Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 44
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch44
Kazuki had at first wanted to build his power and summon one of his blue fireballs. By burning a massive amount of magical energy as fuel, he could raise the temperature of his flame to a terrifying degree. He would use one of these fireballs and take aim at Abah, who was still high in the air.
The problem with this though was the darkness. With no sight and Abah and the two Mangshi keeping her in the air being so far out of his range. It was impossible to find their location through smell alone seeing as they were so far.
Kazuki had to change his tactics when something came to mind.
Power finished condensing in his hands and several fireballs floated above his palm.
(What does he intend to do with so many flames.)
As Asuna was thinking that, Kazuki stood up and threw the fireballs at a dozen spread out trees.
*Fwooshhh*
As soon as Kazuki’s flames made contact, the trees lit up like road flares. His fire raced up the trees and engulfed them in seconds.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nunully spotted the fire and saw it grow rapidly. The darkness that surrounded them all was quickly being pushed back and was steadily declining as the trees nearby caught aflame by the spreading fire.
A shadow flew in front of Nunully and Danny quickly grabbed her and pulled her out of the way.
*Whoosh*
A Mangshi’s talon slammed shut only a few inches away from her face. Nunully in return fired an ice spear in its direction but the spear touched nothing but air.
The Mangshi retreated and hovered in the air. If it had eyes then right at this moment they would be glaring fiercely at the duo. Danny held up a rock in front of Nunully and she nodded knowingly. Danny held the rock in between both of his hands and exerted all of his strength.
(Ergh.)
*Crack boom*
The rock gave and was crushed between Danny’s palms. Danny, however, was still not finished. Grinding the pebbles as well, the rock became finer and finer until it was nothing more than dust. Opening his hand he revealed a dusty powder.
Now that there was a bit of light, Kazuki, dragging Asuna along inspected the Mangshi they had just killed but seeing the body, Kazuki was immediately disappointed.
(Damn, this isn’t the Chief. I could have sworn that it was him that followed the two of us into the forest but to think it was a lackey instead.)
Kazuki looked back at the open field and sure enough, Chief Atoh was engaged in combat with Shin.
(VIPER WHIP!)
As soon as the blade of wind chopped out, Chief Atoh brought his wings in front of him and a dull impact hit him. Chief Atoh slid backward a few feet before he stopped himself. Lowering his center of gravity, Chief Atoh kicked off the ground and charged forward. Shin retreated several steps and planned to release another viper whip but he suddenly realized that he couldn’t. He had used it far too much and his power was drained. On top of his exhaustion, Shin was covered in sweat from head to toe.
(Shit! I need some time to recover.)
With no viper whip, Shin had little he could do to counter the Mangshi’s hard, armor-like feathers. With Atoh charging at him, he had no other choice but to jump out of the way. This was what Chief Atoh was waiting for. As soon as Shin was off of his feet, Atoh flapped his wings hard and sent out a torrent of wind in Shin’s direction. Shin could feel the wind coming but had no way of dodging it and was knocked back several feet. The angle Shin was going to land at was bad so he twisted his body before he landed to try and avoid landing on his neck but still, he messed up slightly.
*Crack*
Shin landed awkwardly and he felt a sharp pain in his ankle. He had barely put any weight on it at all when his leg ankle gave out underneath him and he lost his balance.
Chief Atoh was not one to wait for an opponent to recover and charged over once again. This time though, instead of ramming with his shoulder, Atoh opened his mouth wide and revealed row after row of dagger-like sharp teeth.
(Shit this is bad.)
Shin tried to get up but his body slipped. It was only now that he realized that he was near Sam and the other Mangshi’s body. He was directly sitting in a large puddle of blood and the ground had become slick and muddy.
Asuna and Kazuki ran over but the distance they needed to cover was too far. Nunully as well, seeing the situation she canceled what she was doing and regathered her energy. A spear of ice began to form beside her but it wouldn’t be in time.
Chief Atoh appeared in front of Shin and slammed his mouth shut.
*Crunch*
Chief Atoh jerked his neck backward and pulled back intending to rip Shin apart there and now. Instead, though he got a surprise. An odd taste filled his mouth. It was of flesh, bone, and blood but rather earthy.
An odd familiarity filled his mind but as soon as he recognized what as in his mouth.
*Bam!*
A gauntlet covered fist struck Atoh square in the chest. Chief Atoh was knocked a few steps back.
(This brat, after a fall like that, he’s still not dead, how?)
Sam staggered on his feet next to Shin. Throwing the broken wing onto the ground, Sam admired the sturdiness of the black feathers. At the same time, he was slightly disappointed in his own physique. His arm clearly twisted up and his head, mouth, chest, and side were all covered in blood. Sam had difficulty seeing at the moment as blood had poured from his head into his eyes. With the light from the fire behind him, he could vaguely make out Chief Atoh’s shape and had struck out.
Shin could hardly believe his eyes and yelled out Sam’s name but no sound came out. Sam squinted his eyes sharply before he held out a helping hand toward Shin and helped pick him up.
Shin grew worried when he saw the state Sam was actually in.
(His body, how is he able to get up?)
Chief Atoh wonder how such a thing was possible but decided it was a fluke.
(The two are both injured and one is even near the eternal gates, I must hurry and kill them before their numbers crush us.)
Atoh lifted his head up into the air and called out.
*SCREeeeeeeee*
One of the Mangshi holding Abah in the air heard the call and left Abah to the other Mangshi.
Tucking its wings close to its body, it angled itself to a terrifying degree and dove down, Every half a second or so it would flap its wings before refolding them, increasing its speed and momentum to a whole other level every single time.
Abah could see how dangerous the situation was becoming and increased her chanting. The lines and wrinkles upon her face increased once more and her frame started to resemble that of a dried-up corpse instead of a living person. In doing so, the darkness from the Jiaqin Codex started to spread once more and to everyone’s surprise, it actually began to forcefully push the light from the fire away.
To top it off, Kazuki and the others began to feel drops of water on their skin. It started to rain down and began to choke the fire out.
Chief Atoh casually walked around Shin and Sam, leading their eyes in a certain direction. His mouth and neck trembled, indicating that he was laughing at the two of them.
(I’ll feign an attack from the front and back off for but a moment. With their guard shaken, they’ll expect me to attack immediately afterward. That’s when my friend will hit them from behind.)
Chief Atoh could sense the attack coming from above and knew that it would hit in only a few more seconds.
(Time to die.)
With their eyes squarely locked on him, Chief Atoh knew their focus was his and wasted no more time. Rushing forward, He once more opened his mouth wide in anticipation.
Just as he planned, he stopped right in front of them and backed off. What he didn’t expect however was Shin. Shin felt the air energy behind him rushing forward. Grabbing Sam, the two dove to the side.
(What!)
The Mangshi above swept down but because of Shin, he had completely missed and landed next to Chief Atoh. The two were shocked.
Chief Atoh had only engaged in battle with Shin for only a few blows and had knocked Shin off his feet. He was sure that he was about to defeat him before Sam had punched him. He didn’t know that Shin could feel the attacks coming.
*SCREeeeeee*
“Let’s finish them before it’s too late.”
As soon as Chief Atoh communicated that to the other Mangshi through a screech, Kazuki and Asuna appeared by Sam and Shin’s side.
*SCREeee*
“Chief, what do we do?”
*SCREeeeee*
“Damn, for now, take to the skies, let’s regroup. The fire is almost out. Once we return to darkness, it will be a bit easier. We’ll place Abah in a tree nearby and then separate them from each other. Once we do that it will be three on one and we’ll be able to pick them off easily. Come.”
Chief Atoh flapped his wings and rose into the sky followed by the other Mangshi. Relaying his orders, Abah was placed in the shadows of a tree unseen. Chief Atoh and the last two Mangshi waited high up in the sky for the fire to go out. At the same time, Kazuki calmly approached Sam and pulled out a tiny chunk of something and handed it to him.
Sam eyed the object curiously before looking at Kazuki with a look that said [ “Really.” ]
Kazuki gave a nod and smiled before pulling Shin and Asuna to his side and stepping a few feet away from Sam.
A rare smile, flitted across Sam’s face before he loaded the object in his hands with power.
As soon as Sam activated his power, Chief Atoh and the other two Mangshi suddenly felt something odd.
*SCREeeee*
“Chief, this is…”
Kazuki looked up at the Mangshi and as the light from the fire finally faded, one thought crossed his mind.
(You’ve shown us darkness, now I’ll show you hell.)
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