Chapter 169: Nasal Mutilation

‘Enemy incoming. 4 O clock.’

The gem has talked again. This time to warn him of incoming danger heading his way.

‘Thanks.’

Eren could only come up with a simple reply because he had a rogue on his tail now. The Sedated Perception was still active. Yet the fog release was unnaturally fast. Eren’s time-element spell barely gave him the advantage to prepare for the counterattack.

But the gem’s intervention was timely. It allowed Eren to narrow down his area to focus on and make full use of his time-element spell.

Eren informed Renita that came with him to stay at a certain point within the domain of fog and wait for him there. The ranger wanted to ask him how they were going to locate each other in this situation after they separated but Eren’s look told her that his orders weren’t disputable. She sighed and followed Eren’s directions and disappeared in the fog.

The rogue seemingly appeared out of nowhere as soon as Renita was gone. He thought that he had caught Eren off guard with his spell. But he was shocked to see that Eren was staring right at him when he showed himself.

The rogue still had his share of battle experiences and his higher BTP value. Plus, he was akin to a ruler in his domain of fog. So he tried to find a c.h.i.n.k in Eren’s defence by heading straight at him.

Eren was already prepared. His sense of time was different from that of his opponent. So he was paying close attention to the enemy’s moves. A rogue coming straight at him only meant one thing. He had another insidious trick he could use on him.

Eren was right. The rogue had drawn out a whip artefact from his storage. But instead of the attached rope, it was now generating strings of fog that almost looked tangible.

Eren didn’t want the rogue to use that artefact on him. He had already started his attack with the combo of Blitz Bolt and Blitz Steps with Sedated Perception in the backdrop.

All the enemy could see was a few tongues of lightning making their presence known every once in a while when Eren attacked him. But thanks to the fog’s skewed perception, the rogue was barely able to defend himself from Eren’s attack.

Eren knew time was of the essence. If he kept on fighting with this for longer than necessary, his team was going to lose. That’s why he thought of using an AoE right after he finished executing the Blitz Bolt through his katars.

But his opponent was too smart to stay at the same place in his domain of fog. He retreated into an unknown direction. And his retreat was covered by an even dense release of fog that interfered with Eren’s senses.

The rogue had beads of sweat on his head after he saw the ferocity with which Eren fought. That too when he had odds set against him. The rogue was sure things would have become more difficult if he hadn’t won this spell in the auction event and used it here against the butcher.

The rogue was trying to come up with new strategies while he took a breather, thinking Eren would be busy finding him and a.s.suming a defensive stance. Unfortunately, his opponent didn’t wait for him to finish his preparations.

Eren wouldn’t have found out his opponent’s location if it wasn’t for the gem. It told him exactly where the rogue was busy plotting things, hiding behind a smokescreen.

The butcher didn’t waste time. He executed Blitz Storm as soon as the opponent was within the AoE spell’s range. Executing an AoE on a single opponent was usually considered wasteful. But for this situation, Eren thought otherwise.

The Blitz Storm lit up the fog and it gave off the impression that the raging rainy clouds had descended on the ground. But Eren wasn’t admiring the little wonder he created with his spell. He was focused on his next move.

The Blitz Storm finally caught the rogue off guard. The tongues of lightning descended on him. He was just a few moments away from coating himself with a dense layer of fog that would have lightened the attack’s effect.

But unlike him, Eren was more decisive with his attacks. He took advantage of the fact that the rogue was stunned because of being hit by the Blitz Strom and executed Blitz Steps.

Eren got close to the rogue, ran Blitz Bolt at full power through his katars and swung one of them in front of the opponent’s face while he defended the whip attack with the other. Eren knew the whip’s swing was weak and only done to scare him.

Yet he still defended himself from that attack. Because he knew the element of fog was special. It held the power to interfere with his senses. He didn’t want to get stunned as well while he was in the process of attacking the rogue.

The katar’s swing was lethal. It chopped off the tip of the rogue’s nose. Eren disabled the Sedated Perception after that. His job was almost done.

“Haha! I cut off your ego along with your nose. How does it feel, Mr. rogue.”

The rogue looked hatefully at Eren as held his nose. He was p.i.s.sed by the guy’s savage way of attack-and-retreat. He immediately launched himself towards Eren, a dense cloud of fog surging behind him that attested to the anger he felt.

Eren turned back and bolted. He was now chased by the rogue within the domain of the fog. He didn’t forget to taunt him some more while he did that:

“Why aren’t you speaking now, Mr. rogue? You were so chatty Cathy before. Cat got your tongue? Or perhaps your nose? Haha!”

Eren jeered him some more as he ran off in a certain direction.

‘Where is she?’

Eren asked the gem. He was counting on the gem’s help to pull this move. Thankfully, the gem didn’t disappoint and told him what he wanted to hear:

‘She’s 10 O’clock from your position. Contact in next 10 seconds.’