Broken Tower Saga: The First Swordsman

Chapter 103: Scythe (2)

"I went away for a nap, and there's such a ruckus here," a voice called in the dim light as the sound of stepping on the stone ground sounded out. "Looks like another guest is here."

"Sir Ben is here," One of the men down yelled in cheers, hearing the voice. "We are saved."

A man as tall as Anton appeared in the path Anton and Kevin were about to move. In the dim light of the oil lamps, the facial expression of the newcomer could not be seen, but they could see the white teeth.

Sir Ben was laughing even after seeing the mess here.

Kevin's expression darkened, and Anton noticed that. Anton wasted no more breaths, threw a mana imbued knife at the approached figure as his legs moved in that direction as well.

The newcomer, Sir Ben, dodged the knife easily, but another one came his way that took some blood from his cheek. Ben frowned as he saw a dark figure approaching him. He raised one of his arms, pushing towards the invader as a bleak azure light appeared in his palm. A swirl of wind formed and rushed at the invader. 

Anton was not impressed. His legs moved faster as he lunged, rose above the incoming wind to deal a kick at his opponent in the back of the head. Anton did not stop. Before even his opponent could fall, he ran the knife in his arm horizontally as a dark aura buzzed out from the blade. 

The knife did not contract directly with the body of his opponent, but the dark shadowy aura did. It broke the defence of his opponent easily as blood rushed out from the wound, yet his opponent was still holding up. 

For the moment, Anton had used all his strength as he was in deep in the enemy's lair. He needed to move farther than any reinforcements could arrive, so he used his full skill in Shadow Steps and Shadow Blade.

While his enemy was still in shock and could not retaliate, Anton jumped again, dealing a combo of slash, not giving any chance to his opponent before pinning the knife on the shoulder of Sir Ben. 

Sir Ben dropped to the ground with the knife stuck on his left shoulder. Anton did not attack again, yelling, "Kevin, Move fast. More are coming."

Anton ran, saying that as a group of fellows were coming in their way, making a ruckus. Kevin followed as well, giving another look at Sir Benthis was the guy that thrashed him and took him as a slave, yet Anton finished him so easily. 

Both of them fled on the other side of the hall as the group ran after them. The chaser holds almost two dozen people. Each holding their weapons in arms as they chase.

On the floor, Sir Ben tried to sit upright. "Who could have thought?" he muttered with a smile on his lips. 

Anton did not engage with anyone in combat as it would only delay them further, and neither did Kevin. They moved through lamps after lamps on the wall after covering all the way to where they came from to find the staircase that leads to the ground floor. 

The duo moved through the staircase as more light came in their way. They were in the hall, but the worst thing was that another pack of people were waiting for them with their weapons bared. The dozens from the back and the dozen ahead cornered Anton and Kevin in the hall, giving no way out.

And the number only rose as more of the underlings joined with the others. They were all yelling as some were ready to lunge at them at any moment.

"Do not engage, just run," Anton shouted, but found no response from Kevin, nor did he feel Kevin behind him.

"Are you talking to this guy?" A monotonous voice sounded out in the hall of the fortress as all the other voices turned silent. 

Anton looked back to notice a guy with a black and white mask on, with a scythe on his back that was reflecting the red light of the fire. He did not need any introduction, as he knew who this guy was. 

Scythe.

Scythe was dressed in a pitch-black cloak, and a mask on the face, hiding all the features, even the eyes and hair. The mask was quite unique. It was white on the left, while Black on the right with a black coloured tear mark on the left while flame markings on the left that went over to the forehead.

A long scythe and a smaller one which may appear like a hoe were strapped on his back as he walked forward, leaving Kevin on the ground.

Anton had to admit this guy did look quite imposing, with all features hidden. Moreover, the long scythe on the back increased it by a bit. But Anton had no time to be impressed by his enemy. The situation was getting out of his hands. 

"Run, Anton," Kevin tried his best to yell. "Don't worry about me." 

"Runaway from me," Scythe said through the mask as the voice filtered out making it emotionless, gruff and monotonic. He walked towards Anton amoung the silence of the crowd. None of the underlings tried to spoke a word or anything, all their attention was on Scythe. Scythe said again. "If it was that easy."

Anton frowned as the Scythe was still moving towards him quietly. He equipped his blade and channelled maha mana from all of his maha points. He can't be careless now. 

"I have a question," he said. The Scythe did not reply, yet Anton continued. "Say, do you wear the mask to look imposing, or are you just too ugly to look at?" 

The Scythe did not reply. No anger or embarrassment appeared in his posture, either. In the next moment, he was just before Anton as the monotonic voice whispered, "Say that again."

Anton did not care if the guy before him was some kind of bigshot. In fact, he was always turned on listening to this kind of crap. He was about to voice out another mock while making a move with his blade, but he failed. 

Anton felt a heavy impact on his chest with the cracking of a few rips as he flew away in there. He did not see when the Scythe hit him, nor his armament coating could block the impact. He flew a dozen metres away as he hit the wall. Fortunately, the mana coating on his back was still on, as he was saved from another injury.

The group of underlings encircled him as Anton stood up. He lunged above them to go after the Scythe again.

Scythe was standing nonchalantly in the place he struck Anton, and saw Anton approaching again, but he did not make a move nor he moved away. 

Anton did not think through his attack. He went on with his instinct, coating the blade with a shadow element. He even used his Class ability [Shadow Reinforcement] on it. He approached Scythe with a glint in his eyes and slashed. 

The slash hit nothing. Anton was confused, and in the next moment, a heavy wave rushed at his body, pinning him down on the ground. It did not stop there either, Anton felt over a thousand pounds was pinning him down on the stone floor.

"This is as far as you can go," a voice said as a man sat on top of him. It was Sir Ben, the one Anton injured a moment ago. Even the knife was still stuck on his shoulder, but no pain or any anguish was present on his face. 

"You were careless, Ben," Scythe said to the newcomer, noticing the knife and injuries on his body.

"Aye, aye, Scythe," Ben laughed. "But you gotta give some credits to this fella. Who could guess someone trespassed our security, even freed a slave, and he may even succeed if both of us are away." 

Scythe did not deny it. Not many in the test could still stand up after getting hit by him once, and Anton did not just stand up, he even tried to attack further.

"May him a slave. He will do good," Scythe said as he turned to leave. 

"Aye," Ben nodded as he opened a slave brand from his cloak. It was a crystal stone of black with runic patterns on it. "We got some promising candidates, first that big fellow, now this guy who deals with shadow."

Anton tried his best to struggle out of there, but the pressure was still on him, and could not even use his mana properly on the full scale. He did not know what this Ben did to him, and he did not like it. It was almost as if he ran into a trap.

''Don't struggle, Be a good boy and accept the brand." Ben held still Anton as he put the slave mark on the forehead of Anton.

How could Anton rest still  when his enemy was trying to put a slave brand on him? He struggled out of every ounce of his strength, but alas! All his struggle was for nought.

[User Anton Blaciel is under a slave brand. You cannot eliminate yourself from the test anymore.]

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End of Chapter: Scythe.

Next Chapter: Slave.

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