As Flin introduced himself fully, I felt a strange shiver run over my body from the inside. It was almost like my whole organism trembled inside me. What was this sudden feeling of fear?..
It didn't feel like my fear... Could it be..?
Before I could do anything, Flin suddenly fired off a deep dark beam towards me - Its colour being similar to my 'Abyss Magic' skills moves.
I quickly dodged the incoming beam, before leaping up high into the air, propelling myself towards Flin a platform I made with 'Abyss Magic' as solid ground.
As I crashed onto the man with a spinning strike, a great amount of force began to be exerted, as Flin succesfully and rather easily stopped my strike.
'Okay- He's no joke!'
I thought, shedding a sweat.
Flin seemingly grinned under his mask, before cracking my scythe. Letting out a surprised gasp, I quickly let go of the weapon, leaping away from the man dressed in robes, before the scythe was shattered into pieces.
[Flin] "Interesting... A weapon with not much physical power, but incredibly powerful poison, capable of killing someone within seconds."
He commented. I shed another sweat - somehow he had perfectly described my weapon and its attributes, based solely on the way it looked and presumably felt as well....
Now that is some next level paying close attention..
[Flin] "Buut, you'll have to try harder than that."
He stated, before creating a group of tentacle things from his back, sending them towards me.
Gasping again, I quickly leapt into the air, before manifesting a Venom Halberd, infusing it with Abyss magic to create the Abyssal Venom Halberd. Afterwards, I began to tear through the black tentacles, using 'Abyss Magic' to create platforms mid air to bounce from.
I remained air borne this way for a couple of moments, before eventually breaking through all of the tentacles. However, I shouldn't have let my guard down, as the moment the last tentacle was severed, a ton more came from the side, striking me and sending flying back.
I managed to catch myself, slowing myself down with the Halberd.
[Flin] "Impressive! No one has managed to last this long against me!"
He stated.
Then, Wezrall suddenly rushed at him, before attempting to punch Flin - only for the powerful punch to be stopped in its tracks, as Flin used even more black tentacles to throw Wezrall away, before restricting his movement.
[Wezrall] "You Mortal Trash—!"
"Wezrall stop! I'll handle this!"
I shouted, stopping Wezrall before he could activate his authority skill. The Wendigo King looked at me confused, however didn't ask anything and simply nodded.
[Wezrall] "Very well my Lord. I shall leave this in your hands."
He replied, breaking free of the restrictions and continuing the rampage upon the small fry members of the Hand Sons.
I then turned to face Flin again, with a dead serious expression. Flin laughed.
[Flin] "Haha! You must be an idiot to not allow the Wendigo King to fight with all he's got! Against me, he is the only thing that could give you a slight chance against me!"
He shouted, before leaping at me at insane speed - such speed that I wasn't able to perceive him fully, even with my 'Overworld Detection' skill.
Before I could react, Flin pummelled me into the air with an uppercut, breaking the halberd in an instant, before catching up to me and punching me again, catching up and punching me back.
He continued like this for a small bit, pummeling me over and over again, while managing to keep me in the air.
While I wasn't taking any heavy damage to my HP, my fake human body was beginning to slowly crumble from the consecutive strikes.
'I have to get an opening..!'
I thought, before scuffing, using 'Shadow Manipulation' to quickly evade his next punch, which seemingly startled him for a bit. Afterwards, I quickly leapt out of a small shadow that was located on his robe, before kicking him to the ground.
Flin tanked the kick, using his arms as a method of blocking, however still crashed into the ground creating a crater in it.
However.... He was still standing.
I landed softly onto the ground myself, before looking towards him and sharpening my gaze.
Master, the Human Host you are using right now only has around 68% Durability left.
If you don't end this soon, it could get messy.
'Yeah, I know... Give me a minute.'
I replied.
Flin laughed again.
[Flin] "Outstanding! Marvelous! Absolutely incredible! You managed to break free from my attacks and push me down to the ground! Hahaha!"
He applauded me.
[Flin] "Such a shame that you're an enemy. Your power would be truly appreciated in the Hand Sons of Tritery."
"Like hell would I join."
I bit back at him, before taking a battle ready position. Flin laughed again, before sending even more black tentacles towards me from his back.
I scuffed, before easily tearing through them with my bare hands alone.
"That trick won't work—"
Before I could finish, I was knocked back by him once more. It appeared that he had propelled himself towards me using his tentacles as stilts of sorts to gain extra speed....
What an annoyingly clever move, I will give him that.
[Flin] "You're problem is that you get overconfident so fast, that it makes you so easy to predict. Honestly, take my advice and don't underestimate your opponents."
He stated, laughing afterwards.
I smirked.
"Well... Thanks for the lesson, but I think you should take your own advice."
[Flin] "Hmmm? Whatever does that—"
Before he could finish, I used 'Shadow Manipulation' to quickly bind down his feet, to which he gasped. Before he could escape, I summoned a giant shadow beast from his own shadow, before having it knock Flin into the wall, creating a shockwave of shaking, to which even Wezrall stopped and looked over to see what was happening.
Flin coughed slightly, before falling to the ground. He laughed lightly.
[Flin] "Aha.. Well played... I did not see that one coming..."
He stated rising to his feet and looking at the Shadow Beast I had just summoned. I quickly got up myself, sprinting towards the beast and leaping onto its right shoulder, before looking at Flin.
[Flin] "That's certainly an impressive beast.... An S-Rank Shadow Beast.... Incredible."
He stated, before laughing.
[Flin] "But it's lacking!"
He shouted, using his black tentacles to attempt and restrain the beasts movement. The tentacles wrapped all around the beast, managing to wrap around even me and restrain me.
Flin laughed.
[Flin] "With one move, I am able to restrain both it and its master. So really, what should I be afraid of? One lucky strike? Please—"
"Maybe you should get a re-evaluation on my summoned beast, cause you see..."
I began, as one of the tentacles teared into pieces, causing Flin to gasp lightly.
I then smirked, looking at him with a smug face.
"This thing ain't an S-Rank..."
I continued as the tentacles began to break off faster and faster, causing Flin to panic as he attempted to bind the beast again and again, only for his tentacles to break again.
"This guy is an SS-Rank, which is also known as the Catastrophe Rank."
I finished, as the beast easily teared through the tentacles and roared loudly, shaking the building. Flin backed up a bit.
[Flin] "Meaningless bluff!... An SS-Rank Shadow Beast would never listen to a human!"
'Then it's a good thing, I ain't a human.'
I commented in my mind, before gesturing the beast to attack.
The Shadow Beast roared towards Flin, before rushing at him. Flin seemingly panicked, as he used his tentacles to ascend upwards to match the beasts height. Afterwards, he unleashed a powerful aura, that sent an immense amount of pressure through the whole place.
Warning Master, that an is Authority skill.
[Authority of Void Lord]
I see...
Well, it ain't gonna stop this guy.
Flin was then consumed by a massive black darkness, which formed into a gigantic beast form, before roaring at me and my Shadow Beast.
[Flin {Authority Unleashed}] "Witness, the Authority granted to me by Lord Tritery!"
He shouted in a deep, heavily distorted voice. However, before he could actually do anything, the Shadow Beast crashed him into the wall, before chomping into his left shoulder, causing Flin to roar in pain, before attempting to use his tentacles to get the Shadow Beast off.
By my calculations, this form would be classified as an A, maybe S-Rank threat by the Monster scaling.
'Which means he is unable to even match my SS-Ranked Shadow Beast.'
I finished the Ancient Ones comment in my mind, before smirking and leaping off of the Shadow Beasts shoulder.
'Ancient One, prepare the use of 'Master of Black''
As you wish.
[Master of Black] - an Arc Skill I obtained when I evolved again. It was a new one, so I wanted to test it out. And what better test subject than someone who is able to tank it?
I placed both of my hands together in a praying pose, before closing my eyes, as the Shadow Beast and Flin continued their struggle.
Then, pure black mist began to flow around me, coiling around my whole body.
A moment later, a pair of pure black, giant wings sprawled from my back. As I opened my eyes, they glowed black with dark mist coming from them. Afterwards, I formed a giant, pure black spear, before launching it at Flin.
"Shadow Beast, retreat!"
I ordered.
The Shadow Beast immediately let Flin go, before leaping back. Flin was confused for a second, however before he managed to do anything, he was impaled straight through the chest - more specifically, the heart by the giant, pure black spear I had thrown.
After that, the spear glowed, before causing a giant tornado of black mist to engulf Flin, constricting over and over, and over again, until it was just a small black sphere.
Then, it exploded, releasing all that built up energy, causing a giant blinding white flash to engulf the room.
I slowly descended to the ground, as the pure black wings disappeared and the effects of my Arc skill wore off. I looked towards where once stood the giant, beast version of Flin, before beginning to approach it.
Inside a small crater, was Flin, breathing heavily and greatly injured, the tentacles on his back unable to even move a millimetre.
[Flin] "How the hell.... Just what are you..?"
He asked as I approached.
I looked down at him, as the giant Shadow Beast joined my side, walking up and standing behind me, growling as it saw Flin.
"Just an Adventurer."
I replied, before crossing my arms.
"Now talk - What is the whole operation here?"
I asked.
Flin remained silent, not saying a word and simply breathing heavily. Then, a couple moments later, he smirked, looking up to me.
[Flin] "I'm not saying anything."
He replied.
Suspecting that he may try something, I attempted to order the Shadow Beast to constrain Flin, however he swiftly turned into a black goo like substance, before sinking into the shadow below him.
'Damnit- he got away...'
I thought, making the giant Shadow Beast disappear, before sighing. Wezrall then approached me from behind.
[Wezrall] "My Lord, I've cleared out all the remaining members I could find. We should now go look for the villagers."
I turned to face Wezrall before nodding.
Even though I was dying for answers on what they were doing here and what not, we simply did not have the time to be wasting it.
We should just rescue the villagers and get out of here.
"Alright, lead the way to the final room."
I told Wezrall, before recalling all of the summoned shadow beasts. Wezrall nodded, before walking out of the room we were in and back into the hall.
Watching him slowly leave, I hesitated to follow for a second.
Something about that fight with Flin had left me... Unnerved.... But why?
I felt this strange feeling of..... Guilt, fear and worry - all combined into one and yet.... None of them were my feelings.
[Wezrall] "Master, are you coming?"
I shook my head lightly.
"Coming!"
I called out back to Wezrall, before rushing to catch up to him. I don't know what these feelings are, but I've got a nagging feeling that they are connected to the Ancient One.
Meanwhile,
Somewhere else.....
Flin emerged from a shadow, inside a small room - one with not a lot of space inside it to be used for anything. He breathed heavily, as he used the furniture in the room to stand on two feet, stumbling towards a chair, before sitting down, exhaling heavily.
For a few moments, he remained silent, before smirking and laughing.
[Flin] "My, my.... Whoever that was, was truly admirable... Such power, such strong sense of justice.... Such..."
He closed his eyes.
[Flin] "....Hatred.."
Flin laughed like a maniac that had lost his mind, before looking towards a ripped picture, which was on the wall on the otherside of the room.
He smirked lightly, getting up and walking over to it, grabbing the picture and ripping it off the wall, before limping back to the chair.
After sitting back down, he looked at the picture, a wide grin on his face.
[Flin] "So... You're finally back in the mortal realm are you...."
He sharpened his gaze onto the photo.
[Flin] "Dear brother..."
Flin finished, before beginning to laugh maniacally. Looking at the ripped picture, it was one with Flin standing next to another individual, whose face had been torn off the photo.
However, based on the clothes alone, it looked an awful lot like a familiar figure....
Someone,
Who Faofa was quite well acquainted with, without even knowing about it that well.
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Next Chapter:
81. -
"Case Closed, Back to Ordial."