Chapter 201 Lead The Way
Azalea moved in a sharp and precise manner as she practically ran circles around Savage. Every time Savage was positive that he had managed to predict her next course of action, his spear would be introduced to a mere phantom of Azalea herself.
The times that he did come close to striking her, Azalea would always just barely evade his attack as if she luck was on her side. However, Savage knew that luck was something that happened once or twice, not five or more times. If that was truly the case, then he would be the unluckiest person ever!
"You're quick, I'll give you that! But your attacks are like little insect bites!" Savage said as he roared with laughter and thrust his spear into the ground beneath him creating a small crater and a concentrated explosion around him.
BOOM!
Azalea retreated to a safe distance and escaped his attack range. Although she hated to admit it, Savage was correct. Even though the gear she had wasn't bad, it could not compare to Savage who was currently wearing a full set of rare equipment.
To make matters even worse, he was a tanky plated class that could take a considerable amount of punishment. While it was true that Azalea possessed some armor piercing moves, it was not enough to take down Savage immediately.
In all honesty, Azalea's main focus was on the PVP aspect of RML and she did not spend nearly as much time as other players on the PVE portion. Therefore, her overall equipment, while being still above average, was a bit lacking compared to someone like Savage.
However, even with her current set of circumstances, she was still able to easily deal with someone like Savage. Though a part of her wished she had a better pair of daggers so that it would not take so many strikes to end this fight. After all, it was similar to hitting a training dummy to her, except the stationary training dummy was faster in her opinion.
But luckily, Azalea still had something up her sleeve that was just for players with high levels of defense and HP.
Azalea's daggers became coated in a milky aura as her body sunk into her own shadow. A few moments later, the ground below Savage was covered in complete and total darkness. The darkness stretched five meters in range and if one looked down into the darkness, it was as if they were staring into an endless abyss.
Savage had no idea what kind of effect the darkness would have on him, however, he would not simply stand inside of it and wait to find out. He leaped back in order to remove himself from the range of the great shadow, but what he did not anticipate was that it would chase right after him. Every time he moved to one place, the darkness would be dragged right along with him.
After trying a few times and realizing that it was useless, Savage abruptly halted his movements.
"Do you plan on playing hide and seek forever, or are you going to come out and fight like a man?!" Savage said as he narrowed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. It was as though he had forgotten that he was not fighting against a man.
Before he could get another word out, Savage felt something pierce into his lower back area, but by the time he turned to look there was nothing there. Almost right after the first strike hit, two more strikes struck his body, except this time he could actually see where the attacks came from.
The attacks were made by arms formed out of shadows. In each hand of the shadow was a dagger covered in a milky aura. However, Savage was only able to catch a glimpse of the attack as the shadow arms moved at an incredible speed.
"Shield Guardna!" Savage yelled out as a protective shield enveloped him. Shield Guardna was a skill that allowed the user to gain a temporary shield equal to a certain percentage of their maximum HP, while also increasing their defensive stat.
Savage released the chain wrapped around his arm and grabbed the middle part of it before slamming it down into the darkness beneath him. Unfortunately, the attack did not seem to help at all, nor did it halt the incoming assault.
But, it was not over just yet. The moment after the two strikes went out, another three followed in rapid succession. Then four strikes at the same time... five strikes... six strikes! The arms made of shadows flew out without restraint as they attacked Savage from every possible angle without mercy.
By the time the six strikes came around, the protective barrier that was protecting Savage shattered to pieces. However, the assault still continued to seven strikes and then eight strikes! But, after the set of eight strikes, the shadow arms no longer attacked and the darkness itself dissolved into nothingness.
Ding!
As soon as the last hit of the eight strikes pierced into Savage's body, it began to turn into particles which was the clear sign of his defeat.
Woosh!
"Heh, I couldn't even get a clean hit on you. Don't worry, next time will be different. I'll find a way to crush that speed of yours! Ahahaha!" Savage said before he finally vanished. Unexpectedly, his voice was filled with determination instead of hatred or anger.
Azalea sprang out of the shadow on the ground as she flipped through the air a few times before landing gracefully on the tip of her toes before returning her daggers to the sheaths hidden under her forearms. She had just finished using one of the skills unique to her class called Dance of Fusillades. In total, she struck Savage 36 times in just four seconds! That was an average of nine attacks per second!
"I'm still stuck at eight..." Azalea muttered to herself as she had a slight look of disappointment written on her face.
"Amazing..." Luna was speechless as she watched Azalea's fight. Even though she possessed the Superior Perception skill from having consumed the Five Cycles Pill, she was still only able to see a fleeting silhouette of Azalea's movements.
"An interesting skill. It's a shame that I did not get a chance to witness it firsthand." Izroth said as he walked over towards Azalea along with Luna.
"I could say the same for the skill you used not too long ago, teacher. However, even if I used the Dance of Fusillades, I doubt it would have been effective against you. Keeping up with your speed while trying to maintain control over the skill is not yet possible with my current insufficient mastery of it." Azalea replied in a humble manner.
If Savage could hear her words now, he would want to cough up blood. She called that insufficient mastery? What a joke!
"Besides, the end result of our fight would not have changed." Azalea said as she narrowed her eyes. She felt the overwhelming killing intent pouring out of Izroth's sword not too long ago. It was even more overbearing than the strike he used against her towards the end of their encounter.
For some reason, she felt that Izroth was holding back, however, she did not know that it was still by so much. But, this just made her even more determined to train under him. While she may not be able to learn the same skills as him, she believed that there was still much she could learn. After all, she had already picked up quite a few things from their previous short battle.
"Fight?" Luna said with a puzzled look on her face. Now, she was even more confused than before. She was still unclear on what kind of relationship Izroth and Azalea had.
Izroth noticed that Luna appeared to be lost with the conversation going on between him and Azalea.
"I'll explain everything." Izroth said in a reassuring manner. In return, Luna gave a slightly embarrassed helpless smile.
...
Around ten minutes later...
"So basically, after the two of you fought and then Azale-" Luna was speaking, however, she was cut off by Azalea.
"Wraith." Azalea said in a stern tone as a reminder to Luna. In her exact words, "The only one allowed to call me Azalea is my teacher." is what she said.
Luna shook her head inwardly as she continued and said, "Right... And then Wraith asked to train under you. You were on your way to this place called the Blazing Tempris Domain to potentially acquire a higher grade fire core when you received my message and happened to be close by. Then, the rest I was there for."
"That is the sum of things." Izroth said. He had informed Luna of all the events that happened after he left the Mystical Realm Palace. He even included the part about the information he received from He Huian.
"It sounds like you've been really busy lately." Luna said. However, there was a hint of displeasure hidden away in her voice. But, she herself failed to notice it as it was something that happened on more of a subconscious level.
Izroth gave a carefree smile and said, "I am still heading to the Blazing Tempris Domain. I do not know how dangerous it will be, so it would help if I had a good healer along."
Luna nodded and replied in a pleasant tone of voice, "In that case, I'll let my friends know that I'll be running a little late. I'm sure they will be quite satisfied with the way things ended."
Indeed, Luna knew her friends well and once she told them about what happened after they died, all of them were filled with joy. Even if they died, they now had the satisfaction of knowing that their lives had been properly avenged.
Of course, they all hounded Luna for the video recording of the fight and she sent it over to them. However, no one knew at that moment how much of an uproar that video would cause in the future.
Luna also sent a message to Zi Yi earlier after the finding had already ended to let her know that she was okay. Although she could tell that Zi Yi was dejected since she had already left Amaharpe and gave up her reading time to rush and help Luna.
Zi Yi was already on her way to the coordinates, however, she turned back after finding out that the problem was resolved. Even though she felt a bit dejected, Luna could still tell by her words that she was glad that she was safe.
"And you?" Izroth said as he looked over towards Azalea.
"You have still not accepted my request to train under you. Therefore, I will follow you until I've proven myself." Azalea said without the slightest bit of hesitation to her voice.
'It appears that she does not plan on giving up any time soon. Very well, I shall find a proper way to test that determination.'
"Then, I think it's best if you lead the way." Izroth said. Azalea was the one carrying a high-quality Realm Chart that included the Blazing Tempris Domain while he only possessed loose information at best about its location. Therefore, Izroth decided that in order to save time and make it there without issue, it would be best if Azalea led the way.
"Understood, teacher." Azalea responded as she removed the Realm Chart from her inventory and opened it. There, one could see Amaharpe with even the entire Towering Oak Forest mapped out, the Blazing Tempris Domain, and some other locations of villages or towns in different areas. It really was incredibly useless to have compared to simply depending on secondhand information and coordinates.
"We're still about one hour, at walking pace, away from the gateway into the Blazing Tempris Domain according to this Realm Chart." Azalea said.
"Then we'll leave at once." Izroth said.
Izroth, Luna, and Azalea began to make their way towards the Blazing Tempris Domain. However, the three of them were unaware of the wall that they would face before even stepping a single foot into the Blazing Tempris Domain.