Abdin clasped his hands together and breathed some air from his mouth. The air turned into a small cyclone, which in turn transformed into clouds. The clouds expanded and made a roof over the oncoming warriors.
He raised his hand and pointed at the lightning castle that was still floating in the air. The holographic castle flew up and joined the clouds. At that moment, a single thunderbolt emerged from the clouds, and a thunderstorm which was more than five hundred meters thick descended upon the army.
A lightning blaze filled the entire space in front of the castle for a long while. When everything was calm again, the battlefield emerged, bereft of any attackers. There wasn't even a heap of ash to show that someone once stepped foot on that spot.
[You have used a skill above your cultivation level. You have lost eleven years of pol. Your cultivation base is down to 99 years and 3 months. You have 12 years left to live.]
Abdin couldn't fly like a core formation expert, so he ran into the castle and up the stairs to where Juwaira and the others were.
They were still dazed when he reached them. It was possible that Abdin wasn't at the core formation stage yet since he couldn't even fly. But none of them could wield the kind of skill he just did. It was A rank. Or even the legendary S rank.
Who was this man again?
Both groups fearfully stepped back when he arrived. But they weren't fast enough as Abdin jumped upon Tairen's floating veil and grabbed the young man's neck.
He was lucky that Tairen was the closest to the stairs and it was the young man he meant to grab all along.
The others were much faster and he couldn't match them. But Tairen wasn't yet at the core formation stage; he could only fly with the help of the veil - which was another weakness Abdin was planning to exploit.
Before Tairen could move, Abdin's foot emitted a flash of lightning that went through the veil underneath their feet. The lightning tore the veil to shreds and the two of them dropped to the ground.
Juwaira was dumbstruck until they hit the ground, just like the other core formation experts there.
But Tairen wasn't some amateur young master. His right hand had already transformed into a wind blade. And despite everything going on, his expression was still fearless. He had the least cultivation among them, but Abdin was mistaken if he thought he could defeat him easily.
The young master moved with the swiftness of a cyclone, and in the next second, his hand was on Abdin's neck, about to decapitate him.
However, the blade melted just at that moment and his hand returned to normal. He looked bewildered.
While the young master was executing his counterattack, Abdin had pushed a miniature lightning orb through his chest. The orb held a pol of just four years.
Normally, such a skill couldn't even rouse the young master from sleep, but amazingly, the pol currents in it had passed through to his core, deactivating his wind blade and nullifying his attack. How was this man able to reach his core and hurt him so easily?
Abdin punched him in the neck. Tairen saw it coming but couldn't move fast enough to avoid it. His body went limp. Abdin grabbed him by the collar and opened a sizeable portal into one of his special storage bags. He made a move to throw him into the portal, but the young master's body just passed through it like it wasn't there.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Abdin frowned. This could only mean one thing: the young master wasn't fully unconscious.
He raised his hand to punch him again, but at that moment, the elderly Muwadd blocked the punch and kicked Abdin in the shin. Three small wooden arrows with pointed ends appeared at the tip of the old man's boot and targeted different parts of Abdin's leg.
Juwaira threw a dagger from the side, blocking one of the arrows. Upon contact, the dagger exploded into a gust of wind and pushed the old man and the remaining arrows back.
She jumped upon Tairen's stomach at the same moment, knocking him out instantly.
Abdin nodded at her and stuffed the young master inside the bag of holding. The princess turned around and faced Muwadd.
Everything had happened too fast. Muwadd and his fellow core formation experts didn't have time to coordinate their attacks at all. Even the princess was only able to help because she was the closest as she was already fighting with Tairen before Abdin came. Everyone else was already fighting their opponent.
Abdin gave the signal and the four core formation experts returned to his side. Their opponents didn't chase and returned to stand beside Muwadd.
Muwadd's foot soldiers were long since dead, while Abdin had his party still intact. Denyanu and the rest had moved downstairs already and were keeping watch at the entrance, in case of any intruders.
"Explain the meaning of this," Muwadd said. His voice was shaking slightly and even his anger couldn't hide it. He never foresaw the battle turning against him this fast. How was he to know that Abdin was this strong?
There were two core formation experts among the disciples Abdin just killed. The two didn't have a stable core yet and couldn't use Negrinki or even fly. But they were core formation experts nonetheless. They had more than a thousand years to their cultivation base. Yet, Abdin killed them with a single attack.
The man standing before them was very dangerous. The best thing to do was to turn around, leave, and not return unless with the sect leader. But the man had decided to take them unawares and capture Tairen. What did he hope to gain?
"I will give you two options," Abdin said. "Either I kill you all today, or you leave my sight. You have until the count of ten. After that, I will start by killing Tairen. I want to make it clear that there are many things in my bag of holding that can have him for lunch. I would be thrilled to know the sect leader's reaction when he learns how you all allow his son to be slain."
Abdin didn't have the power to slay four core formation experts. Almost all the pol he had earned in the last few days was gone in killing Laluri and the six hundred disciples. The only way to regain his lost pol was to drive away these men. He would probably be the first to die if the fight went on, and that would force him to start everything over again and with no reward.
"One, two, three..."
"Wait," cried Muwadd. "We can reach a solution. I will forgive and forget all the men you kill just now. And we won't come back. But give us Tairen. He is already hurt and may not live long if this continues. You don't want him dying on you, do you?"
"Four, five, six..." Abdin went on.
"You think you are something just because you have an ancient treasure?" It was the man beside Muwadd who spoke. "It is the treasure that gives you the advantage. We will take it and everything that makes you so proud, and we will show you real torture."
"Seven, eight, nine..."
The man wasn't finished. He gritted his teeth and was about to speak again when Muwadd stopped him.
The old man bowed a little before Abdin and jumped down the wall. The other three stayed and engaged a bit in a staring contest with their opponents before they followed.
That day, a hundred and seventy-three jungle men were killed, another two hundred villagers from Duna, and six hundred and twenty-something disciples from Will of San. To cap it all, a senior disciple and the son of the sect leader was captured.
The remaining four leaders of the sect, who were all at the core formation stage, had turned on their heels and fled.
Abdin took a deep breath. Everything had gone within his expectations. The only setback was the destruction of the castle gates. Abdin had never imagined finding someone around these regions capable of destroying his castle.
But still, he was victorious. He had taken note of the masked man and his silver horse and would start investigating him, perhaps he might unearth his true identity in time.
[You have protected the castle from the enemy. Reward: 90 years. You have captured one of the enemies as a servant. Reward: 19 years. Your cultivation has risen to 208 years and 9 months. You have 121 years left to live.]
"Huh..."