Rivers of the Night

Chapter 729: Half-Dead

Theron looked like he was already half-dead. There was only so much he seemed capable of doing to protect himself.

What these people didn’t know was that his body might be completely broken, but his Mana Cores were untouched, and his soul had long recovered. Sleeping for three hours was more than enough for a Perfect False Voidwrought to regain all of their strength in a single go.

He stood there on the top of the hill, the speed of the two Flux Mancers so great that they surely believed that, to a Gold Mancer like himself, it would only be a matter of half a blink before they were upon him.

What they didn’t understand was that, to Theron’s senses, they might as well have been moving in slow motion.

What good was the speed of a Middle Dome of Heaven Mancer to the senses of a Quasi King?

[Abyssal Lance].

Darkness surged, rolling waves of miasma forming into a solid mass of power. It formed so fast that even the silver fox’s eyes only had time to barely constrict before it was already surging outward.

In a flash, it appeared before the two burly men.

To their credit, they immediately separated, splitting apart and rushing out to the left and right. They acted before they could think, forgetting that Theron was a Gold Mancer.

But it was a good thing for them that their instincts won out. This Spell was far from what a normal Gold Mancer could cast, but the result of their actions was a lance of Darkness flashing before their young master.

They turned back in a panic as though realizing this, but the silver fox had already acted, making a move to block before it.

Theron’s eyes glowed.

[Void Pit].

One of the burly men prepped his body to land on the ground, only for it to fall out from under him. He screamed, but even that was quickly swallowed, his head vanishing into the darkness.

The second burly man landed safely, his eyes widening when he saw the result. Reacting quickly, he pulled out a pair of throwing knives from his back waistband. As Flux Mancers, they were all experienced in battling against distance-dominant Elemental Mancers. It was just that neither expected to have to deal with such a thing from a Gold Mancer of all things.

It didn’t matter. His companion should break free soon. All he had to do was take down this youth for the time being.

The throwing daggers zipped across the air as fast as arrows and as heavy as meteors, the air sparking and whistling as though space itself was steel and being cut in two all at once.

However, they weren’t aimed for Theron’s vital points—going for his knees.

The trouble with that, though, was that the gap between their strengths was too great. If Theron let these daggers hit him, they wouldn’t just embed themselves into his body, they would shatter his limbs as though they had imploded from the inside out.

It was a good thing, then, that he had no intention of letting them touch him.

[Phase Slip].

The timing was all too perfect. Theron didn’t even waste any time. Even as the daggers were passing through him, the last burly man rushing forward to close the last of the distance, he was already circulating his next Spell.

[Shadow Dagger].

The nigh-invisible blade of darkness appeared right in front of the Flux Mancer, so fast he didn’t even register it. Just as the Flux Mancer was about to cast a Charging Spell, he found his Mana slip out of his control, a ghostly blade slipping right through his Core.

[Abyssal Lance].

Theron cast it again.

The first time, he had formed it just two meters in front of himself, forcing it to cross the rest of the distance.

This time, he cast it just two meters in front of the burly man.

There was no chance to dodge this time.

BANG.

The armor of the Flux Mancer collapsed, crumbling into a concave shape that dug out his ribcage.

[Sable Miasma].

A black flame erupted on the wound, and the screams of the burly man filled the air. He collapsed to the ground, rolling and desperately trying to get rid of it.

But in just three seconds, it was all over, his voice falling to silence.

In the end, his eyes were opened wide to the [Void Pit] his companion had fallen into, unable to turn his head toward another direction at all.

In those last moments, he was certain...

His companion wasn’t coming back up.

And how could he? Not only had Theron cast [Void Pit], he had hidden [Maelstrom Anchor] within it, morphing the churning Dark Mana into a Water Mana that dragged him beneath the surface and tore him apart.

Yet, no one here seemed aware at all that they were facing a Dual Resonance Mancer.

Not even ten seconds, and two Middle Dome of Heaven Mancers had died right in front of them. The silver fox had only just barely finished handling the first [Abyssal Lance] Theron had sent forward, standing protectively in front of his young master in case another attack was levied.

By this point, his expression was as solemn as could be. How could a Gold Mancer possibly be so powerful?

The realization that they had stumbled into something quite big here was weighing on his heart, but they had already offended this young man—there was no going back.

If they killed him, no one would blame them. Everything here had already died anyway; no one would assume that a third party killed Theron.

The trouble was... he too was a Dark Mancer. He knew every one of the Spells Theron had just cast. To use them at that level...

The silver fox’s expression became colder and colder, slowly rolling a thumb over a ring on his finger. A slight glow came from it as a message was sent out.