It was a night raid. In addition, the enemy came in numbers: the strange looking magus, the pale peak rank 9 fighter and the dozen fighters dressed in black garb.

From Emery's side, other than his master Magus Xion, the next strongest person had to be Yuria, who should also be a peak stage rank 9 acolyte. However, it was evident she appeared to be troubled fighting against one of black grab warriors. She was fighting fiercely, her dancing-like knife moving against the opponent's large saber.

Thrax and Chumo were also struggling against these mysterious fighters called 'Shadowbane'. Looking at the way they fought, Emery could somehow guess each of those warriors had to be a rank 9 fighter. This was the only possible explanation, as even the Terra knights, who were all rank 7 and 8 were unable to overpowered them with their advantage in numbers.

Emery himself was in a difficult situation, the pale man he was fighting now decided to use his spirit reading ability to control half a dozen of those troublesome daggers. They all flew beautifully through the air, pioneering their own deadly pathway toward him.

The daggers made many faint sounds as they cut through the air, heading towards Emery's body from various directions. All six daggers flew through the air like the grim reaper's scythe and Emery gave his best to parry all of them with his trembling hands.

Clank! Clankk!!

Even though the excruciating pain coming from his wounds was bothering him immensely, Emery still managed to fend off every dagger, albeit barely.

Alas, there was actually the seventh dagger, which the pale man had hidden. It managed to fly low and sneak its way through and penetrate Emery's feet.

Spllatt!!!

Emery was able to barely dodge the sneak attack, but it still left another wound across his right leg. He gritted his teeth as he withstood the searing pain and quickly tried to cast [Shadow Binding Roots]

The spell finally took effect and multiple plants began to emerge from the ground. They quickly gave him assistance while he was still trying to dodge and parry the daggers coming relentlessly at him.

Once again, Emery took a glance towards his friends who were still struggling in their own respective fights. Even Magus Xion was in a bad situation, as he appeared to be on the losing side against that strange magus. His master after all was still wounded.

Knowing entirely well it was him who was their target, Emery decided to cast [Shadow Mist] and quickly began his escape.

The clones which contained his appearance immediately split up and ran away in different directions.

This sight where Emery was seen running everywhere was certainly enough to make the pale man and the strange magus panicked.

"You can't escape from me!!" The pale man shouted, as he quickly controlled his multiple dagger to find the real Emery.

Swwssihhh Swissshhh Splatt!

Within seconds all seven daggers successfully hit seven Emery squarely in the back, but all of them merely clones. Seeing this, the magus who was busty fighting Magus Xion angrily shouted at the pale man.

"You idiot!! Behind your back!!"

The reason Emery cast [Shadow Mist] was only to trick the pale man. While the other party was still confused and wondered where the real him was, he took advantage of that instant moment to cast [Blink] and appeared right behind him. Emery didn't even need a friction of a second as he immediately, almost instantly used his fastest deadly attack, [Hidden Stab].

Splaatttt!!

Not wasting the momentum he finally gained, Emery swiftly swung the sword as [Heroic Slash] took effect. The follow-up attack successfully made a large cut on the pale man's back.

Emery dearly wanted to land a few more wounds on the latter's body, but by then the seven daggers had already returned and he knew he had to retreat right now. Otherwise, the results he had worked so hard to gain would be all gone.

Emery gave the shrieking man a smile and said, "I guess now we are even!"

"URGGHHH!! Don't be too happy too soon kid!" The pale man harshly snarled. "If I wasn't ordered not to kill you, you would already be dead by now!"

Emery seemed unfazed by the provocation as he calmly said, 'Tell me who sent you and maybe I will let you go with your lives!'

"Huh! You have seen nothing, kid!"

As soon as he said those words, the pale man withdrew all his dagger back to his robe. Then, his body suddenly started to tremble fiercely and Emery could see his body started to transform. The man's fingers changed into razor-sharp claws and he abruptly shredded the mask that covered his face.

Behind the mask, lay a facial that didn't look human. His eyes started to turn completely red like a burning ember, while his body enlarged and two pairs of wings came out from his back like a blooming flower.

Emery could feel the pale man's battle power just shot up significantly, as if it was a rising rocket. The latter shrieked so loudly it nearly burst his eardrums and deafened him. It seemed to be a sound type of attack, as Emery could feel his head hurt badly when he didn't act fast enough to cover his ears.

Within that one second, the pale man's wings spread widely in the air. Immediately after, his figure charged towards Emery's direction at breakneck speed almost invisible to the naked eyes.

BAAAMM!!!!!

Without Emery realizing it, the pale man who had turned into a pale looking monster had grabbed him with both of his arms. Emery didn't even have a chance to show a look of fear on his face when the former bit him in the neck

AARGG!!

Not finished, the pale man proceeded to tighten his grip on Emery and took him up into the sky. Emery could vividly feel the wind blowing against his face as they went higher and higher in the air.

"Emery!!!" Thrax and Chumo shouted, breaking through the line of black-garbed individuals and trying to chase after him.

But Emery was in a kind of trance because of the bite. Even though he could clearly see how his friends were getting further and further away from him, he quickly found he couldn't respond to them no matter how hard he tried.

Emery tried to resist one more time, but once again discovered that the pale monster was simply too strong. He was about to completely lose hope when a spear suddenly shrouded in crackling lightning shot towards him like thunder.

With Emery in his arms, the pale man couldn't dodge the spear and as a result, it managed to pierce one of his wings.

Even so, the pale man still tried to hold on to Emery. Alas, his efforts were dashed when a large thunderbird suddenly dropped down onto him, charring the sky with its color, as two figures jumped from its back and attacked him at the same time.

[Thunder Bolt] [FireBolt]

Two figures, one casting a fire spell with the palm of his hand, another cast a lighting spell.

The two spells instantly wounded him and were enough to finally make the pale man release Emery, as he roughly landed back to the ground Emery looked at the two figures with a smile.

One of them was a striking young man who exuded a majestic aura and had a gallant appearance, while the other was a beautiful young woman who looked ethereal with her beautiful long black hair.e

They were the two people Emery had been waiting for all night.

Julian and Klea.

Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,

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