Chapter 47
Max planned on watching what the young man was going to do next. It seems this artifact that he was wielding seemed to be of great value.
As the fight went on, the group of hooded men gained advantage. The young man that they called a "shaman" began to cast a small spell out of a small light blue magic circle. It created 2 spears which erupted from the ground. They looked light blue in color and translucent. It occasionally emits a strange bright blue light pulse from the base of the spear to its tip.
"I think all of you misunderstood something. I am not just a shaman." he said.
Almost immediately, he grabbed the 2 translucent spears and dashed at the group of men. He threw one of them at the closest man at the front of the group. It was then the greatest shock dawned onto both the group of men and Max who was watching from above.
Just as the spear almost left the man's hand, 2 small magic circles enveloped it. Almost immediately, the spear shot out of his hand at a blinding speed. Before the target could even react to the attack, the spear had pierced through his chest and had lodged itself to the ground.
Almost immediately, after the spear started shining and a massive explosion occurred at the point where the spear landed, instantly blasting and killing everyone in a 3 meter radius. Those that survived were the unluckiest. Several hooded men had their arms or legs blasted away while the lucky ones suffered searing burns all over their body and had dirt and dust enter their eyes.
A massive plume of smoke was generated and when it cleared, the shaman was seen gracefully standing on the spear that was lodged onto the ground, perfectly fine with not a single injury to him.
"I repeat again. If you wish to kill me. Bring more people." His smirk returned even wider than before.
"Cocky bastard. Come here. Just me alone is enough to deal with him. Everyone stay out!" A muscular man said. This man was at the front of the explosion but he seemed to be unaffected unlike the rest. Like the shaman, he too was unharmed and not a single bit of damage was seen on him.
Seeing the man, the shaman smiled. "Fine. Come." He said as he pointed the spear at the other man while perfectly standing on the edge of the first spear that he threw.
The shaman jumped up, did a backflip and gracefully landed on the ground and raised his spear. The other man, who was twice shaman's size, flexed his arm as he summoned a bright white shiny sword like weapon.
"Condensed Ki! This guy is definitely someone of high calibre." Max said with shock.
"What is that? It looks like a spirit weapon similar to the Orb or that thing used by the Kreita brat." Kai asked with curiosity.
Hearing this, Max began explaining.
"It's similar. Condensed Ki is something that even SS-Rank Evolvers can't easily create. Only a very rare group of people can create it. It requires extreme levels of skill, concentration and Ki mastery to even create a small ball out of heavily condensed Ki. It's like trying to create a small ball out of air. It requires a lot of pressure and control." Max explained.
He had never seen one made but he was sure it was condensed Ki. The man had made an entire sword out of Ki, which meant he was someone with rich experience and of great strength in Ki based attacks.
Seeing the condensed Ki, the shaman instead laughed at him.
"Fool. Some low levels of Ki won't ever beat me." the shaman said arrogantly.
Almost as if on cue, both of them lunged forward. The shaman and the muscular man exchanged several blows which Max could hardly keep up. The man had been pushed back several times by the shaman and it seemed he was at a disadvantage. However, just then, the man dashed forward. A sharp cut was seen across the shaman's left cheek. It seemed the man had suddenly accelerated.
Max was shocked. He had tricked the shaman into fighting at a slow pace and had enhanced his body with Ki to dash towards the shaman. However, the shaman has great fighting instincts which allowed him to dodge the brunt of the attack. The shaman almost got decapitated.
The blood from the cheek drained from the shaman's cheek and he smiled.
"You're going to regret that soon." The shaman said with an evil smile.
The man started to laugh.
"You lost at speed. You'll die soon enough." the muscular man said with a smile.
The shaman continued pushing the man. But this time it was different. The movements of the shaman were erratic. The muscular man kept changing his speed, sometimes going slow and sometimes charging in at great speeds, however, the shaman moved in a calculated manner that could not be seen from the other man's point of view.
Attacks were exchanged and in a few minutes, blood was splattered all around the battlefield. The man was bleeding from his arms and legs with several cuts all over his body while the shaman had a massive gash on his chest which was bleeding like a waterfall.
"HAHAHAH You are losing! What will you do now?" The muscular man mocked as he raised his sword.
"Calm down. I'm about to show you..." The shaman said as he stabbed the ground with his spear. Right now, the spear was covered with blood from both the man and the shaman.
Almost immediately as he slammed the spear on the ground, he casted a spell which created a small shield, similar to before, and what happened after froze everyone watching in fear.
The spear started to glow right red and almost instantly, a huge bright red magic circle appeared on the ground, covering the entire battleground.
"I don't usually use this, but I think you should see the results of your hard work." the shaman said.
Just then, the bright red spear started to pulse and all the blood that splattered across the ground started to glow. It was then both Max and the hooded men saw it. The blood that splattered across the entire field resembled an entire magic circle...
"So that's why it felt weird to watch him fight... He wasn't fighting properly but just baiting the man to create the magic circle." Max said in awe. The shaman was a genius! Not only was he strong, he was smart and extremely versatile.
Seeing the giant circle, the muscular man screamed in fear.
"Everyone get out of the circle right now!" He shouted.
"Too late. I told you that you would regret it. Now just sit and watch." the shaman said.
Almost immediately after, all the blood started to flow towards the spear. The spear was now bright red and releasing a strange aura. However, almost as if the spell was cancelled, the spear melted and was reduced to a small pool of blood...
"Was that all?" Max thought.
Just then, the small pool of blood started to expand, and it did not stop. The small puddle slowly became a tiny pool and after that it became bigger and bigger. Eventually it covered a huge area creating an entire lake of blood. All the hooded men were now within the area of the pool of blood.
"I present. The blood field." The shaman said with pride.
Just as he said that, the lake of blood started to bubble. Several geysers of blood started to erupt from the ground and soon, the blood geysers turned into massive tornadoes. Several men started to get dragged into the tornado and they were never to be seen again...
The muscular man started to cast condensed Ki onto his body which created a bright shining armor that protected him from the tornados. However, it was strange... it did not target him at all. Only the rest of them were sucked in.
Many screamed in pain and prayed for mercy however, as they entered the tornado, they were quiet, never to be heard again...
Sounds of bones breaking and screams could be heard momentarily but that too became silent soon after. The muscular man was confused. His comrades were being killed one by one powerlessly...
"This... was all because of you. I hope you understand that." A voice said.
Above the blood field, the shaman stood floating. His long brown hair had been dyed a blood red color which was floating upwards, waving in the air, and his eyes were completely red. Several bright red lines snaked all over his body which resembled veins.
The man was about to attack but he couldn't move. Several tentacles made of blood had tied him down and had rendered him unable to move.
"Now... watch as all that you care about, your comrades and friends, will cease to exist. Know that it is all your fault." The shaman said as he descended slowly.
Just then, all the wounds inflicted on the shaman by the man had closed up. It seems the blood field was healing him. The muscular man was scared. He looked at the shaman in fear.
"Please. Spare me." The man begged.
"You need to know. I never spare my enemies." The shaman said with a sinister smile.
Soon, the ground was deadly quiet and almost all was dead but the muscular man. He had heard the sounds of his comrades dying horribly and was visibly broken.
The shaman's form returned to normal and stood there staring at the man.
Just then, the man struck at great speed. All creatures, when cornered will strike with a 100% of strength and the man had moved at a speed that was significantly faster than before. The shaman was not ready for it as he was in front of the man.
"Die you scum! You killed my men!" He yelled one last time.
A small Ki Condensed dagger was formed and the man struck the shaman in the head, instantly stabbing through his eye. The blade completely destroyed his left eye and the shaman screamed in pain.
"Insect!" the shaman said as his hands balled into a fist and almost instantly, several magic circles were formed on his fist. Max had counted almost 20 in one go which had various colors.
The muscular man had stabbed the shaman's eye and had greatly injured him. The man pulled the blade and stabbed the shaman's heart next. The blade had gone through completely, however, the shaman had also struck. His fist which contained more than 20 magic circles had made contact with the muscular man's chest.
Almost immediately, as if time stood still, everything stopped. In the man's eyes, the fist moved in slow motion but he could feel every moment of it. As the shaman's fist made contact with the his chest, the flesh on his body tore away and it went through his body cleanly. He could feel every fiber that was being ripped apart by the fist.
After that, almost as if it was being controlled by the shaman, the flow of time resumed for the man. The fist went in clean and had protruded out of the man's chest but that was only the beginning. Several tree vines, snakes and indescribable things started to crawl out of the wound. The thorny vines started to coil around him and the snakes and strange insects began eating away his body. Almost as if the blood on his body had been frozen, his wound remained open but it never bled.
The pain the man felt was indescribable. He screamed in great pain as the creatures bit into his body. As time went on several horrific things began to occur. His skin began to boil, freeze and patches of purple, green and red had formed all over his body. His skin started to droop and sag. His bones could be heard breaking and just as if the creatures could feel that he was almost dying, they stopped attacking him and vanished.
All that remained of the once strong and huge man was a ragged human being that could not ever move or speak. Even his blood stopped bleeding, making him unable to die from blood loss and the creatures did not even attack his vitals, leaving him healthy. His bones were broken leaving him immobile and his skin has sagged making him easily get stabbed by even a blunt wooden stick.
"Damn insect, You dare! Attack me!? Pathetic!" The shaman screamed in anger and pain. He could only see with one eye and his heart had been stabbed. He was in a dangerous situation. The shaman started to cast several skills at one go. Some of its effect was visible, while most were not.
His body stopped bleeding and a green aura had generated all around his body, but soon, it started to flicker. It was fading!
"N-no, it can't... just a bit more..." the shaman begged. Each time his voice gets weaker.
Just then, the aura completely faded and the shaman started to scream. He had started to feel pain. It seems the shaman had blocked the pain from reaching his body with a spell. But what came next was even more shocking.
The shaman's left hand had started to turn smaller and eventually grainy. Soon, it started to break apart, slowly turning into black dust which floated away into the air and disappeared.
It seems the shaman had been holding himself together with several spells, but why are they coming off? Why did all of a sudden the spell started to weaken and disappear?
Max dove in swiftly. He needed to save this shaman. He seemed strong and was definitely of great value to him. He needs the treasures and the location of the ruin for him to explore it for his time in the Void Star Prison.
Max landed in front of the shaman, who had now lost consciousness.
He needed to fix the shaman's heart. He had a rough idea on how to do it.
"Mist Knight." He called as he summoned his beast spirit.
The Knight started to form from the mist that had emanated from the ground near him. It looked at Max, awaiting his order.
"Turn into a heart. Make sure he lives." Max commanded.
The mist knight immediately went into the shaman's chest and soon, his chest started to move. Next was his eyes. Max brought out 2 fingers. A long beam of concentrated fire formed on his hand. First it was purple, as it contained both Lightning and Fire Ki. He stopped the flow of the Lighting Ki and soon the fire became bright red in color.
Max slowly started to burn the shaman's wound on the eye, which swiftly closed the wound, saving his life for the time being.
He then started to carry the man over his body, but before he left, he saw a bunch of wrist wallets that were on the ground. He needed to take them with him.
"Well, I have no choice. Besides, they are all dead either way." Max said as he carried all the wrist wallets and wore them on his arms and legs. There were too many of them and he needed all the dents he could get.
Soon, his entire arms and left were filled with wrist wallets and there was not enough space to put them on anymore.
"Damn it." Max said as he saw the rest of them.
Just then another idea struck him.
...
It was about 5pm in the afternoon, a boy was seen carrying a limp man on his shoulder as he walked into the stronghold. It was a strange sight. There were a ton of wrist wallets on his arms and legs but what made it worse was that there was even more on the limp man that the boy was carrying. The boy was Max.
Max had attached even more wallets to the shaman's body and had brought them all to the stronghold. He planned on extracting all the Dents!
Max dragged the unconscious shaman back into the house and gave both grandpa Aubre and Cynthia a scare.
Max soon began explaining the story and sure enough, they let the shaman stay. Max placed him onto a makeshift bed that he made and began examining his unconscious body.