500 Chapter 500: The Black Swordsman (1/2)
At first, I wasn't sure what I was seeing.
Quite clearly the enemy was human, as Xun Lian Jia predicted. His silhouette was shadowy, his body encased entirely in obsidian armor that was as black as night. What seemed like purple veins ran along the surface of his gleaming armor, glowing eerily with barely contained demonic power. In his gauntleted hands, he held a single sword that was also the shade of midnight, the point of its blade thrust down into the steaming lake.
He was literally standing on water.
His face was hidden behind a helm, yet I could see glowing red eyes behind his caged visor burning ferociously into us. Heaving up his sword slightly, he then slowly approached us, taking one deliberate step at a time. Just like a deity from the times of mythology, he was walking on water. Each step he took vaporized more of the lake, sending boiling steam jetting upward like volcanic geysers.
”No way…impossible…” beside me, Xun Lian Jia was whispering. ”Why is he here?”
”Huh? 'He'?” I repeated incredulously, turning to stare at him. ”Do you know this guy?”
”The number one nightmarish killer of Grimaldus…their strongest warrior mage. The Black Swordsman of Grimaldus, he has never yet failed to kill anyone that the Dark Guild has sent him after. They say that he was a former Assassin from the Umbra Sect, before the leader of Grimaldus took him in. He killed his way out of the Assassin's Guild just to join Grimaldus.” Xun Lian Jia looked as if he was on the verge of collapse, his knees shaking. Tears leaked from his eyes. ”We're doomed.”
Holy f…that was one hell of a guy…to think that he could brutally slaughter his way out of the Assassin's Guild and escape to become the number one killer of Grimaldus…
This wasn't going to be good.
Before the Black Swordsman could cross the halfway point of the lake, however, something enormous burst out of the waters to ram into him. The White Whale, roaring furiously, made use of its immense bulk to slam the enemy away. To make use of overwhelming brute force to expel the audacious human who had trespassed upon its territory.
The Black Swordsman couldn't even be bothered to look at the gargantuan monster. With a single swing of his shining black sword, he cleaved the charging White Whale apart. A flash of black light erupted, and the White Whale split into two, both of its halves falling on either side of the Black Swordsman and spewing blood into the boiling water. The steam turned red.
I couldn't help but be stunned. The very same White Whale whose incredible resilience allowed it to withstand a sustaied onslaught of spells from over a hundred mages for an hour…had been sliced apart by a single stroke from the Black Swordsman. Yeah, I knew that those mages were middle school students, but the amount of firepower from over a hundred kids still couldn't be underestimated. It was still sufficient to level an entire city block. And the White Whale had shrugged that sort of firepower off as nothing more than a minor irritance.
That same White Whale was now sinking into the depths of its lake, its corpse sundered into two by a single sword strike.
”You've got to be kidding me…”
The black swordsman continued to walk toward us, as if the White Whale had been nothing more than pest that he had casually swatted away.
”Ah…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
With a yell, Xun Lian Jia began casting a spell and launching a burst of blue lightning at the approaching Black Swordsman. I whirled around, my jaw dropping.
”No, don't!” I yelled. ”Stop!”
I was too late.
The next sequence of events unfolded in what almost seemed like slow motion to me. Even as everything appeared to crawl past me in a surreal, illusory manner, my body still wasn't able to catch up with my horrified mind.
First, the Black Swordsman dispelled Xun Lian Jia's ill-advised spell with a single slash of his sword. Then he disappeared from the surface of the lake.
No, he didn't literally disappear. He was moving so fast that he turned into a black blur. Kicking off the surface of the lake and sending up a large splash, he streaked toward the shore. In the next millisecond, he already reached the stunned Xun Lian Jia. Even as the chief trainer pulled up his sword to defend himself, the black blade flashed down.
”Gah!”
The single strike obliterated Xun Lian Jia's sword, destroying the weapon utterly and sending the poor, burly chief trainer flying in a fountain of blood. I didn't know if Xun Lian Jia had been killed by the blow, but I knew for certain that he would no longer be able to participate in the fight.
”Damn it…!”
The Black Swordsman was already turning toward me, as if Xun Lian Jia had been some inconsequential foe that he couldn't be bothered to keep track of him. I was barely able to ward off his strike in time by parrying his blade with my crossed swords.
”Ugh!”
That single blow almost broke my arms. Staggering a few steps back, I struggled to keep with with the next barrage of attacks. The Black Swordsman's strokes were swift and precise, each one striking with the force of a hurricane. Despite doing my best to parry them, I was left with a series of cuts across my arms, cheeks and shoulder. Several gashes on my chest dripped blood, and I winced from the pain.
However…
”!!!”
The Black Swordsman whirled around to strike at Green Dragon, my Celestial Guardian materializing behind to strike at him. Claws met sword and exploded. Petals swirled about Green Dragon and he launched the razor-sharp petals at the Black Swordsman, who deflected each and every single one of them with insane speed.
While he was engaged with Green Dragon, I struck at his seemingly exposed back. Both of my swords streaked forward at different spots, aimed at his vitals. Hei Yue at his heart and Bai Ri at his kidney.
To my utmost surprise, the Black Swordsman spun around and easily fended off my strikes while retaliating fiercely. I had an impression of a gigantic demon bearing down on me and instinctively warded off his shining, onyx blade as desperately as I could. His attack almost knocked my swords out of my hand, and for a millisecond I could see closing in on me to capitalize on his advantage.
And then he swung about, ignoring me to parry Green Dragon's claws and knock away the petals. While he was engaged with me, several of Green Dragon's flower petals had cut sliced through his skin and drew blood, but they were minor injuries. Nothing too fatal, and nothing that would incapacitate him. In fact, his attacks seemed faster and more precise than before.
”Ugh!”
Despite trying to trap him in a pincer attack, the Black Swordsman fought off both Green Dragon and me at the same time, and even carved a couple of new wounds into my arms. I gritted my teeth as I staggered back, heaving from the pain. At this rate, even if I avoided his lethal hits, I would eventually die a death of a thousand cuts.