“You piece of shit Delvin!” Said Cypher as he ran towards the oncoming group. Finding Delvin would have to wait, for now, the village was in danger. These bandits weren’t like the ones in the camp, they had Rank-two bodies from what Cypher could tell at this distance.
Alex was the first to join the fray and he started by easily killing two of the bandits right away. They might have had powerful bodies, but Alex was far more skilled than them, and they lacked the training needed to avoid or block his attacks.
The rest screeched to a halt and began to encircle Alex. Obviously, none of them had noticed Cypher or they wouldn’t have clumped up like that.
“Solo, Verse 1, Gale of Sweeping!” roared Cypher as he drew close. Alex had understood Cypher’s plan somewhat from the wording of the spell, and he had braced himself in place. The spell swept over the bandits, sending a dozen of them flying away for a few meters, while the others were knocked to the ground. Alex then proceeded to stab three of them in quick succession.
Cypher arrived a moment later, and he began to take out a few himself as they struggled to stand back up. They may have had Rank-two bodies, but against complete Rank-One Conductors, that didn’t mean much, especially with them being low tier. Cypher and Alex were easily able to cleave through their cheap armor and poorly formed wards. Their flesh didn’t fare much better and soon, only five of them remained.
From the hill the bandits had descended from, two wild Conductors appeared and began casting spells to support the remaining bandits. The five men grew a meter in height and their muscle mass increased as well. Shining wards also flashed around them, and once the enhancement was complete, the wild Conductors began to launch attack spells.
Cypher and Alex danced around the various attacks, both magical and physical, and managed to take out two more of the bandits.
“Go take care of those two Cyph’!” said Alex, “I got these assholes here!” Cypher nodded and jumped away. He then dashed up the hill, using his Zight Stanza to increase his speed. He quickly reached the wild Conductors and began to engage them.
Cypher quickly grew frustrated as he realized that they were able to evade his attacks and coordinate their own quite efficiently. Not only that, but they had been able to hide their true power until he got close enough. As it turned out, they were Complete Rank-Two Wild Conductors.
Being Wild Conductors, they weren’t quite as powerful as normal Conductors, but this was offset by the fact that their battle style was far from the norm. They moved in curious, almost beastlike patterns that made it difficult to predict their movements. Their spells were strange as well.
Cypher could hear them as they were cast, and their melodies sounded bizarre and tribal in nature.
Not only that, but they seemed to also have strange side-effects laced into them, which wasn’t normal at all compared to the spells Cypher had been up against in the past. A fireball shot past his head and a patch of grass burst into flames. The flames were quickly sucked into the center of the blast and the ground beneath the impact site dissolved.
Cypher quickly delivered a spin kick to the gut of one of the Wild Conductors, while the one who had cast the strange fireball prepared another. Cypher narrowly dodged the incoming spell and swept the Conductor off his feet.
Cypher delivered an elbow to the gut of the downed Wild Conductor, who coughed up some spit and groaned in pain. Cypher rolled to his feet and raised an extended hand right into the face of the other Wild Conductor, who had done the same.
The two stared each other down, ready to cast a spell at a moment’s notice. The sounds of Alex clashing with the enhanced bandits rang out around them as they stood locked in that stalemate. Having grown tired of that game, Cypher quickly wrapped his hand around the wrist of the other Conductor and a series of Water Bullets rained out harmlessly toward the sky.
The downed Wild Conductor had, by then, scrambled to his feet and tried to punch at Cypher with a glowing hand. Cypher spun, bringing the second Wild Conductor into the line of attack. Once the fist made contact, the Wild Conductor screamed in pain and began to disintegrate at a rapid pace.
Only a few seconds had to pass before he was completely reduced to nothing. His partner roared in anger and swung at Cypher again. For an instant, his mind went blank. He was too slow to dodge, and blocking an attack like that would be impossible. He also had a feeling that any item he used to divert the attack would succumb to the effects of the spell encircling the hand of the Wild Conductor.
A brief image of Alvin’s surprised face from back in the ruin appeared in his mind. At that time, Alvin had been unable to use his primary element, though he still had access to his other spells. Of course, at that time, the veil had been spread out amongst three people, but what if…
In the span of less than a second, Cypher had deployed his Elemental Veil. It hadn’t been a conscious decision, but rather, it was one driven by his combat instincts. Additionally, it had been focused directly on the attacking foe.
The punch landed and Cypher fell to the ground. The blow had indeed hurt, after all, the Wild Conductor before him was a complete Rank-Two. Properly trained or not, he was still superior to Cypher and could break through Cypher’s defenses with certain attacks. However, the pain that was coursing through his cheek and jaw wasn’t his main concern.
He waited a moment, panic flowing through him as he expected to be reduced to nothing just as the first Wild Conductor had been. However, nothing happened and Cypher quickly took advantage of his opponent’s moment of confusion.
He infused about 30% of his remaining Zight into his Stanza and rushed behind the Wild Conductor, who had also recovered from the shock of a failed spell. Before the man could even turn or leap away, Cypher grabbed the back of his neck and threw him into a nearby boulder.
The stone cracked and buckled inward under the force of the impact. The Wild Conductor spat blood and struggled to stand, but was unable to. The impact had shattered his lower vertebrae and severed the connection to his legs.
Instead, he raised his hand and cast another spell. This time Cypher actively used his Elemental Veil and the spell fizzled out. Not only that, but a portion of the Zight used to cast the spell was funneled into Cypher’s Orrium. It was clearly Zight of another element, but it was instantly converted into Null Zight.
Cypher raised an eyebrow and looked down at the man with curiosity. A small bit of smugness washed over him, while a smile stretched across his face. He could Nullify the spells of other Conductors!
