Re-Awakening: Evolving My Shadow Limitlessly With A System-Chapter 17: Ballet of Death

Freya was stunned.

Vi, still in pain, managed to turn her head slightly to look at him.

In that split second, he had detected the attack, blocked it, and located the source?

"As expected of a Daelthorn," Freya muttered.

"Don’t relax," Frank warned. "The attacker uses spatial portals. He’ll reposition soon."

It was a power none of them had seen before. But they quickly devised a plan against it.

"How do know he hasn’t he repositioned yet?" Freya asked, tightening her grip on her spear.

"Because no new magic circle has appeared," Frank replied.

Vi grit her teeth. She dragged herself back to the car, grabbed her custom sniper rifle, and laid down behind cover.

The death of her comrades was burning inside her chest.

And the fact that Frank insulted them as mercenaries, only strengthened her resolve to move despite the pain.

She looked through the scope.

"I can’t see him."

"He probably has a camouflage ability. Fire anyway. We’ll know if he’s still there."

Vi’s arms trembled as she poured mana into her body.

Circuits lit up in green patterns, spreading across her skin.

"Initializing Smart Metal Core Synthesis."

Seven magic circles materialized around her.

Fragments of metallic dust gathered at the circles, coalescing into high-density smart bullets.

Each one shimmered with nanite enhancements, layered with mana-based homing matrices, kinetic stabilizers, and auto-adaptive targeting runes.

Vi locked onto the treetop.

"Deploying."

She pulled the trigger.

Seven bullets screamed forward.

Her eye stayed on the scope.

"Detecting movement. Homing function: activated."

The bullets curved, adjusting mid-flight.

The target, a black shadow, moved through the trees to dodge.

Then, just as two bullets were about to land, magic circles flared.

Portals opened.

The bullets vanished through them, but a moment later, they came back flying, still homing on the original target.

"He’s not teleporting himself. He’s only teleporting the bullets. It means creating large portals drains too much mana. He’s being careful about his mana expenditure," Frank said, observing.

He turned to Vi. "Keep him busy."

Then, to Freya. "Use your strongest technique and attack him."

Freya nodded.

A surge of red aura burst from her dantian, and the air around her stirred with heat.

She stepped forward, pulling her spear back.

[Mountain Breaker Spear Arts: Seventh Form, Crimson Fang Descent]

She hurled the spear.

It flew like a crimson meteor. The sky split by its blazing trail.

The sheer speed was astonishing.

But more surprising were Frank’s actions.

His feet glowed green.

He crouched, then launched himself right after the spear.

His speed was unreal.

He chased after the spear like a shadow, and kept up with it.

In the blink of an eye, both were upon their target.

Just before the spear hit, a portal opened in its path.

Another portal opened in front of Frank.

The spear shot out from it.

Frank was prepared for such tactics. He raised his sword, now wrapped in golden light, and slashed.

A deafening crash followed.

Light exploded, blinding everyone. Dust filled the air.

Shing.

That sound again.

Frank’s senses screamed.

"Behind you!" he shouted, but he was too late.

A portal opened behind Vi’s head.

A piercing magic bullet fired. It pierced through her skull.

Then, before anyone could react, the same bullet curved midair and shot through Freya’s two hearts, clean through both.

Their bodies fell.

Frank stood frozen for a heartbeat.

He was surprised the attacker had been able to target them so precisely, even though all of them were blinded from the clash of his sword and the spear.

Then his eyes sharpened.

He dashed toward the treetop where he’d seen the magic circle activation flash before.

’The attacker is an experienced fighter.’

’I need to finish this fight soon, or he might pull another trick.’

His sword glowed again.

His feet exploded with green aura.

In a single breath, he appeared beside the target.

He slashed.

His blade passed through the target like a knife cutting through butter.

’Shit!’

Frank realized something was wrong.

’There was no resistance in the sword’s path. I didn’t cut through a human body.’

He looked carefully at his target.

It looked like a tiny humanoid shadow, like a child.

Unlike now, he had believed that appearance to be a disguise, but now he knew the truth.

The humanoid shadow was a puppet.

It was a decoy.

Frank’s eyes narrowed.

A tiny new portal appeared in front of the puppet. Flash of magic circle came out from it.

This was the flash Frank had been noticing.

It seemed the opponent was using portals to show flashes from different location, than where he actually was.

"He’s been faking his location from the start. He used the portals to mislead us."

He looked around, searching.

The attacker was clearly a seasoned assassin. He was a master of illusions, misdirection, and mana control.

Frank needed to get out.

That’s when five portals opened around him.

He froze.

From each portal, a piercing magic bullet fired, but they didn’t strike immediately.

They curved.

They danced around him.

Portals kept appearing, catching the bullets and redirecting them at new angles.

A chaotic ballet of death formed around Frank.

He raised his sword, blocking the first, then the second.

But they kept coming.

Each impact shook his body. His hands began to numb. His defense slowed.

His mind raced.

’I need to escape.’

But the storm never let up.

He couldn’t move away. The bullets kept coming, forcing him to keep up. He was trapped.

’No, I can hold out. I just need to last longer than him.’

The attacker had to be burning through mana.

Portals, projectile creation, manipulation of bullet path—it must require concentration and immense mana reserves.

The technique wasn’t sustainable forever.

’I can win as long as I hold—’

Another portal appeared.

This time, Freya’s spear flew through it.

The weight of the spear broke Frank’s rhythm. His sword was a second too slow to move again.

In that moment, a portal opened right in front of his eye.

A single magic bullet shot forward.

It pierced through his skull.

Frank’s body fell.

Silence returned to the forest.

Until the last moment, he had no idea who attacked him.

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