Poison?

'So then what is this sense of crisis?'

He could not help but feel suspicious about the confidence the old man had when facing him with his level of sword skills.

"Cough-!" He suddenly started coughing blood.

"Hahahaha…" the old man's eerie laughter rang out in the silent mountains as he disappeared from his previous spot and reappeared in front of him.

Swish! Bang!

"Ugh!"

The old man swung his sword, slicing at Oliver's arm. He tried to dodge, but in the next instant, a fierce and strong kick connected with his abdomen, sending him flying backward.

Crack!

Agony shot through his chest as he crashed into the ground, feeling his ribs snap under the force. His ribs hurt as he groaned, his vision suddenly becoming blurry too.

'Poison? Did he poison me?'

Oliver quickly realized this, his mind instantly going to the small gash on his forehead that the old man had inflicted upon him with that flying sword.

'That sword was coated with hidden poison!'

Oliver realized this, albeit late. The poison had paralyzing properties, his body was starting to turn numb to sensations, everything feeling foreign to him.

He had earlier seen with his eyes that both Amber and Alphonso were immobile and barely twitching. He should have suspected it at that moment only that the old man was using dirty tricks.

"Haah… Haah…" He started to take deep breaths to calm his nerves. Now was not the time, he had to destroy the poison first. He could justify that sense of crisis from before now.

He was not allowed to think much as the old man was now directly in front of him, looking down at his miserable state.

"What a view. I wish I could record the moment, but sadly this old man forgot his device back at the headquarters. Ah, what a pity!"

The old man stomped his foot directly on his chest, further making blood splutter from his mouth.

"I wonder how your clan would react seeing their heir in such a miserable sta—"

The old man instantly backed off as a huge icicle crashed directly where he was standing, obliterating the rocks and making a deep hole in the ground.

He turned his head and saw, on a nearby rocky cliff, a girl with short silvery white hair standing, looking at him expressionlessly.

Clang!

The old man twisted his body and blocked a sword coming from behind him.

He saw a black-haired boy looking into his eyes with anger.

"How dare you hurt my pal?"

Daniel's voice was low and dangerous, his eyes burning with fury as he held his ground. The boy said in a scary tone as he parried the old man's sword away.

"Now who are you, brat?" the old man asked in an annoyed tone. He was so close to killing that arrogant bastard, and now out of nowhere, another brat appeared.

"I am Daniel, the one who will defeat you!"

Daniel yelled as he jumped onto the old man, pushing the old man back momentarily before the old man swung his sword forward with force, throwing him back.

"Uck!" Daniel clenched his teeth. Just now, the force from that old man's strike made his wrist hurt badly.

'This old man is definitely higher-ranked than us all…'

Daniel's aura grew, as a fighting spirit ignited in his eyes, a broad grin on his face as thunder started to crackle all around him.

"Let me test my full power," he said and instantly disappeared from his spot with a speed so fast that the old man had to narrow his eyes to look around.

He could only catch the silhouette of the brat from time to time, making him angry.

How could he, a Rank-2, not be able to keep up with the movements of a Rank-1?

This was absurd!

While the old man had reached the limit of his talent, he was not so terrible to be unable to keep up with a Rank-1 exorcist…

He smashed his foot into the ground, making the ground close to him tremble.

Daniel did not delay and appeared right next to the old man, swinging his sword as if it was an extension of his hand.

Clang!

The old man parried back in the moment, making Daniel quickly back away and appear on the other side of the old man.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

The old heretic, clad in a white shirt, was as fast as a specter with his sword gleaming coldly under the night sky, while Daniel, like a crane, seemed slower than the old man but always managed to evade his attacks with ease.

It was as if Daniel was able to read all the old man's moves instantly and find openings to strike at the old man, making the latter more furious.

As Oliver had said before, the old man had subpar sword skills and his stance had many openings. With such lacking talent, there was no way he could just brute force his way through everything.

Faced with Daniel, a sword prodigy, it was natural that his attacks were easily readable.

"Damn it!"

The old man cursed and in the next instant, he took out a black bag with some liquid inside it.

A terrible stench covered the surroundings as soon as the bag was taken out.

"I did not want to use this, but I am short on time…" he looked towards Daniel and smiled coldly.

"Did you think that my main weapon was a sword? If so, then you are wrong. Poison, my specialty is poison. I am an alchemist, not a fighter, having concocted some of the deadliest poisons of the Unholy Sun Sect. The moment I use this, you can only beg for death."

The old man chuckled darkly.

"Fuck! Old bastard, are you going to play dirty!?" Daniel exclaimed in anger.

"Dirty?" The old man scoffed as he said, "There's nothing dirty about it, brat. I am an alchemist, and this is how we fight. It's your fault for being so pathetic to be fooled."

Daniel gritted his teeth as he spat at the old man's tricks.

"Fucking old bastard! ALL OF YOU OLD BASTARDS ARE SO HATEFUL!!" Daniel said, as his experience with old people had been the worst.

"I don't know what you are blabbering. It looks like the fear of death has made you go crazy, hahaha."

The old man ignored Daniel and looked at the short cliff. The girl was not there; he suspected that she was coming down to help.

He was not going to wait and kill these two here, retrieve the egg, and then finish the rest.

He would kidnap the others and have the clans fight with each other and ensure chaos.

He threw the black bag towards where Daniel was standing, and in a second, a huge black smoke exploded from the bag, as a blackish fluid covered the ground, instantly melting the rocks.

The acrid stench of burning rock filled the air, the poison eating away at the landscape like acid. Daniel jumped backward and started to get away from the black fog that was quickly spreading outwards, his speed slower as the fog approached him from behind.

"Now that's one taken care of, let's resume where we were."

Splatter!

A fountain of blood erupted.

Before the old man could turn around and face, a sharp pain assaulted his chest. He slowly looked down below before turning around.

His vision blurred as the world tilted, darkness closing in from the edges. He had an expression of disbelief as darkness overtook his sight, even while dying he could only mutter one word.

"How…?"

Behind him stood Oliver, who currently wore an expressionless facade, not a single trace of the poison from before visible on his body or face.

"A dead man doesn't need to know."

Oliver said in a cold voice as he twisted his sword in the old man's heart, finishing him in a single strike.

He watched as the old man fell to the ground like a puppet with strings cut.

He bent down and picked up the man's storage bracelet. This time, he stored the bracelet in his mindspace in case someone came after him again.

He sighed as he looked ahead at the black mist covering the sky. He did not seem too troubled by the poisonous fog.

His eyes scanned the area, calculating his next move with precise focus.

He sighed as he looked ahead at the black mist covering the sky, he did not look to be too troubled by the poisonous fog.

And he had the reason to be.

With Abyss energy residing inside him, how can ordinary poison of some old maniac hurt him?

Earlier when he had realized that he had been poisoned, he immediately used Abyss energy and devoured the whole poison quickly, making him free of any ailments or negative effects.

However, his ribs still hurt from the impact so he consumed a health potion while he watched Daniel battle the old heretic.