Reverse Transmigration: From F-rank to SSS-rank-Chapter 16: Winning without clones

Chapter 16

"Hey, you shouldn’t turn your back on your enemy you dumb fool." The lightening guy yelled confidently, lunging a lightning attack my way. I raised up my barrier, blocking without even turning to look at them.

The three of them tightened formation, stepping in rhythm like they’d trained for this exact scenario. I turned to them, my expression cold and unhinged. Guess I’ll have to solve this without my clones, anyone could be nearby watching and I couldn’t risk being seen.

The hammer guy moved first, his weapon spinning upward before coming down with enough force to crush boulders. I slipped aside with Shadow Step, but the instant I moved, the twin blades erupted from the ground where I’d landed.

I snarled. "Persistent rat."

My foot shot forward, kicking him hard before his body was fully out of the dirt. The kick cracked across his face, sending him tumbling sideways, his blades clattering as he rolled.

But then the air thickened, static prickled against my skin. The lightning user had been waiting.

"Lucian!" Lilian’s voice cracked through my head.

I dropped low just as a beam of lightning seared overhead, scorching through branches and leaving them smoking. The blast tore the forest apart behind me.

I didn’t get time to breathe. The hammer guy’s massive shadow loomed again, his weapon already mid-swing. I braced myself to block the attack, my barrier flashing into existence. The hammer smashed into it with a bone-rattling boom. My shield shuddered, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface before I released it and let the force carry me backward.

"Damn," I muttered under my breath. They weren’t just strong, they were coordinated, one attacked, the other two punished any evasion. A perfect trap if not for Lilian.

Left flank, incoming, she warned again.

The twin blades ripped out of the soil, slicing where my ribs should’ve been. I pivoted, trapping one of his arms under mine before his second blade could reach me. My knee came up sharp into his gut, the breath bursting out of him. He gasped and tried to phase into the ground again.

"Not this time." I snarled, wrenching his arm. Bone cracked audibly before I hurled him into the path of the hammer guy.

The hammer guy couldn’t stop his swing just in time. His own ally took the full weight of the strike, his body crumpling with a scream as blood splattered, before rolling lifeless into the dirt.

The hammer wielder froze, his grin finally gone.

The lightning user’s smirk twisted into a scowl. "Idiot!"

I didn’t waste the opening. My Shadow Step carried me behind the hammer guy, my fist slamming into the back of his skull. The impact echoed like stone on stone. He dropped to one knee, dazed, his grip on the weapon faltering. His ability might be superhuman strength, but I was still stronger. His giant axe was becoming a pain and i needed to get rid of him fast.

"Lucian, right!" Lilian shouted in my mind.

I spun just in time. Lightning streaked toward me. I threw up the barrier again, but this time I angled it, redirecting the energy instead of blocking it. The bolt ricocheted off and tore through the hammer guy’s chest, frying him in a burst of crackling light. His scream cut short as he collapsed, his limbs smoking. The lightening users attacks were powerful, destructive infact.

The lightning user’s confidence cracked as he watched his brother die from his own attack, guess the hammer user was more beloved to him than the twin blade guy. He stumbled back a step, electricity still crawling over his arms, but his eyes flickered with hesitation.

"Looks like your pack just got smaller," I said, stalking toward him, every step deliberate as I released my demonic energy, much enough to be visible around me. I could feel that my power had grown up to eight percent now.

His jaw tightened. He raised both hands, power sparking violently, unstable. "What in the world is this ability of yours?You think this is over?"

"Yeah," I said flatly. "It’s over."

I Shadow Stepped.

He panicked, unleashing a barrage of bolts in all directions, the forest erupting in light and thunder. Trees exploded, dirt flew, but none of them touched me. He spun wildly, looking for the real me among dozens of afterimages, too bad he was slow.

I appeared behind him, my hand snapping around his neck. With one sharp twist, the lightning died from his body as I snapped his spine, and without hesitating, I ripped his head off, blood splattering over my face and arms.

Silence fell. The stench of charred wood and burnt flesh lingered in the air.

I let his body drop, tossing his head just beside his body. My chest rose and fell, breath steady but controlled.

"See?" I muttered. "Didn’t need the clones."

Seems I overestimated them. I was used to fighting powerful people that I ended overestimating the strength of these weaklings.

I turned to Lilian, "Get the keys, you can keep them." But I found her frozen in her spot, looking at me like I’d just murdered her whole family. Blood ran from both nostrils now, her face pale. She had pushed herself too far with the telepathy.

"What’s wrong? Are you scared of me now?" I asked with a mocking chuckle.

"You...you didn’t have to snap his head off like that." She said in a low trembling voice.

"incase I haven’t told you, that was me being kind. We’ll talk this out later," I said, moving to her side. "Right now, we need to get out of here before more of them show up, I need them to keep underestimating me, that way we’d always gain the upper hand."

She nodded faintly, tightening her grip on her blade.

"If you understand then move! Or do you need me to carry you?" I said, my voice loud enough to make her flinch. So now she decided to be afraid of me? I thought she was bold.

But then, she looked up at me, a tear drop slipping down her left eye, "Those were my brothers, I’m not afraid of you, I’m just pained that i helped you in killing them."

Wait, what the fuck!