Chapter 87: Nail Spencer
Nail flipped himself completely upside down, his head suspended three inches above the ground.
A faint greenish-blue circle of light gathered beneath his feet, with airflow solidifying visibly under them, this was the reason he could maintain an inverted position mid-air.
He swung his heavy warhammer in a sweeping arc.
A terrifying gust of airflow turned into a tangible force, raging outward, everything within the range of the fierce wind was instantly blown away: grass, low shrubs, sand, and stones.
Even the surrounding large trees were snapped in half and flung around in a chaotic scatter.
Within a conical range of fifty meters in front of Nail, the ground was turned completely bare.
Naturally, this included Yam, who had just attempted a sneak attack.
...
Yam had not expected the enemy to be this cunning or to react so swiftly.
During Nail's first six patrols, Yam had held back from acting. Even after the sixth time, he waited another two full hours, only making a move on these ambush points once night had fully fallen.
The current spot was the third ambush point he had cleared.
Due to the presence of the Demonic Sword, the enemies he killed did not emit a scent of blood, although he had used his abilities to eliminate his foes, it wasn't as Nail had guessed, that he incinerated the blood within their bodies using fire, vaporizing it to eliminate any scent.
Rather, it was because the Demonic Sword absorbed all the blood from those it slew, preventing the scent from spreading.
What Yam hadn't anticipated was that Nail was even more cunning than expected, conducting a seventh patrol after nightfall.
This made Yam realize that his location would soon be exposed.
So, he chose to hide nearby, waiting for Nail to inspect the corpses, ready to strike with a surprise attack.
Unfortunately, Nail’s alertness and reflexes far exceeded Yam’s expectations, and thus his ambush ended in failure.
The violent storm winds tore through the surrounding grass and trees, flinging Yam dozens of meters away.
He only came to a stop after crashing into a tree outside the range of the storm's fury.
The commotion from the battle was not small.
Almost as soon as Yam hit the tree and fell, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed nearby, it was the soldiers, drawn by the noise, closing in to encircle him.
Yam fixed his gaze on the gentle airflow swirling beneath Nail’s feet.
It was the bloodline ability, [Aerial Hold], derived from the Second-Tier magical beast, [Wind-Chasing Hawk].
It granted the bloodline user a temporary levitation effect lasting several seconds to over a dozen seconds, negating the effects of gravity and weight.
When [Aerial Hold] manifested, the user could stand on it as if on solid ground, unaffected by conventional forces unless disrupted by other bloodline abilities.
Following that, the raging wind current was the bloodline ability, [Hurricane Stream], inherited from the Third-Tier magical beast, [Hurricane Demon Tiger].
While the destructive power of [Hurricane Stream] wasn’t the highest among all Third-Tier bloodline abilities, the intense wind it generated could destabilize opponents’ footing and even posed considerable threat to weaker enemies.
In fact, the [Hurricane Demon Tiger] used this ability in hunting, it would first destabilize prey with the wind, then pounce and tear them apart.
The [Hurricane Demon Tiger] itself was known for its massive size and ferocious combat prowess.
Its bloodline ability naturally reflected these traits, this was also why Nail had such a towering and burly frame.
Yet many overlooked one thing: though the [Hurricane Demon Tiger] was massive and thus relatively slower, that comparison only applied within the wind-elemental magical beasts.
Even the so-called slowest among them, the [Storm Turtle], was actually quite fast compared to most other magical beasts.
Therefore, at the moment [Hurricane Stream] disrupted an enemy's balance, Nail could also erupt with terrifying burst power to strike down his target.
Like a true [Hurricane Demon Tiger].
But Yam had seen through this. That was why he chose to immediately pull away the moment Nail counterattacked, using the properties of [Hurricane Stream] to escape its range of effect.
The surrounding soldiers quickly closed in.
“Fall back!” Nail suddenly shouted.
But by then, it was already too late.
Yam braced with one hand and leapt from the ground, sword in hand, lunging toward the nearest soldiers.
Flames flowed like liquid along the blade.
In the next instant, beneath the dark night sky, Yam slashed out a blazing, crystal-clear arc of fire.
The soldiers who had just emerged were instantly slain.
On the surface, it appeared that the blood of these soldiers had been instantly evaporated by intense flames, their entire bodies, weapons included, turning into human-shaped torches in an instant.
But in reality, at the very moment the Demonic Sword struck them down, the blood within their bodies had already been drained away.
Yam, holding his longsword, could clearly sense that after the blood had been absorbed by the Demonic Sword, it did not condense into a True Blood mark that would generate bloodline power, as his father Ion had described.
However, he could feel that the blood had been compressed and accumulated into a force stored within the Demonic Sword.
Yam did not know why this was happening.
This was, after all, his first time wielding the Demonic Sword in actual combat, and everything was unfolding differently from what his father had previously explained.
But at this point, he no longer had any choice.
After all, things couldn’t possibly get any worse, could they?
"Step—"
Nail descended from midair, his warhammer pressing into the ground to brace himself, using a single arm to pivot and adjust his stance in midair.
At that moment, Molly appeared beside Nail.
"Who was it?"
"It should be the 'Red Eagle Sword' Yam Soderbell," Nail said in a deep voice. "His reflexes are extremely sharp. He escaped my hunting range the moment I was about to pounce. Otherwise, he would have died from the first strike."
Molly’s eyes turned red, clearly itching to act.
"Miss, let me handle this man," Nail said firmly. "Since the 'Red Eagle Sword' is here, it confirms our previous assumption. His father and the Lord of White Mountain Territory must be trying to cross through here to return to White Mountain Territory. You must stay here to hold the line, just in case."
Molly took a few deep breaths to calm her emotions and nodded slightly. "Settle it quickly."
"Understood." Nail hoisted his warhammer and grinned viciously. "It’s just a mere Second-Tier Bloodline User."
"To have earned a title while still Second-Tier proves his potential," Molly shook her head. "The entire Southern Region hasn't seen anyone receive such an honor at Second-Tier for nearly thirty years. Those who did are now all Fifth-Tier Bloodline Users. Don't die here."
Hearing Molly’s words, Nail’s dismissiveness faded. He nodded solemnly. "Understood."
Molly stared at Yam’s retreating figure, her inner frustration growing. She wanted to chase after him herself, though she didn’t quite know why this urge was so strong.
But deep down, she was also worried that if she lost control during the pursuit and didn’t have enough "fuel" to suppress her Bloodthirst Seizure, she knew all too well what she would become.
And that was precisely why Nail had insisted she stay behind.
After all, even if the Bloodthirst Seizure flared up here, there was plenty of "fuel" available to calm her down.
Without saying more, Nail lifted his warhammer and charged in pursuit.
Air currents quickly began swirling around him.
The vortex spun rapidly, like a true hurricane centered around his eye of the storm, shredding everything the whirling winds touched.
Thus, Nail’s path was a straight pursuit with no intention to swerve or avoid obstacles, Yam, fleeing in haste, couldn’t replicate Nail’s direct path. When faced with rocks and trees in his way, he had to detour around them. Coupled with the disparity in strength, the distance between them shortened quickly.
After barely ten minutes of pursuit, Nail had already caught up to Yam.
This time, he leapt into the air.
The power of the [Aerial Hold] once again condensed beneath his feet, gathering the surrounding airflow and solidifying into a surface like solid ground.
Nail stood midair as if on level ground, gripping the long handle of his warhammer with both hands.
His arms tensed, muscles bulging.
Then, like hammering a stake, he raised the warhammer and brought it crashing down toward the ground.
"Boom—"
A thunderous roar exploded as a violent stream of air burst downward.
[Hurricane Stream]!
But this time, the savage airflow didn’t sweep outward, it compressed downward directly toward the ground.
At the moment the air struck, the entire mountain terrain cracked and collapsed, the surface sinking over three inches.
Yam, in the midst of fleeing, was struck first. He was slammed into the ground and coughed up blood.
He knew how strong Third-Tier Bloodline Users were, and he had read plenty about wind-type magical beasts of the Fertile Plains.
He thought he had a fair understanding of these bloodline abilities. But only now, in actual combat, did he truly comprehend the terrifying power unleashed by the combination of [Aerial Hold] and [Hurricane Stream].
When the [Hurricane Stream], not known for its sheer destructiveness, was condensed by the unique properties of the [Aerial Hold] into a focused strike from a wind-eye, its shockwave-based killing force revealed its brutal and terrifying side.
After striking with his warhammer, Ding did not land.
He continued to hover midair, raised the warhammer again with both hands—
Then brought it down for a second strike.