Chapter 989: The Trembling

Artazun leapt from side to side, moving great distances in mere instants and without any momentum to help her, simply pouncing around to evade each and every slash of dust thrown her way, everywhere they landed, the dust would momentarily spread around into small clouds as the area struck would be ravaged as everything within reach of it would be converted into dust as well.

This innate ability was very aggressive and destructive one, fitting for its wielder, who did not linger on for too long as he saw that his simple flying slashes were far from enough to catch the priestess, but before he could switch things up, Artazun finished channeling another bestial spell, with a roar, countless small flying beasts manifested all around them, each of them homing in on the wingless corvid.

The lioness used this as a distraction to jump back and channel her potent bestial energy into a single attack, standing still and taking time that she wouldn’t have without a proper cover, this extra time only amount to a handful of seconds, as swiftly, like the laws of gravity did not apply to him, Prikrip seemed to deliver a spinning slash through the masses of creatures of pure energy, releasing dust alongside with him before making a wide movement that sent the summoned dust flying all around him, destroying all of the creatures that were around him in just an instant.

The dark blue cloak fluttered uncontrollably, like a maddened beast, Prikrip, performed another attack immediately after, his next swing somehow allowing him to launch himself forward, spinning as he soared through the air, his blade about to crash into the priestess.

Before that could happen, she let out another roar, this one enhanced by the primal energy earned from diligent beast worship, forming something so potent, that it felt like the air was turning heavy and solid, reducing the corvid’s momentum to zero before launching him away.

Rather than crashing elegantly into the ground, he once again demonstrated abnormal agility whilst in the air, swiftly repositioning himself and planting his blade into the ground, leaving behind a wide gash through the soil of several meters in length.

The wide cloak blew backward as he came to grinding stop, his hood slipping off the skull, reversing his grip upon the blade to pull it out of the ground- Artazun was already upon however, fearlessly going into close quarters against him, landing a swipe of her claws against his beak and skull, sending shards of ancient bone flying through the air.

‘Too shallow’ she commented to herself, even though she had rushed forward and not had the time to enhance to first strike, it was remarkable that the blow only dealt so little damage, however, the second swipe was empowered.

Unbothered by getting struck across the face, Prikrip retained his attention, and pulled out his blade, using its broad side to block the second blow, his talons firmly anchoring himself in place, preventing his opponent from sending him away as he channeled dust through the blade.

Artazun stepped back before the dust could engulf her, the two combatants basically returning to the same situation they had begun the fight in, their confrontation was already fierce, and the battle had barely begun, a distance away, the livings warriors were struggling against the minor lord’s troop, having to deal with the sorceries that manifested their lord’s innate ability.

Prikrip and Artazun stared one another down for a moment, with his hood off, she could truly get to admire who disgusting he looked, his body seemed to be dreadfully thin beneath the cloak, and yet, his skull was large, almost like Prikrip was not the corpse of an adult of whatever species he was a part of, but merely a small chick who had been born malformed and had simply been left to starve.

The captive souls he kept within his skull came into full view, visibly through his hollow sockets and the great hole into the side of his head, faint shapes trying to reach out for freedom, made out of a blueish energy, but they soon became unseen through his eyes as grey flames ignited.

Crouching low to the ground, all four limbs onto the ground, blade laid flat.

Artazun did the same, as though they were both predators preparing to pounce on an unsuspecting prey, only the sound of their respective warriors fighting in the distance could be heard, and without warning, both began to move.

Swinging his blade low to the ground, the undead roused a wall of dust before jumping back and using his weapon like a fan to launch it forward, the living evaded that attack by moving to the side, but did not immediately go for her opponent, which was a good decision as he had prepared something for her.

Using the hand not holding his blade, Prikrip did not hold back on using his innate ability, launching forth a constant stream of dust toward the priestess, just before slamming his hand into the ground, filling the area all around him with it.

The corvid’s innate ability might look similar to Ir’Houwl’s at a glance, but unlike her, he could not control the dust as precisely as she did with her sand, to be launched forward or into slashes, it required ample movements and the correct tools, and even then, the dust would lose speed swiftly and simply start to hang in the air until eventually dropping to the ground.

But these limitations were made up for by the sheer power it carried, anything he wished for it to destroy would immediately start to break down into more dust, naturally, this was especially effective against livings, being even capable of turning energies to dust.

Not only that, but Prikrip was actually faster when surrounded by it too…

Relying on his superior undead senses, he knew exactly where his opponent stood, and used the cover of the dust to launch a surprise attack, bursting out of the dome he had created swinging, blade already imbued with his ability, even the smallest of cuts would result into dire consequences of Artazun.

Most annoyingly however, her bestial instincts were sharp, and she reacted swiftly upon his appearance, dodging and weaving past his blows, switching in between moving on four legs and two like it was nothing.

That was fine.

Prikrip had many more tricks than just his innate ability to rely upon, his beak opened up, and the priestess felt her fur rise up and stand straight, channeling her bestial energy into raw defence, uncertain for what was coming.

A dreadful, banshee-like howl escaped the minor lord.

The priestess felt her life force being violently shaken and partly consumed by it.

The crow’s sword came swinging down in the same instant.