webnovel

Prey

Aliester was slightly surprised when a red dialog box popped up.

The notification reads, [Emergency mission: defeat the witches, Malerna and Marlene.]

'I got no choice but to accept. It is not like I can simply ran away from these two.' He muttered as he unsheathed and gripped the claymore.

'By the way, Zarame, why didn't you warn me about those witches earlier? Why did you warn me when it is already too late?' he asked suspiciously. Sweat dropped from his temple as he eyed the two witches' next move.

Zarame simply replied. [Marlene wasn't hostile when you met. She did not even exhibit any signs of attacking until she cast a spell on you.]

"but…" Aliester tried to say something but the system continued.

[Also, Master, Caramel had already warned you in advance to be careful of other casters. And by the time I had judged that they were dangerous, you were already under their spell.] Zarame reasoned out.

He could not answer back. Caramel indeed warned him and he should have been more vigilant, but he let his guard down.

To change the topic, he asked. "How did I ended up getting caught in her trap? I have charm resistance, right?"

[You were too trusting. Besides, you only have charm resistance level 2. You let your guard down, so Marlene was able to use a stronger charm spell to lure you into their home.]

Aliester had to focus when the younger one raised her hand for an attack. An amber pentagram formed and out from it, vines shoot like a whip towards Aliester.

The young lord dodged the vines by sidestepping. He then turned and severed the vines. When they were cut off, the vines wriggled like worms before they turned into dust.

"Pesky prey, stop your resistance!" Marlene cussed and created another pentagram to regrow the appendages.

It took a few minutes for the vines to regrow so Aliester was able to come up with a counter which was unleashing mana blades by swinging the claymore.

Unfortunately, the mana blade did not reach the two targets.

Malerna stomped on the ground and a pentagram formed. Then from the pentagram mist formed and became a barrier to absorb the attack.

"So, the younger one is for offense and the older one work on defense." Aliester mused while panting. Swinging such a huge sword made him use a lot of strength and stamina.

"If I could not figure out a way to get pass those barrier and knock or kill those witches, I would not be able to get out of here." He continued dodging and cutting off the vines while countering the attacks using his mana blade.

"If this continues, I will definitely, get tired and wouldn't be able to fight back." He panted while hiding behind a tree. "I might run out of both SP and MP soon. What in the world can I do?"

Zarame then said. [Master, you need something to dispel the magic.]

'as if I have an item like that!' he bit back as he felt the surge of mana from the underneath his feet.

He barely dodged the tentacle like roots which sprang from the ground. He was forced to get out of his hiding spot.

[The cloak you are wearing which you got from Caramel serve as a shield. It has incantation for defense, which reduces both physical and magical attack. The dagger you got from her has dispel. You can use them.]

"so that is why I felt nothing but pain when I got hit. There is no critical damage so far. I have to thank Caramel once I get back to Midnight Brew." Aliester said while feeling his body.

Then the young lord produced the dagger imbued with dispel and thought. "I guess, I have to try and make this work."

"You are quite resilient for a prey." The younger witch said as her eyes turned pitch black. "You better surrender before I ran out of patience. "

Marlene held up her palm and a dark brown pentagram formed. But instead of the vines and tentacle like roots, pointed stakes formed.

"What the!" Aliester cussed as the stakes sharply turned towards him. "Did she think that I am a vampire or something?"

With a wave of her hand, the stakes flew towards Aliester like spears.

'It seemed that Marlene uses woods and plants. While I don't have any idea what element the older one was using.' He thought while swinging the claymore and cutting the stakes coming his way.

After dealing with the younger witch's attacks, he launched several mana blades by slashing his sword rapidly. One of the mana blades went through the barrier while the others were blocked.

[The barrier seemed to have a time interval of about fifteen seconds. The older witch could not make it simultaneously with the younger one's attack.] Zarame informed him.

'Which meant that I need to take down the older witch when her companion casts an offensive spell.' He murmured. 'it won't be easy, but I have to try.'

[you have to time it well, master.] Zarame advised.

Since the barrier is up, Aliester had gotten ready to make his own assault. When Malerna cancelled out the barrier, Marlene had cast a spell and produced whip like vines.

Aliester did not wait for the vines to lash at him. He closed in and produced several mana bullets. The vines blocked some of them while the barrier took care of the rest.

"You know, my prey, your resistance is futile." The younger witch cackled. "you would not even be able to approach us, much more to defeat us."

Though feeling a bit depleted due to the mana bullets, Aliester grinned and sent a small current towards the dagger. "Dispel!"

The younger witch's eyes widened when the barrier dissipated. When she turned to see her companion, a dagger had pierced through her chest and blood was oozing out.

"Mother!" she shrieked as she caught the older woman who was about to fall. "No! How?!"

Aliester had sneakily threw the dagger while barraging the witches with mana bullet. Since they were busy with the mana bullets, they did not notice that the dagger had passed through their defense.

Malerna had difficulty in talking, it was as if she was breathing her last. "This….this da…dagger is… im… imbued wi…with dis…dispel."

"Don't talk." Marlene took out the dagger and threw it away. She put her hand on the chest and a green pentagram formed. "Heal!"

But it seemed that it did not work.

"My magecraft is being cancelled." The young witch gritted.

"Marlene… it is…no… no use. That… dis..dispel also hit…and broke… my catalyst." Malerna coughed out blood, before she breathed her last and turned into dust.

Aliester gripped the claymore and decided to end things, since he still need to do the rest of his mission.

But before he could approach the younger witch, a surge of mana threw him off.

[warning! Target is in rage mode.] Zarame 's alarm went off.

Whips of darkness were mixed with the whiplike vines. The ground broke and several tentacle-like roots emerged.

Aliester retreated to avoid the unexpected attack.

He was a bit puzzled when he stumbled on a watery path.

"water!" his boots were immersed until the ankle. "How did I forget? This is a swampy area. I could simply use the water to electrocute that witch"

But his attention was caught when he saw the Marlene coming closer with the whiplike vines shooting towards him.

Aliester was able to evade and severe some but he was caught by the other vines. They were quite many this time.

"What the?!" He let go of the claymore since the vines were squeezing his arms.

"Insolent prey! How dare you kill mother Malerna!" she screamed as she made several spears to skewer the young lord.

But the spears did not pierce the young lord, instead Marlene stopped and blood oozed out of her mouth. "How?"

The vines loosened and Aliester was able to escape. He then took the claymore from the ground.

"You did not expect to get stab by the dagger, did you?" he said while cutting the vines which seemed to have formed a cocoon trying to protect the young witch.

"I had just used negative current to attract the positive current which I have stored in the dagger." He explained. "It worked like magnet. So, when I attracted the dagger, it stabbed you from behind."

The witch seemed puzzled. "You are a non-caster… so how can you attack like this?"

"The difference in knowledge in science and magecraft is really vast." He sighed. And even if I try to tell you, it will be futile. You are in death's door."

Marlene chuckled. "to be defeated by my prey… pathetic."

She could not do anything, the one which stabbed her was the dagger with dispel, hence she could feel that her thaumaturgy being nullified.

Marlene knew her numbers are up.

Hi! sorry it took a while before I could post this chapter. This is longer than I had planned it to be. I had a hard time coming up with the fight scene so, I was behind schedule.

Hope you like this! Please add to library, comment, and vote.

Thanks for reading this book!

ky_rinecreators' thoughts
Next chapter