Advent of the Archmage Chapter 44

-Chapter 44, DGM-

"Little shits, your magics are detestable!" Demonised Witt gripped his black dagger in his hand, glaring at the two scrawny youngsters.

Although he had morphed into a demon, he still possessed his high intellect as a human. In a few seconds of observation, he had immediately realised the threat the two magicians posed.

He knew that as long as he slew the twin magicians, the three mercenaries were as good as dead.

However, he found it slightly weird that there would be twins within the mercenary group. And they were magicians to boot. The probability of something like this happening was minuscule.

'What a mess!' Demonised Witt stopped his muling.

Watching Witt who was already 10 meters away, Hank raised his shield and growled, charging towards Witt. The fight had begun.

A normal charge required warrior qi, breathing techniques, evenly distributed power along the body, explosive momentum and a high speed. If these criteria were met, the opponent would find it difficult to avoid unless he second-guessed your movements.

However, the demonised Witt effortlessly dodged Hank's charge!

As the shield neared his body, he deftly sidestepped it. Hank's charge met empty air.

"Close, but no cigar!" Witt jeered. His body spun, and with the speed of a demon, he appeared at Hank's side. His blade snaked around Hank's shield like a viper, stabbing at Hank's neck.

The speed of his dagger was too fast. Hank was unable to dodge it!

If it were just Hank facing off against the demonised Witt, he would have his life taken in a single exchange. This was the extent of the demonised Witt's power. However, Hank was not alone.

As the dagger closed in on Hank's throat, Witt sensed a bright flash of light in his peripheral vision out of the corner of his eye. A dim ball of blue had made its way to the front of his dagger.

'What the-' Witt blinked. The ball of light exploded.

"Bang!" Witt felt his hand grow warm. At the same time, a huge vibration rippled across his dagger. Although the power was not strong, it was extremely condensed. Witt's palm trembled, and his dagger halted.

It was Link. He had discharged a 'glass pearl' to help Hank survive the exchange.

Hank reacted almost instantly.

It was no time to rejoice. Hank struck back, ferociously slamming the oversized shield in his right hand towards Witt. Like an enormous iron palm, the shield heaved towards Witt. This powerful strike of Hank's carried with it countless years of experience and practice. It was to help cover up Hank's missed charge.

If Hank were not buffed, demonised Witt would have easily avoided this strike with his speed. However, Hank was buffed by the 'feline boost' spell. Although his speed was a far match from Witt after his demonisation, it greatly exceeded an ordinary warrior's speed.

Hank's shield burst towards the surprised demonised Witt at a high speed.

"Crash!" A heavy thud rang out.

"It hit!" Hank grinned, but his grin disappeared as he felt something was wrong. "The shield-the shield stopped?"

Till date, no opponent had been unaffected after getting hit by this strike. They would be sent reeling backwards in a daze from the power of it.

However, he was met with a ghastly sight as he peered over his shield. Witt had extended a hand to block the strike head on. A hand!

He had also glimpsed 3 ‘glass pearls’ exploding at Witt’s head. However, although the magic was strong enough to kill ordinary bandits, it did not even leave marks on Witt. Witt took the hits expressionlessly.

Witt had merely shut his eyes as the ‘glass pearls’ exploded. Opening his eyes as the explosions passed, not a single wound could be seen on Witt.

Of course, these magic attacks were not useless. They helped to lessen Witt’s movements, forcing him to halt his attack on Hank.

‘Such power! And that magic resistance!’ Hank swallowed hard, but he also breathed a slight sigh of relief at the same time. Although Witt had blocked his shield bash, his arm had not been shaken largely by the repelled force when Witt caught his blow. This had proved Link’s words: Witt did not have an overwhelming advantage in strength over Hank.

“I can block him! Attack!” Hank roared, twirling the warhammer in his right hand. He swung the warhammer towards Witt’s skull.

The archer Greedin’s spirits rose upon seeing Hank being able to block Witt. He drew and released a whistling arrow towards Witt’s brain as Lucy charged towards Witt.

As she sprinted forward, Link’s words echoed by her ear: “Don’t aim for one fatal wound, or get in a prolonged fight. Move your sword quickly, and break his skin!”

The skin of Witt who was demonised was too resistant to magic, rendering Link’s attacks virtually useless. However, the high magic resistance was only due to his skin, as all life was made out of elements,1think of elements as atoms or life would not even exist. Witt’s insides would not possess magic resistance. As long as his flesh was broken, Link’s ‘glass pearls’ would be able to deal substantial damage to Witt.

“Roger!” Lucy grunted. Under the effect of ‘feline boost’, she seemed like a real cat, darting towards Witt at a high speed.

In an instant, Witt had simultaneously received Hank’s warhammer, Greedin’s arrow, Link’s magic and Lucy’s sword.

Before his demonisation, he was a level 3 assassin. After demonisation, he was only equivalent to a level 4. If with two hands, it would be difficult for him to fend off four attacks, then what about the coordinated attacks of four people?

Almost immediately, Witt felt the crushing pressure from the four attacks. A gash opened on his arm as Lucy’s sword slipped past his guard. This wretched woman’s sword was too fucking sharp, and his skin was unable to withstand her strike.

“Fuck!” Witt swore, the black mist around his body suddenly wrapping around his wounded arm. At the same time, the black dagger in his hand glinted as it shot like lightning towards Lucy before she could pull back.

Demonised Witt was simply too fast, and this angry strike of his was even faster. His arm seemed to blur.

A level 2 swordswoman like Lucy was unable to avoid it.

Lucy had stuck to Link’s words, and retreated almost at the same time she attacked. However, her speed was too slow, and she was unable to deal with the attack. Her heart thumped wildly as the skin on her bosom seemed to prickle, an instinct over her years of fighting which told her the dagger was headed for her heart.

“Is this the end for me?”

Everything seemed to slow to a crawl as Lucy’s life flashed before her eyes. From her as a young girl born to a peasant household to growing into a beautiful lady. And then her drunkard father selling her to a noble as a castle maid. She had curried favour with knights in the castle, learning fencing before making her escape. She had turned into a wandering female mercenary shortly after.

In her mercenary career, she had hit it off with Hank and Greedin, and formed a mercenary team with them. They had agreed to focus on diligently earning money.

She had struggled to climb up from the very bottom, and had longed to soar like a bird in the skies. But now, it seemed like those were just her illusions.

She stared at the dagger, watching the sinister black shine of it close onto her chest as it sought to snatch away her life.

So this was her life.

Miserable, mediocre and nameless. Would she quietly die in this gloomy cave mine?

“No way!” Lucy cried out powerlessly in her heart.

A blue fireball shot through the air, curving around Witt's arm and it struck his dagger.

"Bang!"

The fireball exploded, bursting with blistering heat. It successfully halted the dagger's blade.

But this was not enough!

Witt's body possessed extremely high magic resistance, and he also possessed tremendous power. The explosion of the fireball would only be able to stall him for a split second. This was too short, and neither Hank nor Greedin had enough time to help Lucy.

At this moment, Lucy felt like there was someone behind her dragging her backwards. She retreated with the aid of the force, moving 50% faster than usual.

Level 1 magic spell: Vector throw!

With the aid of this spell Link had cast on Lucy, Lucy had finally been relinquished from the evil claws of death!

"Tch!" Witt's dagger penetrated Lucy's armour, leaving behind traces of dark corrosive poison. However, the dagger never touched her skin as Lucy had safely retreated out of his dagger range in time.

Life and death had almost been decided in this instant.

His prey had escaped, and Witt's full strike had missed. He had paid the price for this. Hank's and Greedin's attacks had reached the point that it was too late to dodge.

At least, the two mercenaries had faith that Witt was unable to dodge their attacks.

However, Witt still had cards in his sleeve that had yet to be dealt.

The black mist shrouding his body suddenly enveloped him fully. Like a blink, Witt's body seemed to dart 5 meters away, evading their attacks.

"The hell!" The three mercenaries gaped.

"It's a battle skill for assassins: Blink dodge!" Link cried out.

Blink dodge

Level 3 assassin battle skill

Use: Explode with warrior qi, and move not more than 10 meters with unimaginable speed.

(Note: Depltes warrior qi quickly. Use sparingly.)

"He can only move 10 meters at most! And he can't use it too much!" Link's substitute shouted out. Link had controlled his substitute to do so so as to prevent Witt from finding out which was the real body.

Hank and the others had initially been shocked. After Link's explanation, the three of them regained their calm.

The scariest things came from the unknown. Now that they had an educated magician slowly exposing the moves of their opponent, what was there to be afraid of?

Without hesitation, Hank charged at Witt again!2yet another typo, author put hank charged at hank

The charging skill also depleted warrior qi quickly, but Hank did not care as he had a team backing him up.

On the other side, Witt's 'blink dodge' had just ended. However, he was instantly met with a strong rush of wind sweeping into his face. He could barely make out a person's figure speeding towards him at a frightening velocity. It was the accursed warrior!

The timing of the attack was too immediate, and Witt found that he could not react to it in time. Helpless, he could only explode with warrior qi and throw a powerful fist towards the shield.

"Clank!" A low sound rang out.

Unexpectedly, Hank's charge had been stopped by Witt's fist. However, Witt had not been left uninjured. The power of the charge was so strong that even his demonised body could not take it. His already injured right arm lost all feeling.

"Eat another arrow of mine!" Greedin yelled. His attacks were extremely coordinated with Hank. An arrow was released. It whistled past Hank's ear, sending Hank's hair fluttering as it shot towards Witt's front.

Having tasted the sharpness of the female mercenary's sword, Witt did not dare let his skull get hit with an arrow imbued with the same spell.

It was a moment of life and death. Witt's head turned and shot to the side, evading the arrow. However, immediately after the arrow had passed his ear, Witt heard the sounds of an incoming attack as it struck through the air—

—and caught a glimpse of Hank's warhammer whirling towards him out of the corner of his eye. On his other side, he spotted a gleaming blue sword piercing towards his ribs.

It was Hank and Lucy!

What was more problematic was that the magician had also casted a few spells. A blue bead of fire shot towards the wound on his shoulder accurately.

Witt felt the searing pain on his arm intensify as the heat from the fireball entered his body through the wound. A numbing pain spread throughout his entire arm.

This coordinated attack of theirs was fucking annoying. They caught every opportunity that he could not react in time. Now, Witt cut a sorry state. With no way to escape, Witt had no choice but to burst with warrior qi as he employed 'blink dodge' again.

But this time, 'blink dodge' wasn't used to retreat or escape. Instead, he advanced, speeding towards Links' position.

These two magicians were the source of his troubles. They had to go.

Witt burst out two 'blink dodges' in succession.

"Go to hell!" Witt snarled, his dagger slicing towards Link.

-Chapter 44, end-

Man poor Witt we already know how this would turn out. Quite hilarious how Witt was minding his own business until Link showed up.

Tler’s notes:

Chapter end