Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2101: Punching Bags

Kora looked in the direction of the dead Thrum, she could not comprehend how in a matter of seconds Thrum ended up dead.

"Damn it!" She cursed in frustration before attacking an empty spot.

A soft grunt was heard after Kora’s attack, which seemingly hit nothing but air, exploded and a figure came into view.

"Annoying." Grey mumbled after he was forced out of the hiding.

Garth, Tate, and Cassian moved closer to Grey as they faced off against the Gnomes and their puppets.

Seeing the large number of Gnomes and puppets, they knew if Grey was not present, then their chances of winning were zero. There was no way they could defeat these Gnomes and their puppets, killing one is even out of the picture as there would be no way to create such an opportunity for them.

They all knew the only reason the Gnomes dropped their guard was because they were wary of Grey after he vanished.

"Kill them all together." The old Gnome said, not caring about Kora’s earlier declaration of being the one to kill Grey. It was evident Grey was too much for her to handle on her own, which in turn has caused them to suffer a casualty as no one expected Grey to be free to attack the old Gnome and then Thrum.

Kora grunted but did not complain. She had traded blows with Grey, and even with her puppet, she still was not able to keep him down. This was a testament that Grey was far stronger than she and her puppet. She also knew she would be punished by the two Peak Sovereigns later due to her hand in the death of Thrum. The best she could do now was to join the others and make sure she was the one to kill Grey.

For Grey, the fight was better this way. With the trio close to him, he would be able to assist them whenever they needed help, while also keeping most of the Gnomes busy.

As the brawl broke out, Grey was immediately besieged by six of the remaining nine Ninth stage Sovereign Gnomes and their puppets. Kora was naturally one of the six, she was determined to kill Grey no matter the cost.

Grey fell into the back foot from the start of the fight. Even if he was allowed to go all out, there was only so little he could do against twelve Ninth stage Sovereigns, much less now that he had to refrain from using most of his abilities to ensure he kept his identity secret until General Robert created the perfect opportunity.

Grey could barely defend himself, but thanks to facing six of the nine Gnomes, he did not need to spare any effort in trying to help the others as they did not need his help against a single opponent.

The attacks of the Gnomes were relentless, and Grey was lucky he not only had solid elemental defense, his physical prowess were also outstanding, so he could take a beating for a long time without sustaining any severe injuries.

Two minutes went by in a flash, and the Gnomes were starting to realize something very strange... they could not take Grey down. Normally speaking, two Ninth stage Sovereigns should be able to take down a single Ninth stage Sovereign after some time. Once the number of Ninth stage Sovereigns increases to three or more, then the opposing Ninth stage Sovereign would only be able to defend for a shorter period before eventually getting killed. For instances, although it was not expected for a Ninth stage Sovereign to die from one barrage of attacks from over ten Ninth stage Sovereigns, it was still not within logic for said Sovereign to survive not just one, but hundreds of attacks from over ten Ninth stage Sovereigns without sustaining any serious injuries.

The thought that something like this could happen was unfathomable to these Gnomes, yet this masked man was standing before them alive and well after taking hundreds of their attacks.

Grey’s breathing was raggedy, and his clothes were partially destroyed. Other than a few superficial injuries on his arms and legs, he was fine.

The Gnomes did not stop their attacks even though they found Grey’s situation strange. They still had a hundred percent confidence they would be able to kill Grey here today.

Grey, on the other hand, felt like he was being hammered from every angle. The attacks of the Gnomes and their puppets came from all angles, and since he could not use his space element because of that hateful Kora, he had to bear the brunt of the attacks he could not evade. Luckily, he was very strong and could still make use of the lightning and wind element to boost his speed.

’It’s already half the time, isn’t he ready yet?’ Grey was getting worried he might not be able to last too long under such attacks without going all out.

He could not leave since that would put the lives of Garth, Tate, and Cassian at risk, and if he went all out now, he would expose his identity which would kill their hopes of killing the duo of Rikard and Wilmot.

While Grey was forced to be a punching bag to the Gnomes, General Robert was not faring any better against Rikard and Wilmot. He was technically facing off against four Peak Sovereigns since the duo brought out their puppets from the start of the fight. He had not even had the chance to strike back since the fight started and had only been focused on defending.

The opportunity he was waiting for was coming, but he knew he had to remain patient and not rush it else he risked taking so many injuries without killing any of the duo since they could escape once they found out Grey was there.

"You’ve always been one to chat, I wonder why you’re not running your mouth today." Rikard mocked as he sent out a ball of water that exploded when it got close to General Robert.

General Robert tried to dodge the water droplets from the waterball, but it was too late. As soon as the droplets made contact with him, his facial expression changed.

’Trouble.’