ability against crossbow bolts.
Bang.
Soren was hit by three crossbow bolts and stepped back slightly. However, he didn’t suffer much damage because a Stone Skin Spell had been applied to his body. The effect of the Stone Skin Spell had become much stronger; although the powerful crossbow shot hit Soren, the damage dealt was merely single digits and hadn’t penetrated his body to injure his organs. The enemies before him were still loading their crossbow bolts, with some wildly swinging weapons to prevent Soren from getting close while in his invisible state.
“Indeed, battle needs to be tested!”
Soren’s expression was not good. He pulled out the crossbow bolts from his body and murmured, “I was forced to activate my legendary equipment! Without the enhancement of the Stone Skin Spell, I would have been seriously injured. It seems the Greater Invisibility Spell, while powerful, cannot create a crushing effect against enemies.”
—“Hiding from sight!”
Soren activated the abilities of the Shadow profession, directly entering a stealth state. The originally exposed outline disappeared completely once again.
The Greater Invisibility Spell could stack with the stealth ability; hiding from sight remained effective!
“Where? Where is he?!”
The surviving pirates looked horrified, some screaming desperately, attacking wildly in all directions.
Suddenly, the deck above them shook, and a footprint appeared on the side wall. The next moment, bl**d spattered. It was only after their chest was opened that Soren’s trace slightly revealed itself along with the barely visible glimmer of his blade. Soren had rushed into the crowd of enemies, wielding dual blades, executing his familiar technique. The seven or eight pirates in front of him screamed in agony as their legs were either struck by curved blades or directly severed. Inside the cramped cabin, severed limbs and flying bl**d created chaos, with the frenzied pirates attacking wildly; occasionally, someone managed to strike Soren, but their attacks were blocked by the Stone Skin Spell.
More often than not, they struck their own companions!
“Devil! … Demon! … Ghost! … Run away! …”
Finally, someone broke down emotionally.
Perhaps they were not afraid to face a powerful enemy head-on, but now they did not even know where the enemy was. With bl**d splattering and companions falling one after another, some pirates started to mentally collapse. A portion of them tried to flee, but they could not escape the faint glimmers of blades appearing behind them. Soren’s expression was cold; he held no sympathy for these pirates, and wherever his dual blades passed, hardly any of them survived.
“The thirty-ninth.”
Soren flicked the bl**d off his curved blade, murmuring in a cold tone, “Three minutes left on the spell’s duration. It seems that with the enhancement of the Greater Invisibility Spell, I have the ability to confront a large number of enemies directly. However, this is also because there are no spellcasters among the pirates; otherwise, a simple Detect Invisibility could nullify my spell.”
“I should visit the desert when I get the chance. If I remember correctly, that cloak that resists spell detection should still be around, right?”
The Anti-Detection Cloak.
One of the legendary equipment most coveted by Wanderers, its effect in their hands was almost equivalent to an artifact!
This legendary equipment had almost no other additional abilities; its only effect was that most detection invisibility spells would not work on the person wearing this legendary cloak. This was the only one of its kind in the world; Soren had previously participated in a bloody battle for it, which could be said to be even more brutal than the fight for an artifact. Even at that time, Soren already possessed close to legendary level combat power, yet he still could not seize this legendary equipment.
It ultimately fell into the hands of a certain assassin!
The struggle over it resulted in mountains of corpses and rivers of bl**d! Soren nearly died under the combined attacks of two assassins. In that year, fewer people had died fighting for artifacts than had for a legendary cloak, leading to thousands of high-level professionals perishing. If no one has found it by now, this legendary equipment should still be in an underground ruin in the desert. That is a rather dangerous location, and Soren might not be able to break through to it now, as it sealed some powerful demons.
The number of enemies was dwindling.
However, Soren’s brow furrowed because he hadn’t seen the captain’s trace so far.
Could it be that the pirate captain isn’t here at all?
Just as Soren was about to move around the corner of the cargo, a glimmer of a blade suddenly appeared from the side, closely followed by a fiery red figure that swung a blade towards Soren’s head.
Clang!
Soren’s reflexes activated in an instant, almost instinctively raising Icebane to block the enemy’s attack.
Clang!
Another blocking sound echoed.
The enemy was surprisingly also skilled in dual-wielding combat; after Soren blocked one attack, another glimmer of cold light stabbed towards his kidney. He also countered with a backhand sweep of his blade to parry the enemy’s sneak attack. Before him stood a beautiful woman with a tall figure, adorned in ornate clothing, wearing a captain’s hat. It seemed she had been waiting for the opportunity, ruthlessly sending her subordinates to their deaths while looking for Soren’s position, trying to deal with him in a single sneak attack.
A woman?
Soren wasn’t all that surprised that the leader of the pirate ship was a woman since there were many women of Amazonian bl**d here. His figure disappeared in the air once again while searching for the chance to deliver a killing blow. Training in dual-wielding is not easy, and the woman before him was likely a 4th-level professionist. From her patience and schemes, Soren sensed that she was a very dangerous enemy.
“d*mn it! She disappeared again!”
The fiery-haired beautiful pirate cursed under her breath, then brandished her dual blades to protect her sides. After activating Hiding from Sight, Soren entered stealth mode; combined with the Greater Invisibility Spell, there was no trace visible at all. The enemy before him was exceptionally alert, the two weapons nearly covered all the blind spots around her body, leaving Soren unable to find an opportunity to attack. Just as he prepared to circle to the side for a forced attack, the woman unexpectedly made a move that took him by surprise.
The woman closed her eyes!
Yes.
She closed her eyes, crossed her dual blades in front of her, then took a deep breath, her ears evidently twitching.
“Not good!”
In an instant, all the hairs on Soren’s body stood on end, and without a moment’s thought, he rolled back to evade.
Two flashes of blades struck at the position where he had just been, slicing completely through a half-meter-high cargo box and leaving a three-inch deep blade mark on the ground. The gorgeous female pirate had found his position and unleashed a fierce attack, still keeping her eyes closed as she moved, while the relentless blade light slashed towards Soren’s figure incessantly. The fierce gusts of blade wind swept out, fiercely latching onto the corners of his clothes, as if the invisibility spell had completely lost its effect at that moment.
—“Blind Fighting!”
What a powerful woman!
The opponent had actually trained and mastered the specialty of Blind Fighting.
……………(To be continued ~^~)
