[ Laras Belkin ]
Race: Human
Lifeform Rank: Tier-3
Body: 287
Mind: 293
Spirit: 300
'He is strong.' Vesh could see his status. 'Almost peak of Tier-3.'
Meanwhile, he was peak of Tier-2. The gap between them was of raw stats, and that was the reason he was flung away easily.
"Who are you?" Laras asked, his eyes narrowing and his pupils flickering with the same pattern.
Vesh could feel he was locked on.
'Let's see.' Vesh used Mystic Energy and summoned three knife copies that shot at Laras.
Laras fluidly deflected all three knives with ease, forcefully dispersing them upon impact with his longsword.
In the next moment, Laras's sword glimmered with blue light as he swung it at Vesh.
A blue flash slash, freezing cold, swept past Vesh in an instant, freezing him into an ice cube.
"Mist can be frozen, you know?" Laras approached calmly.
'What the hell?' Vesh was dumbfounded. He couldn't move at all!
"I suppose you won't die the normal way." Laras arrived, his eyes curious. "But you must have a core, a weakness."
His eyes glimmered. "I'll find it soon."
Lifting his sword, he stood in a stance, ready to slash his sword so he could deal the finishing blow to this misty assassin the moment he found the weakness spot with his ocular skill.
Vesh knew time was running out as he struggled to destroy the encasing ice, but it was like a coffin buried deep in the ground. It wasn't budging.
'The heck!'
He had to do something quick or he would die! Not technically die, but his Mistlord's Knife would be destroyed and he would lose his memory he gained after he took this form.
This was such a good form with a set of arsenal he liked. He didn't know if he would get Mistlord's Knife again, even if he picked another knife.
"Got you. So there's your core."
Vesh could feel his durability was about to hit zero the moment this sword struck him. It was too powerful against him.
Swoosh!
And right then, he figured a way out of this situation.
Using his formless stat points!
The strike struck the ice, cutting it like a knife through butter, about to hit the nexus of his misty form where the core of Mistlord's Knife was. He had positioned it in his stomach, which he could keep safe with two arms protecting it.
In this situation, he couldn't move. Why? Because he was a mist.
So he adjusted.
BOOM!
The ice blasted while rapidly melting or rather, corroding, as Vesh broke out, his current form resembling gray-sparkling mist.
"What?!" Laras was startled, and then shocked. His own ice shards that were corroding struck him and even began melting his clothes, forcing him to quickly use ice to freeze them and remove them from him.
"He escaped…" Laras saw Vesh vanishing into the night sky in a blink and frowned. "Why did he attack here? Is someone targeting the duke?"
Vesh expended a lot of energy in the final blast, and it wasn't safe to stay here anymore. If there was one more like this Laras Belkin, he could be in trouble.
But this trip was worthwhile!
He figured out something crazy about himself.
His formless stat points could break his attributes' powers past the ceiling of his form's rank.
-Unassigned points: 0
-Durability: [989/1000]
-Mystic Power: 200 | Mystic energy: [ 146/2000 ]
-Sharpness: 0
-Mist: 400
-Poison: 0
-Corrosion: 400
By removing points from Poison and Sharpness, and adding them into Mist and Corrosion, he became more powerful in a way, using more potent corrosion and mist to blast out of the ice coffin!
The enemy was strong. He also sensed multiple strong presences in his Mistolein's Domain who were at Tier-2 rank. They were taking away the disgusting men and women who were Duke's friends while ignoring the slaves and workers with no regard.
Although he couldn't kill all those assholes, he completed the mission he initiated. To find out the enemy's strength.
But for now, he could do nothing.
'I have to be stronger. I need more formless essence.'
He did get some when he killed those two assholes, but it was merely 80, totaling his formless essence to 470.
'Looks like we'll have to change the plan.'
Vesh returned after stealing something from a shop on the way to decide his next move. A map.
Veron had finished eating and was training.
"Clear the floor. We are escaping."
"Escaping?" Veron blinked.
"The enemy is stronger. We can't kill the duke with the protection he has. And we also can't openly escape due to multiple factors. Even if we used the mist domain to move, it would attract the enemy, and we'll be blocked. Your wife and daughter will be in danger, so there's only one way to escape."
Vesh spread the gray mist on the floor and controlled it like a whirlpool as it began to corrode the ground, creating a hole.
"We'll make a tunnel that leads outside the town. A tunnel southwest of 780 meters will lead us right outside the town wall."
Veron saw the tunnel forming quickly.
"Alright, I'll wake up Revi and Miru."
"No need."
Vesh sent a stream of pure mist into the room. Shortly, Revi and Miru arrived, still asleep, floating within a cradling mist.
"Let's go. The faster we go, the better."
And so, they entered the tunnel and began moving fast.
…
In the duke's mansion, people were inside the living hall, and the mansion was sealed within a barrier.
"What the hell is going on?" the Duke gnashed his teeth. "Who dared to attack my mansion?"
Laras and his men just arrived.
"Laras! What the hell happened? Did you get the enemy?"
Laras shook his head. "He escaped."
"Who was that?! Hired assassin?"
"Most likely." Laras nodded, his eyes narrowing. "He might still be in the town."
The duke frowned. "Can't you find him?"
"His trail and aura completely vanished. He had mist and poison-related powers, and he could take on a mist form. That's no simple assassin." Laras thoughtfully said. "His path seemed strong."
"But with us here, nothing will happen." Laras turned around and waved his hand. "My men and I will be patrolling around the mansion for the night in case he returns."
"Just make sure there's good food in enough quantity for us to eat in the morning."
But the person, or rather the monster in question, had already gotten out of the town.