Chapter 14: Helpless

“Soar With The Storm”. Zax punched from point blank.

The cloaked woman used the momentum of the collision with Fengar’s axe to turn around and meet Zax’s fist with the edge of her scythe.

BOOM!

SPLASH!

Zax felt a hot liquid, blood, hitting his face, and then a sharp pain in his right arm, as it was ripped.

“What?!” He was more stunned by finding himself wounded than the pain.

The scythe dispelled most of the Kinetic Force, the rest of it crashed against the protective mantle of the cloaked woman, compelling her to spit a mouthful of blood. Simultaneously, with her endurance, she stabbed the blade of her scythe in Zax’s stretched right arm and split across.

The confrontation sent the cloaked woman tumbling tens of meters backwards, while rendering Zax’s right arm useless, mostly.

Sweat ran down Zax’s back and his heart palpitated. He recognized the scythe, it was similar to Zechariah’s, only, in the woman’s hands, gave a far more threatening impression. That was one thing. What really affected him was that he could tell the cloaked woman cultivation was below the Martial Mortal realm, and yet he was not certain that he could beat her.

The hood fell back and the face of the cloaked woman was exposed. She appeared to be young, but for a cultivator it did not say much about her age only that she attained a high level of cultivation at an early age. Her black hair was short and her black eyes were piercing. She had light skin and was overall pretty. Despite having blood on her lips, she promptly balanced herself, stood up and sneered.

Wiping her lips, she stared at the newcomers, Fengar and Zax. “A midget and a cripple, another two that I haven’t been briefed on. Well, even if you are not on any of the lists I’ll kill you just in case!” She kicked the ground and in a flash renewed her assault.

“Fall back, Zax!” Though Fengar was dumbfounded by Zax’s performance, the Greenhorn participant’s arm was butchered and he was concerned for him.

Zax gritted his teeth; she actually managed to withstand his strongest attack point blank!

It was hard to accept!

His last life and death battle was years ago against Ilen-Tar, since then he lived in an easygoing manner where he did whatever he wanted to. This moment brought back his killer temperament, not because it was a matter of life and death, but due to him legitimately feeling overpowered!

It has been a long time since he considered it, but circumstance, this time, made it best choice. “Prepare to run away!” Zax ordered the three behind him, his voice was hoarse from both savagery and opposing the cloaked woman’s killing intent with his own.

“Wai-” Before Fengar finished to pronounce the entire word, Zax also kicked the ground.

WHOOSH!

The cloaked woman channeled her blazing mist energy through her scythe and swung it.

Zax bent back, avoiding the blade. Now that he knew its terror, he did not dare to meet it barehanded and moreover, took it as a new life lesson.

“Good reflexes, but no aura? Bodily cultivator!” The cloaked woman exclaimed, finally impressed by her opponent. “Your physique might be stronger than mine, but my blade is tougher and sharper, my mist cultivation technique is also High grade and above all ... your Martial art is sloppy”. She kept waving her scythe, for every strike that missed Zax; two more cut him between skin to bone deep. “So it turned out that you are just a little brat”. She smiled venomously, dodged a kick and struck the other end of the scythe in Zax’s stomach and chin.

Zax growled with severe expression, the two blunt hits broke a rib and fractured his jaw. He disregarded the pain and threw a cross.

BANG!

The fist struck the scythe’s shaft and was blocked by the cloaked woman’s quick reaction. Though she successfully avoided damage, the force lifted her from the ground and sent her forty meters in the air.

Zax turned his head. “Go!” He yelled again at Fengar and Vouvik who were reluctant to leave him behind, much like how Shouva could not abandon her father.

“Sly kid!” Fengar angrily remarked at Zax for hiding his true strength and whatever more he plans.

“Let’s hope that he has more up his sleeves!” Vouvik said to quietly.

Following their reactions, with no other choice, after retrieving the axe the two began running, catching up with Shouva who halted her retreat since Zax’s and Fengar’s arrival. When they reached a certain distance, the three stopped and looked back.

“Vouvik, the moment something goes wrong, more wrong ... I intend to intervene. You, supply me support from the back with your roar!”

“Um!”

...

After landing on a tree’s branch, the cloaked woman jumped back. Zax’s eyes struggled to keep up with the scythe swift movement and had to use all of his senses to persevere.

‘Not yet, there is only one chance! Not yet!’ Zax endured.

“That was a good punch, Musclehead, but you are seriously starting to annoy me. I wasn’t planning to go all out before the hunt in Demirva Ridge and if I’ll fail in my task, fish breath won’t shut up about it”. The cloaked woman grew more infuriated by the second.

The longer they fought, the more Zax got accustomed to her scythe technique and the harder it was to land a decent blow.

Zax concentrated only on evasion. It was not that he was bad at close quarters combat, on the contrary, he very much exceled in it. But the cloaked woman’s skills were way above him, even more taxing to deal with than fighting against his Master.

Although he amassed a lot of fighting experience in the many battles he had been to, the core of Zax’s fighting skills evolved from the bodily maneuvers, and to that there was a downside and an upside...

The drawback was that the bodily maneuvers’ objective was to foster one’s proficiency in kinetic energy utilization. Improving combat skill, helping to formulate a Martial art, those were nothing more than byproducts.

Fortunately, by cultivating the body along with practicing the bodily maneuvers, Zax acquired an additional byproduct, a near perfect control over his body that the cloaked woman could not even come close to compare. Most important, by now Zax could scratch the surface of the last bottleneck before breaking through to the Advanced phase of the bodily maneuvers. Such results allowed him to minimize the injuries he received at the cost of focusing only on evading.