Chapter 238: “Infighting” |
This sudden attack caught not only Fulan off guard, but even the necromantic skeleton mage, which had been preparing to attack from the side, was momentarily stunned.
Fulan was startled because she could tell that this attack had been launched by Anna. She had never expected her to attack at a moment like this.
What surprised her even more was that Anna had not chosen to attack her, but had directly attacked her former teammate instead.
For an instant, Fulan even wondered whether she had suspected the wrong person all along.
Perhaps Anna had never been part of this team at all, and her encounter with Anna had truly just been a coincidence...
Fulan’s original plan had been simple: when this team finally tried to attack her, they would discover that she still had a protective spell and five Shield Spells on her, and would likely fall into despair on the spot...
But she had never imagined that Anna would strike so quickly, and not at her, but at the very person Fulan had suspected to be Anna’s teammate.
As for the necromantic skeleton mage, it thrust its skull slightly forward. If it had possessed eyes, Fulan would have suspected it might have gone wide-eyed in disbelief.
It truly could not understand why these humans had suddenly begun fighting among themselves.
So even when Fulan had entered just now and directly destroyed the seven skeletons it had left outside to block the passage, it had not panicked in the slightest.
Because judging from the six humans it had encountered before, these humans were only a little stronger than its skeleton soldiers.
What it had not expected was that after Fulan and the human behind her entered, they would directly attack the two humans who had been fighting it.
What were they doing?
Were they “fighting among themselves”?
Meanwhile, Gavin was so startled by the sound of something being pierced after that arrow struck that a dreadful premonition rose in his heart.
He whipped his head around at once and saw Grant clutching at the wound beneath his throat, unable to make a sound with the arrow through his neck, before falling backward onto the ground with a heavy thud.
“That powerful mage Grant... died just like that?”
Gavin could not believe it.
From the moment he first got to know Grant, he had never once stopped envying his spells. Not only did Grant possess defensive spells and powerful attack spells, he also had many spells that could control a target. And beyond all that, Grant still had his as-yet unrevealed Spirit Realm talent.
Ever since joining the team, Grant had always been the greatest force within it. All sorts of troublesome monsters had been defeated by his astonishing spells.
The shock of this was so overwhelming that Gavin failed to react at all in the first moment and simply stood there, frozen.
He completely forgot that they were still in the middle of a battle.
Although every faction on the battlefield had been stunned for a moment, the skeleton soldiers, which knew only how to carry out their master’s commands, cared nothing for any of that.
They possessed hardly any intellect to begin with. All they had was the most basic ability to distinguish friend from foe and the ability to wield weapons.
So what if a human had fallen over?
What did that have to do with them?
Gavin barely began to recover from his tremendous shock when his eyes landed on the arrow lodged in Grant’s neck, and he thought it looked strangely familiar...
Then, at that very moment, a skeleton slashed down at him from behind.
Although Gavin was a warrior who had advanced from the Spirit Realm, and his physical condition was unquestionably First Tier, after taking that blow he still felt far from comfortable.
Only then did he realize that he was still in the middle of a battle.
He retreated quickly, gripping his weapon tightly to keep it from being knocked from his hand.
After pulling back some distance, he cast a glance behind him and saw Fulan standing there, looking at him with a curious, probing gaze.
That gaze filled him with unease from the bottom of his heart. A foreboding feeling spread over him.
That was the effect of his Spirit Realm talent, [Danger Sense].
That talent had allowed him to avoid many dangers throughout his life as a mercenary.
He felt that this danger was coming from Fulan, because it was from behind Fulan that the arrow had flown out and struck Grant.
But when he saw that Fulan was not moving at all, confusion rose in his heart. And just then, that ominous feeling grew even stronger.
He whipped his head around at once, only to feel a tremendous force lock around his neck from behind and slam him to the ground.
And when he hit the ground and saw that familiar face, he froze.
“Anna, why are you...?!”
He stared at her in utter disbelief. He had never imagined that after disappearing, she would return only to attack them directly.
Gavin’s pupils contracted, and even the force of his struggle faltered for an instant.
But Anna was not affected in the slightest. She directly drew the small knife at her waist and drove it straight toward his heart.
Even though Gavin desperately tried to grab the blade with his hand, even though it cut open his palm, it was useless. In this position, he simply could not exert enough strength.
He could only watch helplessly as that knife pierced through his chest, blood spilling from the wound.
Only then, after confirming that she had struck a fatal point, did Anna finally let out a sigh of relief. She spoke softly to Gavin.
“I’m sorry, Gavin. But I can’t let you fail here and then carry that thing back out of this place, only to hand it over to its owner... or to the Goddess of the Currents.”
“You and Grant are like me, all alone in the world. But Jett and Keen, the two who died in the earlier battle, weren’t. They still have families.”
“If you bring that thing out of here, you’ll ruin their families’ lives.”
“Your ears... why...?”
Gavin widened his eyes, all strength leaving his body. He became a corpse forever.
Only then did Anna finally relax a little.
Ever since escaping from the mine, she had been thinking constantly about how to make that thing disappear, how to keep it from falling into hands where it never should have ended up.
She knew that there was a Northern Society in the Northern Frontier, and she had originally planned to go there and try her luck.
But she had never expected that the moment she stepped outside, she would run into one of her own kind—an Alliance mage, no less.
At the time, she had believed that heaven itself was helping her. As long as this kinswoman called for reinforcements from the Northern Society, then whether it was the mercenaries or the Church of the Goddess of the Currents, all of them would have no choice but to retreat in disgrace.
But after seeing Fulan’s terrifying combat ability, Anna had been forced to change her plan on the spot.
There was no helping it. If Fulan had been even a little weaker, then trying to persuade her to call for reinforcements would still have made sense.
But Fulan was this strong, so why call for reinforcements at all?
She could simply fight.
Still, Anna believed that once Fulan encountered that thing, she would definitely call for support from the Northern Society.
Anna forced a smile onto her face, pulled back a little, and said to Fulan,
“These people were getting in the way, so I helped clear them out for you. You can focus on killing that undead creature.”
What answered her was Fulan’s amused smile.
Fulan turned sideways and leveled her longsword at that undead creature.