CHAPTER 161
GIFT FROM THE GODS (2)
Ricardo, the knight facing Hans, couldn't believe his eyes. “You gotta be fuckin with me!” He thought, “How big it is, 80...no..100 metres? The colossal creature before him far surpassed anything he had seen in the Glory Wars. “Even the senior league people didn’t go this far. What the heck he is?” He shouted inside but what bewildered him even more was how swiftly it had materialized. Golems typically took weeks or even months to create, but this had happened in an instant.
He considered the possibility of Hans using a summoning trinket, but the presence of the radiant Judgment artefact above them ruled out that explanation. “Fooling the Judgment artefact is not a possibility. If he was that capable. He wouldn’t have lost to us back then.” He reassured himself, unaware that they had employed Dispellium, the bane of Hans's magic.
”Meanwhile, Hans and his golem serpent, both locked eyes with Ricardo, menacingly staring and ready to pounce on him at any moment. “You say, you are grade 28. You must have mastered at least two aura skills. Hmm…you use wind aura, how ironic…My father was a wind knight— Swish.” His words were interrupted by none other than his own golem, whipping its enormous tail at Ricardo.
Skill - WindStep
Ricardo manifested his aura, propelling himself into the air to dodge the incoming tail with lightning reflexes. However, with extreme agility, the tail's momentum couldn't be halted, and it crashed into the protective barrier separating the audience from the arena. “Boom!” The sheer impact sent a wave of tremors to the spectators, nearly stopping their hearts.
The cheers followed after the sudden silence as the audience craved more excitement. They were taken aback by the crashing sound. The Serpent looked like it was modelled after the Great Mamba, a class three beast but it was made from foliage and stones, so they presumed it to be a weakened structure, but the flexibility and weight of that strike was similar to the real deal itself.
The colossal serpent coiled back, slithering toward Hans, sending shivers down Ricardo's spine. "He could swat me like a fly.” Ricardo thought after narrowly evading the initial attack. But Hans was not going to stop here. One after another, the tail whip continued, raining from all sides. Its massive body was not any hindrance to its speed, and it was probably the quickest golem that any of the higher-ups had seen till now. They even began to doubt whether it was a golem or a mana beast.
However, Hans was neither interested in their thoughts nor chatter. All he wanted was to slam that knight before him. But the Knight association had raised Ricardo with resources, care, and practical knowledge. And like any, Ricardo knew that the surefire way to defeat the golem was to take out the core or the controlling caster.
Skill - TempestCut
A swift crescent slash, imbued with razor-sharp wind aura, sped toward Hans. Its rapid approach left Hans with no escape. He was a mage not a knight with quick reflexes, so he blocked in a very mage way. His serpent, putting its head between Hans and the crescent aura attack. The result was just as he had anticipated: the serpent's maw was split in two. If the attack had reached a bit further, it might have also capsized Hans.
Seeing his attack work, a glimmer of hope graced Ricardo. He prepared for another attack. However, that hope slipped away as he witnessed the serpent's cleaved head rapidly mend itself, erasing any traces of prior injuries. Suddenly, he heard his Team In-charge’s voice, shouting from their platform, urgently advising, "Take out the caster, hurry.”
But to reach the caster seemed an impossible task, for Ricardo, at least with the given circumstances. The serpent Golem was protecting Hans like a mother beast protecting her cub. “All I can do now is wait for the magic within the golem to run out,” Ricardo concluded.
And it was indeed true, as the golem's large frame couldn't be sustained by just a few mana stones. Hans had already spent his fortune by creating Hydra and the proctors he hunted were flat broke. “Darn, those beggars.” He cursed again, as he stared down at Ricardo.
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While Ricardo was barely evading the earth-shattering slams, right and left but suddenly the serpent shot something at him. “Come meet your maker, peasant” he shouted in excitement, to see the projectile was none other than Hans himself. He welcomed him with open arms, one wielding a sword while one carrying an immense aura by the grip. He thought taking out a mage in close range was favourable to the knight and he was not alone in thinking that, every viewer watching, right at the Colosseum or far away through broadcast thought that too.
They were quite far and amid his journey, Hans’s hands armoured up, by the tough metallic vines, forming a piercing gauntlet, one taking the brunt of the sword strike while the other delivered a cheap gut punch, almost forcing Ricardo to puke his breakfast out.
The punch was so strong, the strength not expected from a mage, and aiding the momentum, it sent Ricardo flying. “Where are you going, I’m not done with you..” Hans proclaimed. His will seemed to be heeded by his golem, which swiftly moved into position to catch the airborne knight. As Ricardo reached the serpent, it opened its massive mouth and enveloped him within.
The sight resembled that of an owner feeding his enormous pet. With Ricardo captured within the golem, it slithered toward Hans and swallowed him too. Now in the arena, it stood, raising its head, welcoming the confused looks of everyone. However, after a few minutes, it spat out Ricardo, battered and bruised. While lowering its head, it opened its mouth once more, allowing its owner to step out, holding Ricardo's sword in one hand.
No one knew what happened inside the belly of Golem but Hans and his victim, who was first electrocuted, and then barraged by the armoured gauntlets. As Ricardo staggered to his feet, disoriented with his sword, not in his hands, he couldn't help but exclaim, "What the fuck is he?" In response, Hans thrust the sword into the ground and lunged at him with astonishing speed. He delivered a series of brutal punches, all aimed at Ricardo's face, and proclaimed, "Time for round two!" With that, he hurled the battered knight into the gaping maw of his drooling serpent.
He then waited, getting ready, picking up the one-handed sword, and said to his serpent, “Give it to me, boy…Swoosh!” Ricardo was spitted out again, aimed at Hans but this time burned in several places. Everyone wondered what was in the belly of the serpent, but their thoughts went awry when Hans, in a fluid motion, took first and then second of Ricardo’s arm by his own sword, lastly stabbing it at his back, whispering to the armless pinned down knight, “Don’t die. I've yet to introduce myself.”
Hans looked upwards, and the audience fell into stunned silence. Representatives from other countries shared the same bewildered expressions. Finally, he turned his gaze toward Norwin and flashed a sinister smirk. With his face stained by splattered blood, now smeared in crimson, he began to levitate, rising to the same elevated level as Norwin and the other dignitaries, including Arat who moved there when the battle began, feeling proud every second.
He can fly, everyone was wondering the same, but Hans was not in the mood to humour them. He was here, right at this moment to declare something. His malevolence reached an all-time high. His rage surged the mana around and finally, he snapped. His eyes locked right at Norwin.
“Don’t do it squeaky?” Rudolf mumbled, “For fuck sake, don’t do it—”
“Zwoom!”A sudden wave followed by a deep red hemisphere light encased the humongous Colosseum. The moisture within turned into droplets, levitating in air, at the faces of all trapped within. The people were having a hard time breathing. Several artefacts started failing, some of their magic stopped working while some went haywire with the exception of the Judgement artefact hanging above the Colosseum.
The scene couldn’t help Arat but wonder about the old phrase that every Parvian must’ve heard once. He started humming in a low voice,
When the blood soils the sky and the rain paints the land red
The Parvian sun shall rise, filling the world with dread.
It was an old phrase, not of Parvian origin, but rooted in elven prophecy. This very phrase had long fueled the enmity between Parv and Clandor, and now the Clandorian Royals found themselves witnessing it unfold before their eyes.
"I'm Hans," declared the levitating young man, his voice amplified by the power of the VoidZone, something he had never achieved before. After a brief pause, he continued, “And this is what happens when you stand in my way.” He emptied the parvian pouch, unloading the battered, butchered and unrecognisable corpses all over the arena. A silent scream welled up within the throats of the onlookers, but the immense pressure of the VoidZone prevented them from uttering a word.
“They wanted to drag me in this mud fight. If I’ve no choice but to step in, I better be the centre of it. I'm not my father. Many might argue but he was a kind man.” He stared deep at Norwin, even with the vast difference of levels, he stared right at them, and continued, “My father, a weakling, if I must say. He left many enemies alive. I'm not weak like him and I certainly do not like leaving loose ends. Whether it's boot-liking beggars or shit-eating kings.”
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