Chapter 253: Watch out!

Lee never knew a way how to politely tell a woman she was completely nuts. Apparently Lady Panello thought an overlord of sorts has sent Lee to target specifically Seren. Her conclusion was laughable and unexpected, but Lee could use it to his advantage.All of the sudden he felt there was a chance to stretch out their interaction for a day. It was slim, almost utopian, but if there was one, he had to take it.

His countenance relaxed, and he slightly tilted his head, heartily smiling at her. He asked, "Why don’t you make an educated guess?"

"Don’t you play games with me, boy!" She snorted in return, bud didn’t move, giving Lee another idea.

"You do realize I have the ability to deal with one elemental lord?" He said, deliberately choosing one elemental lord instead of an elemental lord in casual manner, making it seem like it an unintentional or careless slip of a tongue.

Any claim that an elemental warrior or master could deal with an elemental lord or several of them on demand was a bluff or a fool’s dream. On the other hand, with how incredible some artifacts were, there surely had to be something that could directly kill an elemental lord.

Realistically it couldn’t be an artifact that had multiple uses, but something potent and deadly that can be employed once. Lee hadn’t heard about such equipment, but after hanging out with the grownup version of Xiao Lian, and adding the experience of his first two lives, he figured such idea sounded reasonable.

Lady Panello also thought so. She took a few steps back, carefully watching the youth in front of her, and said, "Good! I’ll find out everything after I bring you back!"

Cursing his failed attempt to intimidate her, Lee dashed to the side, barely escaping a ball of fire that exploded on the spot he was just at. He didn’t try to avoid a specific skill – he dashed away, chaotically picking directions, in hopes he wouldn’t be hit.

Lee guessed she wouldn’t use wide area skills in fear they could kill him, but at the same time didn’t want to find himself trapped in one of those flame pillars that earlier scorched the hunters to death. It might not kill him, but becoming disabled and afterwards getting caught by this crazy woman was definitely worse than death.

After missing Lee a few times, Lady Panello paused, and Lee also stopped. His body ached even though he used the wind element only for short bursts of speed, but there was no way around it. She also noticed him using wind, and probably considered which of Lee’s items was the artifact that allowed him to escape her probing hits.

"You realize you’ll be out of juice pretty soon?" She asked, "Why do you even struggle?"

"Probably masochistic tendencies." Lee honestly replied.

Most sane people would prefer to die in his position to avoid getting captured. Panello also knew it, but that allowed her to think of another approach.

She said, "You know, Seren isn’t the only person in Skalara with the overlord’s seal."

"Oh, really?" Lee said, focusing on his breathing, trying to solve the imbalance between the elements within.

"Mhm." She nodded, and slightly opened her robe, displaying the familiar yin-yang symbol. It wasn’t a tattoo most of the hunters had, but the real deal.

Clearly she intended to provoke Lee into attacking her, and the idea would’ve been logical if he was some kind of an assassin, sent by a mysterious overlord to kill people with the yin-yang seal.

Unfortunately for her, Lee wasn’t. And even though she was probably centuries older than all Lee’s lives combined, in the terms of provoking she had a lot to learn.

"Could you show me more?" Lee asked, stretching his neck theatrically, "Yes, please, pull the robe down! I really want to see how shaggy the titties of a five-hundred-year-old granny are!"

"Bastard!" Lady Panello’s reaction was accompanied by a loud explosion.

This time Lee didn’t completely escape the blast and got his back scorched despite boosting his speed to maximum. His shirt was gone, and to a normal person the burn would leave an ugly scar, but Lee was already in pain and getting hurt didn’t change too much. He knew she was likely faster than him despite her being a fire element cultivator, but he needed to force her to make a mistake.

"I think he’s in trouble." Both Lee and Panello herd a man’s voice in the distance, and froze for a split moment.

Lee recognized the voice, but it didn’t make any sense for the owner to be here, at least not at this time. Panello, on the other hand, squinted her eyes at the elemental lord and the person next to him atop of the hill. This was a variable she didn’t expect, especially the rift gate behind the two people.

Then she thought she understood something, and laughed, "Do you really think that calling for help will save you? You killed my son!"

Lee didn’t have time to think about implications. Seeing that Lady Panello’s palms lit up on flames, he guessed her next move.

Battling the pain, he fueled his whole body with the wind element, and madly dashed away, shouting, "Fall back! She’s too ..."

Lee’s voice died in the explosion of fire, but fortunately it hit him only partially and, in fact, propelled up the hill slope. He was thrown to the ground, face first, but ignoring the agony he was in, he jumped to his feet and kept dashing upwards, blood gushing out from the countless thin cuts across his body.

His back was charred black, and he knew he would not survive another blast, but getting to the two people atop of the hill was his only chance to survive.

"You missed!" Gerard couldn’t hide the surprise in his voice. He would’ve loved to reprimand his young companion if he wasn’t in deep shock, "You shot five arrows and barely scratched her!"

Donk was even more baffled. He stared at the woman at the foot of the hill, holding her left shoulder. Her white robe was rapidly changing into dark red color, but the fact that she was alive didn’t make any sense.

"I think I can hit her if I really, really try!" He said, slowly polling another Nullite arrow from his quiver.

What he didn’t realize was that Lady Panello noticed the arrows despite them being so fast they weren’t visible to a naked eye. While trying to get Lee, she intended to burn them before they hit her, and only when the first arrow was about to arrive, she realized it can’t be done.

If she was an average elemental lord, the sneak attack would’ve killed her for sure. She almost avoided the first arrow, though, and the other four missed her. Her reflexes and intuition were enviable, and caught Donk off guard. He was certain he killed another elemental lord, and the fact that in confusion he didn’t follow up with another streak of arrows, saved her life.

Unfortunately, now that she had seen the enemy’s hand, there was no way for her to fall for it again. A scythe with a blade over four feet long appeared in her hand as she transformed into a ball of fire and blazed a fiery trail up the hill.

At this point Lee was two thirds up. He didn’t bother to waste time with looking back, and exerted all his power to increase his speed.

"Watch out!" Gerard shouted, but didn’t intend to help.

He grabbed Donk by the scruff of his shirt and threw him into the rift, diving in right behind. Lee was right, the rapidly approaching monster wasn’t something either of them could deal with, and to escape was the only reasonable option.

Lee didn’t really hear Gerard’s shout – it was more like he sensed it. With how swiftly the two guys escaped into the rift, it was clear that there was danger approaching, but the problem was that Lee already ran faster than he had ever ran before. He didn’t see the cold grin on Panello’s face, and he didn’t see her raising the scythe.

Realizing she was about to catch up to the young man while the other two escaped, she changed her plans and decided to not kill him, just cut off his legs. It was much more beneficial to bring Lee’s torso back for questioning – the kid held too many secrets.