Chapter 135: Invisible Wall

My legs had been freed from the ice, but that didn’t mean I was free to move as I pleased.

I tried to jump, expecting my body to respond normally now that Thunder Sunlight had melted the ice around my legs.

Instead, an invisible force pulled me toward the ground.

My body failed to rise, and before I could do anything to correct my movement, I fell back down.

The ice was gone, but the restriction remained.

What the hell was Saud doing?

I had no time to investigate. He was still above me, and his next movement made it clear that he had no intention of giving me the opportunity to do so.

Saud began a somersault in the air.

His body rotated smoothly, his head gradually turning toward the ground as he completed the movement. There was something deeply unnatural about watching him maneuver so effortlessly in midair. An ordinary person would have had to accept the direction of their fall, but Saud treated the space around him as though it were something he could freely manipulate.

Then, in the middle of his rotation, he extended his leg.

His foot struck the empty air beneath him.

Or, rather, it seemed to.

The air resisted his movement as though an invisible wall existed there. Instead of continuing to fall, Saud pushed against that unseen surface, using it as a foothold.

His body shot forward.

The direction of his movement changed almost instantly. What should have been a descent became a rapid approach, and he came toward me at a terrifying speed.

He was heading straight for me.

I couldn’t afford to waste even a second trying to understand the mechanics behind his ability. He could remain suspended in the air, interfere with the air itself, and apparently use invisible surfaces to change his trajectory.

Meanwhile, I was struggling to get off the ground.

The difference between our positions was obvious.

I needed to interrupt his approach before he reached me.

I summoned Hunger of the Creepy Dagger and hurled it toward him.

The dagger shot through the air, its trajectory directed toward Saud. I intended to force him to deal with the incoming weapon, hoping that the brief interruption would give me an opportunity to respond to his approach.

But Saud didn’t even need to evade it.

He disordered the dagger’s trajectory.

The weapon abruptly veered away from its intended direction. Instead of continuing toward him, it was diverted elsewhere, its original purpose rendered useless.

My attack had failed.

I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on it. Saud was still coming, and the distance between us was shrinking rapidly.

I immediately returned Hunger of the Creepy Dagger to my Core.

The weapon disappeared from the battlefield, no longer traveling along the trajectory Saud had disrupted. A moment later, I summoned it again.

The dagger reappeared in my hand.

There was little point in throwing it a second time when he had already demonstrated his ability to redirect its path. I would have to deal with him differently.

Unfortunately, I barely had time to consider my options.

Saud was already close.

His strange movement had carried him across the distance separating us, and his speed left little room for another ranged attack. Whatever he intended to do next, I would have to face it at close range.

Then he summoned a sword.

The weapon appeared just as he reached me, and I immediately brought my own weapon into position.

Clang!

Our swords collided.

The sound rang through the battlefield as the two blades met. For an instant, we were finally fighting at the same distance, neither of us relying solely on attacks launched from afar.

But I knew better than to assume that this would make things easier.

Saud had already shown how difficult it was to predict his movements. If I remained in front of him and tried to match his attacks directly, I would be giving him another opportunity to use his strange abilities against me.

So I moved.

Lowering my body, I rolled between his legs while simultaneously stealing his thoughts.

I needed to interrupt his awareness long enough to escape his immediate attack. My ability allowed me to steal his last few seconds of thought, and I used it at the moment when our swords met and his attention was occupied by the confrontation.

The effect took hold.

Saud forgot that he was here, fighting me.

That brief interruption was all I needed to move past him.

I rolled through the space between his legs, using the momentum of my movement to continue into a somersault. I couldn’t afford to remain in such an awkward position. If Saud recovered before I could get away, I would be in danger again.

My body rotated as I completed the maneuver.

Then I turned 180 degrees, intending to face him.

But Saud wasn’t there.

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what had happened. I had moved past him, completed my somersault, and turned around to face the direction where I expected him to be.

Instead, I found nothing.

My eyes widened as I realized my mistake.

He was behind me.

Saud had repositioned himself while I was completing my maneuver, and now he stood at my back. Before I could turn around again, he had already brought his sword into position.

The blade was aimed directly at my abdomen.

I could feel the danger before I could properly react to it. My maneuver had failed to put me in the position I wanted, and I was now facing away from the very person I needed to watch.

Saud’s sword was already moving toward me.

I had escaped his initial approach, redirected my own strategy after he disordered my dagger, and stolen his thoughts to create an opening during our first direct clash.

Yet none of that had put me in control of the fight.

Now, with Saud behind me and his sword about to pierce my abdomen, I had to face the consequences of my failed maneuver.

I was running out of time.