Chapter 141: Elif Versus Five

Crossing my arms, I blocked one of Goliath's punches before forcefully pushing him away, successfully knocking him slightly off balance; using that opportunity, I swiftly neared him and kicked straight toward his head at the near defenseless Goliath. However, In the middle of the attack, I sensed someone quickly approaching me, so I was forced to interrupt my kick before quickly turning around and deflecting the silver lance; otherwise, It would've pierced my leg.

"Ho, that is slightly rude, don't you think, Shelia? Not even announcing your presence." Remarked Elif with a smirk while holding the silver lance with his outstretched hand that he used to deflect it.

"My apologies, Prince Elif; I plan to join the battle now." Stated Shelia with a smirk as well, though most of her face was concealed by her armor.

I was about to give a sarcastic response; however, before I could, I sensed Shelia channel a good amount of Qi into the lance I was holding, and out of instinct, I released it while gaining some distance. This proved to be the correct action, as Shelia's lance then released a vast amount of lightning; though, luckily, this was regular lightning and not tribulation lightning.

"You have swift reflexes, Prince Elif; that move would catch nearly all of my opponents off guard." Commented Shelia with a frown as she retracted her lance back to her side while eyeing the unharmed Elif.

"Yes, though I can not take all the credit; my mentor practically forced me to have quick reflexes; otherwise, I'd always get hit with a brutal attack. I must say, it wasn't the slightest bit fun." Said Elif while glancing at Illumia in the distance before suddenly vanishing from his spot, which was now occupied by various ethereal tree roots.

"Tch, I was hoping Shelia would've distracted you, Prince Elif." Said Birger with a frown as he eyed Elif, who was standing not too far away from him while his body was enveloped in an ethereal silhouette of a giant tree.

"Well, I tried, but as you can see, he is very nimble on his feet." Remarked Shelia as she glanced at Birger before looking at Elif.

"Besides Birger, after Shelia's attack, you all lost any chance of successfully launching a sneak attack on me; once she decided to join the battle, I made sure to keep my senses locked on all of you. And speaking of all of you, I can't sense Echo or Eyvor, which is very weird." Stated Elif, though instead of feeling confused, he merely smiled.

While standing in the air surrounded by Birger, Shelia, and Goliath, I waited for one of them to attack; however, before I could react, I was suddenly punched in the stomach and forced back several meters before I managed to stop myself, though the weird thing was, the person who attacked me wasn't Birger, Shelia, or Goliath as none had moved from their spots.

"Ugh, I'll give you that one; even though I was expecting it, that still hurts." Said Elif with a slight smile rubbing his stomach before he took on a defensive position.

Standing in a defensive position waiting for the next attack while using my divine sense to its maximum capacity, searching for any subtle signs I could find that would indicate where I would be attacked next, yet every time they attacked, there was no indication whatsoever.

"Hehe; now this, this is a real illusion; it's nothing like what I experienced before." Remarked Elif with a slight smile, currently covered in bruises from the numerous attacks he's taken.

"Haa, when did you figure out you were in an illusion, Prince Elif?" Asked Eyvor; though Elif couldn't see her, he could only hear her voice which seemed to come from everywhere.

"The moment I released Shelia's lance; at that moment, I faintly sensed a familiar Qi encompass me before completely vanishing. Though I must compliment your abilities, Eyvor; this level of illusion is leagues ahead of the one I experienced; I can now finally understand why people would be afraid to fight against a Fairy." Replied Elif while taking a punch to the face, which elicited his irritation.

"I appreciate the praise Prince Elif; however, that doesn't mean I will take it easy on you, especially not after you practically forced me to participate in this fight. Though I am curious, now that you've experienced a true illusion, do you think you can escape it just like you did previously?" Said Eyvor while venting her annoyance on Elif.

"I wouldn't want it any other way, and yes, I am confident in escaping this illusion, though while I talked like it was easy to escape an illusion, it isn't as simple as I made it out to be; it'll take some time. Last time I could escape easily because mainly my opponents were significantly weaker than me, and their illusion was pathetic, not to mention their Dao hearts were also fragile compared to mine, so it wasn't difficult to break out of it. Though breaking your illusion will take some time as I also have to split my focus between Birger, Goliath, Shelia, and an untraceable Echo." Stated Elif with a smile as he managed to successfully block one of Echo's attacks, though that didn't last long as he was swiftly kneed in the abdomen by her.

"So then, everyone ready for round two!?" Exclaimed Elif with traces of excitement while glancing at everyone he could see.

"Yes, of course!" Said Goliath with a slight smile while punching his fists together, his will to fight seemingly returning.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Stated Shelia solemnly while her lance crackled with lightning.

"We should be able to win, right? Or at least force him to make him take us seriously." Remarked Birger with a smirk while putting his hands into a praying position, causing the ethereal tree to glow brightly.

"That is my goal, Birger." Replied Eyvor with a determined expression; everyone except Elif could see her.

"I'm ready; however, I've heard you use a sword, Prince Elif. will you not be using it?" Asked Echo, who was also invisible to Elif.

"Hehe, if you want to see me use my sword, then come and force me to use it!" Declared Elif with a chuckle as he charged directly toward Shelia.

Now that I was facing five opponents, I was no longer holding back as much as when I faced off against Goliath; while my physical strength didn't increase since I was forced to use it all when fighting him, my speed did. With my sudden increase in speed, I almost managed to catch Shelia off guard, though when I neared her, she managed to respond timely by thrusting her lance directly toward my head, which I easily dodged instead of deflecting as I could sense her lance was filled with Qi and she was just waiting for the right opportunity to fry my body.

As I passed her lance, I also ignored the top half of her body, as it was covered in armor, and I seriously doubted my physique held enough power to bypass her armor. So with that, I aimed toward her horse-half body, which had very little armor, and Shelia must've realized my intention as she attempted to move, though she was too slow. As I was about to kick the side of her body, an ethereal tree root managed to get in between my foot and her body, successfully saving her from my attack and allowing her the opportunity to back away.

I wasn't even given a chance to click my tongue as I sensed Goliath approach me from behind, swiftly turning around while simultaneously kicking; I intercepted his fist with my foot, and I managed to overpower him, though that didn't last for long, as I was suddenly punched in the back by Echo, who I still could hardly sense, and was sent flying into Goliath.

However, I wasn't worried; using the moment Echo gave me, I punched Goliath, who managed to stop it by crossing his arms; swiftly placing my feet atop Goliath's still crossed arms, I leaped off of him while simultaneously evading numerous ethereal tree roots as I approached Shelia. Putting my foot on one of the tree roots and jumping off of it to gain more momentum, I managed to escape the barrage of tree roots while also nearing Shelia's location, though, amid my flight, It was very subtle, but I sensed something in front of me, unfortunately by the time I noticed it I wasn't given much time to react.

Putting my arms up to block whatever Echo had prepared for me, which from what I felt hit my arms, I can only guess it was three fists; however, before I could push her off of me, she swiftly backed away while vanishing from my senses again, though I wasn't too concerned about her right now simply because there wasn't much I could do about her, I could barely sense her, let alone attack her.

Approaching Shelia, she did the same thing as last time, thrusting her lance directly at me, yet unlike before, her lance glowed brightly before a beam of lightning shot toward me at incredible speeds. Out of pure instinct, I dodged it, yet even so, the attack still managed to graze my skin, leaving my face with a burn mark.

Since Shelia decided to switch it up, I did so, too; instead of aiming for her bottom half, I headed toward her top half, which was covered in armor. Once I snaked my way close enough to her, I balled my fist, preparing a punch, to which Shelia responded by doing nothing, seemingly having faith in her armor; however, while I was preparing to punch her, I sensed a vast amount of tree roots closing in on my location, and with a smile kicked off of Shelia's breastplate, and pointed my finger toward Birger with a slight smile.

'Hehe, got you Birger. Gyakusatsu!' Thought Elif as a substantial amount of Qi converged toward his index finger, creating a small purple sphere before it shot toward Birger like a beam.

With nearly all of his tree roots attacking me, he had none left to protect himself with, and that was exactly what I was waiting for; among everyone, Birger and Eyvor would be the most annoying to deal with, and since I can't sense Eyvor, I settled with Birger. With how quick the attack is, Birger barely even had enough time to realize what happened before the Gyakusatsu pierced through his ethereal tree.

'Tch, he managed to dodge.' Thought Elif while evading Shelia as he looked at Birger, who had a gaping hole in his right arm.

"If that attack successfully landed, I would've been out of commission." Remarked Birger while inspecting his injury before joining in the battle again.

"Well, I was hoping for that to happen." Stated Elif with a slight smirk while dealing with both Goliath and Shelia before he suddenly blocked an attack from an invisible Echo.

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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, it also works this time; I've reset it again, https://discord.gg/gyR4yJcU

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 156: Shocking Truth!?) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 36: Battle Concluded!?) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 56: Scar, Grand, & Trenza Vs The Bear Pirates) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]