Hot and fresh blood poured out of the wound and out of Yori's mouth as he gazed down at the huge icicle inside of his abdomen.
The man kept on laughing behind him, thinking that Yori would die without putting up a fight.
As the icicle slowly dissipated, he fell to his knees. Blood started to pour out of his wound at an alarming rate.
"You dumb little…"
He cursed under his breath as adrenaline filled his entire body.
There was a reason why he was referred to as the mountain. He would never dare give up before death had him in its grasp.
Each time he almost died, he simply kept going, his resolve never wavering.
This time would be no different.
He rose to his feet and filled the hole in his abdomen with a large rock to keep himself from bleeding out for now. At the same time, he summoned a rock spike out of the ground, almost immediately killing the man that had previously stabbed him. If he hadn't dodged in the last second, he would have surely perished.
"Woah! You can still stand? I'm impressed, mountain. That doesn't mean you'll live though!"
The man summoned a sword out of ice, preparing for battle.
Each of the Enlightened guards became alarmed by Yori's unwavering determination and readied themselves for the upcoming battle.
"I may be weakened, exhausted and outnumbered but unlike you I've fought for real before! You will not live to see another day!"
Yori raised his right foot and stomped down onto the ground with all of his might. The ground gave away beneath him and a small crater formed. At the same time, the ground that the hostile Enlightened stood on shook violently.
With a quick and strong attack in form of a rock spike for each one of them, he immediately took out all of the rank 1 and 2 Enlightened.
Sadly, this maneuver didn't help Yori much at all. The rank 1 and 2 Enlightened were no threat to begin with. The real threat is the rank 3 Enlightened which, unfortunately, remained unscathed.
"You're not weak after all, old man."
"Of course I'm not. If I would be, I wouldn't have survived for so long."
They both gazed daggers at each other, their eyes filled with pure hatred and the will to fight to the point of mutual destruction.
Yori launched a seemingly never ending onslaught of sharp rocks at the man. He dodged this onslaught and sliced the stones in half with his ice blade. At the same time, he rapidly closed the distance between himself and Yori.
His grin only spread further and further as he sensed that he came closer to killing Yori for good.
Not only was Yori heavily wounded and less mobile due to the rock he embedded in himself to stop himself from bleeding out but he was also extremely exhausted from the long trip here.
He could not fight at his usual capacity which is the reason why the stones he shot out weren't nearly as potent and deadly as they usually were.
As the man finally got into close combat range, he swung his sword at Yori's neck, planning to decapitate him with one swift strike.
"Got you! Die! Die! Die!"
He exclaimed with sadistic joy.
A small rock wall shot out of the ground, protecting Yori from the blow.
The man was not able to cut through Yori's defence this time and the heavy impact that got reflected back onto him made him stumble and lose composure.
Yori seized the opportunity without a second of hesitation, summoning a large rock spike out of the ground and stabbing the man with it.
Luckily for him and unluckily for Yori, he dodged in the last second, only receiving a mildly deep wound on his shoulder.
"Dammit! How are you even still moving and fighting like this?! You should be wheezing on the ground fighting to stay conscious for just a moment longer!"
The man became frustrated and screamed at the top of his lungs. Yori responded with a gentle smile, infuriating the man even more.
"Are you trying to mock me?!"
The man rushed forth without a second thought, falling into Yori's trap.
He put all his might into one extremely fast and deadly rock spike. The man could surely not dodge such an attack!
At least that's what Yori thought. He underestimated the man. After a simple duck, the man had passed all of Yori's defences and was right in his face. He swung with a newly formed vigor, however, Yori dodged.
Unfortunately for Yori, he also lost his balance. His legs gave away after being exhausted to this degree by the blood loss and long travel; he fell on his back.
Yori attempted to get back on his feet immediately but a foot on his chest hindered him from doing so. The man held his ice blade against Yori's neck, not killing him just yet.
"There we go. You are exactly where you belong after so fucking long. Beneath me. Vulnerable like a dog. Slitting your throat will be so enjoyable~."
Just then, before the man could kill Yori, the jade gate didn't just fly open, no, it was knocked out of its hinges with one strong kick.
Completely flabbergasted, both Yori and the man stood still and didn't move an inch as they looked at the now unhinged gate, trying to make out the culprit.
A tall and young woman, wearing a snake mask, approached at an incomprehensible speed, grabbing the man by his face and lifting him off of Yori.
She wore highly expensive clothing, not the type that looks gorgeous but the type that has perfect quality and makes fighting easier. Her black hair was tied into a wrapped high ponytail and she exuded an aura of strength and authority.
Without a doubt, this was the first stronghold's devil, Yuna Aiba.
"You could have provoked any city and yet you chose the only nearby city with a rank 5 Enlightened in it. You are one of the most idiotic Enlightened I have ever seen by far."
Her voice had an unnatural calm to it. It wasn't a gentle calm nor an authoritarian. It sounded as if this ordeal bored her.
Yuna slowly increased the pressure on the man's head.
In a wild panic, he swung his sword at Yuna's neck. Instead of killing or at least injuring her, it broke off into many pieces.
"P-please! Oh great devil of the first stronghold, spare me! T-this is all just a misunderstanding! Y-you see, this man, he was stealing an ascender stone from the jade palace!"
"Stop screaming, scum. I know he wasn't. You're no better than a dog that's cowering in fear."
She kept on increasing the pressure on his head slowly while screaming in an enraged manner.
"You want a war and now you have it! The war shall commence! The first stronghold will eradicate this place and all of its people!!"
Yuna was tired of this pathetically struggling man and squashed his head with her hand. Gore and blood splattered everywhere, including her clothes. The headless corpse fell onto the ground, blood gushing out from the neck.
The blood and gore were unrelevant to her.
A few mortals have been fearfully watching everything from afar. Yuna was sure that her declaration of war would be delivered to the relevant people in the jade palace successfully.
She walked over to Yori quickly and helped him up, supporting him so that he could stand more easily.
"I sometimes wonder how you managed to survive for so long. Looking at the predicament you got yourself in makes me believe it was all merely luck."
"Haha, believe what you want, Yuna. I'm just glad you've come to my rescue."
Yori smiled a weak yet bright smile directly at her.
Without revealing a single emotion due to her mask, she dashed out of this place with her extreme speed just as quickly as she dashed inside of the city. Only this time with the heavily wounded Yori.