Chapter 424: Battle

As Rhode unsheathed his sword, sharp white bone splinters appeared in the empty night sky and hurtled towards him. Rhode had no intention of stopping as he gripped his sword and brandished it forward. In an instant, a crimson radiance flashed and shattered the white bone splinters.

At this moment, a blurry figure emerged before him. He puckered his brows and quickly recognized that it was his enemy: the Necromancer.

The Necromancer's emaciated body was covered in a tattered black robe and his terrifying face of all skin and bones was enough to scare any humans witless. However, Rhode wasn't afraid at all. Instead, the sword in his hand was ready to strike. Rhode drew a circle with his sword swiftly and in a blink of an eye, the red beam on the Crimson Blade erupted, forming a large web to wrap the Necromancer.

Rhode was well prepared for this moment and this left Darke shrieking in horror.

Darke had his ups and downs tracing the Bone List all this while. Although the death of Vulture brought him some trouble, it gave him a confirmation on the location of his prey. It was obvious that these people were intending to return to Eagle City and he also knew that if they returned successfully, he would be in great trouble. This forced him to catch up with them as quickly as possible.

However, there was a period of time when Darke lost his spiritual connection with the Bone List which left him breaking out in cold sweat. But he was fortunate that this only lasted for a while and everything returned to normal after night fell. He suspected that this might have been due to the Light Dragon Soul's suppressing effects on death spells. However, he didn't read too much into it as he quickly regained the information on the location of the Bone List.

As a Necromancer who had entered the Inner Circle, Darke had incredible agility, so it only took him a short while to spot Rhode's group in the night. This further confirmed his prediction that this bunch of humans was trying to reach Eagle City at the quickest speed possible. Since he had found them, there was no way he would let them escape!

Without a doubt, as a Necromancer with wisdom as his forte, Darke wouldn't be dumb enough to scream "Stay where you are, thief!". No matter what, for the Bone List to be here meant that the person who killed Vulture might possibly be present. It would be best for him to act cautiously and seek out the source of threat before deciding on his strategy.

Darke's careful approach was great, but he didn't expect that Rhode had seen through his tricks. As a player who had dealt with Necromancers for numerous years, Rhode couldn't be more familiar with the tricks undead creatures could do. Even though Darke was conscientious, he would still have the habits all Necromancers had. This was why Rhode was able to spot him without spending too much effort.

Rhode's ambush left Darke scrambling for solutions as he didn't expect his enemy would strike first and viciously. However, as a talented Mage, Darke's attainment in battle was still much stronger than Marlene's. If it was Marlene, perhaps her mind would have gone blank after this ambush. However, it was different for Darke. He swiftly cast the white bone splinters against Rhode, at the same time retreating and attempting to pull apart the distance between them. Instead of retreating as Darke expected, Rhode smashed the splinters with his sword and formed a criss-cross blade web towards the Necromancer.

"Hmph!" Darke let out a snarl and extended his left hand. He pressed his thumb against his little finger and as the little finger cracked, a bone shield emerged before the Necromancer instantly, blocking Rhode's attack. At the same time, Darke stretched out both arms and pushed against the bone shield. Along with this motion, the bone shield charged forward like a boulder, breaking through Rhode's blade web.

Rhode's aggression couldn't help but slow down under Darke's retaliation. He dodged the Necromancer's counter-attack swiftly and Darke successfully regained the distance between himself and Rhode. But Rhode had no intention of letting things end now. The instant he dodged the darting bone shield, he swung his arm and a card flew out from his hand. The card transformed into a ball of flames as it flew towards the Necromancer.

What is that?

Darke was astonished by this move from Rhode as he thought that this human was only a swordsman. But now it seemed that he was a Mage too?

What exactly is that thing?

However, Darke's astonishment didn't last for long because he quickly realized that the ball of flames wasn't actually a fireball. Instead, there was a mighty Black Hound within the flames widening its mouth and howling towards him.

A summoned spirit?

Darke calmed himself down as he knew what this young man was capable of. There was plenty of magical equipment capable of summoning spirits, which was why Darke wasn't too mindful of the Black Hound. After seeing through his opponent, the Necromancer made a definite decision. He swung his hands and in the blink of an eye, four white bone splinters whizzed passed him and pierced into the Black Hound's body. The Black Hound had no chance of defending as it stretched out its claws in vain. The instant the splinters punctured its body, it wailed painfully and collapsed to the ground.

Too easy.

Darke disregarded the ball of flames that collapsed to the ground, swung his arms, and prepared his next spell immediately. Then, cold, deadly dark energy coalesced in his palms, aiming towards the figure before him.

At this moment, Darke's eyes glinted.

Rhode landed on his feet lightly and lifted his head to the huge explosion of flames projected in the dark night sky. The halo of the explosion seemed to be a miniature sun, rendering the entire ground red. Meanwhile, the Necromancer was nowhere to be seen after being devoured by it.

However, Rhode wasn't excited because he knew that the explosion of the Black Hound wasn't enough to finish off a Necromancer in the Master stage. Rhode leaped onto the wagon and soon, the wagon once again darted forward.

"That damn bast*rd!" As expected, Darke rushed out of the inferno of flames. The Necromancer's robe was filled with specks of flames and smoke. It was thanks to his powerful magical resistance that he was able to resist the sudden explosion of the Black Hound. However, even so, this explosion disrupted Darke's preparation of spells and it almost brought along a reverse effect to himself.

This naturally wasn't a good thing for Darke because he had never expected his enemy to deal with him using such a method. However, as he darted out from the ring of flames, the Necromancer's eyes glinted as he finally realized the situation that his enemies were in.

If they were the ones who defeated Vulture, they shouldn't be that afraid of taking on Darke. As a matter of fact, when Darke was engulfed by the sudden explosion, he was secretly afraid that his enemy would seize this chance to strike. However, not only did Rhode not attack, but he also used this opportunity to flee. This Necromancer came to a sudden realization.

It seems like the battle they had with Vulture drained their energy. If these people had the strength, it would be their best bet to defeat me here as quickly as possible. After all, everyone knows what the best choice is: to escape or to travel without any concerns? Since these people chose to escape, it proves that they are definitely out of steam! He must have chosen to restrain his strength in order to escape!

Darke caught sight of the darting black figure and revealed a sinister smile.

Don't think that you can escape so easily.