Legacy of Hatred

Chapter 311: Beam

While Liam had understood everything ever since the first exchange of words, killing people by mistake truly wasn’t something he wanted to experience.

So, no matter how stupid it sounded, Liam would ask multiple times to confirm that those standing in his way were actually opposing him. However, once he did, he would show his simple yet uncompromising approach to life.

The middle-aged man lost his head with a single swing of Liam’s right hand, and something was already materializing in it before he could finish the action.

By the time the group of six on the ground realized what had happened, the Black Bow had materialized, and Liam instantly pulled its string to fire the dark arrow that formed during the gesture.

However, the old rooting expert used that slight delay to shout an order. "Defensive formation!"

Liam fired the arrow, and an explosion followed, but his senses warned him that something was off even before a golden light shone beneath the gales of Qi.

The rooting expert had lifted his arms, his Qi creating a dome of faint light that enveloped the entire crossroad. His five companions soon imitated him, and that vast shield brightened, gaining more strength.

"Fellow Daoist, do you understand the meaning of this?!" The rooting expert cried, but Liam barely heard those words. He wasn’t one to stop to converse once he decided to kill.

’Are they all using the same spell?’ Liam wondered, breathing deeply. ’Is it some sort of joint technique?’

The answer eluded Liam’s knowledge, but he felt that golden spell’s texture. It might work against denser attacks, but more insidious ones might pierce it, and he was already acting upon it.

Liam forcefully exhaled, blowing pitch-black air at the crossroad below. The Poisonous Breath expanded in all its deadliness, covering the golden dome and seeping into it, countering that defensive spell.

"Hold!" The rooting expert shouted, but the order was impossible to follow for his weaker companions. freewebnovёl.ƈom

Coughs began to resound, growing harsher by the second, until they transformed into screams.

It didn’t take long before a foundation expert jumped out of the pitch-black cloud, blood leaking from his eyes, ears, and nose. Dark veins covered his neck, face, and hands, and he gasped for air that his lungs refused to take in.

The struggle only lasted a fraction of a second since an arrow struck the foundation expert straight in the head, detonating to blow it apart.

Two more foundation experts in similar conditions jumped out of the cloud. One fell to his knees before he could completely exit the deadly smoke, but arrows arrived all the same.

The Poisonous Breath’s deadliness came from the amount of Qi used and the core’s affinity to that element. Since Liam was the caster, foundation experts just couldn’t hope to survive it, but he still finished them with precise exploding arrows to the head.

That was why Liam had chosen to stop on a roof. He had been wary about the possibility of a battle, and many great aspects of his arsenal required an advantageous position or specific conditions.

Both the Black Bow and the Poisonous Breath fell in that category, basically making the Church’s group sitting ducks. Nevertheless, after the three, no one else escaped the cloud, but Liam still saw the golden light dim beneath the fuming blackness.

Liam was ready, ethereal arrow nocked, waiting for anything to move, when the light beneath the smoke vanished, replaced by a sudden golden flash that pierced the cloud and shot at the roof.

Superhuman senses or not, even with subconscious reactions that could keep up with level three magical beasts, Liam moved together with the crashing noise that expanded on his right, not before it.

The old rooting expert had crashed on the roof a few meters from Liam. His shape wasn’t great. His eyes bled, and dark veins rose over his neck and chin, but he had still been faster than Liam’s perception.

Whatever movement-oriented martial art the rooting expert had used, it was faster than Liam’s Lightning Step, albeit seemingly harder to control.

Still, that was beside the point. Liam had taken a step back in response to that sudden threat, but the arrow hadn’t disappeared, and he immediately adjusted his aim.

Liam fired, but golden light flashed again, except that it was slightly slower now. He had also adjusted to that powerful technique, seeing in slow motion a bright streak dodge the dark arrow to reach his side.

Being somewhat able to see what was happening didn’t make Liam able to react to it. That movement technique was simply too fast. He could jump back, maybe even having enough time to unleash the Lightning Step, but that was it.

In theory, that also meant that the technique was all speed and no power. There was no perfect attack in the world after all, so Liam could consider just tanking it.

But there was a third option, one that Liam had almost forgotten simply because he wasn’t used to considering it.

Thoughts were faster than flesh, and emotions were even faster. Liam called upon his hatred, recalling the auditory hallucination. The itch flared, but he only focused on his Qi, mind, and eyes, needing the latter as a conduit for what he was giving tangible shape.

A wave of energy more ethereal than Qi blew from Liam’s gaze, like an invisible beam that hit the streak of light, which stopped to reveal its true nature.

The rooting expert was frozen in his feet, his bleeding eyes wide but unfocused, revealing the chaos in his mind. He looked as if he was about to lose his balance, but an arrow found his heart, blowing his chest apart.

The cultivator died on the spot, but Liam struggled to keep his eyes on the flopping, mangled corpse. His ears and very mind rang, as if they were a bell that a hammer had just slammed into.

The noise was debilitating. Liam bent forward and squinted his teary eyes before forcing himself up. The ringing vanished quickly, but some soreness in the back of his mind remained, proof of the blowback that the rank 2 Aura had caused.