Chương 4: [BL] 4. New World [4]

As soon as Willow aimed Dismember at the lich, its fate was decided. Weightless wind formed around it. The Lich sensed them as its head suddenly looked around. Drafts of wind descended upon their target like a vortex of angry hawks, tearing at the lich's robe in small cuts of dark blade, shredding the monster in rapid, keening whistling. One blade tore through the Lich's hip, staggering it sideways, then another wind tore through its side neck. Its hand and wrist dangled down, as a wind cut its ligaments.

It stumbled backward when its tendon shredded open. None of the cuts could slice a limb as Scythe did, but hundreds of minor cuts lacerated its body, rendering it useless. When the wind stopped, the Lich was already bleeding from hundreds of cuts. Its body folded backward and tumbled down.

[You recover one Dark Wind Rune] [You grow stronger] [Wind Mage—Level 3] Enhancer: [Ravenous Eyes] [1 Sense, 1 Arcanic, 1 Dark Wind Rune] [Ravenous Eyes]—As the Dark Wind's hunger grew stronger, it could sense the most optimal way to cut into foe—your eyes hold this capability if your Arcanic is higher than that of your opponent.

Name: Willow [Wind Mage] Class: [Wind Mage—Level 3] Outfit: [Wind Mage Outfit] Rune: [Dark Wind 3/6] [+ 100%] [3/12] Attribute: [1 Strength, 2 Dexterity, 2 Vitality, 4 Constitution, 7 Sense, 14 Arcanic, 6 Dark Wind Rune] Spell: Scythe [2] [-50%] Dismember [4] [-50%] Enhancer: [Ravenous Wind] [Devour] [Ravenous Eyes] [1 Sense, 1 Arcanic, 1 Dark Wind Rune] Her magic information blurred across her vision. Willow stared for a moment. So that's how to get extra runes.

"Anette! Hey, wake up. Anette? Come on, Anette—" From Anette's frost-laden body, a cold fog trailed upward. Her face was a deathly pale horror that almost resembled the Lich; her mouth hung open, her eyes frozen. Josha stopped for a moment and decided not to accept her death. He shook her body again, and tears streamed down his chin and fell onto her face. Willow did a quick assessment of the situation. The three who had been protecting her were still alive, their bodies encrusted with frost.

Thankfully, none of them turned into a pale statue like Anette did. Shera gripped her shoulder, shrugging off the thin layer of ice around her body. Then she saw the young man who was still tied to the table. His clothes were wet with blood that dripped above him. The Lich had shoved its staff through Moash's chest, making the young man gurgle. When his body dropped and slumped above the other crying man, brittle ice crunched. Josha screamed. He charged with a sword, lashing toward the Lich.

[Cultist Lich—Level 12] The Lich deflected Josha's sword with a swing of its staff. It bother to block him? Losing momentum under his attack, Josha stumbled, but caught himself and, with another ragged scream, launched himself, sweeping his sword in a relentless assault that forced the Lich back.

"Free him!" Willow ordered the other. She did not wait for their response. Willow ran around the ritual table. She hesitated when she pointed her finger at the lich that was still blocking Josha's rage-fueled attack. When the lich tried to create distance and point its finger, Willow did not let it happen. She sent a dark wind straight at the creature, who noticed it and surged forward to dodge it. Should she use dismember?

She remembered Anette told her not to let her rune touch zero, but she never told her the reason. Dammit.

"You!" Willow pointed toward Shera, who flinched.

"What happens if my rune hits zero?"

"What? Why do you—" Shera shut her mouth.

"Your outfit will get undone, and you cannot use your class until your rune recovers naturally."

"Well, I have two classes, so what will happen?" Shera opened her mouth, but nothing came out from the girl's mouth. The Lich got a good parry and knocked Josha's sword up. It glided around him and thrust the staff to his chest, knocking the young man into a roll, and he almost fell into the pond. Then, it raised its finger.

"Well?!"

"I—I don't know!" The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Before the Lich executed Josha, Willow pointed her finger first. The Lich stopped and whirled at her, but her magic already covered the foul creature. Hundreds of winds swivelled around it. In unison, the dark blade of winds descended upon the Lich, tearing its robe, ripping deep into its pale body, slicing and cutting over and over again until it was covered in hundreds of blood scars.

The Lich jerked left and right, gliding aimlessly, and its upper body slumped as its pale skin turned a blood red color. Most of its robe lay tattered and covered in its own blood. Then something was gone from Willow. Her body shone once in the dim light of the waterfall. Her mage outfit disappeared and transformed into a leather outfit that clung snugly across her body. A well of power suddenly zoomed out of her grasp.

Willow could taste it, the Dark Wind Rune, but when she reached for it, it turned into a whisk of ashes. Deep blue cobalt eyes dug into Willow's very being. The Lich lifted its head, and with a weak, bloodied hand, it raised its hand. Her heart started to drum, and Willow reached for another class.

Name: Willow [Guard] Class: [Guard—Level 1] Outfit: [Sheran Village Guard's Uniform] Rune: Attribute: [3 Strength, 1 Dexterity, 3 Vitality, 2 Constitution, 2 Sense, 1 Arcanic] [+5% All Attributes] Spell: Enhancer: [Guard Honor] [Guard Honor activated. +10% All Attributes] Physically, her body had grown stronger. She could feel it become easier to move, and a sudden desire to protect those behind her was born in Willow. The guard uniform manifested around her.

The crest of a gigantic tree was proudly displayed across the apron, and the padded jacket offered her warmth against the trailing frost. One thing that jumped out to Willow was that the Lich actually bothered to block Josha's attack, even though normal attacks shouldn't be able to work. So Willow drew her sword and held it with a shaky hand. She took a deep breath and charged forward. Instead of shooting that gale force at her, the Lich dodged her strike.

Willow's swings were clumsy; each arc came awkwardly, but the Lich still dodged her, and she was able to get it away from Josha, who was still clutching his chest. Maybe the bastard got too weak? Willow pressed on, her feet carrying her into a sprint, and she swung in an overhand chop, only for the Lich to deflect it with his staff, blowing Willow's sword back. She gripped the sword handle tighter and brought it down again to attack.

But by then the Lich had already glided out of her reach, with its back to the waterfall. Fine, then shoot another wind. I will just absorb it. Her neck went stiff when she realised that the Lich might use one of those Frost attacks too. If that's true, then she would be doomed. Should she risk it? Actually, could she even absorb Wind with Devour? Did the enhancement carry over? Willow was about to ask Shera again until she remembered the girl did not know how two classes work. The Lich tapped its staff down.

Willow froze, clutching her sword handle until her knuckles turned white. But nothing happened for a second. Then a hand grasped the edge of the island. Pulling himself out of the pool below, a man with husky green skin climbed up—he wore the Sheran Village Guard's Uniform and the same sword as Willow's. [Undead Guard—Level 8] He has moppy brown hair that fell over his forehead, and he stood about a hundred and ninety centimetres tall. A deep dagger stab gored his chest, revealing a beating green heart inside.

Inside Willow, something shifted. Her hand went into lockdown, and her sword lowered. Not just her hand, but her entire body. What's happening? A tear fell from her eye. Sadness? Distraught?

"Oh," Willow realised.

"Dorian!" Josha rasped. He dragged himself back toward Willow with his hands and hastily stood with his sword ready. The young man was distressed, as proven by his shaking shoulders. Yet, the first thing he did was put his body in front of Willow.

"You don't have to do this, Mera. I will take care of him." Right. Only Anette knew. Willow bit the inside of her cheek. She patted Josha's shaking shoulder and stood her ground beside him. Josha mumbled a sorry at her. The Undead was Mera's late fiancée. Beside the walking corpse, the Lich slowly drifted into the waterfall. When it had submerged, Josha screamed.

"Coward!"

"Let it!" Willow hissed, and the man clenched his teeth. Josha turned, and behind them, four youngsters were ready with their swords.

"Go find a class stone! Quick! Go! Mera, that's fine, right? I know you killed all of them—""Who cares! Do it." Willow said, not understanding what he had just said, but if it helps, then she would not care. The undead stumbled forward, the sound of chain-mail clinking around his neck. The smell of putrid flesh invaded Willow's nose. At first, he looked like he was shambling forward until, in one burst of movement, he lurched and surged into a flurry of swings. A figure launched past Willow and Josha.

"Normund!" Josha cried out before lunging after his friend. [Guard—Level 3] Normund met the Undead's strike, turning aside a blow meant for his head, before the Undead brought down another strike, so he had to sweep the blade aside again. None of Normund's parries was strong enough to open a chance to strike at the Undead, even after Josha joined in. Both of the living men work together wordlessly, surrounding the Undead, forcing their dead friend to handle two attacks from opposite sides.

Willow had a rough idea just how powerful someone on level eight was, so she had to go in. After steeling herself, Willow waded in, blade forward.

"Careful!" Willow's sword was batted aside before she could even commit to a full swing. The Undead stepped forward, pivoted, and brought a deadly sweep toward Willow's side. Another sword suddenly slammed the Undead's sword down, but not its momentum. Willow managed to steady her footing with a bought-in time and blocked the attack, sending a rippling force from her arm to her muscles. Ahead, Josha lunged in on the chances.

The Undead blurred into movement, and in a fraction of a second, it positioned its sword up, welcoming Josha's strike; Josha's attack rebounded, and the man jumped backward.

"Back up! Normund put a hand on Willow's stomach and forced her back, carefully keeping his blade on the undead.

"That Stalwart?" Josha asked, circling the undead who still held the defensive formation.

"Aye, careful. His Reactive Guard charged, thanks to you. You idiots." Josha, despite everything, let out a small smile.

"Mera is at fault; I'm smart enough not to commit."

"Yes," Normund said quietly, throwing a glance with judging eyes at Willow.

"That's what I'm thinking. Mera would not make that mistake." Willow gulped and met that icy stare. His face slowly morphed into one of slight anguish. The young man gave her a small nod after reading the situation.

"Mind explaining?" Willow whispered. He sucked in a breath and went on with the explanation.

"His class is a [Guard]." Willow nodded along.

"Every class has runes, usually one for each class. But some classes only focus on Enhancer; they tend to have no runes at first. Dorian's level is high enough, and he earned the Stalwart Rune—a Rune adds a suggestion to the gate of magic, which is your class. As the name suggests, his class focuses on defence, added to his guard class. Last I heard, he only has three runes, so his class focuses almost entirely on Enchancer—Stalwart Stance is an Enchancer that lets his body assume perfect defense.

Another one of his Enhancers is called Reactive Guard, which allows him to counterattack at blinding speed if anything attacks him—the requirement to activate it is that he successfully defends against three swings and perfectly parries one of the three.

"Oh," Willow grumbled.

"How fast is this 'blinding counterattack'? If he has a rune, that means he also has a spell, right?"

"He does; it's a basic sword—" Dorian's sword glowed with brown light. The light was not blinding like Anette's blue light or the Lich's dagger's green light, but Willow got the sense that it was on purpose, like a predator waiting for prey to enter its home.

"So now, his counter-attack is supported by the spell," Willow said the obvious.

"That's the thing; we've been waiting for this. You hate this trick, don't you, Dorian?" Normund's lips wriggled into a sad smile. He bent down and picked up a rock.

"Get ready to charge in." He threw. The rock sailed toward the Undead until a blurring slash cut it in two. His defense was now down. Willow did not hesitate as she charged in with her sword up.