Argo blasted toward the City of Selene with extraordinary speed, the ground moving beneath him in a blur. After discussing with his companions, he was the only one with a suitable movement ability. He didn't know how long it would take the others to catch up. All he was focused on was saving as many people as possible.
Breathing in the crisp, fresh air of the surface filled him with clarity. He had missed the wind on his face and the moonlight bathing him. The soft ground beneath his feet was soft, and the sounds of life fluttered about around him.
He had left the suffocating catacombs behind. He vowed to never return to that place ever again. But he knew it would be somewhat inevitable for him to avoid the place. It was now devoid of the corruption that allowed it to function as a dungeon. But it still contained a wealth of monsters and treasures that might end up benefiting him.
Argo felt guilt creeping up on him unknowingly. If they didn't slay Dianne and force the Outer Deity's demigod into such dire straits, none of this would've happened. He tried to think pragmatically, reassuring himself there was no other way. If they didn't fight that thing and free Diane, they would've died in the bowels of the earth.
The terrain around him blurred with the wind whipping against his body. The city became clearer in the distance as a vast orange light in a sea of darkness. Its previous orange hue was now bathed in a conflagration of crimson, buildings on the verge of crumbling into dust. Even from the distance between them he could vaguely hear crises of despair and explosions ringing out.
It was like hell had descended within the confines of the obsidian walls, and demons had began running amuck slaughtering anything in sight. The scene seemed to overlay itself on the day of his village's massacre; and Argo felt a tiny part of his heart crack.
He was too self-conceited, and blind. He only cared about remedying the guilt that was tearing up his insides, and seeking half-baked revenge. He wasn't the only one that was suffering, and would suffer at the whims of the Outer Deities.
Argo's heart sank. A conflicted feeling surfacing within his mind. He felt glad about the decision to let the evil entity live, and try returning to the city as fast as possible to minimize casualties. But his hope of it all being a bluff had gone up in smoke. He knew that with his current strength, it would only be a drop of water in a vast sea. Should he have dealt with the one responsible for this after all?
Green winds coalesced in a swirl around his legs, propelling him even faster. The mana drain of this spell wasn't as exhaustive as the moon sword, but a Grade E spell was draining nevertheless. He would still have enough mana to utilize prolonged mana reinforcement, but [Inferno Ballista] was out of the question. He was somewhat tempted to utilize the blessings of mana. Too bad it would leave him weary like an old man.
He could only hope the city guards and adventurers were strong enough to minimize the death toll. But he couldn't wish for too much, after all the attack was malevolent and insidious in nature. Who would think their comrades they've been fighting with for years would turn around and kill them in an instant?
It would be almost unheard of for an adventurer to use their abilities and strength to kill other humans, much less a whole army. It was a cunning scheme, borne from a truly baleful mind.
'That damn monster.'
Argo could only curse as the city gates loomed before him, as he attempted to vault the wall in one jump. Mana poured into [Gale Drift], the green hue surrounding his feet brightening. The ground beneath him split, as Argo leaped over the obsidian walls.
Well- tried to. Unfortunately, he wasn't well accustomed to this new spell just yet. Even the instinctual knowledge granted to him by the Records couldn't replace actual practice.
He missed the ledge by a couple feet, slamming into the dark wall. He had reacted quickly, reducing the force of the impact with his arm but it still hurt like hell. Cursing, he slammed his sword into the wall to gain a handhold.
Dangling pathetically, he managed to carve some footholds before making the final jump over. If Aria were here, he would never hear the end of it. Especially after learning she was a member of the illustrious Red Cohort he didn't want to get on her bad side.
Immediately upon vaulting the wall, Argo was met with a blazing battlefield. The once elegant, gothic styled buildings had signs of ruin. The streets were pulverized, large swaths of blood and corpses filling them up like gruesome rivers. Explosions of magic would sweep through the air, and the incessant sound of metal clashing filled the air with chaos.
His expression darkened, taking in the sight. The portion of the wall he had arrived on was already filled with people, hunkering down in fright. Most were civilians with a sparse crowd of adventurers mingling about. There were only dozens of guards stationed throughout the wall ledges, looking at the city with differing emotions.
Some were scared, sad, or indifferent.
Before people could quest him, Argo jumped from the wall onto the nearest rooftop. The wind coalescing around his feet cushioned the impact, before he bolted forward. Aided by the breeze, he strained his senses for any survivors. His mana sense wasn't as developed as he wanted it to be at the moment. At most he could sense those that didn't bother hiding their mana signatures in a fifty meter radius. Anything beyond, or hiding their mana would be hidden from his senses.
He stumbled upon a fleeing crowd much to his surprise. With frightened expressions, they were bombarded with a flurry of arrows. Metal tips encased in a green hue skewered the horde of people, bloodcurdling screams filling the night air. Due to the suddenness of the event he was unable to save everyone.
Argo cursed, deploying [Great Hex Barrier] to save the remaining survivors. With resounding impact, the arrows crashed into the shield before bouncing off. His defensive skill had undergone a qualitative transformation; the color a much lighter shade of green bordering yellow, with three overlaid hexes instead of one.
Glancing behind him, Argo counted the people who weren't dead yet. About four were unscathed, while another five lay on the floor with vague signs of life. Those arrows must've been propelled using a skill or mana to achieve such lethality. Killing these innocent people in the streets were like shooting fish in a barrel.
Argo's expression darkened, trying to pinpoint the location of the assailant. Under the cover of the night, arrows would come flying from different directions. They also varied in trajectory through curving in paths that could've be achieved through normal means.
"Head to the tower!" He ordered urgently trying to project confidence. He was in the dark about the attacker's strength and skills. It wouldn't help if the civilians impeded his ability to fight.
Whether they heeded his words or were simply moving on instinct, they quickly fled. Some dragged their injured companions away, leaving trails of blood on the stone pavement.
Argo lowered his defensive shield, opting to deflect the ranged attacks. He had to conserve mana, as this was only the first corrupted human he had encountered. Argo slowly realized the importance for regular Exalted to conserve their mana. Argo's passive mana intake and manipulation was significantly faster then others but, it still paled in comparison to when he forcibly called upon mana. Regardless, his expedited mana absorption still was in some cases not enough for what he wanted to do.
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Or maybe it wasn't the result of a lacking intake, but merely a result of his inefficiency. He was most likely not using mana reinforcement as efficiently as Faye and relying too much on spells. There were many ways he was leaking his mana. Argo most likely never noticed it due to his unrivaled mana intake.
He vaulted onto a nearby rooftop, parrying two arrows with Selene's Sword. Argo wrapped bandages around the lower part of the blade, creating a makeshift hilt. It was a far cry from a proper sword, but it was vastly superior to any of his weapons at the moment. Argo gauged the strength of his opponent as he dodged another arrow.
If he was able to keep up with the trajectories of his opponent's shots, they should be relatively around the same level. Argo had also sensed that the arrows didn't drain much mana from him when they ricocheted off [Greater Hex Barrier].
'Roughly F,' he deduced considering the ease at which he dealt with the attacks. Which meant he was more then capable of dispatching his assailant.
Blood spurted into the air, a thin slash appearing across his left cheek. Argo cursed, taking cover behind a chimney as he wiped the blood off his face. He didn't expect the shooter to release an arrow right behind another; perfectly allowing the latter to blend in the former's shadow.
He was at a disadvantage. Argo had fallen victim to his earlier thoughts. If battles could be won with just sheer stats then the entire world would shift.
If he continued to stay put, the battle would drag on for too long. He could only deflect so many arrows, and Argo would eventually slip up like earlier. Constructing a simple plan in his head, he leaped from behind the chimney.
An arrow tip instantly met his eye. He quickly tilting his head to dodge it by a hair's breadth. Passing by his head, it pulverized the roof shingles at his feet. Even an individual at a F level could still inflict such damage.
'He was waiting for me,' Argo mused running through different scenarios in his head. There were multiple plans constructed in his head as he attempted to figure out the optimal one.
Swift winds coalesced around his feet, sending Argo in the shooter's direction. The air whipped around him, his surroundings blurring. He strained his eyes, catching a hooded figure crouched on the roof of a nearby tower. Clad in a black cloak, they blended seamlessly in with the night.
Argo had misgauged the direction by a couple of degrees, landing on a nearby house. The archer most likely manipulated the trajectory of the arrows to throw off his position. Unfortunately, he could only change their paths by so much. Otherwise they would end up nowhere near his target. He couldn't hide his general direction.
Argo had felt his battle sense, and tactical reasoning had grown by leaps and bounds. In the downtime they had spent not dueling, Aria had taught him the intricacies of how battle flowed.
"Take note of your opponent's strength, and weaknesses. These can be revealed through their choice of weapon, tactics, and interaction with the environment. Think from their shoes, try to envision a situation that would result in your victory."
He soaked up her words like a sponge, and his insight into combat had grown. He was nowhere near capable of creating intricate plans, but he was able to commit to surface level thinking that could turn the tides in his favor.
Argo quickly pushed off his feet, closing the gap that was threatening to open up. His opponent had neglected to attack, choosing to create more distance. They were a ranged fighter, most likely put at a disadvantage in close quarters.
They leaped off the tower, tucking their body into a roll. They landed on a nearby tiled roof, breaking into a sprint.
Argo was still mid-jump toward the tower, as his opponent was on a roof to his right. By the time he landed on the tower, he would be forced to jump back down. And by then, the shooter would've been able to open up a distance large enough to pressure him.
In the fleet of the moment, Argo made a hasty decision to deploy [Greater Hex Barrier]. Unlike before, he decided to manifest it below his feet slightly tilted to the side. Using it as a vaulting platform, Argo changed the trajectory of his jump from the tower to the right.
Simultaneously calling upon [Gale Drift], he propelled himself off the vibrant barrier with stunning swiftness. The air tore apart as Argo quickly arrived before the corrupted human.
The breeze had lifted his hood, revealing a young man in his early twenties. All Argo could make out was his dark brown hair, and slightly surprised face. His eyes held the signature hollowness of someone succumbing to the mind corruption, leaving no hesitation in his heart.
Capitalizing on the momentum from his jump, Argo swung down Selene's Sword. A flash of silver tore through the man's torso, leaving a grievous wound. Blood spewed out of the wound like a waterfall, with pieces of bone jutting out. Despite that, he still moved to attack Argo.
Caught off guard, Argo barely dodged the bow strike coming his way.
The two exchanged a series of blows, but Argo knew he was at a tremendous advantage. His opponent was losing vitality at an astonishing rate, it was even a miracle he was still standing upright. His technique was also lackluster, his bow far inferior to the sword in Argo's grip.
Argo delivered a brutal kick that sent the archer into the street, capitalizing on an opening. Following the audible sound of crunching bone, the Records whispered into his ears. He had dealt with him so quickly that he didn't even get to showcase his Inherent.
[You have slain Troy, a mundane-level human]
Argo felt essence fill his being, but it wasn't nearly enough to increase his stats. Despite his calm exterior, he felt conflicted.
'I really can't get used to this,' he mused darkly.
He knew that the person he had just killed was no longer themself- their mind broken and manipulated by a demigod of an Outer Deity. But it still wore the façade of a human, creating conflicting emotions within his mind.
After killing Dianne, Argo focused on other things to push away the torrent of guilt and disgust that would gradually surge forward. He didn't like killing, and the moment his thoughts lingered to that moment he felt his mind crack.
He quickly shoved the thoughts back to his mind, quickly taking a breather.
He used more mana then he wanted against Troy, whose stats lay around F. While a similar rated monster would've been far easier, humans truly were much more dangerous. Intelligence combined with their unique skills and traits made them significantly more lethal in combat. Argo couldn't figure out what Troy's Inherent had been, most likely related to concealment or stealth?
Another scream shattered the night air, followed by the clangor of clashing blades. Argo quickly wiped the blood off the silver sword, before heading in the direction of the screams.
After sprinting down a couple of blocks he was met with a gruesome sight. A figure clad in brown robes stood in the middle of a wide street. Mushy meat piles were scattered around him in a macabre show of art. Upon further examination, Argo surmised they were humans that had been pounded with an unbelievable amount of force.
His observations were correct as a being stood in front of the brown-robed individual. Argo had read about them in stories and was no stranger to such beings. Golems. Creatures comprised of various materials that acted according to a user's commands. This particular one was molded of stone bricks towering at a height of ten meters.
With glowing ruby eyes, grey muscles, and blood dripping from stone fists it stood like an unmoving bastion. Argo's expression soured finding the sight before him especially repulsing. He had seen so many disgusting things in the past week. He slowly felt himself growing numb to it all.
And he was late. Due to his own inaptitude, these people had been crushed beyond all recognition. Argo raised his sword with a grim expression. "Are you the one responsible for all of this?"
It was a stupid question. All evidence pointed to the robed figure as the culprit. But Argo felt obligated to ask it anyway, so he would have no qualms about killing him. It was also a test to see if humans could speak after they succumbed to the mind hex.
Wordlessly, the figure gestured with their hand. The golem immediately moved into action, leaving small craters in the ground where it stepped. Despite it's material and size, it moved with stunning speed. It wasn't exactly blinding fast but it was quick enough to merit Argo to take evasive action.
'Looks like they can't speak,' he noted.
Argo vaulted in the air surrounded in white light. The golem barreled past this previous position before slamming into a nearby wall. Dark rock and wood flew into the air, as it rampaged through the building. The caster's commands were crude and lacked precision. Most likely a result of the demigod's lacking control. Most experienced adventurers would find avoiding a golem child's play. The same couldn't be said about regular humans unfortunately.
While in the air, Argo replicated his earlier actions against Troy. Manifesting a tilted platform from [Greater Hex Barrier], he shot at the caster in a burst of speed.
The robed figure seemed to have anticipated this to an extent, much to Argo's surprise. A shield woven of brown energy manifested itself in a flash of light. In a collision of sparks, Argo's sword made violent contact. A spiderweb of cracks instantly formed over the shield's surface.
Too bad the caster didn't know his sword was of the highest quality. With one decisive movement, Argo's sword pulverized the barrier before cutting down the man in one fell swoop. The cutting edge of Selene's Sword split him into clean halves.
[You have slain Balthus, a mundane-level human]
The golem behind Argo collapsed into piles of rock. With it's caster gone, it was unable to maintain it's existence. Argo wore an empty expression as he swept his sword to dislodge the blood.