Michael saw them running at him like brutes, only reacting once he shot his Swords of Light at them.
It seemed the quantity did not matter as for some reason, they were able to keep the black aura around them enabled for longer.
That, coupled with a shorter cooldown, basically made them nearly immune to Michael’s attacks.
‘This is a bit bullshit no?’ He asked the system and recast Shield of Nourishment on himself, he was going to save Shield of Light for parries as he thought they might just work.
Yes, well, they are unstable, using that power makes the body suffer and eventually collapse, the only reason they are fine is because they lost their minds.
‘So they will only give up once they run out of juice huh.. seems simple enough’ Michael nodded and began casting Swords of Light at intervals, trying to get them to use the black aura as frequently as he could.
He had already noticed their lack of intelligence, making this a simple battle of attrition.
However, the fact that they could so easily block his attacks annoyed him, according to the system he had the highest grade of Light affinity, yet he wasn’t able to pierce through some mana-dispelling barrier?
You are overconfident, these people are borrowing power from a greater being, technically, it is he who is dispelling your attacks, not them.
‘As I thought, bullshit’ Michael nodded to himself and prepared to cast more of his Swords of Light when he suddenly began feeling a tad bit dizzy.
‘Shit.. my mana is almost out’ He hadn’t paid much attention to it all this time since the consumption was not great, however, it finally added up.
At most, he had 5% mana remaining, definitely not enough to deal with these guys from range.
That’s why, Michael decided to scrap his idea of running and charged straight at them, using a tiny portion of his mana to push the others away, making it a temporary 1 on 1.
The man was as creepy as earlier and he was also the weakest of the 4.
He mindlessly threw a punch, his fist covered in that black aura, however, Michael was currently not using mana externally, he was merely enhancing himself.
That is why, he easily dodged the attack and hit the man with one of his own, aiming to claw off his neck.
He managed to make contact and rip out the man’s throat but even then, he didn’t see any signs of stopping.
This way of fighting startled Michael, he never fought an opponent that could survive with a fatal injury.
However, he could tell that it had some effect, as blood poured out and his neck twisted backwards, his skin slowly turning purple.
‘Fucking brute’ Michael kicked him away and clashed with the other 3, the one he just fought seemed to be getting slower and slower by the second.
It was not long before he finally collapses.
The others didn’t seem that much different, just stronger, making it difficult for him to pull the same stunt he did with the other one.
It did not stop him from trying, but the moment he did, one of them dashed at a speed that made it hard for Michael to pull his hand back in time, resulting in his arm being crushed by pure force.
He tried pulling the arm back, however, no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn’t budge.
‘Fuck..’ He took a deep breath and cut his own arm off, the one who had grabbed it earlier still holding it.
His arm began regrowing at a speed that was faster than last time, he expected it to be fully grown out in a couple of minutes.
But every minute mattered, they would not wait for his arm to grow back either.
‘2% of my mana is left, one is dead, one is slightly injured and the others were fairly fine.. this is not looking good.’ Michael looked around with a grave expression.
They did get a bit slower since the start of the fight, however, so did Michael, it was truly a battle of attrition now and he was losing.
‘A barrier-piercing attack.. how can I make that fucking work..’ He thought and began channeling his mana, creating an extremely slender sword that seemed nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Michael kept compressing it, until only a portion of its original mana was left.
And finally, he sent it forward, like an invisible dagger, flying at the strongest of the inmates.
The black aura around the man glowed brightly, however, instead of the small impact that should have happened, Michael’s attack completely passed through the barrier, creating a small hole where the man’s heart was.
‘Hah.. the barrier did not see it as an attack due to the low amount of mana it had.. I am a genius’ A smile appeared on Michael’s face but it only lasted a moment, as that attack cost nearly all of his remaining mana.
‘Though it does not matter, they are finally here’ He glanced behind the inmates and saw his party members quickly approaching.
Chloe disappeared and reappeared behind one of them, slicing straight into his back before being flung to the side by the sheer amount of mana he had unleashed at that moment.
Kevin caught her with his shadows and approached the inmates, a small vortex of shadows swirling inside of his palm.
All of a sudden, a shadow materialized by his side and he finally sent the swirling vortex, aiming for Michael.
‘The fuck?’ As he was thinking of dodging, he noticed the look on Kevin’s face, it screamed to trust him.
And as much as he did not like him, he decided to put his trust in him, this situation was pretty bad already anyway.
The vortex hit Michael and his view suddenly changed, he switched places with the shadow Kevin had summoned just a moment ago.
“How are you holding up?” He asked Michael and glanced at his arm which was slowly regenerating.
The others seemed to notice it too and had bewildered expressions.
“Out of mana, stall for a couple of minutes and I can finish them off” Michael explained and stepped to the very back of the party, slowly preparing the barrier-piercing Sword of Light he had cast earlier.
All 3 of them nodded, it was surprising to see Elizabeth so quiet, he expected her to start nagging him the moment she saw him.
Michael chuckled inwardly and saw Chloe dash in, disappearing and reappearing behind one of the inmates once again, landing a clean slice on his back.
She was aiming for the neck, but their instincts were good enough to evade deadly blows.
Elizabeth readied her stance and began walking up, her sword slightly by the side.
One of the inmates noticed her slow approach and dashed towards her, aiming to kill her in one blow.
However, as he was just in front of her, he suddenly stopped, a shadow tentacle bound his foot.
She took this chance to deal a blow, but just like with Chloe, it evaded the moment her attack was about to land in a fatal area.
‘So they really can work as a party’ Michael smiled to himself as he raised his arm slightly, due to the surrounding mana being so thick from the fight, he was able to regain his mana a tad bit faster.
“Move!” He shouted and they immediately backed away, Chloe teleported back, while Elizabeth was switched with a shadow.
Michael lined the attack up and just like earlier, pierced both of the inmates through the heart, ending their life swiftly.
He looked at all of their bodies and noticed their hair had returned to the color he saw back in the armored van, their eyes too.
However, he didn’t have much time to admire it as his knees buckled, he finally ran out of mana and fought the urge to not pass out.
‘That was a tough fight..’
