Chapter 52 –  Pursuit, escape

After Brendel ran out of the room, the Crusader Executioner stood up slowly. Its bones creaked and it twisted its body with effort, and its movements started to become smoother.

Brendel found four different Wind Spirit Spiders climbing out from the ruined auction site. Two of the spiders clearly transmitted they found the target, and pointed to their respective targets.

Brendel was slightly relieved they came back with some success. Judging from their intelligence, they were not able to be certain of what they found was the scroll he needed, and he needed to check it for himself.

One of them was to the south, approximately thirty meters away, while the other was in the west leading to the showroom, approximately fifty meters away.

[The possibility that the item is in the showroom is higher, but the danger is beyond words.]

He thought to himself as he unsummoned two Wind Spider Spirits in order to prevent the card from entering the graveyard. As he mulled over the possibility of the scroll’s location, the Soul Fire in the Crusader Executioner was becoming stronger.

[Ciel is gone. The Thorn of Light is lost somewhere in the wreckage, and the bones in my right arm might be fractured. Even now I don’t feel any sensation in it. The spiders are useless against the enemies here, and the Ring of the Wind Empress is recharging. Even though the fatigue from the Mana Exhaustion is settling in, it’s fortunate that I still have half of my stamina and my HP is considerably full.]

He lumbered across the corridor unsteadily, thoughts blazing through him quickly.

[The cursed crossbow isn’t going to work. Another option is to jump from the second floor’s window and escape to a bustling street… But it’s also possible that the undead monster is able to track me from my Life Ripple. And if that’s the case, I will not be able to outrun it under an open area… The Crusader Executioner has weaknesses, but the absolute difference in strength makes it impossible.]

He could almost hear the undead monster moving again. Brendel shook his head and discarded that idea. It was only for a short moment, but it felt like the auction site a tornado had ran into it. The entire landscape of this area had changed, and once the undead monster came after him, he would not be able to escape more than ten meters.

“I need to find a solution.”

He suddenly spotted a skeleton remains on the ground near him. It was most likely his handiwork, and his heartbeat suddenly spiked.

That was a loud crashing sound. The giant skeleton walked out with its axe dragging behind him on the ground, making a loud din. The ribcage of a Crusader Executioner held a blazing flame within it, and the bones were tempered with the powers of Chaos, making them harder than normal metal. It wore pauldrons, helmet and a armored dress.

It turned its head from left to right, but there was no sound in the corridor. It paused. The Life Ripple that it felt earlier, made it certain the human came through this area, but that feeling had become impossibly faint.

Brendel was lying next to the skeleton.

He lightly exhaled and held his breath. He tried his best to steady his heartbeat, and made his blood to slow down as much as possible to escape detection from the undead monster. The Crusader Executioner indeed slowed down. Brendel’s Life Reaper was becoming weaker in its weak vision. It was a little doubtful, and it slowed its footsteps.

To avoid being deceived.

The youth understood that it was possible for it to see him, and he carefully took the black steel sword from the skeleton soldier’s grasp, lightly and slowly. Even though he felt his heart was slow, it was beating forcefully like a huge drum, and it knocked against his senses. He did not know whether he was feeling things wrongly, but the skeleton was approaching him.

It was no more than ten meters.

At this distance, a single assault from the undead monster would have his body split into two. He turned his head a few times, as if to check whether his head was still on his body.

The undead monster took another step.

Brendel was unable to maintain his composure. Even though he had learned to be calm from the game, he was using his life as a gambling token. He had seen the vanguard in the game before, and it was well known that it was able to penetrate army lines with speed and viciousness. The permanent bloodlust it had made it well known to everyone. The axe it had was four meters long and when it put everything behind the axe, it was over twenty tons of force behind it. Humans had to spend one hundred times the price to face an undead army. In Karsuk’s records, the necromancers led ten of these creatures against an entire legion of Aouine’s infantry and was victorious against them. In that battle, these creatures were like moving fortresses, and the infamous legends they had were well known.

The only humans that could face these creatures were well known elites.

Brendel did not reach that level yet.

When the Crusader Executioner’s gaze went over him, his heart accelerated and the blood in his body started to move. The Life Ripple became clear again, and there was a slight pause in the skeleton’s movements.

It had seen through Brendel’s trick.

Time had only passed for a few seconds.

Brendel felt cold perspiration on his forehead. Any actions that he made would invite an attack, but maintaining this situation would only last a few seconds. He looked at his stats and thought that even a few seconds was better than nothing.

[Even a few seconds more is better than nothing!] He prepared himself and rolled over to the side with force.

The skeleton immediately reacted and raised its axe. For a single moment, Brendel felt the cold reflection on the light coming from the blade onto his face, which turned his face white from the light exposure. The monster covered a dozen meters in an instant, with the axe running against the wall, dragging granite and wood splinters along its path, creating a gaping gash in it.

The walls of the showroom have been fortified, but under the immense strength of the undead monster, it was torn apart like a piece of paper. The swing brought along a burst of wind pressure and torrent of debris towards Brendel, but the youth immediately continued his action from a roll to a leap to the wall. He kicked against the wall and flew in the opposite direction of the swinging axe.

The axe was destined to hit the empty ground, and it landed with a thunderous boom. The floor cracked into countless pieces and sent broken rubble flying everywhere. Brendel landed in between the skeleton’s legs and ran through to get behind it..

The undead monster roared from the depths of its soul and tried to stab him with the axe, but Brendel had already moved away from the area and jumped onto the skeleton’s femur bone. It wanted to move the axe around but the ceiling interfered with its movements time after time. In the blink of an eye, Brendel had already escaped its attack three times.

.

It finally realized something and it used its hand to grab the cunning human

[Fifteen seconds!]

Brendel had lasted long enough.

When the skeleton reached for Brendel with blinding speed using its hand, Brendel jumped to the side and activated the Charge technique just as the cooldown finished. Brendel’s speed made him almost twice as fast as the monster, and he sped to the opposite wall, striking it with his left hand with the activation of Power Break—

Twenty OZ worth of strength struck against the wall.

The black steel sword groaned and broke into pieces. The wall was similarly in cracks as the inner structure was destroyed. Brendel threw away the sword and punched the wall with his left hand, and the wall collapsed to the outside. He jumped into the area and found himself in a room. The Wind Spider Spirit was already waiting for him as it had made through the area from the underground sewers.

[I’m near the target.]

But the undead monster was even closer to him. Brendel did not dare to waste any time, and continued to move forward like a comet with the remaining Charge activation time. The skeleton smashed against the wall, missing Brendel by inches. It roared angrily as it failed to reach him, and he struck the wall with axe until the opening was large enough. Rocks fell all over it as it squeezed through the room.

Brendel ran through the doors, while the skeleton charged behind him like a humanoid bulldozer, destroying the walls. It was a short moment, but it had already destroyed three walls, and it looked like a portion of the building had collapsed from the outside.

Brendel was calculating the distance with burning urgency.

[Two more rooms!]

He took out his dagger and turned around to aim for the skeleton. He threw the dagger against it but it simply knocked it aside. The sharp blade merely left a white scar on its bone, but it suddenly raised its head up. There was a Wind Spider Spirit that launched towards its face, but the monster swatted it away and splattered green fluids onto the ground.

Brendel passed through another room.

The monster raised the axe again as it got closer to him, making him shudder. It looked like he was unable to make it in time.

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