NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 262: Marionette's Trait?
Once pulling herself up and feeling the handle of the sword beneath her shoes, the scene of a scattered barrage of blades shattering through the wall reflected in her eyes.
Right before she was about to be skewered, she leapt upwards, enhancing her jump with mana and flew towards the edge of the rooftop.
She swung her hand and clutched the edge, dangling on the side of the wall, while checking out the destroyed wall beneath her, which was shrouded in a cloud of dust.
She gave a low hum before wafting away the dust that had managed to reach her. Once the dust had settled, she looked down below and scrutinised the widened hole in the destroyed wall.
She then glanced to the wall parallel to it, finding it also destroyed due to the sudden volley of pointy blades.
She remembered the face of the one that caused this destruction. It was a man with above-average looks, dark blue robes with white outlines, black hair and blue eyes.
If she were to tie in the fact that she had suddenly been attacked with flying swords, this perfectly aligns with the description of the Tier 2 mage on the enemy team.
'Encountered an enemy in a random location. How fortunate.'
Marionette then turned her body into a fluid darkness, melding in with the surrounding darkness as she slithered down.
As she was doing this, the enemy marched through the exit he had created and looked around with a noble and carefree attitude.
His robe flowed behind him like a fabric trail before finally settling down and letting its edges meet the ground.
The sword-mage looked around, holding his chin as she surveyed his surroundings, trying to find the person who had attacked him through the wall.
He raised his arm, glancing at the hole that was made through the sleeve of his robe.
He was but minding his business as he lazily sat inside the room of the building before being rudely interrupted by a sudden bullet.
As he looked around, he couldn't help but wonder where the attacker had suddenly run off to.
Had they already escaped?
Bang!
The young man flicked his hand, causing the handle of a sword to manifest in his hand. He raised it towards the sound of a bullet firing and swung the flat side of his sword towards it.
SHATTER!
The piercing bullet shattered through his blade but was instantly met with a thin and translucent green wall that appeared in its way.
The sword-mage, having his hand stretched out towards the bullet, watched as the fired ammunition fell and clattered to the ground.
He then quickly lowered his hand and formed another storm of blades towards the direction of the shooter.
Marionette, having watched her attempts at blowing a hole through the man's skull fail, slipped deeper into the alleyway, still hidden in its darkness.
She glanced back, finding the man following after her. Or it was more accurate to say he was travelling down the alleyway in hopes of finding her.
As the two were moving through the alleyway, with speedy haste, Marionette couldn't help but have the scene of the barrier stuck inside her mind.
'The power to summon and manipulate swords... The power to summon a barrier with a raise of your hand...'
Which one of these abilities was the element and a trait? Or could it be that both of these were elements?
Was he like Lillian, who was lucky enough to acquire two elements?
"... No matter."
She leapt out of her darkness and shot another bullet towards the young man. She watched as her bullet whistled through the air, only for it to meet the flat side of a blade, shattering it before stopping at the barrier.
She shot another, bringing her down to her last bullet. And once again, the same thing occurred.
The sword-mage summoned another blade and let it be destroyed before eventually allowing his barrier to appear and stopping it.
Marionette gave a low and curious hum at this as she fell back into the dark puddle beneath her.
What could be the reason for his so carelessly sacrificing swords like that? Surely, that was a waste of his manner, correct?
As she continued to travel through the puddle of darkness, like a salmon flowing through a stream of water in the night, she took an impulsive look at her system panel.
===
[Name: Marionette Von Roselle]
[Element(s): Darkness]
[Trait(s): Darkness Empowerment]
[Darkness Empowerment: The longer you spend in the darkness, the more strength and force behind your next attack.]
===
Marionette took a sharp left turn, travelling down another alleyway before taking another turn again, going around in circles.
This wasn't because she wasn't able to navigate through the dirty alleyway, but...
Marionette raised her head slightly out, glancing back and finding that the young man was still following after her with constant vigour behind his steps.
If their current circumstances weren't inside the tournament, one might think that the young man was trying to pursue her for other reasons.
Which she felt disgusted by extremely quickly.
After going around in circles and stalling a bit of time, she leapt out of her puddle and cocked the hammer of her gun before firing.
That was when—
BANG!
—Her eyes briefly widened from the increase in recoil.
The bullet blasted out from its chamber, shooting through the barrel of the handgun and darted towards the young man with a speed much higher than before.
A speed in which the young man wasn't able to react fast enough to summon a sword. Instead, he hurriedly raised his hand to summon his translucent barrier.
Unlike the last time, in which the bullet was blocked without doing any damage to his barrier, this time—
Crack...!
—This time, it created a crack in its surface.
Marionette fell back into her darkness and took another turn, leading her outside of the claustrophobic alleyway and into the outside.
The dark puddle slowly stretched and rose, forming a featureless humanoid figure before becoming more detailed and coloured.
The Assassin stopped in the middle of the road before turning around, watching as the young man slowly stepped into the sun with an impressed look in his eyes.
She then heard him speak for the first time.