Chapter 373: That Is Exactly How Confident I Am!Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The arrow missed, or one could say, it hit nothing. The arrow zipped past the altar and soared into a thicket, before bursting into sparks.

The sudden attack caused Nydore to jump like a skittish bunny, and the young Zephyr could help but blabber, “Granny! What was that for?”

The Fairy Walker did not answer her; instead, she pushed Nydore before screaming, “Get down!”

The Voidwalker ducked right after that, and a large claw suddenly swiped the air above their heads, missing them by inches. The attack generated a wave of stinging heat in the air above them.

“Huh?!” At this point, no one needed to tell Nydore that they were under attack. However, she did not understand why she had been unable to detect the enemy’s arrival. As the Zephyr of the current generation, she was really confident with her sensitivity to danger; however, in that aspect, she had nothing on her grandaunt, the Fairy Walker. In comparison, she was just a child.

How had her grandaunt even detected that attack from nowhere?

“There’s more to come! Watch out!” Baiyi, who was no longer focused on the altar, warned loudly. Waves of heat were still emanating from his body. The heat that Nydore had thought came from the sudden attack, had actually been caused by a fireball that Baiyi had fired at the unknown attacker.

Even before the Fairy Walker’s mood changed, Baiyi had already retracted his psychic energy from the altar. Unlike Nydore, who was alarmed by the sudden attack, he was bemused. He did not believe that anyone could sneak up on him — someone who was already as skilled as a Master Assassin.

The enemy retaliated immediately. Baiyi could see a gigantic claw emerge from nowhere and reach towards the Fairy Walker and Nydore.

Right after yelling out the warning, Baiyi quickly pulled out his Saint Quartz Staff and spun it behind himself, deflecting several balls of green, bog-like fireballs that had been hurtling towards him.

‘How is the enemy doing this? Are we dealing with more than one person? They were even able to conceal their auras and presence completely!’

“A Leaper!” The Devil Walker’s voice suddenly boomed warily in the Void.

“Huh?” Baiyi was stunned. Leapers were one of the rarest and most dangerous breeds of demons. They had the ability to create alternate dimensions, just big enough for themselves, which they overlaid with the real world. This way, they could effortlessly slip in and out of both dimensions 1.

This ability made Leapers natural assassins, who were many times better than what humans could ever hope to achieve. Fortunately, Leapers were very rare, and the alternate dimensions they could create were very small. Most Leapers could not create alternate dimensions larger than a broom closet, which was barely sufficient for their frames. If not for this limitation, these demons would have long since massacred humans, leaving them at the brink of extinction.

Unfortunately for Baiyi and his group, the Leaper they were up against was one of the strongest in existence. Its alternate dimension was covered a large part of the area they were in, and the Leaper was very powerful. It was far more of a threat than their previous enemies. After both sides had gone a few rounds, Baiyi realized that the Leaper’s reflexes were not as good as his, but it was still fast enough to dodge most of his attacks.

“Looks like this Leaper has lived a very long life,” said the Devil Walker in the Void “Its hideout is probably of a considerably large size.”

“Can you say something that’s actually useful, like a solution?” Baiyi snapped. He quickly covered the earth beneath him in a thick layer of ice, suppressing a huge pair of claws that were just about to burst out from below him.

“Eh, there really is no special way to fight them, mate. The last time I battled a Leaper, I just did whatever until it ran out of stamina, leaving it really fatigued and unable to maintain its alternate dimension. Although their ability is outstanding, Leapers are actually lightweights. Once they are deprived of their alternate dimensions, they become pretty easy targets,” the Devil Walker replied, drawing from his own experience. “So, don’t fret; it’s not like this Leaper’s attacks have hurt you or troubled you in any way, right?”

“Yea, easy targets… if I have the luxury of time! Now, even demons have begun to make an appearnace. At this rate, something untoward might occur where Mia is! I cannot waste any more time here,” Baiyi replied, casting spell after spell to repel the enemy’s attacks. He tried to retaliate, but the slippery Leaper evaded his attacks. What if the demon decided to flee when it notices it was getting tired? If that happened, the demon would definitely come for him again once it had recovered its strength.

Hence, it was unwise to let the dangerous demon leave alive, and the Leaper knew this, too. Its mission was not to kill Baiyi; all it had to do was gather information on him, then scram when it felt it had gathered enough intel.

This was what the Leaper had originally intended to do, but when it saw how badly Baiyi was struggling with it, confidence filled its heart, and a new idea began to take form in its mind.

Was this Hope really the messenger of a god? Was he not supposed to be their archnemesis and the source of their migraines? Well, look at him now! He was unable to defeat it, so what was wrong with staying back a little longer in order to play with the messenger? This way, it may even deal Hope a heavy blow. After that, when it returned to its pack, the Leaper would be able to boast about the feat.

As the battle continued, the Fairy Walker was able to maneuver her way to Baiyi side after a series of impressive dodging. When she was close, she whispered, “Darling, do you have a plan to fight this lil’ pest? I can sense its location, but I’m not fast enough.”

“What plan could I possibly have? Urgh, if only you could share your senses with me! Speaking of which, how are you able to sense its location?” Baiyi exclaimed in disbelief. Was his cheap wife more satisfying than he had expected? Satisfying as a fighter, not as a partner!

“Well, every time it is about to strike, it emits an aura of murderous intent, which the wind easily picks up and informs me. This allows me to discern its location before it makes its move. Hold on. Aren’t we husband and wife? Shouldn’t we already be sharing some kind of intimate mental connection by now?” The Fairy Walker demanded.

‘Murderous intent? Again with the metaphysical concept,’ Baiyi thought to himself. Suddenly, he remembered how he had sensed the woods in a special state just the night before. He could also remember the nauseating, prickly sensation he had felt afterward. Were those mental prickly sensations not murderous intent?

The Fifth Walker quickly expanded his psychic energy to cover a much larger range. Just as he had expected, his vision was suddenly clouded with different colors, and a massive amount of information rushed into his mind. This sudden change brought back the uncomfortable stinging sensations, which he felt all over his back.

“Here?”

He spun and fired off a fireball at a seemingly random location. Suddenly, a pair of claws emerged out of the space in front of the fireball and fired off a sinister bolt of lightning.

The bolt collided with the fireball, and both attacks were violently neutralized. The claws hurriedly and fearfully vanished.

“Aww, my darling~! You managed to listen to my heart!” The Fairy Walker exclaimed in glee.

‘This has nothing to do with your heart at all, Ma’am! I actually discerned its location by myself, okay? Plus, must you flirt at this hour?’ Baiyi groaned. He had realized that his new sensing capabilities were not the godsend ability he had hoped for; after all, he could not sense the demon until it moved.

The sly Leaper did not fully emerge whenever it was attacking. Only its claws would emerge to dole out attacks, while the rest of its body remained in the safety of its alternate dimension. Even if Baiyi was able to strike it fast enough, the Leaper would only lose its claws. However, the regenerative properties of demons were naturally exceptional!

‘There has to be a better way!’ The Fifth Walker began to rack his brain.

It was at this moment that the Archmage suddenly poked Baiyi in the Void. “Here, try this. I made some changes to it just now. It is a small-scale forbidden Space Compression spell! It should be super effective. The same name to Palkia’s (Pokemon) signature move, yep. The literal name from Japanese is even more on-the-nose: ‘Subspace Tear’.I call it ‘Special Rend’ 1!”

He quickly passed the spell to Baiyi.

‘Well, well, well! It looks like someone stole the name of another work. However, for being able to make alterations to a forbidden spell this quickly — and still have it work as intended — my teacher must really be a prodigy in magic.’

Baiyi had already considered using Space Compression on the Leaper, but he decided not to. It was risky because he was also a part of the space his own spell would be compressing, thus he would have ended up compressing himself alongside the demon!

One could only use forbidden spells at will when they had the Sage-Emperor of the Magi at their side.

Baiyi did not waste any time chanting the incantation for the new spell. When the Leaper sensed the magic pulses emanating from Baiyi’s body, it began to hesitate. It was unsure of how it could counter the spell he was brewing, but it was not sensible enough to quickly flee the scene. The attack Baiyi was brewing was freaking it out. Had Hope discerned its weaknesses already?

In truth, Leapers had to deal with more than just small alternate dimensions. They were weak against space magic spells, and they were vulnerable to magical and theurgical interference. Were it not for these weaknesses, nothing would have stopped these demons from pushing humans to extinction.

However, as its alternate dimension covered a large portion of the area, this Leaper was confident and considered the battlefield its own turf. There was very little that could harm it when it moved, and it could dole out as many attacks as it wished. This was the reason why it was strong and hard to deal with.

It was this confidence that robbed it of the insight to flee. Before it could react, Baiyi was done chanting the incantation.

Suddenly, a stream of olive-green blood began to ooze out of mid-air; the unfortunate Leaper had already been compressed into processed meat by Baiyi’s forbidden spell.

Footnotes:

TLDR? Kamui in Naruto. Or at least, very damn similar to that.

The same name to Palkia’s (Pokemon) signature move, yep. The literal name from Japanese is even more on-the-nose: ‘Subspace Tear’.