LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 272: A Fleeting Fight
"That voice, there's no mistaking it, that must be him," Jade declared, tension lining her words as she scanned the dimly lit forest.
"Who?" V asked, perched on her shoulder, his tone laced with confusion and curiosity.
"As far as I'm concerned, he's the one that started all of this," she replied, her gaze fixed toward the source of the voice. The sun was slowly rising over the horizon, but its light was not yet strong enough to pierce the dense fog enveloping them.
Jade's focus sharpened as a twinkle of red light caught her eye. Then, from the corner of her vision, she noticed the mist distorting, signaling an imminent threat. Instinctively, she drew her dagger close to her chest, ready to defend against the incoming attack.
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A coin spun menacingly toward her, but as she prepared to block it, an indicator suddenly appeared above the coin, flashing the word "Decoy."
The coin sliced through the air, but Jade's attention shifted as she caught a glimpse of orange hair emerging from the fog. The figure wielded a steel blade, aiming a strike from behind. In that moment, V leaped in front of the incoming coin again.
Jade realized the attacker wasn't aware the coin was a decoy. "I need to be better at interpreting these indicators out loud; they're crucial," she thought, swiftly turning as the steel blade clashed against her small dagger.
She reached out, attempting to grab his hand wielding the blade, but he retracted swiftly, evading her grasp. Suddenly, a red indicator flared in her mind, signaling danger. Jade tried to raise her dagger in defense, but her reaction was a fraction too slow. The flat of the sword struck the side of her head, throwing her off balance. She tumbled down from the tree, disoriented and vulnerable.
Cursing under her breath, Jade maneuvered to avoid falling into the sinister black liquid seeping into the soil around her. To her astonishment, her eyes, usually so reliable in signaling danger, showed no warning about the dark ooze.
Calculating her options mid-fall, she resolved that maintaining aggression was her best strategy. Landing in a crouch with the black liquid splashing around her, she noted with surprise that it caused no harm. "V, don't stop attacking him! Slow him down as best you can," Jade commanded, her voice cutting through the tense air.
"Of course!" V responded eagerly, ready to assist.
A sudden growl alerted Jade to immediate danger; the wolf-like creature they had previously slain was lunging at her from behind. "Shit, I don't have enough time to fully dodge," she realized in a panic, but just then, a red crow darted from the shadows of the trees, striking the creature in the face.
This unexpected intervention pushed the beast away, granting Jade a precious moment to regain her footing and launch herself back into the fray towards Erebos.
"What the hell is a crow doing here of all things?!" Jade wondered aloud, perplexed by the bird's timely aid as she prepared to confront Erebos once more, her resolve hardened by the brief respite.
Erebos, catching sight of the red crow, cursed under his breath. "So he's watching over you like a hawk, huh? Guess I can't play too much longer. Though, I suppose I don't need to—you're coming along nicely," he taunted, a mocking tone in his voice.
Jade, undeterred, lunged forward, her dagger slicing through the air as her eyes blazed with white fire. "V, attack from the top and unleash everything you have in one go!" she commanded, her voice echoing with urgency.
"Oh, those white eyes sure look familiar," Erebos taunted, sidestepping her attack with ease. "You'll never hit me with slow movements like that, you know?" His words were sharp, intended to wound. "Your sad boyfriend couldn't hope to touch me either. I made him look like a fool in front of—"
But he was abruptly silenced as Jade shouted, "I wasn't aiming for you!" In that moment, Erebos realized that Jade hadn't merely swung her dagger; she had thrown it, coordinating her attack with V, who was positioned above them at the top of the barrier. "FULL BLIZZARD!" V bellowed.
Instantly, hundreds of small spikes formed from the air around them, turning the space into a deadly storm of ice. Erebos, caught off guard, exclaimed, "Are you mad? You'll surely hit her as well!"
With his hands fully clasped together, the ice began to pierce around in all directions, one shard stabbing into Erebos's leg. Jade, with her remarkable agility, dodged them all before quickly closing the distance between them. She extended her hand toward his chest.
As he attempted to swipe it away, she retracted her hand right as he acted, and the dagger she had thrown earlier, now rebounding off an ice pillar, flung back down into her hand.
In a swift motion, she performed a slicing motion through Erebos's neck. At that moment, she felt an intense pressure hit her chest, sending her plummeting to the ground. The impact caused black sludge to fly in all directions.
Groaning, Jade's breathing became pressured and deep. Looking above, she noticed her energy was at 20 and, glancing further up, saw that V was completely drained, having landed on a branch after finishing his attack.
To her surprise, Erebos had vanished from the ice, nowhere to be seen as the fog began to dissipate. She then heard a whisper from Erebos, "Keep getting stronger. You aren't there yet, though. Don't trust those eyes."
Suddenly, from behind, the second of the three wolves silently lunged at her. Back on the ground and reacting swiftly, Jade channeled her energy through her dagger, extending its range and slicing off its head in an exhausted attempt. As the original wolf jumped back at her, the red crow once again slammed into it, throwing it off balance, which gave Jade just enough time to react.
Suddenly, the crow flew onto Jade's shoulder, its presence causing the bits of ice formed by V's earlier proximity to melt away. It looked at Jade with what seemed to be a nod of acknowledgment or perhaps understanding.
Jade, still catching her breath from the recent exertion and confusion swirling in her mind about the crow's sudden assistance and peculiar behavior, could only manage to nod back.