Chapter 406 Fighting The Slayer
After sending Yin towards the duo, Lyrica and Chen Yu, Shiro looked towards Lucius' location.
Currently, there were 3 enemies left with the third going back to their castle so that it wasn't unguarded. This meant that only the slayer and Lucius' were available for combat right now. Should she eliminate Lucius', that would mean they can put the slayer in a 1v4 situation and victory is well within their reach.
Pulling back on her bow, a stream of Void Star Energy coagulated into an arrow. Fusing her Boreal Wind with it so that the travel speed is increased, Shiro narrowed her eyes at Lucius' who was currently dusting himself off after barely surviving with his life saving treasure.
Sighing to himself, he looked around at the destruction and couldn't help but shake his head.
"God damn, why are the people that have some slight connection to Shiro this insane in terms of fighting prowess." He muttered.
One of the other reasons he had come to this event was to look for Shiro and inquire about the existence of Yin. With the current state of the Shadow Temple, he was forced to try to look back into some records and had discovered the origin that included a distant kingdom called the Yin Kingdom that was destroyed in a war against the world.
In this record, there were talks of Phoenix's with the Dark Star element along with the original form of martial arts that was passed down to the faction.
With so many of these similarities in Shiro's party, he really wanted to ask her about the potential connection she had.
Unfortunately, he wasn't able to find her during this so he could only wait till after the event.
Just as he finished dusting himself off, he felt danger overwhelm his senses as an arrow slammed into his back before he could even react.
"OH COME ON!" He shouted out in annoyance.
Watching Lucius' be forcefully teleported out of the arena, Shiro turned her attention back to the other slayer.
With Yin in the mix, he was having some trouble but not enough to the point that he would use his best skills.
'Hmm… they can hold him back for now. In the meantime, I should make it so that the enemy can't take our flag during the time we're fighting against the slayer.' She thought to herself and shot two powerful arrows towards the new defender of the enemy's flag.
Dodging the first arrow, the man was put in an awkward position as the second arrow struck his body.
For Shiro, it was quite an easy task to predict where they'd go after firing an arrow. Adventurers of their calibre would always go for the shortest dodging route so she just needed to send an arrow to where they would be after dodging.
Eliminating the final adventurer except for the slayer, their team would win if they take their flag. However, it was a good chance for her party members to practice fighting someone strong so it would be a waste to avoid this opportunity.
Jumping off the castle tower, Shiro dashed towards their location.
Meanwhile, Lyrica and Chen Yu were facing some difficulties trying to land a hit on this slayer.
Whenever he attacked them, he would instantly return to a defensive position and parry their next attack. Not only that, but there were also little chances to attack him to begin with since his counter was fearsome. A single attack would have a big chance of eliminating them.
But for some reason, it was as if he was going easy on them. Whether that was because he's looking down on them or other reasons, Lyrica did not enjoy that thought too much.
"Fuu…." Breathing out softly, she tightened her grip on her handle and dashed towards him using a set of footwork from the Heavenly Sword Arts called the Cloud Strider, Lyrica closed the gap between the two of them.
Quickly entering a defensive stance, the slayer swung his sword towards her but was parried before it could even gather enough momentum.
"First Step – Clarity." Lyrica said with a frown as she flicked her wrist and broke the slayer's guard.
*PING!!!
Suddenly, sparks appeared near his neck as he was barely able to block the strike in time so that he wasn't eliminated.
"Tch, Second Step – Emptiness." Lyrica clicked her tongue.
*BANG BANG!!!
Quickly jumping into the air, the slayer narrowly dodged two strikes from his blind spot due to his instincts.
'Damn, those sword strikes might be faster than mine.' He thought with a frown.
Little did he know, this was her power with a normal sword. If she included her hidden proficiency in the mix, the combination of short range and long range attacks would have eliminated him if he didn't go serious just now.
Shaking his head, he decided that this was enough playtime. From what he could see, he was the only one left.
"Sword Domain." He muttered.
A pulse of semi transparent energy spread out as it encased everyone around him.
Widening her eyes, Lyrica tried to get out of the range but the Slayer wasn't about to let her get away.
Flickering in front of her, he was about to eliminate her when a bow appeared within his peripherals.
Using her bow as a baton, Shiro slammed it into the slayer's body and transferred all of her momentum to him with the help of her phantom path.
*BANG!!!!
Sliding backwards, the slayer was quite thankful that the hit didn't eliminate him instantly.
Narrowing his eyes at the newcomer, he furrowed his brows.
Logically, he should have felt her enter his domain but the moment she appeared, he had felt nothing.
"Yo, seems like you've had quite a fun time with my teammates." Shiro grinned while helping Lyrica up.
Staying silent, the slayer decided to reveal a few more trump cards with Shiro in the mix.
"Silent type huh? You weren't quite like this in Cairosa but I suppose time changes a man."
Hearing that the woman knew that he was from Cairosa, the slayer couldn't help but pause for a slight moment.
However, this was all Shiro needed since every party member leapt into action. Flickering behind him, she roundhouse kicked him towards Lyrica and Chen Yu.
"Third Step – Void." Lyrica muttered before swinging her sword once more.
This time, three attacks were sent towards the slayer in an instant.
In the gaps between each attack, Yin had created Dark Star blades so that he couldn't escape.
Taking a deep breath, the slayer twisted his body.
"Crescent Moon Blade – Howling Moon."
*PING!!!!!
Shattering the attacks around him in an instant, he flickered beside Chen Yu.
"Lunar Eclipse."
*BANG!
In an instant, cut marks appeared on Chen Yu's barrier as his body was somehow restrained from reacting.
"Careful! He can restrain you!" Chen Yu warned as his body was teleported away.
Firing two arrows, Shiro tried to pin his location down but he had already flickered next to Yin.
"Shattered Moon."
Activating the next stage of his martial arts, he tried to restrain Yin using the same method as before but widened his eyes when Yin grinned.
"Gluttony."
Eating away at the mana around her, she forcefully broke the restraint.
"Ya~ A little bland but food is food." Yin grinned while quickly dodging his attack.
"Goodness, when did your skill evolve from storing extra mana to eating attacks?" Shiro questioned since Yin's gluttony should only allow her to increase the amount of mana she could hold.
"Well I kept on using gluttony to eat at restaurants in the two months as well as the time I had in the dungeons so I eventually got a new title and the skill evolved." Yin replied.
The title that she had obtained was Sin of Gluttony and that allowed her to expend some of her additional mana reserves to consume an attack from the enemy. As long as she had reserves, she could consume any attack.
However, once she uses up all the reserves, she'll be forced to take the full brunt so she needed to be careful of when she used his.
"Well since that's the case, stick close to Lyrica and free her if needs be. I can handle the restraint myself." Shiro grinned while twisting her body to avoid the attacks that he had sent.
Realising his restraint couldn't affect two of them, one eating it and the other just shrugging it off, the slayer knew that this was going to be an annoying fight.