"Woah, that's... really sad and touching. Though frankly, I didn't understand half of what you said."Velector said as he clapped his hands with disinterest and indifference "But to tell you the truth I'm very disappointed. Your story isn't particularly interesting, honestly, I've met people in worse circumstances than you."
"Good thing I don't give a sh*t about your opinion."
"Pfff...Hahahaha. Aggressive to the end eh? You seriously don't think about taking my offer?" asked Velector. He then took a sip of liquor as he waited for an answer. But Marcus didn't answer and remained in silence.
"I see. It's a pity. You know, if you hadn't come alone, maybe, just maybe you would have had a chance to kill me. But I guess we'll never know, will we?"
"And who said... I came alone?" As he said those words, an expression of confusion formed on Velector's face.'Daniela now!' However, Marcus didn't bother to explain and immediately sent a telepathic command to the Zombie Assassin hiding in the room.
*Woosh*
Velector was only able to see a shadow out of the corner of his eye before a swift black figure emerged from the darkness just a couple of steps away from him.
*Slash*
"AAAAAAAAARGH!"
Unfortunately, although he could see it, Velector was unable to dodge the Zombie Assassin's dagger, which cut deep into the left side of his face, severely damaging his silver eye and causing his reddish blood to ooze from his wound.
Before entering the subway tunnels, Marcus had captured and interrogated John Makroft, who had many direct dealings with the Black Lions and therefore had the most information on the matter.
One of the things the old wizard had told Marcus was about the fact that the leader of the Black Lions was not human and that, although he was neither a wizard nor an aura warrior, he possessed many special skills which were problematic.
Although the old man had not informed him specifically what Velector's skills were, Marcus knew that he couldn't underestimate his opponent. So before entering the room, Marcus had taken out his Zombie assassin (Daniela) and ordered her to use her [Stealth] skill.
Fortunately, the [Eye of Immobility] only worked on targets that the user could see, so Daniela, who had been hidden the whole time, had been unaffected by the skill.
Then, while Marcus was chatting with Velector to distract him and buy time, Daniela had gotten close enough to him to attack from behind. And while she had failed to kill him, the Zombie assassin had indeed managed to destroy the Draun's [Eye of Immobility].
"F**king whore!" cursed Velector. Immediately and with one swift movement, the Draun extended his left arm and punched the Zombie assassin in the abdomen.
*Scrunch*
Velector's razor-sharp claws tore and cut through the rotting flesh and bones of the Zombie without any resistance as if it were butter. In an instant, the Zombie assassin was split into two halves, its body slumped to the ground spilling its organs and a grotesque black fluid that was once its blood.
....
{The effects of the skill [Eye of Immobility] have been removed}.
....
'Nooooo, Dani! That Zombie assassin was new!' Although Marcus was a bit sorry for what had happened to Daniela, the moment he heard the effects of the [Eye of Immobility] wear off, he didn't waste a split second and immediately charged towards the Draun who was still suffering from his damaged left eye.
At that moment, Marcus cast all the empowerment spells on his sword, causing the runes on it to glow even brighter, at the same time the energy edge enveloping the blade became clearer and sharper.
*Slash*
Marcus leaped and arrived in front of Velector in the blink of an eye as he made a quick horizontal slash towards his neck. The Draun only managed to turn around in time to watch as Marcus performed his move and as the blade of magical energy rapidly approached towards his neck.
" NULL!" shouted Velector just before the energy blade sliced into his neck, and in that instant, his right eye lit up with a faint multicolored glow.
*Clang*
A split second later, Uroboros' blade struck Velector's neck. But instead of cutting through flesh and bone to spill a torrent of blood, the energy edge disappeared and the blade bounced off the Draun's scales.
At the same time as this happened, Marcus suddenly felt his body, which had been reinforced by multiple empowerment spells, magic, and enchanted items, weaken rapidly causing his stats to return to their original state.
Before he could understand what was happening, a system alert notification went off in his head.
....
{The user has been affected by the [Eye of Nullification]. While the effect of the skill is still active, the user will be unable to use/activate any magic-type items or skills}.
....
'... Oh, Sh*t.'
"Graaaah!" Velector roared as he launched a punch with his clenched fist towards Marcus' chest. Fortunately, he was wearing his armor, otherwise, the Draun's arm would have gone through him like he was made of jelly.
*Bam, Crack, Crash*.
Marcus was sent flying into the brick wall of the room, destroying several sculptures and paintings in the process. In addition, some of his bones were also fractured by the blow.
[HP: 1,237/ 1,503]
"GRRROOOOOOAAAAh!" However, Velector didn't stop and immediately ran towards Marcus at full speed to ram him with the force and weight of his entire body.
Unfortunately, Marcus was still dazed from his sudden decrease in his physical stats and was unable to dodge in time, so he ended up receiving the Draun's direct charge.
*Bam...Bam...Bam!
Velector continued his charge forward, managing to destroy three brick walls, going through two tunnels in the process until finally reaching a large and spacious room, with tall stone columns very similar to the room where Marcus had slaughtered all the members of the Black Lions a few moments before.
When Velector broke through the third wall he finally stopped, sending Marcus flying along with a large amount of brick dust and debris. His body traveled several yards in the air until finally crashing and bouncing a few times against the floor of the room.
[HP: 990/ 1,503]
'Uuuugh... Goddammit...That really hurt.'
....
{The [Monarch of the eternal garden] watches you with interest as he laughs at your situation}.
....
'Dude... seriously, this is not a good time to be bothering!' While trying to ignore [Monarch of the eternal garden] comments, Marcus tried to stand up and use his body's necrotic energy to heal his wounds.
'That weren't magic eyes supposed to be rare? Why does that guy have two of them?' But when Marcus tried to circulate the necrotic energy in his body it got stuck. It was as if an invisible wall was blocking the connection between him and the energies in his body 'Damn. does the effect still persist?'
Among all the skills that existed, Magic Eyes were among the rarest and strangest of all. Not only because the probability of being born with one was extremely low, but because the conditions and effects of each Magic Eye were completely different.
But despite all this, Velector had not one, but two Magic Eyes! That was even rarer than finding a four-leaf clover.
The [Eye of Nullification] allowed the user to block all magical capabilities of a person or item up to a certain level. This by releasing a series of waves containing energy particles that would destabilize the structure of Rehi or other energy, making it impossible for a person to manipulate it.
For that very reason, it didn't matter if one was out of the eye's range of sight. As long as the target of the [Eye of Nullification] was within the area of effect of the energy particles, a person would not be able to use their skills or cast spells.
"You bastard, you RUINED EVERYTHING!" At that instant, the dust cloud dissipated and Velector emerged from the hole in the wall. Very slowly he began to walk towards Marcus.
The wound that the Zombie Assassin had caused him was already regenerating, but his left eye was completely destroyed. Even if the Draun regained his sight he would never be able to use his skill again.
"It wasn't enough for you to ruin my business with the priest and murder my men, you also dared to take my magic eye! And now you will have to pay with your life... "As he spoke, Velector took off his white shirt which was stained with dust, blood, and black fluid, exposing his scarred torso. Except for his marked abdomen and chest, the rest of his body was covered in glowing reddish scales. "... But first you will have to suffer for what you did!"
'...Why did he take off his shirt?'
....
{Monarch of the eternal garden: Maybe you should have taken Vaseline with you. XD}
....
'...Bro what the f**k….'
"Graaaah!" At that instant, Velector ran towards Marcus who was still lying on the ground, and threw a fist straight towards him.
Before he could hit him, Marcus rolled on the ground managing to dodge Velector's attack.
*BAM! CRACK!*
The Draun's fist didn't stop and hit the rocky ground with a great clatter, forming several cracks in the area where Marcus had been a few moments before.
Marcus quickly got to his feet and reached for his sword to counterattack. But he couldn't find it, he had dropped it when Velector hit him in the other room.
Discarding the idea of being able to use magic or his sword, Marcus quickly ran up and positioned himself on Velector's left side, right in his blind spot, and unloaded a series of blows to the most unprotected areas of his body.
Even if Marcus had lost the ability to use reinforcement magic, his stats had already surpassed 100 points so each of his blows contained superhuman strength.
In just a few seconds Marcus had unloaded over three dozen blows on the Draun's body, knocking it back a couple of steps.
"Kregh! You are annoying!!!"But Velector completely ignored the attacks aimed at his body and counterattacked.
*BAM Crack!*
Velector raised his fist and hit Marcus right in the chest, breaking almost every bone in his ribcage. The Draun's blow had been so hard that it even made Marcus take his feet off the ground.
"I'M NOT DONE YET!!!" Just as Marcus' body was falling backward in the air, Velector grabbed him by the leg and threw him against the ground with all his might causing part of the rock floor to crack and break.
*Crash!*
Next, Velector lifted Marcus up as if he were a rag doll and slammed his body to the ground again.
*Crash! Bam! Crash! Bam!*
[HP: 820/ 1,503]
[HP: 746/ 1,503]
Velector continued to lift and shake Marcus' body against the floor back and forth, slamming him against the floor or the columns of the room over and over again.
*Crash! Bam! Crash! Bam!*
[HP: 611/ 1,503]
[HP: 508/ 1,503]
This process continued for several more minutes and every time Marcus hit the ground, he could feel the bony fibers of his body slowly fracturing as his HP continuously decreased.
"Hahaha...Tell me, what happened to all that confidence you had? Didn't you say you were going to kill me? Or can you only use cowardly tactics as you did a while ago? Letting someone else die while you strike the final blow?"
'It's called strategy you piece of...' But as much as Marcus wanted to protest he couldn't as Velector had nullified his ability to use spells including [Telepathy].
"What, you're not going to yell? What a bore you are!" At that instant, Velector threw Marcus against the ground so hard that his body bounced almost 1.5 meters (5 ft) high. But before his body could touch the ground again, the Draun delivered a hard knee strike to his ribs.
*BAM. Crash!... BAM*
'KGGGH!' Marcus' body soared into the air, hitting the ceiling of the room with such force that it ended up shattering a part of it, causing some brick fragments to break off. Then, his body began to fall until it finally crashed to the floor.
"Graaah!" At the same instant he hit the ground, Velector raised his leg and kicked Marcus with all his might. " Hmmm... How strange. The feeling of hitting your body is a bit stiff or empty. Well, never mind."
*Bam Crash*
Marcus' body once again flew through the air until it hit one of the columns in the room. The impact had been so strong that Marcus had ended up destroying a part of it.
[HP: 150/ 1,503]
Even if he didn't look at the amount of HP he had left, Marcus already knew that his body was on its very last. If it hadn't been for the fact that Velector had only been toying with him by throwing him against the floor and ceiling as if he were a rag, then he would already be dead.
All his ribs were broken, his legs and arms were fractured, his skull had multiple cracks and the entire bone that formed his back was broken into pieces. Among all this, Marcus was amazed by the fact that his mask was still intact.
But even though he only had a tenth of his HP left, all of his bones were broken or fractured and his magical abilities had been blocked, Marcus forced himself to get up from the ground again to take another hit from the Draun. If he didn't get up, he was sure he would die.
However, contrary to what he expected, Velector did not charge towards him and instead stopped a few yards away from where he was standing
"Tch, I've had enough of playing with you. I think it's about time we ended this." Velector said with complete indifference and boredom. It was clear she had had enough of him.
*Weng Weng*
At that moment, Velector's chest began to radiate a warm white light that caused all the air around him to begin to distort and vibrate. In addition, Marcus could also feel the temperature of the room increase by several degrees.
Velector opened his mouth as wide as he could and the warm light from his chest began to build up in his throat forming intense burning flames.
A moment later, a large flash of light illuminated the entire room, and a huge fireball the size of a basketball shot out from Velector's maw at great speed.
'... Dammit.'
*BOOM!*
Unable to dodge the attack, the fireball impacted squarely on Marcus' head, exploding the moment it hit him.
The explosion generated a shockwave that sent Marcus' body flying several yards through the air until it crashed into one of the room's brick walls, so hard that it cracked it in the process.
Then, Marcus' decapitated body slowly slid against the brick wall until finally collapsing on the floor completely motionless.
....
{Monarch of the eternal garden: Daaaaamn… Are u ok...? Marcus?}