novelraw Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63 : Chapter 63
Chapter 63. Corrupted Cultists
The instant the order was given, the ground trembled violently.
There was no earth-shaking explosion, only more than a dozen extremely muffled popping sounds from deep underground.
Immediately afterward, a huge section of the leather workshop’s floor visibly collapsed, turning into a massive pit spewing black smoke and sparks.
Most of the violent energy shockwave was absorbed by the thick earth and the cellar’s structure.
In the end, it only became a scorching wave of air that burst out from the pit.
The surrounding houses merely had their windows humming from the vibration.
Not even a single pane of glass shattered.
A perfect precision strike.
“Beautiful.”
Esmeralda snapped her fingers in satisfaction.
“When we get back, we can say a few more nice things about that brat Logaris. This thing really is impressive.”
The Shadow Guards looked at the masterpiece before them with lingering shock in their hearts.
So this was the power of Magitech.
It was simply… efficient.
Just when everyone thought the mission was over—
BOOM!
The center of the collapsed ruins suddenly exploded outward.
A charred figure in tattered clothing charged out from underground in a miserable state.
The evil energy radiating from him far exceeded that of the previous cannon fodder, so dense it was almost tangible.
That energy was cold, decayed, and carried a nauseating stench of blood.
The smile on Esmeralda’s face faded, and her silver-gray eyes narrowed.
She had not expected that this net would haul in a bigger fish than planned.
“Well now, there is still a big one left alive.”
She licked her lips.
Not only was she not nervous, she was excited instead.
The surviving cultist had obviously noticed her as well.
His venomous eyes locked onto her, and a beast-like growl emerged from his throat.
The next second, he turned and tried to flee.
Esmeralda’s figure instantly vanished from where she stood.
She became a blurred purple shadow and appeared directly in his escape path, cutting off his retreat.
She drew two crimson daggers from her waist, their blades gleaming with a sinister light under the firelight.
“Where do you think you are going, old man?”
When the cultist saw that his retreat was blocked, a frenzied killing intent flashed in his eyes.
He no longer tried to run.
Instead, he suddenly clasped his hands together, condensing a dark red sphere of corrosive energy in his palms before hurling it straight at Esmeralda.
“Die!”
Esmeralda did not retreat.
She advanced instead, lowering her body and crossing her twin blades in front of herself.
She moved like a venomous serpent gliding across the ground, her speed reaching the extreme.
Clang!
The daggers collided with the energy sphere, producing a piercing grinding sound.
Green energy splashed outward and landed on the ground, corroding even the hardened frozen earth into smoking pits.
Esmeralda felt a tremendous force travel through her short swords, making the web between her thumb and forefinger go numb.
Fifth-Tier.
As a peak Fourth-Tier expert, she understood better than anyone the gulf represented by an entire major realm.
When it came to stealth, Esmeralda could even hide beneath the nose of a Sixth-Tier opponent.
But in direct combat, she was no different from an ordinary Fourth-Tier fighter.
Even though this cultist had been severely wounded in the explosion and his strength was greatly reduced, he was still not an opponent she could easily take down.
All she could do was hold him in place.
“We have a tough one!”
Seeing the situation, one Shadow Guard immediately pulled out a communication stone and spoke rapidly in a low voice.
“The captain has engaged a senior cultist! Suspected Fifth-Tier! Requesting support! Coordinates: abandoned leather workshop in the Lower City!”
Esmeralda had no time to care about what her subordinate was doing.
All of her focus was on the enemy in front of her.
When the cultist failed to land his first strike, his assault became even more frenzied.
Streaks of corrosive rays and poisoned bone spears continuously shot from his hands, blasting the surrounding ruins full of holes.
Esmeralda, meanwhile, fully displayed the advantages of a shadow assassin.
Her figure flickered constantly through the shadows of the ruins.
Every time she appeared, the crimson daggers in her hands stabbed toward a vital point from an extremely vicious angle.
In an instant, the two were locked in fierce battle.
The clash of energy and the ringing of metal echoed ceaselessly above the ruins.
As the fierce exchange continued, Esmeralda’s brows drew tighter and tighter.
This man was far too slippery.
His body seemed boneless, always evading her fatal attacks at unbelievable angles.
Moreover, the evil energy around him was highly corrosive to her weapons.
Every time she blocked, she could feel Crimson Lady letting out a faint cry.
If this continued, even if she managed to kill him, her beloved blades would suffer serious damage.
This was bad.
A sharp light flashed through her eyes, and she decided to stop holding back.
Yet just as she was about to use one of her trump cards, the cultist suddenly let out a strange laugh.
He abruptly retreated, widening the distance, and formed a bizarre hand seal before his chest.
“In the name of the great Lord of Decay, with flesh as the sacrifice, let the curse descend!”
As the cultist chanted madly, the scorched skin on his body began to crack apart inch by inch.
Large patches peeled away.
Beneath it was not flesh, but masses of writhing black mist.
His body was twisting and mutating.
His fingernails turned black, long, and thin, like poisoned daggers.
As they sliced through the air, they produced a hissing sound like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.
A rotten aura several times stronger than before erupted violently.
“Oh, hell!”
Esmeralda’s expression changed completely.
This old bastard was burning his own life as fuel to unleash something big.
She did not hesitate for even a moment.
Her feet exploded with force, and her entire body shot backward like a purple shadow.
But the cultist was even faster.
He had sacrificed part of his life force in exchange for an overwhelming burst of power.
“Die!”
Amid that hoarse roar, the cultist’s figure blurred for an instant.
The next moment, he appeared directly in front of Esmeralda.
His black claws, wrapped in a dark aura capable of corroding everything, tore straight toward her side.
Too fast!
Esmeralda’s pupils contracted.
She forcibly twisted her body and crossed her twin daggers to block.
Rip!
A grating sound that set teeth on edge rang out.
The black claw scraped across her leather armor.
Although most of its force had been deflected, the remaining energy still left a scorched claw mark on the armor.
A searing pain shot from her side, making her suck in a cold breath.
That damned corrosive energy had actually penetrated her specially made leather armor, which was enhanced with magical resistance.
“You have some tricks, you filthy old bastard.”
Esmeralda’s mouth remained sharp, but alarm bells were already screaming in her mind.
She was forced to widen the distance, relying on a shadow assassin’s ghost-like speed and shadow movement to dodge constantly between the ruins.
But the cultist now clung to her like a disease in the bones, refusing to let go.
The corrosive energy spheres he fired no longer traveled in straight lines.
They now possessed a tracking effect, shadowing her every movement and forcing Esmeralda into an increasingly miserable retreat.
She had now fallen completely into a disadvantage.
As a shadow assassin, what she excelled at was the art of killing with a single strike, not fighting a direct positional battle head-on.
Especially not against a mad cultist one entire tier above her.
“Captain!”
The surrounding Shadow Guards watched with anxiety, but they all knew very well that charging into a battle of this level would only get them killed.
Esmeralda’s breathing began to grow hurried.
Every time she blocked, she could feel Crimson Lady letting out a faint cry.
The sheen on the blades was visibly dimming.
If this dragged on any longer, then even if she won in the end, her treasured daggers would be half ruined.
That would hurt more than being killed herself.
“This is bad.”
A ruthless light flashed in her eyes, and she decided to use a forbidden technique regardless of the cost.
And at that very moment—
A shrill screech tore through the night sky.
Immediately afterward, a dazzling thunder-blue light ripped through the darkness and arrived in an instant at a speed beyond visual reaction.