There were exactly 27 corpses in front of Ashe. Three former Binders and the rest were Seers. The enemies were weak, but the numbers made things challenging.
For the dead, they had good body coordination and speed. They targeted the boy and headed straight for him. Fortunately, none of them had Mark, and Ashe wasn't doomed to be overwhelmed.
[2.01% - 1.92%]
He had more than enough fragments for the barrier and didn't wait for the corpses to merge and come to him. He stomped his foot on the ground and took the initiative himself. It wouldn't take more than two seconds to kill them one by one, but if they all got together, then he would have to be more careful.
When he reached the first Seer, Ashe cut off its neck with one swift motion, and when he approached the second, he didn't hesitate and stabbed it in the stomach with his sword. The hall was enormous and allowed him to run. He singled out a single opponent and approached them first.
He retreated and chose a new target as soon as he had killed one.
Of the original 27 monstrous creatures, 19 remained. Ashe didn't use Protection to achieve this success, but that would change now. Since the remaining corpses were close to each other, if he got to at least one, the others would also dash at him. There was also a possibility of him getting surrounded.
'Well, let's see what you can do.' Ashe thought and fearlessly rushed towards them. He hit the first one in the chest, and the second one fell from the side. Waiting for it to collapse, Ashe made a turn and cut off the corpse's neck, which was wrenched behind him.
Meanwhile, everyone got closer to him. The barrier began to concentrate in small sections. The places they were attacking from and the number of Shards also increased. As a result, he blocked all attacks that he couldn't or wouldn't avoid.
The problem with high-intensity battles was that attacking while protecting the body required great concentration and observation skills. Ashe didn't experience this constraint, since countless practices had honed his technical abilities.
Every second he swung his blade, then pulled his body at specific angles. Sometimes forward, sometimes backwards, and occasionally to the side. Finally, he had to perform particular movements with the sword and didn't stand in one place. Among the corpses, some of which he had already killed and some still to be killed, made him tremble.
He was a breeze that turned into wind. Ashe ran among them unnoticed, with a speed that surprised even him.
Out of the 14 corpses, there was only one former guard.
The Binders' physical stats were superior to those of humans, but without Mark, they wouldn't have been a problem for Ashe. They tried to grab him with their bare hands, and who knew what they were up to?
They weren't allowed to do that. 'Ezio, thank you for that sword.' He thanked the man in his mind. It was his sword that enabled him to carry out the massacre he was about to commit. Without it, things would have been different and more troublesome.
But would the boy lose without any weapons? His self-confidence had grown tremendously in recent days, so much so that when faced with the remaining nine corpses, he wondered if he could defeat them without a sword.
His ego had grown. He didn't even need to kill all 27 corpses. A few would have been enough, and he could have fled towards the doors and avoided the danger, but he didn't.
He liked fighting; that's one thing, but running away from danger wasn't his style. Especially when he had a high chance of dealing with it. The Chancellor's case was an exception; he was too big a behemoth for Ashe to take.
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There was another factor. He also didn't want to simply leave the corpses. Turning them into fragments seemed to give them peace. Being disintegrated into the prophecy and advancing to live in his being was also motivating for him. As if he could accept their hopes and ultimately even seek revenge.
This thought was more about his beliefs, his ideas, and his desire than anything real. Therefore, his sword didn't tire, his body didn't stop, and his eyes, which studied the entire space, were used to their fullest.
His other senses also developed, especially hearing and touch; even the slightest change in the air informed his ears. It was so detailed that, along with a sense of direction, he could also roughly imagine the shape. Added to this was the ability to touch, which recorded the temperature changes experienced on his skin and, together with the rest of his tools, painted a picture in his head.
An intuitive image that seemed to see the future a quarter of a second in advance. The radius of his senses was still small, but the progress was enjoyable.
6 corpses.
Ashe didn't stop waving like the wind. One swing of the weapon led to a fall to the ground.
3 corpses.
His worry about cleanliness was long forgotten. Both he and his sword remained unrecognisable as the sharpness didn't betray him.
1 corpse.
The boy's breathing quickened in front of the last Seer. A smile was painted on his face, his lungs were burning, his heart was racing, but he was still far from exhausted. Ashe didn't drop his sword, raised it before the only remaining opponent, and stabbed it in the core. He didn't hide from that either.
Standing, he looked at the fragments flying before him. Only blood remained, the last trace of what had happened here.
[2.02% - 1.04%]
His total fragments decided to increase by 0.01%. The world pointer was still motionless. After receiving the last fragment, the images of the battle in Ashe's head didn't fade. It was as if he were still fighting and saw what had happened. It implied that the entire prophecy was praising him to do more, not to stop and act again.
Then he glanced around the hall. There was no sign of life or death. He had to do one more thing before he left the building. He separated the fragments and chose to put the report in it. Ashe tried, and his will came true.
The fragments contained information about the Unbound. An event that wasn't an accident. It also noted the death of the entire temple. Then he placed these fragments near the pillars. It would not be difficult to discover it, and whoever found it would know about the situation that took place here.
Only then did he go to the door, although he didn't let his guard down. Ashe silently walked up the stairs. Passed the lock, and silently walked to the main entrance. He noticed the passage of time in light; he had to return to the city, but he still had a mission to complete.
The place he wanted to go wasn't that far away. His exhausted and dirty condition was noticeable, so he first washed himself in the river he found. There was a small settlement near the city. His mission was to catch a running mushroom. Ashe had never seen a plant like it before, although the alchemist had announced his request to the guild.
These mushrooms were often seen near the cliffs of the region. A waggon would also arrive in the morning, so the boy had all night to catch the mushrooms.
The mission required him to seize three creatures, each extra mushroom yielding 3 green orbs. Arriving at the destination, he carefully tried to see if there was anything suspicious. At first, with no luck.
Then his senses were met with a change in the breeze. This fluctuating movement didn't feature patterns. It was more alive. Ashe instantly became interested and went in the approximate direction his judgement indicated. When he arrived at the place, he noticed a trail of damp earth.
Ashe followed it and saw a 40-centimetre mushroom spinning in a circle. It was practically no different from a normal mushroom; it simply rolled on the ground. Floating on the surface, it lacked legs.
As soon as the boy approached, it immediately bent down, made no sound, and ran. Ashe was quick to follow. He had no difficulty determining the trajectory of the creature, and, along with the mushroom's slow speed, he was better at choosing a path.
To capture it, it was necessary to cut the stem. First, he restrained the mushroom and pushed it to the bottom with his sword. The plant, or if it was an animal, accepted the enticement without protest. Although it showed no signs of death, it simply continued to live motionless.
At a similar pace, he caught 5 mushrooms. The sun would rise soon, but he had to wait a little longer. Because of that, he used that time to visit the settlement and buy new clothes, spending the stone orbs. He burnt the old clothes on the ground near the rocks.
None of his actions left traces of fragments or even shards. He didn't want to enter Zalindar with blood that came out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, the time for the carriage approached, and he went to the meeting place. He comfortably settled into it, wearing brand-new clothes. Then he looked at the sun rising on the horizon and returned to the city satisfied.
He knew that he would also learn new information about the condition in Stone Village. At the same time, he hid more valuable fragments in the Sugar Temple, and in a few hours, the whole city would be plunged into new chaos.