Chapter 999 Overwhelmed
For his opponent to charge blindly into the vicious Scarlet Sand Spiders, in Gakhan's eyes, Izroth's fate was already sealed.
In the blink of an eye, Izroth reached the wave of Scarlet Sand Spiders and stepped into it without hesitation.
The instant he did so, Izroth felt the mana in his body break apart and start to flow toward the Scarlet Sand Spiders. As a result, in a single step, his overall mana was reduced by 50%. And, by the time Izroth took a second step, his mana had been reduced to zero. But, it did not stop there.
Since his mana had been sucked dry by the creatures, they began to go after his life force.
Fortunately, Izroth still had the protective aura of the Veil of the Seventh Origin Flames active. Thanks to this, Izroth was able to ignore the damage brought about by the Scarlet Sand Spiders.
Furthermore, even though the creatures drained all of his mana, the mana contained within the artificial mana pool created by the Seal of Ten Chakrams' Fourth Seal remained untouched.
Izroth was not entirely sure as to why this happened. After all, the mana absorbed into the artificial mana pool was pulled directly from the surrounding atmosphere. And, seeing as how the Scarlet Sand Spiders had no problem devouring the mana in the surrounding environment, the same should apply to the artificial mana pool.
Nevertheless, Izroth did not linger on it for too long since it was to his benefit.
Gakhan narrowed his eyes as he carefully observed Izroth's every movement.
Usually, it would take a few breaths for the Scarlet Sand Spiders to weave the red sands and spread their influence into the environment. Therefore, those caught within the confines of the red sands and Scarlet Sand Spiders had their mana and life force slowly chipped away until they were ultimately overwhelmed.
However, since Izroth charged head-first into the wave of Scarlet Sand Spiders and stepped upon the red sands, Gakhan believed that his mana should have already been cleaned out. If that were the case, the Scarlet Sand Spiders would go after Izroth's life force and it was only a matter of time until he succumbed. That being said, Gakhan felt that something was off.
"I can clearly sense that the mana within his body has been drained by the Scarlet Sand Spiders. So, why is it that I can still feel mana coming from his body? Those blue flames... Are they serving as a protective aura?" Gakhan contemplated as his expression darkened.
Gakhan was only half right in his assumption. It was true that the flames protected Izroth; however, the mana Gakhan sensed originated from the artificial mana pool within Izroth.
In addition, the fact that the Scarlet Sand Spiders could not get through the flames, Gakhan knew this meant that it was not something made out of mana.
"It looks like I'll have to take action personally to get rid of those flames," Gakhan said to himself as he held out his right arm.
Riiiiip!
Suddenly, the side of Gakhan's right arm split open horizontally from his wrist all the way up to his shoulder as the Scarlet Sand Spiders in that area scattered.
Following the shocking scene, a stream of thick crimson liquid poured out from his right arm like a waterfall and created a pool beneath his feet.
To those who first witnessed this horrifying sight, they would be left in a momentary state of fright.
In their eyes, it would look as though Gakhan tore open his own arm and started to bleed profusely.
But the most bizarre thing was that despite his massive loss of blood, Gakhan appeared to be fine and unfazed. That's because the crimson liquid was not his blood but rather a gift he received after becoming host to the Scarlet Sand Spiders.
Gakhan covered the lower half of his face with his right forearm as the crimson liquid still streamed down as the puddle under his feet continued to expand.
'Oh? The red sand—it's changing. I don't know what he has planned, but I won't allow him to do as he pleases.'
Out of nowhere, Izroth gained a large burst of movement speed. In the blink of an eye, he arrived before Gakhan with his Sword of the Storm already in a striking motion!
Gakhan had a look of disbelief on his face when Izroth appeared at his front.
Gakhan had not let his guard down. Yet, somehow, he failed to keep track of Izroth's movements.
It was not that Izroth was too fast for him to follow, but that his presence just seemed to abruptly disappear at random intervals. It made Gakhan feel as though he was facing a ghost that was gone one moment and there the next.
To make matters worse, the attack used by his opponent was even stranger. From Gakhan's perspective, the attack occurred at the exact moment of Izroth's disappearance and reappearance. This left him with no time to respond to the strike as Izroth's sword descended without obstruction.
As for Izroth's "disappearing act" and attack, it was due to two things.
The first was the effects of the Obsconis Hunting Dagger. He still had Dark Ambush active, so his overall presence was still greatly reduced. But, on top of that, the 8% chance of completely erasing one's presence upon their next strike—the passive attached to the Obsconis Hunting Dagger, Stalking The Cicada, activated.
Even with his experience on the battlefield and sharp senses, in that split moment, Gakhan lost track of Izroth.
Though the start of everything came from the Sword Arts: Four Steps of Death, which Izroth chose to fully activate the first effect of.
Under normal circumstances, Izroth usually passed over the first effect. After all, using it would cost him an additional 500 mana or 10% of his HP. But, more importantly, it would immediately set the skill's cooldown to five minutes.
The Sword Arts: Four Steps of Death was not just a damage skill, but one that allowed its user to display a high level of mobility with the large movement speed burst it granted. This could normally be done up to four times before going on cooldown; however, there was an exception when the full effect of the first skill was activated.
Not only was the overall damage of the strike boosted, but the effect Death In One Step was also activated. And, as long as the target was below 50% HP, it made it so that they would receive an additional 30% of their total missing HP as damage.
On top of the guaranteed critical hit from the first strike of the Sword Arts: Four Steps of Death and the damage Gakhan already received from Izroth's ambush as well as the Tenth Sword Form: Life Closing Raze, the Sandweaver of the Desert was left thoroughly overwhelmed.
Woosh!
Izroth's Sword of the Storm cut cleanly down Gakhan.
Crrrrckle...! BOOM!
The moment his sword connected, a devastatingly powerful sword intent swept throughout the surroundings and carried with it sparks of purple lightning.
The Destructive Aftermath effect of his Sword of The Storm activated and blew away the Scarlet Sand Spiders in the area, eradicating every last one of the creatures in the vicinity.
The following moment, the sword intent from Destructive Aftermath receded and the atmosphere calmed down.
At the same time, the dagger in Izroth's hand disappeared as he returned his Sword of the Storm to its sheath.
As Izroth sheathed his sword, Gakhan, who still had an expression of disbelief on his face, body split into two parts!
Almost immediately after doing so, the two parts shattered into countless particles before dispersing toward the sky.
〈System Alert: Congratulations, you have defeated Sandweaver of the Desert, Gakhan!〉
〈System Alert: Your Contribution Points has increased by 150! [Total: 6,704.54]〉
〈System Alert: Your fame with the Fifth Kingdom of Pzenium has increased by 1,000!〉
'This method is much more effective when it comes to gaining contribution points.'
Even after eliminating roughly 2,000 Pzenium warriors, Izroth received a little more than 1,000 contribution points. However, just for defeating Gakhan, he earned 150 contribution points. That meant his life alone was worth the same as about 300 Pzenium warriors!
Though what Izroth truly did not expect was that he would also gain fame in the Pzenium kingdom for eliminating Gakhan.