"You two are doing great." Annbar commented without hiding his amusement. "But I guess if I continue to do nothing, you two might use this as an excuse to freeze me out."
A laugh left his lips as the flaps of his robes opened, revealing numerous rows of needles. Each glistened with a murderous silver-red light, being about eight inches long each.
Annbar's hands moved faster than an untrained eye could follow. While every sweep of Lucien's sword destroyed three corpse puppets, and every fist of Vygil's decimated another, so too did Annbar's rain of needles
"What a waste of time." Annbar said with disdain.
The reality of the matter was that they were all attacking casually, reserving strength to stop Ryu from running away. But it seemed Ryu was aware of this as well, or else he wouldn't be standing completely still from start to finish.
Of course, there was also the possibility that he currently only had the strength to stand still. Judging by the smell of burnt flesh that still hung in the air, his outward appearance was nothing like the pain he was withstanding.
Ryu knew his only chance to survive was to remove that blade Essence from his body. But the issue was that his Rebirth Flames made him immune to fire of equivalent strength. As a result, he had no choice but to rely on his emotions to strengthen his Rage Flame and suppress his Rebirth Flame's ability, thus allowing him to burn the Essence out of his body similar to expunging a poison.
Unfortunately, because his Rage Flame and Rebirth Flames were of the same grade, the Rage Flame only had minimal effectiveness, forcing Ryu to endure the burning of his inner organs for a far longer period of time. Even if he wanted to run under his own strength, it would be too difficult!
"What kind of Necromancer is this? His Death Seals are too easily to find and shatter. It's clear he's received no formal training. What kind of Necromancer can't hide his own Achilles Heel?" Annbar said.
"This is a waste of time. Clearly he can't run even if he wanted to. Let's just kill him and call it a day before those others manage to find their way here. If we suddenly get more rivals, all of our shares will plummet."
"Agreed." Annbar and Vygil responded to Lucien's words simultaneously.
Almost as soon as these words fell, a red qi arrow shot through the skies. It was completely weightless, but this only made its speed far more troubling.
Lucien snorted, his sword snaking forward and shattering the qi arrow.
"Don't you think it's already too late for that?" Lucien's sword didn't pause, effectively slaughtering the last Fourth Order corpse puppet with ease.
Ryu's jaw clenched. He had never experienced such pain in his life, even when he forcibly pushed his speed past his limits when he ran from Leopold.
Still, he stretched his body once more, pulling back his bowstring again.
The Glove of Natural Order responded in kind. Fueled by his comprehension of Rage Fire, arrow after arrow was formed one after another. They streaked across the skies, and though they were unable to threaten the three geniuses, it slowed their steps forward.
"Go. I'll cover your two." Annbar said casually, his eyes flashing with interest. "Also, I agree. You two can have whatever other treasures may lie here… But that glove… I want it!"
With a wave of his hand, the needles he had thrown forward were suddenly snatched back through the air. Like a god descending, he rose through the skies, his every needle shattering Ryu's arrows with ease. It was clear that he practiced a technique not a single bit inferior to [Demonic Strings].
Lucien and Vygil shot forward, not even bothering with the qi arrows streaking toward them. They didn't bother with Annbar's words either. A glove capable of forming qi arrows was indeed an outstanding treasure. One only needs to ask various bowmen just how much they spent on their arrows to understand why. But, it was useless to them who didn't follow the path of long ranged attackers.
The moment the two entered Ryu's range, the remaining two Peak Fifth Order puppets could no longer remain silent. They pushed forward to meet Lucien and Vigil, but how could they match their strength?
The two were instantly blown backward, suffering a resounding defeat. But at the very least, they weren't stricken down in one blow like the others had been. Reason being, they were protected by Ryu's [Immortal Sakura]!
The four figured clashed continuously within Ryu's ten-meter range. Every time Vygil or Lucien seemed to gain the upper hand, a gentle falling petal that seemed as delicate as a snowflake would impede their attack, deviating their strike by just a few degrees and for just a few split moments, allowing the two corpse puppets to continue to survive.
Suddenly, Ryu's qi arrows doubled in strength. What once was a singular oppressive heat became combined with a sharp deceitful aura.
"Spear qi?!" Annbar's expression was filled with shock. How could one form an arrow with spear qi? He had never heard something so ridiculous.
Though he still casually shattered them, it most definitely wasn't as easy as before.
Blood dripped from Ryu's lips as he continuously loosed arrows. The pressure on his mind was inconceivable. He was currently walking a tightrope… any one mistake would mean the end of his life.
It seemed that he was holding his own, but the reality was that he was simply using minor tricks. To top this off, the three geniuses were all wary of each other and as such had yet to bring out their full strengths. Even still, they easily dealt with everything Ryu threw at them.
Gritting his teeth, Ryu's qi arrows increased in strength once more.
Annbar's expression morphed between shock and greed. He suddenly understood something. This glove was actually able to convert comprehension into the form of qi!
But at the same time, he was growing more and more apprehensive. How could a single person comprehend so many paths? Fire Qi, Spear Qi, Glaive Qi, and now Wind Qi?! Even he could no longer shatter the arrows as easily as before. He had no choice but to use over forty percent of his strength.