A Slash (2)

There was no shockwave, no blinding sword wave, and no incredible phenomenon.

It was just a silent sword slash, with nothing noteworthy about it.

But even so, Atai's eyes opened wide in fear as though he was looking at a monster.

He was not the only one. Liu Ying, Elwha, Rana, and Rhone were also staring towards Bloed as though looking at something unbelievable.

More accurately, they were looking at his saber.

And at the eleven men of the Church of Slaughter standing in front of Bloed.

As for the men, they just stood there, frozen with their faces paling in terror.

But then, the effect of Bloed's technique finally showed up.

All of sudden, enormous amounts of blood burst out of their abdomens, throwing the upper part of their bodies away as rivers of blood spurted out of their bodies.

The scene was incredibly gruesome and terrifying. Blood rained on the surroundings, dying the green grass in red blood, and splashing out on Bloed and the others' bodies.

Meanwhile, Bloed looked at his saber and then at Atai and sighed.

"The range was much worse than I thought. As expected, using Tito's sand to replace the runes is not a good idea. I should engrave the runes properly later." Bloed's voice was apathetic, as though he had not killed eleven people but just eleven flies.

But strangely, that kind of voice sent shivers to the listeners' spines.

Even Atai, who was speaking arrogantly before this, was now covered in a cold sweat.

"Just now, that was…"

"Mmm… I think I'm going to name it [Imaginary Slash]. What do you think about the name? Cool, right?"

"... Impossible…"

Bloed looked at the shocked Atai and shook his head in pity.

"See? Fighting you is unnecessary. I can kill you easily if I want." Bloed said indifferently and then started to walk towards Atai slowly.

Atai's face turned pale in fear. Seeing eleven powerful men die so suddenly and strangely filled him with terror.

But an instant later, his fear was replaced by fierceness.

Grabbing his two bone daggers, he glared at Bloed and pounced towards him!

"Go die!" Atai bellowed, calling upon the image of a cougar that enveloped him and increased his speed.

Atai's movements were incredibly fast, faster than any B-Rank Bloed had seen before. In an instant, he appeared before Bloed with his daggers slicing towards his neck.

But it was useless.

Just like before, Bloed calmly raised his saber.

And slashed horizontally.

Atai's eyes opened wide. His sharps instincts kicked out, allowing him to react instinctively and try to jump away.

But despite that, he failed to evade the attack.

He could feel something invisible breaking through his mana, ignoring his defenses, and slicing his flesh and blood.

An instant later, Atai fell on the ground.

But his legs had been separated from his body.

"… Impo… sible…" Atai whispered to himself with a look of disbelief.

Bloed furrowed his brows. He looked at his saber and shook his head in disappointment.

"It looks it's not completely unavoidable. Someone with sharp instincts can perceive and avoid it. Fortunately, it worked this time. Although I did not kill the enemy, I managed to sever his legs." Bloed said while looking at the now legless Atai.

Just like Bloed said, it was fortunate his technique worked this time.

After all, unless he wanted to fall unconscious, he could not use this technique anymore.

Twice was the limit of using this technique without suffering a backlash.

At this point, Liu Ying and the others finally reacted.

"Bloed, you…" Liu Ying looked at Bloed in disbelief. "That attack…"

"Cool, right?" Bloed smiled slightly, his pride apparent in his gaze. "I just created it. I named it [Imaginary Slash]."

"That was [Molecular Disintegration], right? But how? You should not be able to use it this way…"

Liu Ying knew a lot about Bloed's abilities. Although she did not know exactly what the reason was, she knew that he could not use a part of his abilities because he was not strong enough.

That was the reason she was so surprised when she saw him using [Molecular Disintegration] with such a power. Moreover, he did not seem to be using [Overdrive].

"Well, I gained an interesting ability when I was asleep." Bloed smiled mysteriously and said.

Yes, this technique was a result of the ability Bloed got when he fell unconscious.

By splitting his calculation zone, mind, and psychic power to create a split 'self', and using it to activate [Overdrive], it allowed Bloed to release [Molecular Disintegration] once.

Releasing [Molecular Disintegration] once was already powerful, but it had a lot of limitations. Bloed could only use the ability in one target, and its range was limited.

Thus, Bloed used his knowledge in magic runes to transform this single use of [Molecular Disintegration] into something different.

He transformed it into a 'blade'.

It was just like when Bloed uses his disintegration saber, but this time, the power of the disintegration saber extended into a five-meters-long invisible blade filled with disintegrative power that can be swung once.

And once it's swung, all the enemies and objects in the range of the blade will be cut down.

This was Bloed's new trump card. A powerful technique that anyone would fear.

And it was not perfected yet. Once Bloed perfected the runes in his saber, he would be able to extend the make the blade twenty or thirty meters longer.

By then, this technique would be an incredibly lethal attack.

At that moment, Rana and Rhone arrived before Bloed.

"Captain! That was incredible!" Both of them nodded at Bloed with worshipping looks before fixing their gaze on Atai.

Immediately, hatred and rage filled their eyes. Their eyes turned red, and killing intent erupted from their bodies.

They seemed ready to jump onto him to tear his flesh apart at any moment.

"You two." Bloed sighed and shook his head. "Stop that. We can't kill him."

"But captain, he–!"

"I know what you want to say," Bloed said firmly, interrupting Bloed. "I'm also want to kill him a lot. Due to him, Aya was injured like that. But even so, we should not kill him. Leaving him alive so he can be interrogated is the right course of action this time."

Rhone and Rana bit their lip in dissatisfaction, but in the end, they nodded.

Even although they were filled with rage towards the betrayal of Atai, they were smart enough to recognize Bloed was right.

When Rhone and Rana finally calmed down, Bloed sighed in relief before looking at the only person that had not spoken until now.

He needed to talk with her, urgently.

Elwha, the Princess of the Elves.

Bloed frowned, looking at Elwha and thinking about how to start this conversation. As for Elwha, she looked at him with a complicated gaze.

Both of them stared at each other for several seconds, none of them saying a word to alleviate the awkward silence. But with each second that passed, Bloed frown deepened, and Elwha's expression turned more and more complicated.

It was such awkward silence that even Liu Ying and the others noticed that something wrong with them.

And for some reason, Liu Ying could not help but have an ominous premonition.

And one second later, her premonition was proved right.

"Miss Elwha, I think you should know what I want to ask, right?" Bloed suddenly asked.

"… I do." Elwha smiled wryly and nodded. "I was not expecting this either."

"I see... Then, can you please explain to me why our minds are connected?"

...

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