Barely a few minutes after Gloria left the circle and traced the cord of the deliverer, a cloaked shadow shot out from behind a bush into the air. With a quick swing of both arms, a flurry of metal darts were launched at Marcus as well as the captured and helpless men around him.
“Shit!” Marcus raised his arms and struck the space in front of him using both his palms. Palm strikes of Qi clashed in the air against these metal darts, knocking most of them to the side or down on the ground but a few still slipped through.
“Ah!” “Ouch!” Two men cuffed together and hiding behind Marcus cried out in pain. And the other two who were not injured started panicking: “They’re here! They’re here to kill us!”
“Stay calm! ” Marcus roared and maintained one hand hovering over the bamboo strips that made the protective array. The deliverer screeched and banged on the energy wall once again. With the input of Qi slowing down, the wall dimmed, and each of the deliverer’s attacks caused greater and more visible dent.
The shadow retracted both hands into the sleeves then pulled out another two handfuls, in total of eight darts. Before Marcus could launch his counter attack, another flurry of darts already hailed at him and the men behind him.
Marcus roared and pushed his Qi in every inch of his meridians. His eyes glowed, his reflexes were heightened, and the incoming darts became clearer and slightly slower in his vision.
His arms flowed, jabbed and swung in front of him, leaving afterimages in their tracks. All eight of the darts were one by one either knocked down or snatched by his palms and fingers. It appeared that whoever this cloaked shadow was, they were afraid of actually harming the deliverer by accident and thus haven’t infused the darts with Qi.
Not even half a second after Marcus’ capturing the darts, two men behind Marcus started screaming. He looked back, just in time to see the two men who were hit by the darts twitching on the ground, while foaming at their mouths. The other two, though spared by the darts, were shaking and appeared to be losing their will and guts to stay.
“He’s going to kill us! He’s gonna kill us!” Tears ran down the man with a broken nose: “He’s gonna kill us right here! One way or the other!”
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Before Marcus could say anything, this man had already bolted out of the protection array, just to get away from the cloaked shadow.
“Wait for me!” The other man who was not injured tried to run, but was pulled back by Marcus.
“What the hell are you thinking! You can’t last one minute out there! ” Marcus tried his best to pin the last able man down on the ground: “Are you out of your fucking mind?!”
Before this poor man could answer, a loud bang came from the deliverer bashing the energy wall one more time, before disappearing. Yet the very next moment, the man who had his nose broken by Gloria got pinned on the trunk of a tree. He shared the same fate as the first man of the five - impaled in the throat, and then his throat was pulled out of his mouth and torn off.
“Holy shit! Holy shit!” The man held down by Marcus screamed and almost climbed onto Marcus like a terrified cat: “We’re doomed! I’m dead! I’m gonna die!”
“Shut up!” Marcus tried to push the man away but the incoming metal darts stopped him. He had to raise his arms to block two of them and lean to the side to evade another two. The last man still able to walk was once again spared of the darts. But the next moment, the deliverer appeared right outside of the energy wall once again and clawed it with all three of its hands.
The cloaked figure paused for a moment, before jumping onto a tree branch and shooting another handful of darts at Marcus and the man clutching his arms. Marcus had to take a step back to dodge and block the darts. But the actual target was never Marcus or the last man he was trying to protect, but the bamboo strips and the ropes on the ground.
“Foosh” “Crack” the bamboo strips and the ropes with ribbons on were cut and pushed to the side by three throwing blades.
The energy wall that stopped the deliverer disappeared. And without its power of illumination, Marcus lost track of the deliverer as well. He had to push his Qi onto his eyes, and all he could see was a faint shadow.
“The array’s broken! We’re screwed! ” The last man cried his lungs out.
A breath of cold air blew right at Marcus’ neck. He turned without delay, just in time to face the faint shadow head on.
A long piece of slightly elastic, slippery and powerful muscular tissue scratched his palms. If not for his Qi concentrated on his palms, the tiny pricks and the long, thin edges on the tissue would have left some wounds on his hands.
His move redirected this powerful thrust attack. The muscular tissue scraped the man behind Marcus by his shoulder, ripping a piece of fabric off his jacket.
It was the deliverer’s tongue. With his blocking off the attack, Marcus almost came face to face with the deliverer. The chilliness on his palms, and the foul breaths coming from the deliverer’s mouth made his entire body shiver.
The man screamed again, then finally collapsed onto the ground, completely passed out.
The cloaked shadow shot right at Marcus, a shiny dagger in the right hand and a small set of spiked brass knuckles in the left hand.
“Fuck!” Marcus cursed, as he rolled sideways to dodge the dagger attack of the shadow. Yet when he stabilized his stance, he heard the wheezing and coughing sounds from the last man he was guarding.
The man was pinned on the ground, the deliverer’s long, powerful tongue impaled him by his throat, and the middle arm coming from inside the deliverer’s rib cage was reaching into his mouth.
“He’s beyond saving now.” The shadow’s voice was hoarse and muffled by the cloth facemask: “Join him now. It’d be easier.”