CHAPTER 38: COUNTER STRIKE

Zephyr waited no more.

He grabbed the crystals and threw them forward.

Now, brimming with mana, the crystals glowed and pulsated rapidly.

Gale couldn’t see it, but he instinctively felt the threat.

But there was nothing he could do.

The lightning was wrecking his nerves, stopping him from taking a single step.

Dark mana instantly flowed through his body to resist the lightning. But, darkness mana wasn’t effective against lightning elements.

He could barely gain some clarity and watch as the crystals flew towards him.

The pulsating crystals lined his field of view as they travelled closer.

As it moved, he felt his senses scream.

The danger was palpable.

’What is it?’ He wondered.

Why were his senses screaming of danger?

What is wrong with the crystal?

With his mind out of sync, he couldn’t think that deeply. And even if he could, he might not have realised it.

As the lightning wrecked his body from the inside, the crystals flew near his head and suddenly began to sublimate.

The energy stored in it began to destroy the crystal from the inside, releasing a blinding light.

’Yes, you need flash bangs for a counter strike.’

Zephyr knew it would explode with blinding light. He had seen that happen before in the lighthouse. Hence, he used it to his advantage.

Before the crystal could blind him too, he closed his eyes.

Still, the light penetrated through his eyelids, revealing blood flowing through them.

At the same time, Gale experienced something totally different.

The light was too strong for the undead creature to bear. He felt his body burn as the light washed over him.

His eyes also burned from the inside. The entire retina was destroyed within seconds.

Even if he were an undead...even if he could heal the damaged eyes, it would take a while.

It stunned him.

"Aaarhh." He groaned.

Zephyr took a step forward at the exact moment. There was no time to waste. This was the opportunity he was waiting for.

He created it by maximally using every spell he had.

Half of his mana cores were already empty. The lightning pulse was still consuming mana.

A few seconds later, he would be powerless.

Zephyr knew he had no time to waste and ran forward with the machete in his hand. The blood runes engraved on it glowed red for a moment.

Immediately, all the mana in his body flooded into it—almost 400 cores worth of mana.

The next second, the sword was imbued with light and fire elements.

Mana bolts were expensive. A single cast with all the enhancements would cost him fifty cores worth of mana.

With four hundred cores, he could have cast eight of them. But Zephyr was not sure if it would be enough to kill Gale. At the same time, he didn’t know if he could aim at the right spot.

If Gale so much as twitches, he could miss him.

That was why he chose to go close range.

With all the mana flowing into the machete, it glowed brightly with a red aura around it.

The aura was a combination of light and fire elements.

Zephyr raised the machete and dashed forward.

Because of using the mana to enhance his weapon, now he had both a physical and a magical attack. The combination could break the defensive mana of an intermediate knight, he thought.

However, because of using mana like that, the lightning pulse momentarily paused.

His foot, which was channeling the mana to the ground, had to be lifted for him to run.

Fortunately, Gale was paralyzed because of the nerve he damaged with a lightning pulse. And the light had destroyed his sight.

Zephyr still had the advantage.

In a few seconds, he covered twenty or so meters and appeared right next to Gale.

Lifting the machete to his shoulder, he thrust it right into the neck of the man before him.

"Thud."

It was like hitting a rock.

The way knights used mana was fundamentally different. They could enhance their body naturally and protect them from physical damage.

For a second, Zephyr failed to pierce through the skin of the man.

Fortunately, he didn’t use the mana bolt.

A surface-level explosion wouldn’t have done anything to a knight like that.

It was right for him to go in close range.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed the machete again. This time, he barely cut through the protective mana barrier.

’PIERCE...’

He clenched his jaws as he pushed with more force.

In response to his wishes, the light elemental mana softened the protective mana shield around Gale’s body.

The fire element heated the machete, causing waves of heat to flow into the gap created by the light element.

Together, they finally broke the mana barrier and pushed in.

"Clush..."

Suddenly, Zephyr heard the sound of metal slicing through flesh.

He looked at the machete, but it was not it.

Though it had pierced the skin, it didn’t move much deeper.

’Then, what is it?’ He wondered.

Then he looked down towards his own body.

He didn’t know when Gale had regained partial clarity or when he had swung his sword.

Anyway, it didn’t matter anymore.

Everything below his left elbow was missing.

His left arm, which was supporting his right arm to push forward, was sliced apart, and blood was splurting from it.

Zephyr looked at the stump of the arm in utter disbelief. It was the gravest injury he ever sustained. Pain was drilling in through the exposed flesh and bones.

’No, I can’t stop here.’ He clenched his teeth.

With bloodshot eyes, he returned to pushing the machete up.

’He needs to die.’

’Or else, I will.’

Zephyr pushed harder.

Ignoring the pain flowing through his arm, he pushed the knife with his entire body. His foot dug into the muddy soil as he tried his best.

Finally, the machete sped up.

It dug into the skin faster.

Zephyr used the chance to push it deeper, up to the skull through the throat.

Then, without a delay, he jumped back.

Even while the pain coursed through his body, he didn’t take his eyes off the enemy.

"Counter Strike also needs an HE grenade." He muttered.

With Zephyr out of the equation, the mana stored within the machete rampaged. The explosive runes also came alive.

Instantly, the machete’s tip exploded, sending molten metal and shrapnel into the brain of the undead knight. The light element from the explosion weakened the neck, causing it to rip apart, sending chunks of flesh into the air.

Immediately, the head popped off and flew from the neck.

Zephyr watched it, bathing in the dark blood of the undead.