Leave and I will forget this foolishness The man said with a snort clearly dismissing Randidly
Perfect he was arrogant too That would make this so much easier Randidly said nothing and raised his spear and that seemed to signal something to the soldier who snorted then examined Randidly a little more closely His eyes narrowed as he looked at that spear though as if he had seen it before Randidly adjusted his grip appreciating the strange warmth of the obsidian in his hands
If you insist
But Randidly already created Spearing Roots that ripped up into the belly of the horse and higher stabbing towards the man Filled with fear and pain and roots the horse attempted to rear upward and screeched
The man however responded very quickly flipping expertly off the horse with a grace that made Randidly worried
The Incendiary Bolt however that hit the man’s right hand mid air and blew most of it off did much to alleviate these fears Unwilling to pass up the chance Randidly ran forward noticing how although the man’s eyes widened he quickly shifted his grip to his left hand and raised his spear to meet Randidly’s
Their spears clashed against each other twice very quickly and Randidly soon realized that he was rather overmatched Even with the man on his back foot and reeling missing a hand his strikes still had enough power to smash Randidly’s strikes to the side
If he wanted to actually kill he would need to keep pushing
At this point there was no hesitation only resolve He would kill For his path that led towards strength this man in front of him needed to die
A Circle of Flame blasted outwards smashing the man backwards His stats seemed sufficient to keep it to a stumble but in that time Randidly had summoned a Wall of Thorns behind the man and ran forward As he moved he waved his hand and Summoned Pestilence the air filling with the buzzing of hungry insects
The man regained his stance just in time to get hit in the face with 100 chittering bugs which quickly dug into his nose mouth and eyes biting into his flesh The man roared and stumbled backwards right into the wall of thorns several of them sinking deep into his flesh
Randidly leveled his spear and prepared to strike
The man screamed again as more Spearing Roots stabbed upward into his legs But now his spear was moving shearing away the roots and the wall killing insects by the dozen Within around 2 5 seconds the spear and the seemingly powerful Battle Intent around it had defeated all of Randidly’s spells and he turned forward ready to face another
But of course this time there was only a looming spear The Inevitable Phantom Arrives Randidly whispered his smile a coy one The air around them darkened Clocks ticked incessantly The spear grew larger and larger and behind it was the ghastly phantasm of a woman Randidly’s mother her smile pitiable and final Before that smile before that spear all one could feel was helplessness
In a battle composed only of spears a 3 second windup for a strike is almost impossible to manage But luckily Randidly had many tricks up his sleeves to give him the time he needed
The man didn’t have time to block and the spear crashed into the man’s chest ripping open his flesh and destroying the bones and nearby organs The man’s body spasmed and leaned forward but then it froze and the man slowly looked up his chest cavity a mass of gore seemingly somehow still alive
You The man started to howl but Randidly stabbed with his spear again and again using Root Control to reach up and grab the man’s body tearing away strips of flesh that he was cutting away slowly ripping him to pieces
Randidly even used Phantom Onslaught just ripping into the man’s body before he slumped forward Even then Randidly cut off the head and sent a few dozen insects eating down through the neck before he was satisfied
All at once everything he had done hit him and all Randidly could smell was the man’s blood on his clothes the weight of his head in Randidly’s hand As quickly as possible as instructed by Shal he stored his spear into his ring and used Root Control to take the ring and throw it back towards Shal He was about halfway there through the relay of roots when there was a dull roaring and Randidly could just see a wave of Battle Intent sweeping towards him and then he was unconscious
When Randidly awoke he was in chains Surrounding him were several other unconscious prisoners lying in a wooden cart He instinctively checked for his ring panicked when it wasn’t there then remembered he had given it to Shal
Ah good disciple You wake we must speak quickly
Randidly looked to the side and saw Shal also bound in the gloom Shal continued to talk Here take your ring back Keep it in your mouth until we are inside
There is good news and bad news The good news is we are in but the bad news is that I was recognized I will be bound in a place that even for me will be difficult In addition I will not be able to teach you while I remain there So we must change our plan From my investigations you will be tortured by Battle Intent for 100 years before you are sent out to the badlands This is too slow You will need to escape prior to that and flee to the badlands Once there you will need to discover your own means to assist me in escaping from where I am kept to the badlands Only then can the training begin
After you have reached suitable levels or if you have taken so long there is no other choice we will break out It is that simple A few pieces of advice you will soon learn the trick of the Battle Intent torture It will not work against you But I recommend you bide your time
Second when you make it to the badlands avoid others as much as you can They may kill you to alleviate boredom
Randidly blinked very slowly his head still pounding from getting hit with the Battle Intent earlier A ring rolled across the wooden floor to him and Randidly leaned forward and picked it up with his mouth Then a thought struck him and he froze
Should we have really discussed it with all these people here Randidly whispered glancing around
Shal nodded Ah good you are learning Obviously not It is why I kill them before you awoke
Looking around slowly Randidly suddenly realized that they were perhaps too still around him There was no movement Not even the rise and fall of chests The dim lighting had hidden it before but dark stains surrounded the spots where these men lay In a way it was chilling But in another it was eye opening
Randidly stared at one of the still bodies pondering Is this really the only path to strength But Randidly stayed silent brooding over the dead shadows around him Even if it wasn’t this was his path And he refused to believe that it wouldn’t lead to strength if he followed it until the end
Chapter 153
They arrived and cloth bags were put over their heads Their hands were bound with a strange metal that felt extremely cold to the touch and resisted even Randidly’s extreme strength They were hurried off on what Randidly could feel were cobblestone streets and then they finally arrived at a place where their bags were removed
It was a courtroom They were tried as bandits who assaulted the soldiers of Tomkat and were found summarily guilty They didn’t ask for a defense but did ask whether Randidly as the perpetrator would claim any style as his own
Randidly was standing up front as the one who committed the crime so he could not see Shal’s reaction So he stood silent considering for several seconds But this was a world where you bore your strength and pride everywhere you went This was the land of the Tassle
So against his instincts Randidly lifted his head and said I am the youngest generation of the Spear Phantom Style
There were some mutterings amongst the guards and the group was quickly rebagged and whisked off In his brief time with vision Randidly was delighted to see that it seemed none of the women from the Willow Tree Spear Style had been captured or the other big bandit group that belonged to Dehark It was only the loners and the weak that had been swept up
Although he felt a small amount of pity in his heart for these people Randidly couldn’t bring himself to care overmuch He was just glad he had not immediately brought doom to the Willow Tree Spear Style immediately after they had given him a gift