Legacy of Hatred-Chapter 119: Sword

The magical beasts’ attack pattern was simple but no less efficient. The three leaping level two creatures had only partially surrounded Joel, but their surprising speed and size made completely dodging them impossible.

Still, dodging was what Liam would have tried to do in a similar situation. Instead, Joel had far different plans.

The same intense, almost profound Qi Joel had unleashed earlier resurged, enveloping his figure in a dangerous aura. The creatures descending toward him were still scarier, but he made no effort to move.

Yet, a trace of surprise flashed on Joel’s face when something whistled through the air, suddenly piercing the wolf-like head descending toward him, before coming out from the other side.

’What was that?’ Liam gasped in his mind, trying to follow that small item’s movements, only for the unfolding chaos to silence his thoughts.

Despite the surprise, Joel immediately adapted to the event, disregarding the still-falling wolf-like head to focus on the two reptilian ones. They were almost upon him, and his body finally moved, unleashing a brief but incredible speed burst.

Joel’s body seemed to slide through those deeper waters, pushing them alongside him as he slipped under the falling creature to his right, dodging its maw by a few centimeters.

That huge, scaled body still threatened to crash onto Joel, but his figure abruptly spun, making use of his incredible momentum to add power to his rising palm.

’Seismic Palm?!’ Liam cried in his mind as Joel slammed his palm against the creature’s belly, unleashing a destructive blow that bent that huge body and pushed it away.

Scales and blood splattered everywhere as the three huge creatures crashed into the lake, lifting red water and obscuring the scene.

Nevertheless, the mayhem only intensified since two of the three magical beasts moved even before their odd number of legs touched the lake’s bottom, nimbly twisting themselves to point their reptilian heads at Joel.

The clean, devastating hit seemed to have had no effect since the creature closer to Joel promptly shot forward, matching his previous speed burst to ram its triangular head at him.

However, something even faster whistled through the air, piercing the magical beast’s vertical eye, before coming out of the left one on the other side of its head.

Joel noticed the event but couldn’t adjust to it now. His previous attack had left him stuck dealing with the blowback of his martial art, and that sharp item had done nothing to halt the magical beast’s momentum, forcing him to deal with it head-on.

That wasn’t even the end. Joel had another incoming opponent to be wary of, so he thrust his palm at the triangular head right in front of him, abandoning his foothold on purpose.

The second Seismic Palm broke some of the triangular head’s scales, but the blowback pushed Joel away this time, allowing a sudden retreat his legs couldn’t perform.

The attack even dispersed the creature’s momentum, which was ready to fall lifelessly into the red waters, only for its companion’s mouth to close on its head.

The other level two magical beast had planned to bite off Joel’s entire torso, but his sudden retreat had left the eyeless creature in his place, making it fall prey to those crushing jaws.

The magical beast didn’t care about biting the wrong target. Its mouth finished crushing its companion’s head, ripping it off so that it could focus on Joel, only for the whistling noise to return.

The sharp item headed directly toward the remaining level two creature’s head, faster than anything else on the lake, only for something to clash with it before it could hit its target.

The huge not-alligator snapped its tail at the sharp item, intercepting it and flinging it away before lifting its bloody maw at the sky, releasing a guttural howl.

A deafening sound wave accompanied the howl, shaking the lake’s surface and destabilizing Joel. Even Liam’s ears hurt despite the distance, forcing him to cover his ears while he watched his Senior Brother bend forward in pain.

Yet, the other underwater shadows didn’t stay still. Tens of smaller but still huge beasts jumped out of the red lake, throwing themselves at Joel. The level one underlings finally showed themselves, even crashing into each other in their wild attempt to seal their mouths on the invader. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

And Joel was powerless to dodge. Only five of those wild attacks landed on him, but fangs and sharp teeth closed on his figure anyway. Magical beasts bit him all over, but clanging noises resounded instead of painful cries.

The level two leader also planned to join the attack. It lowered its triangular mouth and began to advance toward Joel, only for Maxwell to materialize on its head, a sharp sword already stabbed into its skull.

The creature died on the spot, falling lifelessly, continuing to float forward. Meanwhile, Maxwell retracted his sword and let it go, but the weapon remained in the air, flying at high speed toward Joel.

The smaller twisted figures were still clinging to Joel, trying to spin to rip his flesh and limbs apart. Yet, a dark luster had begun to shine under his skin, limiting his predicament to shallow injuries.

Nevertheless, a series of whistling noises followed, and the bites’ strength soon diminished, allowing Joel to straighten himself and inspect his condition. Reptilian and furred mouths still clung to him, but their bodies had disappeared, falling into the lake after the sword beheaded them.

The sword didn’t even stop there, chasing after the other level one magical beasts that still fought to converge toward Joel. Yet, the Qi that accompanied the whistling noises soon snapped them out of their aggression, prompting a retreat in the face of that superior power.

The flying weapon still claimed more lives during the general retreat, swiftly beheading and piercing skulls, until all the surviving level one creatures left the lake and vanished into the farther reaches of the swamp.

At that point, the sword flew back to Maxwell, who caught it mid-air while still standing on the floating carcass of the level two magical beast, his calm face showing no sign of effort or exhaustion.