Jaku casually strolled through the tunnels of the Stronghold, whistling as he did so.
"Where am I going again?" he asked out loud.
While the Shadow Orcs were dealing with the majority of the army, the much smaller task force consisting of the Dragonborns and a few Orcs continued on inside the castle.
Just as they planned they separated into three teams, each one in charge of going into the Stronghold’s treasure room and finding the stolen Key.
"This way, Lord Jaku," said one of the Elite Orcs accompanying him.
"Ah. Right, right. Lead the way," Jaku said, letting the shadows continue onwards. "Just tell me through your shadows if you found the treasure room. Then, just teleport me after."
The dark blue-scaled Dragonborn found a private sleeping quarters in one of the tunnels. He immediately made himself comfortable and let the Orcs do their job.
About a couple of minutes later, his small power nap was interrupted by a Shadow Orc appearing beside him.
Jaku opened one of his eyes and peered at the Orc.
"We found it, sir Jaku."
"Good. Did you find the key?"
"We haven’t sir... we couldn’t enter the room. It’s guarded by a soldier. He’s in the 7th stage of the Body Formation realm."
...
...
...
Meanwhile, sitting in a stool beside an ornately designed wooden door was an Ersatz soldier, yawning as he stretched his muscles.
Shadows began to surround him. The three tunnels in front and beside him soon lost their light.
Someone extinguished the flickering fire lamps.
"I knew something weird was happening," said the soldier.
In front of him, an amorphous shadow emerged.
Jaku jumped out of the shadow, landing right in front of the soldier with the same nonchalance as before.
The soldier looked at him weirdly. "I would have thought you’d try to attack me from the dark," he said, holding his scimitar to his shoulder.
"That was actually better... whatever. I’m too tired for tactics," Jaku replied.
"You should have used surprise to your advantage. That was the only way you could have survived against me."
The soldier’s entire body emanated with power, creating a visible shockwave that made the surrounding shadows shiver.
Above him, the image of a fiery, demonic horse appeared from smoke. His Diva looked to be painted with watercolor. Vivid and bleeding.
His power as a 7th stage Body Formation maugnetic was simply too much for the surrounding Orcs.
There was one Elite Penumbra and ten High Orcs. But the power difference was far too much.
Jaku was the only one who stood still, undaunted by his opponent’s show of power.
This earned him an interested gaze.
But in truth, Jaku was simply too lazy to be afraid. He’d just be wasting energy.
"Well, come on!" shouted the soldier. "Attack!"
But instead of drawing his sword, Jaku did the complete opposite. He lowered his sheath onto the ground and laid right beside it.
He looked like he was on a picnic right now!
This was an absolute insult to the soldier. "That’s it!"
The fiery horse Diva above him neighed silently as it raised its hooves into the air.
As the horse dropped its stance to charge, the soldier moved.
He lunged at Jaku with his scimitar. His blade was aimed directly at the demi-human’s legs.
He wanted to injure Jaku enough to incapacitate him, but not enough to kill him.
The guard wanted to probe him for information later.
But at the moment that he charged towards Jaku, static lightning rumbled above his scales.
Jaku was disgruntled, having his nap disrupted once again.
Powered by nothing by annoyance, Aubility Power lightning imbued his entire body with ultra fast speed.
The world slowed in his perspective. The disappearing soldier now became a simple blur.
Jaku was still slower than the soldier, but the difference in their velocities were much closer now thanks to this blue lightning.
He drew his katana, just in time as the soldier’s scimitar swiped at his leg.
The two blades clashed.
With the Jaku’s cultivation being four stages lower than the soldier’s, his katana was quickly rebuffed by the scimitar.
However, his move altered the scimitar’s trajectory just enough for it to no longer carve through his entire leg, but just barely graze his skin.
And just as it was about to cut a half inch into his scales, a prismatic shield appeared in the next instant.
The scimitar and the shield clashed.
The soldier pushed his weapon with more power, but the Unity Defense was infallible.
The blade slid past the prismatic shield, completely shocking the soldier.
The soldier jumped back.
He looked at his weapon. The blade was slightly chipped.
"How... how is this possible?"
Jaku, on the other hand, could only click his tongue in disappointment. He waved his katana, not satisfied with his speed.
"Argh... is it really just a difference in cultivation?" he asked, disgruntled.
"You! What are you?! What organization are you from?!"
A ghastly expression was written on the soldier’s face. That invisible shield created an ominous feeling in the Artifice in his chest.
"You must be exterminated!" the soldier shouted.
He no longer cared about taking the demi-human as a prisoner. He wanted to destroy him!
Jaku frowned as he felt the power of an angered 7th stage Maugnetic.
He had a feeling that this fight was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
The fiery horse Diva skidded its hooves on the nonexistent ground, Aubility Power wrapping around the soldier’s arms and legs.
The soldier charged. His scimitar was pointed directly at Jaku’s heart.
"Urgh... I’m too lazy for this," Jaku grunted. "Can you stop?"
Suddenly, a low growling voice came out his mouth.
An invisible tremor permeated around him, travelling as fast as sound itself.
The soldier felt something clutching his heart.
And in the same instant, the Aubility Power threads wrapping around his legs suddenly snapped. His speed vanished.
The blurring environment around the soldier stopped to a complete standstill.