In his mind, Lynn imagined that if he were to search the cabinet without the other two knowing, they could easily launch a sudden attack from behind the cover of clothing. If the attack failed, they could jump out of the window to escape.
This was undoubtedly the best hiding spot in the entire room!
Realizing this, Lynn didn’t hesitate for a moment. Without any warning, he drew his sword.
The blade slid out of the scabbard, creating a soft, resonant hum in the room.
In just an instant, the silvery blade sliced through the wooden cabinet as if it were cutting through butter, and the closed cabinet doors fell apart.
Wood splinters and torn fabric filled the air, but the expected gush of blood did not follow.
Furrowing his brows, Lynn was somewhat surprised. Had he made a mistake in his judgment? Was their target simply careless and left these things in the room?
André, who was standing nearby, was startled by Lynn’s sudden unsheathing of his sword. He was about to mock Lynn for his erroneous judgment when, from the narrow gap between the bookshelf and the wall, a short sword suddenly extended out of the darkness, heading straight for André’s neck!
The one launching the attack was Lynn.
As soon as Lynn saw the coins and manuscripts on the table, he knew he couldn’t avoid this confrontation.
The narrow gap he had hidden in offered no cover at all. He relied solely on shadows and visual distortion to remain hidden. It was undoubtedly a very dangerous place, but Lynn and André had arrived too quickly. They were still reeling from their time travel experience, and Lynn’s mind was in turmoil, leaving him no time to find a better hiding place or set up a proper ambush. He hadn’t even had time to pick up the dropped parchment scrolls on the floor.
If the two of them discovered that there was no one in the cabinet and started searching the room carefully, they would quickly find him. So, Lynn acted without hesitation.
Considering the lethality of the situation, Lynn refrained from using his partially mastered and improved “Frostblade.” The short sword he wielded was much more reliable within arm’s reach.
The moment André saw the splintered wood flying and relaxed his guard, a strong sense of impending danger washed over him.
Before joining the Witch Hunters, André had been a renowned mercenary, constantly teetering on the edge between life and death. He was intimately familiar with this deeply ingrained feeling. It had saved him once again. Just as the sharp short sword was about to descend, André managed to twist his body and narrowly avoid a gruesome fate of decapitation.
However, Lynn’s surprise attack had been lightning fast, and even though André had made an evasive move, he couldn’t avoid it entirely. The sharp short sword left a deep gash on his neck.
Crimson blood flowed from the wound, and André, feeling a mixture of shock and anger, was well aware that he had narrowly escaped death.
“You bastard!” André shouted, his rage surging. He swung his longsword downward, intending to cut Lynn in half.
His strike was swift and heavy, and Lynn barely had time to react. Nevertheless, his body instinctively made a parrying motion, and the clash of their blades filled the room.
Before this, Lynn had never wielded a sword to harm another person, but thanks to the previous owner, Carl, he had a well-trained muscle memory.
It was Carl’s impressive swordsmanship that had deterred the unfriendly neighbors in the slums.
However, this time, Lynn was up against a Witch Hunter who was not lacking in training. André, empowered by the Elixir of Divinity, possessed abilities far beyond the ordinary. He was a merciless opponent.
André’s swordsmanship was unorthodox but ruthlessly efficient. In just three clashes, Lynn’s wrist was sore, and he could barely hold onto the short sword.
“Die!” André roared, lifting his longsword to push away Lynn’s short sword, and with his left hand, he reached for Lynn’s throat.
Lynn, gasping for breath, his face turning red, quickly lost consciousness.
Warning, Covenant target under severe life threat. In accordance with Federal Intelligence Management Act, Article 37, the nearest law enforcement personnel will be automatically contacted…
The sudden reminder in his mind pulled Lynn’s consciousness back from the abyss of despair, filling him with a glimmer of hope.
Warning… no signal… Warning… not connected to the network… Please proceed to the nearest elevated location to search for satellite signals and call for federal assistance promptly…
Lynn muttered a curse under his breath. He had forgotten that he had already crossed over and couldn’t be certain if he was in the same universe anymore.
Damn it! He should have saved the money he used to buy a new spaceship and upgraded its intelligence. How was he going to find a satellite signal now?
Even if he could, did he expect federal officers to fly over to rescue him?
But at this moment, Lynn had no time for regrets. The hand tightening around his neck was like a death grip, slowly but relentlessly choking the life out of him.
Warning… no signal. Initiate emergency protocol. Highest probability of survival analysis. In accordance with the user agreement, connect to the neural network…
The prompt in his mind became more urgent, but Lynn couldn’t hear it anymore. He felt as though his brain had exploded, and his soul seemed to detach from his body, examining the world in a strange state.
Lynn’s dispersed mental power expanded like ripples in water, and his perception of the elements became clearer…
…
“Brunette, black eyes, looks like we’ve got the right person.” Seeing André easily subduing their target, Blaine relaxed his grip on his sword and turned his attention to Lynn.
“You’re quite capable, little mouse. If you’re so good at hiding, why not cut off a hand and a leg…” André sneered.
Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt like he was struggling to breathe, and his anger continued to rise.
If it weren’t for the last-minute realization that a live person was worth more than a dead one, André would have wanted to kill Lynn immediately.
Blaine, on the other hand, was unfazed by his companion’s cruel suggestion and casually chimed in, “Just cut off a hand; otherwise, you’ll have to carry him back yourself. Remember to be quick and make sure he doesn’t bleed out on the way.”
With his back turned to Blaine, André had no time to respond. His face turned purple, and the longsword he held in his left hand crashed heavily to the ground. His labored breathing, previously irregular, had now become increasingly rapid. He resembled a fish out of water, with his heart and lungs on the verge of bursting.
Ten years ago, when he was swallowed by a massive vortex in the Sea of Mist, André had experienced this suffocating near-death feeling. Breathing was nothing more than a luxury, and if he hadn’t been exceptionally lucky, he might have already been buried at the bottom of the sea.
But this time, he wasn’t underwater, and Lynn’s recent attack had clearly not severed his windpipe.
André gasped for air, but his condition showed no improvement. Instead, it worsened, and his grey eyes seemed on the brink of popping out of their sockets.
What kind of magic was this? André immediately realized that the young wizard’s apprentice in front of him was up to something, but the overwhelming suffocation response had caused him to miss the opportunity to counterattack. The hand gripping Lynn’s neck grew weaker.
At the same moment, Lynn, with his head hanging low, suddenly made a move. His tightly shut eyes snapped open, and simultaneously, the oxygen in the surrounding air was instantly vacuumed away. A short sword thrust upward, piercing André’s throat from below!
Chapter 5: Lynn – Since I don’t need to breathe, why doesn’t everyone stop!
Just a dozen breaths before, Lynn, whose neck was clamped tightly, entered a bizarre state. All the pain seemed to rapidly fade away, replaced by a significant increase in brain activity.
At that moment, Lynn couldn’t help but wonder if he had already departed for the afterlife.
However, he hadn’t. He could still clearly perceive the flow of blood and oxygen being forcibly cut off from his brain, and his body was gradually losing vitality.
Before long, he would truly die!
Faced with such a dire situation, Lynn surprisingly couldn’t muster any feelings of panic.
How to fight back when one is being strangled and suffocated?
Of course, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!
Since I don’t need to breathe, why doesn’t everyone stop! Lynn sensed the vast elements in the void, and with a thought, he used his mental power as a web to instantly extract the active oxygen molecules.
What happens when a person continues to breathe in a low-oxygen environment?
Andrei was the best example!
A large amount of ineffective gas rushed into his lungs, and his blood pressure rapidly increased. In just a few breaths, signs of hypoxia had already appeared. Lynn keenly noticed the signs of weakness in the hand that was gripping his neck.
Now is the time!
Lynn suddenly opened his eyes. Based on his previous memories, the positions and reactions of everyone in the room were transformed into data in his mind. He could even perform a detailed force analysis on his neck based on the angle at which Andrei raised his arm.
Countless complex data were sorted in an instant, and Lynn constructed a 100% accurate three-dimensional image in his mind, deducing the best sword-fighting plan.
(Raise the hand and thrust directly at a 47-degree angle!)
Lynn’s arm raised in sync, and he thrust out a short sword. The iron tower-like man in front of him, under the strong hypoxia reaction, had completely lost the ability to resist. He could only watch as the tip of the sword pierced his neck.
The fragile neck couldn’t withstand the sharp short sword. Crimson blood sprayed out like a fountain, splattering on Lynn’s clothes and face.
Andrei’s eyes widened, his mouth unconsciously gaping open. His hands clung tightly to the gaping wound in his neck, and he fell down in fear and unwillingness.
Lynn didn’t hesitate. At the moment he broke free from the stranglehold, he kicked Andrei’s body aside, sending it towards the stunned Blaine. Lynn, on the other hand, quickly moved out of the low-oxygen area using the rebounding force.
Blaine hadn’t expected the situation on the field to suddenly reverse, and a look of shock instantly appeared on his face. His reaction was a beat slower, and he instinctively took Andrei’s body when he saw the lifeless state he was in. After examining the gruesome sight, his pupils shrank, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet to his heart.
The greenish-purple complexion, the black-red lips, and the dilated pupils all proved that Andrei had suddenly fallen into suffocation, resulting in his neck being pierced without any defenses! How was that possible?
Blaine was filled with fear. Just a moment ago, it was clear that Andrei had been strangling Lynn’s neck, but now he was inexplicably suffocated. Could this be some strange curse, enemy using self-injurious magic?
Lynn breathed heavily in a regular rhythm, quickly regaining the vitality of his limbs. Being locked in a stranglehold for a full minute, combined with forcibly manipulating a large amount of oxygen elements, had left his brain throbbing slightly.
Despite using the principle of suffocation to kill one of them by chance, Lynn didn’t dare to relax in the slightest. The brief encounter had made him realize the gap between both sides.
According to his memory, these witch hunters were all elite individuals with exceptional skills. The swordsmanship of the original body could deal with a few bandits, but when faced with the witch hunters sent by the Church, it was clear that it was insufficient.
Various thoughts flashed through Lynn’s mind, and then a warning sound rang out.
(Warning: In overload mode, system energy is rapidly depleting, and forced shutdown is expected in two minutes and thirty seconds.)
Lynn’s body paused involuntarily, only then realizing that the sudden increase in his control over the elements was thanks to the assistance of the smart brain.
So… let’s try magic! Lynn’s gaze sharpened as he tightly held the blood-stained short sword in his hand. His mental power once again spread out into the air, frantically capturing the ‘water elements’…
A ball of water appeared in the void, quickly condensing into shape…
A first-level spell – Frost Blade!
The icy blade, carrying a bone-chilling cold, shot like an arrow from the bowstring. Blaine’s expression changed, and he didn’t choose to confront it head-on. He angled his longsword, deflecting the spell off its course.
However, this momentary pause meant that Lynn had already completed his spell preparation. Gray powder floated in Lynn’s palm, then explosively transformed into a scorching fireball…
That was another first-level spell Lynn had mastered – Fireball!
The room’s temperature rose suddenly. Both being first-level spells, Fireball was much more powerful than Frost Blade.
The most critical part was that there was no way to escape in this small room!
Blaine smelled the scent of death, so he suddenly kicked a broken cabinet, sending it hurtling towards the raging fireball. Then, he flipped Andrei’s body over and used it as a human shield.
In the next moment, the fireball collided with the shattered cabinet, exploding with intense heat, filling the entire room.
Lynn stared intently at the scattering smoke and dust, struggling to catch his breath. He didn’t have an exact idea of the power of a first-level spell, but from the effect, it seemed no weaker than a combination of a hand grenade and an incendiary device. If he had faced it head-on, he would have been gravely injured or worse.
Just as he was thinking this, a sharp longsword cut through the hazy smoke, its blade illuminated by the fire. It was aimed straight at Lynn!
The speed of this strike was astonishing, and by the time Lynn realized it, the sharp longsword was nearly at his throat!
Fortunately, at this moment, thanks to the connection between his neural network and the smart brain, Lynn’s reaction speed had increased several times, and his body’s coordination had greatly improved. He held the sword horizontally with his right hand, left hand pressed against his right wrist, and his body crouched slightly, with the sword tip supported against the uneven wall.
Clang!
A sharp, harsh clang echoed in the narrow room. Upon contact, Lynn felt a sharp pain in his hand, and the sword tip, supported against the wall, had deeply embedded itself in the wall. A long, slender crack had appeared on the blade.
So heavy…
Lynn’s mind was left with only this one thought. He then let go of the sword with both hands, sank to the ground, and narrowly evaded a kicking leg with a few tumbles.
A fierce wind passed over his head, followed by another dull sound. Lynn turned to look, and the fragmented wall had been dented by the kick.
(Wall structure under force approximately 1.75 tons, 65% chance of a North American bison collision…)
In an instant, a data analysis flashed through his mind, and Lynn’s pupils shrank. If he had taken a direct kick, his internal organs would have definitely burst open.
Body modification? Cyborg? Qi cultivation?
Lynn was well aware that a normal person, even after the most scientific professional training, could never kick with such terrifying force.
This completely surpassed the limits of the human body!