Chapter 139: Phantom Shifter
"ELDRIC!"
Ronan bellowed in fury. His face had turned deathly pale as if he had seen a ghost.
"How have you been, Ronan?"
"You bastard! What are you doing here!?" Ronan tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. There was no mistaking it. The man in front of him was the same man who he had banished decades ago.
Eldric Greenwood— a peer of Ronan and a stain on their tribe's history.
Long before Celestia was chosen as the High Priestess, the WindGod Tribe was left leaderless due to the untimely demise of the previous priestess. It was Ronan and his friend Eldric who shouldered the burden of continuing the legacy.
Together, they quelled the external and internal threats and kept the tribe in peace. Ronan busied himself with his family since his daughter-in-law had just given birth to his cute granddaughter Vivian while Eldric planned to expand their territory.
He became greedy with the amount of power he held in his hands. One word from him was enough to rally the entire elven troops to wage a war against the human domains.
The man wanted to conquer the land beyond the MoonHawk Ridge since everything before it belonged to the tribe. There were no more enemies to the WindGod Tribe and Eldric wanted to expand the horizon in pursuit of new challenges and enemies.
Eldric had become unhinged with the amount of power and influence he wielded. He disbanded the Elven Council and hoarded all the authority to himself. By the time people realised, Eldric had turned into a complete tyrant who listened to no one.
His goal was to unite the Continent and rule it in the name of the WindGod Tribe. He was precariously close to offending the Lord Protector and inviting his wrath upon their whole population. They would've been slaughtered like pigs if Ronan hadn't intervened in time.
A fight broke out between them, which lasted for a day, and Ronan, ultimately, emerged victorious due to his superior skills. If not for Eldric's repertoire, mostly made up of destructive and excessively mana-consuming spells, it would have been difficult to decide the winner between the two.
"Ohh. I am here to take back what is mine." Eldric, a man with long auburn hair, smiled devilishly.
"You don't have a shit left here that belongs to you!" Ronan hissed, his aura flaring dangerously. "I showed you mercy and banished you out of the Continent for all the trouble you caused! What did you do in return?"
"I showed you why it is the greatest sin to grant mercy to your enemies. I showed you how naive you are." Eldric chuckled.
Indeed, after being banished from the tribe, Eldric hid in the mountains and waited for Ronan to leave the territory and nursed himself back to health in the meantime.
He snuck back into the Inner Sanctum with the help of those who were still loyal to him in the tribe and killed Ronan's wife, son, and daughter-in-law.
"How is your granddaughter doing? I hope she can fight back now." The cruel tone in his voice was clear to Ronan.
"I spared her the last time because she was too weak and small to fight back."
"She was an infant, you demon!"
"Exactly. Have you taught her well? I spared her last time, and if she is as naive as you, then it will be too easy for me to get to her," said Eldric, eliciting a growl from Ronan. "I hope she can make this a bit more challenging for me."
"What are you planning?" Ronan spat. "Doesn't matter. It's your last day in this world. Prepare to die!"
"Are you sure about that?" Eldric flared his aura.
"Martial Sovereign!?" Ronan's eyes bulged in shock. Once again, they were equally matched and at each other's throats. No, they were not equally matched, Ronan realised.
Eldric had the advantage with his Puppet Maker to assist him. Calling it an even match would be unfair.
"Haha, this is nothing. Once I am done with your tribe, I will be even more powerful!"
"In your dreams! You will have to go through me before doing anything to my people!"
"Poor choice of words." Eldric snickered and suddenly attacked.
-Hard Spikes-
The sharpened stakes made of hardwood appeared out of thin air and rained down on Ronan, intending to shred him to pieces.
"Hmph! Parlour tricks!" Ronan harrumphed.
-Mana Shield x Quadruple-
As the four gigantic shields made of mana defended him, Ronan snorted. "It will be just like that day. You will lose, and I am not as forgiving as before to let you live again!"
-Gale Slash-
Ronan's hand blurred as he sent out a flurry of wind slashes towards his foe. He needed to take care of the Puppet Maker before he engaged in a serious battle with Eldric.
The monster had far-reaching limbs and could attack him from anywhere. He would be hard-pressed to keep his attention divided if he left it unchecked.
Since Eldric was busy defending against his attacks, Ronan decided to make use of this momentary respite.
-Hovering Mist-
His man surged rhythmically with his every breath and started drawing the surrounding mist towards their location. Soon, the mist around them thickened, and Ronan spread his aura all over the place, becoming one with the mist.
Even for someone with an awareness level of a Martial Sovereign, he would appear all over the place, making it difficult to determine his exact location.
Ronan had a lot of experience fighting in these conditions, so as soon as he reached the realm of a Sovereign, the first thing he did was to create a spell that incorporated the ever-present mist in the forest and this is what he came up with.
A spell to confuse and blind the enemies.
"Hah! Hiding like a coward, I see…!" Eldric momentarily forgot what he had been doing all these times and scoffed at Ronan.
"It's nothing new to you, isn't it?" Ronan mocked, though his voice carried a hint of frustration. "I have searched for you all over the Continent after what you did. I wanted to rip your heart out! But you were too much of a coward to show your face."
His voice was carried by the wind and appeared to be coming from eight directions, further making it difficult to locate him.
"That's a tactical retreat, my friend." Eldric chuckled, completely unworried about the possible sneak attack.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that!"
-Wind Blast-
"Haha, your magic isn't foolproof!" Eldric could sense the mana being stirred in his left side and jumped away to avoid the attack.
A pressurised air burst through the place he was standing and drilled into the Pupper Maker's trunk.
"KRAA…!"
"Shut up, smooth brain!" Eldric seethed. He was a sore loser and didn't like it when someone tricked him.
However, the Puppet Maker was overwhelmed with pain as its body started to break down by the wind currents raging inside. With one last desperate cry, it fell to its end.
"Haha, I see… still as tricky as ever, Ronan! You haven't changed a bit!" Eldric laughed even though his face was getting darker by the second. "I wonder how strong I can make my pets if I sacrifice your granddaughter?"
"What do you say, Ronan? Wouldn't she make for an excellent quality sacrifice?" He smirked.
'Something is wrong.'
Ronan felt surreal by how much his old friend was chatting with him. He was never this chatty while fighting because a moment of distraction might cost him dearly in a fight between equals.
Either he was catching up with Ronan after seeing him for the first time in years or he was simply confident that he could win this fight.
Ronan was inclined to believe that it was the latter. As such, his mind raced to think of what advantages Eldric had over him.
-Threading Vines-
Eldric had enough of the hide-and-seek game. With a swift motion of his hands, the ground split open, and thick, thorny vines sprouted from the ground and started thrashing around erratically.
-Rock Slicer-
Eldric's eyes shook for a second as the mana surged from above his head. He looked up to find the thin film of air making its way towards him.
"Game over," Ronan said calmly as he appeared behind Eldric. "You will never touch my granddaughter."
With a practised ease, he swung his sword at his waist, intending to divide his body in two.
"Heh. It has just begun, my friend." Eldric chuckled as his body suddenly turned ethereal and the sword passed through his body unobstructed. Even the spell heading down his way passed through him harmlessly and instead, created a deep gully in the ground as if to show it had no effect on him.
"What!?" Ronan quickly disappeared into the mist and exclaimed in shock.
"Ho-How is that possible?" He stuttered.
As far as he knew, no spell with the Wood affinity could help him turn intangible.
"Have you heard of the Phantom Shifter, my friend?" Eldric asked curiously.
"It can't be! There is no way you stole an Innate Spirit!"
"Hahahaha, you haven't seen the world as much as me, have you? A trip to Varn would've helped you expand your horizons."
Ronan's face fell instantly. The continent of nutters. The people over there had no scruples when it came to experimenting with sorcery and rituals.
"I see… you found your place in the world— right where you belong— in the midst of freaks!" Ronan mocked to hide his trepidation.
An Innate Spirit completely changed the odds in Eldric's favour.
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