4-76 The undying fox

4-76 The undying fox

Nivia could barely hold her scream back. She sucked her grief back and swallowed it. Now was no time for her to be mourning, or there was even a need for it at all. She steeled her nerves, ceased her sobbing, and trained her bow at Ovir.

“Well, this is awkward…”

“Shut your trap…” Nivia growled.

“Put down your bow.”

Instead of lowering her bow, Nivia pulled on the string. “Do you have any idea what you have done?”

Ovir shrugged. “I killed your dear friend?”

“Do you not know the consequence of murdering a Fae? Have you not heard about what would transpire?”

“I know of it and I have heard about those stories multiple times.”

“Those aren’t stories. They are facts. You have just damned this whole valley and yourself. Do you not realise that?”

Ovir snorted. “I never bought into those hogwashes. How many Fae do you think have been murdered in cold blood? And what became of their murderers or the lands where they breathed their last? Nothing happened. Your friend here ain’t the first Fae I have killed but she was the first Fox-kin.”

Nivia’s anger rose and she clenched her fingers on the string tighter.

“Besides, even if it was true, I’ll do it over and over again even if I’m given another chance. For the amount of gold on her head, I doubt anyone would care about the superstition.”

“Despicable,” Nivia snarled.

“Well, I do want to live a long life. You won’t live long if you’re not despicable.”

“Because of people like you.”

Ovir rolled his eyes. “Think what you will. My work here is done. Now, if you will excuse me, I need your friend’s head as proof of—”

“Don’t you dare touch her body!” Nivia shouted and released the arrow.

Ovir sneered and slanted his head to the side, dodging Nivia’s arrow.

“Get away from her body!” Nivia quickly nocked another arrow and aimed at Ovir’s head.

Ovir smirked and ambled towards Nivia, stepping over Erin’s bisected corpse.

Nivia backed away a few steps with a glare that was treading between fear and rage.

“Be at ease, would you?”

“Why should I?”

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?”

“The bounty is only for the Fox-kin. There’s no… reward of any sort for your head. Killing you would be… a waste. Your beauty would be wasted on death. I’ll forgive you for this cut you gave me.” Ovir pointed at his waist. “Well, it’s just a shallow cut anyway.”

“Trivial flattery will get you nowhere, certainly not my clemency.”

“I don’t need your clemency, Elf. It's you who needs mine but fortunately you, I have a proposal.”

“Decline.”

“I haven’t even—”

“Go fuck yourself with a cactus.”

Ovir feigned a shudder. “How surprisingly uncouth for an Elf.” He then chuckled. “I don’t dislike it. Same as how I don’t dislike your incredibly modest bosom. Simply a delight for my eyes.”

Nivia released the string from her fingers and sent the arrow streaking towards Ovir.

As could be expected, Ovir effortlessly cut the arrow down. “Become my woman and I shall share the bounty with you and more.”

“You’re delusional.”

“Hell, I’ll even let your Augur friend live.”

“Do you actually think that I’ll even be slightly tempted?”

Ovir sighed. “I suppose not. I did kill two of your friends.”

“Correction. You only killed one.”

As if right on cue, Ovir spun around and deflected a violet firebolt darting towards his head. Following right behind the firebolt was Aera, her whole body clad in violet flames like a veil of armour, charging towards Ovir.

“Hoh? You survived? Impressive.”

“You killed Erin!!” Aera roared and threw a haymaker.

Ovir easily dodged Aera’s feral punch and retaliated with a simple yet swift slash. However, his sword bounced right off of Aera as if he had hit steel.

“What are those peculiar flames on you?”

Aera responded with a lunge and a battle cry.

Ovir sidestepped her assault. “Fine. Sulk in silence. Answer or not, it changes nothing.”

Aera kept throwing all kinds of attacks she knew but Ovir dodged or parried her attack without any difficulty. However, his breathing gradually turned ragged as Aera’s relentless dragged on.

“Damn it! You’re goddamn annoying!”

The odds of their exchange tipped ever so slightly in Aera’s favour. Ovir had expended a lot of his Mana and mental vigour in his fight against Erin and Nivia. Though he wouldn’t admit it, even he had his limits and he was gradually nearing them. In the midst of his clash with Aera, he noticed the absence of Nivia’s assault. When he glanced at where he thought she was, he found no one. Then, he noticed the door to the other room was ajar.

“Bloody bastard,” Ovir uttered. “If that Augur came into play, then I would— No, that wouldn’t happen. The Elf does not know how to break those chains. But the Augur isn’t the problem here…”

The longer the fight dragged on, the faster and stronger Aera was becoming. Ovir realised this particular fight when Aera’s punch nearly grazed his cheek. He was only unharmed due to his Spatial Sense but he couldn’t rely on it for long. It was mentally draining and his body also had its limits.

“No… I can’t lose here. It will be all for nothing if I get beaten by this unassuming maiden pretender here.”

In a lapse of his concentration, Aera’s fist ended up connecting with his face and it sent him tumbling across the room. He bounced on the ground a few times before he recovered his bearings and flipped to his feet.

“You punched me…” Ovir rubbed the spot where he was punched. “You actually managed to punch me. Not the Elf or the Fox-kin but you… Absurd!”

He warped in front of Aera, a Spatial Blade in hand, ready to swing. However, a blast of flame rammed into him from the side. Thanks to the spatial barrier he conjured just in time, he was spared from being turned into cinders. But the flames still pushed him a good distance away from Aera.

“Leave the maiden alone, you snide,” Amyra said as she strode into the room with Nivia limping behind her.

“You broke the chains… How? No simple magic could—”

“Aye, no simple magic,” Nivia huffed with an exhausted grin. “But fortunately for me, I have an aptitude for Light Magic. Laser cuts through those chains well.”

“A Light Magic practitioner… How convenient. Just what are the fucking odds?”

“It’s your loss, thief”

“Thief? Me? How rich, coming from you.”

“Where’s my sword, you blighter?”

“Who knows?” Ovir shrugged. “And you took me for a blighter in addition to a thief. I heard tell of your exploits with various taken women and you have the galls to accuse me of being a thief and a blighter.”

Amyra scoffed in disbelief. “Better than you who kills for gold, regardless if your mark is just a child or an elderly, or an infant for that matter.”

Ovir narrowed his gaze. “And I thought you do not know who I am.”

“I didn’t but I had some time to think about things. Now I recall who you are. Further up north, they call you the Rift Strider, don’t they?”

“My reputation precedes me, it would seem.”

“He’s the Rift Strider?” Nivia exclaimed. “The same one who was said to have done a number of jobs for numerous High Lords of Yorun?”

“The very same.”

Ovir sniggered. “Now do you perhaps truly understand who exactly you are fighting against?”

Amyra chuckled. “Do you?”

Ovir glanced at Aera, who looked ready to lunge at him at any given moment. “I have some ideas.”

“I doubt that.”

“Why would you doubt that? I am many things but being a liar is not one of them.”

“I’m not calling you a liar. You’re just… unaware.”

“Unaware? Unaware of wh—grh!” Ovir choked on his own words as he felt a swift movement behind him. He realised it all too late and he knew then there was no way for him to dodge it. He could still use Warp but due to his mental exhaustion, he could use it as immediately as before.

A blade, wrapped in a thin veil of a violet glow, pierce through his heart from behind.

“Unaware of me,” Erin answered.

Ovir turned his gaze behind with much strain, glancing over his shoulder. “H-how?” What he saw was Erin, in one piece, when she should have been in two and dead on the ground.

“A gift from a goddess, one can say,” she retorted and pulled her blade out from his body.

Ovir clutched at the hole in his chest that was bleeding profusely. Though he barely had any time left, he spent it all on turning his body around to get at least a good glance at his killer. “Preposterous… A divine apostle… y-you, a Fae?”

“Your belief matters to me not. Just be glad that your suffering isn’t prolonged as I have contrarily wished for you.”

Ovir gave Erin one final snort of derision before falling lifelessly face-first to the ground.

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 70%]

“Only ten percent? No, this is to be expected. All four of us here had some contribution in this fight.”

“E-Erin…” Aera gasped. “You’re alive!”

“Revenant, remember? Did I not tell you about that ability?”

“Y-you have but…” Aera’s voice trailed off as the violet flames enveloping her gradually receded. “But seeing you die and come back to life with my own eyes is a whole other impression.”

“Well, I’m alive. That’s all that counts…” Erin smiled, her hands rubbing the spot where she was cut apart. “If only that’s truly all that counts…”

“Only in death does he learn to keep his mouth shut,” Amyra said. “He never shut up, you know. For the whole time he waited for your arrival, he blabbered without stop.”

“Are you hurt anywhere?” Erin asked.

“Only my head.”

“He didn’t hurt you?”

“He can’t. The chains holding me dulls not just my magic but also those around it. I was essentially impervious to magic, ironically. Without the Spatial Magic he held so much pride in, his flimsy blade could not cut through my skin. Augurs’ skins are naturally and incredibly tough. He thought about punching me but fortunately for him, he had a working brain and he managed not to make a fool of himself.”

Erin sighed with a smile. “You’re fine and woundless. That’s all I need to know.”

“Well, we best get going— speaking of which, any of us here know how to get out of this place?”

Erin looked around and she saw no path leading to an egress. “There must be a concealed pathway, hidden from plain sight.”

“Allow me,” Nivia said and cast a Wing Magic spell on the whole room. “There,” Nivia pointed to one side of the room not long after she cast the spell.

Amyra strode up to where Nivia pointed and thrust her foot into the wall. The air didn’t ripple but the ground did as the wall exploded. A hole was made with that single kick from the Augur. A dark passageway was revealed but the darkness did not span forever. Lights could be seen at the end of the passageway.

“Any traps?” Amyra asked.

“No,” Nivia answered. “As far as I can tell, there’s no hidden deadly contraptions, though it will be a different story if it’s a spell trap.”

Amyra turned her gaze to Erin. “Any spell traps?”

“Yes, there’s one but… I don’t believe it can be triggered just by simply stepping on it.”

“What kind of spell?”

“Sleep.”

“Sleep? Hmm, curious. I expected a spell like Explosion or Earth Split. Whoever set this place up had no intention of destroying it even if things went awry. What to make of that?”

“...We are underneath a place of significant importance,” Erin said. “We may meet strong resistance once we reach the surface.”

“Good.” Amyra cracked her knuckles and stretched her neck. “If I can’t find my sword above, then the resistance awaiting us will do nicely for me to diffuse my anger and frustrations.”