Before they could reach anywhere near them, Julian pulled out two magic papers from his body. Wisps of mana were discharged from his fingers, infusing into them. They were immediately ignited, turning to dust but leaving behind two arrows made of condensed poison that rose into the air, their sharp triangular head aiming at the incoming statues.
“Take them out!” Julian’s shout was like a force that could move them.
“Whoosh!”
Instantly, they shot out and crashed on the statues, wrecking them into pieces; their stone-like bodies were blasted into countless rubbles, scattering on the floor like junk.
As he took down a few more in a familiar fashion, Julian eyed Roy. “Leave them to me. You go and get that menacing bastard in the center.”
“You sure?”
“You’ve seen it yourself. With these magic papers, I am pretty much unrivaled against them. And… If I run out of them, I will just run away.”
Hearing these words, Roy darted towards the winter soldier, pulling out the sword, Ghost Chaser.
This was seen by the winter soldier.
He immediately whistled, and four armored statues blasted out of the ground that Roy had jumped away from after sensing danger..
They pounced on him like fierce beasts.
But… Delilah teleported next to them, smashing her fists on the faces of two before kicking the rest ten yards away.
“I will stop them from getting to you. Just focus on your fight with him!” Delilah said confidently.
Feeling pleased because of being helped left and right, Roy felt his mood taking a turn for the better.
He replied, “You have my thanks!”
ɴ[0)ᴠᴇʟ Delilah gave him a confident smile.
And… then she clashed with the four strong ones, holding her own against them.
Meanwhile, Roy engaged the winter soldier in close combat.
Clang! Sparks flickered in the air as Roy’s sword and the warrior’s spear clashed time and time again; the sound of metal kissing metal continuously rang in several pairs of ears and quickly filled the hall.
Surprisingly, he was Roy’s equal in terms of weapon art.
A minute passed as they clashed.
The result was that they both parried and dodged almost about an equal number of attacks.
Seeing that he wasn’t landing any hits on the winter soldier, Roy changed his tactics, infusing Aura into the dark sword with reddish lines to activate its runic effect.
『The special function of Ghost Chaser has activated!』
『It has become seven times heavier!』
These notifications rang in Roy’s mind as the winter soldier’s spear descended on him like lightning from the sky.
To parry it, he swung his heavy sword upwards using all his force.
“Clang!”
The two weapons hugged but were separated almost instantly as the less heavier one shot out of the hands of its holder, spinning in the air as it moved in an arc. Soon, it was to fall to the ground. While it was in mid-air, Roy hunched and shot toward the warrior. There was a distance of six distances between them. It was created by the warrior’s spearplay that was soft like a feather but swift like thunder.
“Whoosh!” Roy bridged that gap instantly, his sword stabbing through the air and reaching for the warrior’s eyes through the gap in his helmet.
The warrior jumped back with such speed that a depressing crack appeared on the spot he just stood, but he dodged it, and he also grabbed the falling spear on top.
‘Man, I’ve finally met my match.’ Roy didn’t use magic against him as he wanted to use him as his training partner to better himself and fix the problems in his swordplay.
The fire of the burning torches swayed so did their shadows as two grown men, one in armor, the other in a relatively simple dress, duet out a deadly dance, each raining a hundred strikes on the other, each dodging a similar number of strikes.
What he could’ve never expected was Roy summoning his second sword as he blocked his spear with the first and then using it to smash him in the Icy-plated chest.
Clang! Struck by his fierceness, the winter soldier skidded twenty meters backwards as he raised his speed; whitish energy could be seen gathering on the tip of it, shaping into an icy thorn.
“Whoosh!”
The second he brought his spear down, the thorn of ice hovering in the air shot towards Roy; the white mist taking flight from its surface could be seen freezing the air.
Its trajectory was clear to Roy. He dodged it so coldly that three jaws below the same pairs of eyes on him threatened to drop.
Disbelief drew over the confidence in the warrior’s eyes, receding his air of confidence.
Just what did Roy do?
To evade it, he merely leaned sideways, letting it go past him by merely a hairsbreadth.
The winter soldier was momentarily petrified. This was noticed by Roy, whose cold eyes never left the warrior even when he was dodging the thorn.
“Puchi!” He didn’t let this golden opportunity go to waste and immediately jumped toward him; instantly, his sword was pushed into the warrior’s neck through the chink in his armor, which existed between his helmet and armor.
『You defeated the Shadow Puppeteer. 』
『It’s detected that it lacks a soul and a hide. 』
『You get 0 experience points 』
This notification gave Roy goosebumps. “Wait a minute… is it soul and life force that is converted into EXP? No, that’s too horrifying to be true. Just how strong must a being be to create a system that can transform souls into nourishments that can strengthen a person’s body?!!!’
Next to him, whatever was inside the icy armor turned into a mist that dispersed in the surrounding.
The hollowed-out pieces of equipment landed on the ground with a dull thud.
At the same time, the statues that were attacking Delilah and Julian also experienced a great change.
Some were seen with their weapons raised high; Some were seen with their weapons dropping downwards, but all of them suddenly stopped as if someone had pressed the pause button.
“What the heck?” Julian and Delilah’s eyes widened at this sight.
“The winter warrior was controlling them. Since I defeated it, they lost their controller, leading to this.” Roy explained.
Roy didn’t bother taking his equipment. They were made of normal metal, so they had no special effect. This also means that the thorn hurled at Roy was created by the warrior using some kind of special aura technique. Sadly, Roy had no way of knowing what it was.
Two of the system’s notifications rang in his ears.
『As you’ve defeated the winter warrior, the magic sealing the Grand Door has shattered!』
『You may now use it to enter the guardian’s room!』
The chains that were locking it shattered. This was noticed by all three people. They went up the stairs and then passed through the misty door to enter a place that was a perfect example of luxury.