Legacy of Hatred

Chapter 315: Shield

The floating blood bags charged ahead to block the ethereal arrow, but those brittle, makeshift magical items couldn’t stop the product of a superior weapon.

Yet, the floating silhouettes also affected the arrow’s structural integrity, forcing it to detonate before it could reach its target.

A violent explosion of Qi unfolded, sending wild gales tainted by drops of blood everywhere, but something flew through it. The bloody silhouette born from the rooting expert had survived the attack, at least half of it did, and it planned to charge at Liam.

Except that Liam wasn’t on the bed of darkened petals anymore. The explosion had hidden the two thunderous noises that had resounded, as well as where they had brought him.

Julian was someone Lancelot had recruited, and the latter had a good nose for strength. He would have never challenged Liam in the valley otherwise.

Julian had also been the teammate Liam had seen the least about. The former had made sure of that, but there were ways to avoid unknown dangers, approaches that Liam hadn’t been able to apply as a mere hunter.

Liam could just kill Julian before he unleashed anything dangerous or tricky to counter. Being a cultivator had enabled the less strategic path of winning through overwhelming power.

As for holding back, that ship had sailed. Time in the inheritance was running out, and Liam had already killed Church’s members. He would probably become the enemy of a force even stronger than the Pale Moon Sect, so someone figuring out his identity wouldn’t worsen his predicament anymore.

Liam’s situation was too terrible to get any worse, so he would do everything in his power to get the only thing that could increase his odds. The inheritance had the strength he needed, so he would go all-out to seize it.

An ethereal arrow was already nocked in Liam’s bow by the time he stopped on a roof facing the crossroad, and he immediately fired it at his former teammate.

Julian was one step too slow. The ethereal arrow was already upon him by the time he noticed it, but an intricate spiderweb lit up all over his body, enveloping him in a reddish halo.

It was as if all of Julian’s blood vessels had started glowing with Qi that matched a rank 2 item, stopping the ethereal arrow before it could pierce his chest.

’Life-saving item,’ Liam understood, unleashing the Lightning Step to jump on another roof while the arrow detonated.

Liam’s perception rang the alarm as soon as he landed on the roof. Something had tracked him and was flying toward him at high speed, but he already had nocked another arrow.

Superhuman senses were something Liam had always wielded to a certain degree. They had become straight-up magical now, but he already had experience following them when it came to archery.

Just like the time on Krosstoen’s mountain when Liam had hit the hunter’s foot through his footsteps, he now snapped his bow to his left, not even looking in that direction as he released the heavy string.

The mangled remains of the rank 2 bloody silhouette had transformed into a reddish current that had chased after Liam, but an arrow landed at the exact center of its glowing symbol before it could reach his new roof.

The makeshift magical item exploded into bloody winds, but Liam didn’t look at it even once. He didn’t need to since his senses had already confirmed the dispersion of that Qi.

Actually, Liam had known about that event even before it had happened, which was why he was already firing an arrow at the crossroad.

Nevertheless, as fast as Liam was with a bow, dealing with the makeshift magical item had delayed his assault. That window wasn’t enough for the average cultivator to do much, especially after the previous explosion’s quasi-direct hit, but Julian was far from ordinary.

Julian had remained in his position while the violent Qi blew all over him, clashing with the reddish halo radiated by his glowing blood vessels. However, he hadn’t stood still.

Despite the violent winds of energy, Julian’s life-saving item didn’t need his input, meaning he could use his Qi for something else, namely pulling another tool from his storage device.

The explosion had just finished raging when another arrow was about to reach Julian, but his summoning also ended at that point. A chest-sized, hexagonal, slightly curved slab of black metal that radiated reddish tones appeared before his figure and shot at the ethereal bolt on its own.

The impact happened right above Julian. The delay couldn’t save him from Liam’s archery skills completely. The flying shield might block the arrow, but the explosion was bound to catch him.

Except that nothing of the sort happened. The arrow hit the black metal, releasing a clanging noise, only to twist under its reddish tones. Its structural integrity crumbled, releasing the energy it contained, at which the flying item hummed. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

Liam had jumped on another roof by then, but caught the wave of energy shooting toward his previous location, carving through the roof to continue flying higher in the sky.

The attack was too wild to be a beam, but Liam smelled the familiarity in it. While slightly tainted, the flying shield had released his own Qi, turning the explosion that should have been into fuel for its counterattack.

Of course, all that happened in the back of Liam’s mind. He recorded the event, but his hand was already releasing the arrow he had created.

Still, the flying shield snapped at the incoming arrow as soon as he finished releasing the energy it had twisted, intercepting it right before it could pierce Julian’s head, and that wasn’t all.

Liam avoided using the Lightning Step now, jumping to his side to dodge the wild wave of his own Qi crashing into his previous location, carving through the roof to continue shooting upward.

The hood fluttered under the nearby gales, but Liam only looked down at the crossroad. He could have seen himself being fast enough to slip an arrow past that responsive’s shield, but Julian had kept summoning items throughout the exchange.

Another hexagonal shield materialized over Julian’s figure, and then another. Three defensive items now hovered before him, and they were all rank 2 items.