Angor did not understand Starsoul’s strength because Starsoul’s means of attacks were completely new to him—the man manipulated the shadow of a faint female figure.
At first, he was completely puzzled by it. However, after several close inspections, Angor finally realized what that shadow as well as who Starsoul was.
The participant information he received from Dave contained the detailed description of Starsoul.
Angor did not recognize Starsoul until now because Dave’s data only showed someone with long hair which covered his shoulders. In the crystal ball, Starsoul looked just as “dispirited”, but his image appeared more like an artist.
The man in front of him, on the other hand, was a complete psychopath.
‘Starsoul’ Saka, Occult Soul Manipulator, a Level-2 apprentice, student of ‘Deadman’s Redemption’ Ness Byron. He was adept at controlling souls and always carried powerful souls around. He named the souls as “The Three Stars”.
Dave’s data only recorded two of the Three Stars, ‘Virgo’ Silvia and ‘Venus’ Herrington. According to the data, Saka was already strong enough to reach the top level, but the man had been staying at lower levels as if waiting for something.
Compared to these, Angor was more concerned about Saka’s mentor, ‘Deadman’s Redemption’ Ness Byron.
Hookdick’s mentor.
This was totally acceptable though, considering the fact that Hookdick’s talent was also Soul Manipulator.
…
The female shadow beside Saka was ‘Virgo’ Silvia, the soul of a powerful apprentice witch.
She used to be another participant in Sky Tower but was later killed by Saka and became his tool.
Angor was having a hard time keeping himself up in the match. His physical attacks were pointless against Silvia. Also, she could move through his ice walls with ease.
Saka, on the other hand, had a strange chain around his body which completely blocked Angor’s bolts.
Thankfully, Silvia’s attacks were not really powerful.
Angor was wondering though. According to Dave’s information, ‘Virgo’ Silvia could release powerful howls that shocked people’s souls, thus rendering them unconscious for a while.
Silvia had done it many times, but Angor did not feel anything at all. He thought Silvia was simply threatening him rather than using her rumored soul attack.
Just now, Silvia looked really furious about something.
It troubled Angor even more. None of his attacks affected Silvia, so why did she grow so angry all of a sudden?
Red color caused by great rage slowly appeared around Silvia’s cheeks. Her soul form began to shine with a faint red light.
The sudden change immediately reminded Angor of something else in Dave’s data. Apart from Soul Howling, Silvia could use another skill called Soul Absorption.
A master at this skill could directly pull someone’s soul away from its owner’s body. Silvia, however, could only inflict pain on someone’s soul at best.
Still, pain on the soul meant unbearable agony which could easily force someone to surrender.
Angor did not know what he should do. He never learned anything about soul defense. He could only keep shooting at Saka, hoping to do some damage.
He did not bring Toby today, or he would already have asked Toby to go for Saka.
Out of desperation, Angor took out a golden bolt with an armor-piercing rune on it. Surely this thing would break Saka’s chain apart?
Saka remained stationary when Silvia kept her attacks on Angor. The man only fixed his malevolent glare at Angor while spitting on the ground now and then like a maniac. When Silvia began to use Soul Absorption, his twisted face became worse.
Pong!
The armor-piercing bolt left Angor’s sleeve and broke the sound barrier.
The golden beam headed straight toward Saka’s chain.
As Angor expected, Saka’s chain was useful at deflecting his ordinary golden bolts, but not against the enchanted one.
When the chain broke down, Saka’s face went pale. What he had was not an actual chain, but a defensive tactic used by Soul Manipulators called Spirit Chain. The sturdiness of the chain depended on its user’s soul. If the chain got damaged, so would his soul.
Saka did not expect something like this to happen.
More importantly, the enchanted bolt did more than damaging his chain and soul. After penetrating his defense, the bolt kept going for his body.
In the end, the bolt disappeared into Saka’s shoulder and created a bleeding hole on it.
Angor was very good at aiming thanks to his archery training during his childhood. He had meant to shoot at Saka’s shoulder, instead of going for his opponent’s heart.
In the participant data, Dave said that Saka “accidentally” killed Silvia, and something like that never happened again in his Sky Tower battles. No matter how his opponents offended him, Saka would only order Silvia to shock their souls and leave them out cold on the ground.
This was the reason why Angor regarded Saka as one of the “rare, good wizards” in this world. The man looked crazy, sure. However, Angor did not really wish to kill him.
Angor believed that the shot was enough to force Saka to surrender.
The truth told him otherwise.
Silvia did not stop casting her Soul Absorption, and Saka did not look discouraged at all. Rather, his eyes glimmered with blood-red color while his already twisted face grew even scarier. Angor was positive he just saw a hint of excitement on Saka’s face.
Excitement?? While his shoulder was still losing blood like mad?
At this moment, Silvia’s skill looked prepared. Angor sighed in defeat as the woman’s soul released a red light beam.
A strange ripple was released from Silvia’s form.
Saka looked overexcited.
Angor thought he was going to lose it by receiving some kind of soul damage, so he was prepared to accept his first defeat.
However…
The ripples of Soul Absorption came, and he only sensed a sharp but brief tingle as if someone just poked him with a needle.
… And nothing else.
Silvia was no longer releasing light. Angor stood on the arena just fine.
When Angor noticed that everyone was looking at him with great shock—except for Saka, who had a look of doubt—he asked in his faked low voice, “That’s it? That was your Soul Absorption?”