"Cursed Weakening!"
Leon frowned faintly, as he felt his strength, speed, and stamina reduce by at least 30%.
’An interesting ability.’
In just a few seconds, John was already upon him, swinging his sword with a fierce expression.
"Die, bastard!"
Leon responded to his attack with a swing of his spear, blocking the blade.
Clang!
John stumbled back with wide eyes, his expression twisted in shock.
"How...?! How are you still that strong?"
Leon didn’t answer him, as he was trying to get accustomed to the sudden decrease in his physical attributes. He rolled his arms, then looked at the young man.
"That thing you did. Is it a skill or an ability?"
John’s eyes trembled, his jaw clenched tightly. He felt deeply irritated by Leon’s indifference, and he couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was being treated as insignificant.
"Mandy! Rogers! Cast your abilities now! Ichigo, come join me."
The two people he addressed first moved to flank Leon, then raised their hands towards him.
"Gravity Suppression!"
"Poisoning!"
Leon felt his knees buckle as his weight suddenly increased by several folds, and he almost toppled to the ground. Although he couldn’t see it, he could sense an extremely potent poison in the air, and he had taken huge amounts of it into his system.
’Ugh...’
His expression contorted slightly as he felt it ravaging his organs and trying to completely destroy him from inside out.
’Ah... this is...’
Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth, but he wasn’t worried. He could already feel his cells analyzing the poison, the abnormal increase in gravity, and the weakening curse. Every second, his body adjusted itself, gradually building resistance against each effect. Unfortunately, it wasn’t instantaneous.
However, Leon wasn’t really concerned. Even in this state, there was no way they could kill him.
John and the foreigner called Ichigo ran towards him, wielding a sword and an axe respectively.
John attacked first, his sword set to behead Leon while he remained pinned by the Gravity Suppression.
Suddenly, he saw Leon’s arms twitch, and a spear was thrust straight at him.
’Bastard!’
John had no choice but to abandon his attack and jump back, as the reach of the spear was longer than that if his sword.
Ichigo paused by his side, the Asian man focused on Leon with narrowed eyes. Surprisingly, his English was quite good.
"He can only move his arms. Pincer attack."
John glanced at him, then nodded. He dashed off to Leon’s left side, while Ichigo took to the right.
Leon tracked the two men’s movements, then gave a faint grin.
He swung the pear towards Ichigo, forcing the man to block, and knocking him backward. However, this created an opening for John, and he immediately took the opportunity.
His sword came dangerously close to Leon’s neck until he felt something impact his gut.
’Huh?’
He looked down, feeling himself fold under the heavy force that knocked him back. His sword missed Leon’s neck, instead cutting a few strands of hair.
’When did he... why can he move his leg?!’
He barely managed to land on his two feet as he wheezed in pain.
"You bastard..."
He turned to Mandy, his tone harsh. "What the hell happened to your Gravity Suppression?!"
The girl panicked, staring at Leon like she couldn’t believe her eyes.
"I... I don’t know! It’s still active, but it’s barely working!"
"Damnit!" John cursed and turned back to Leon, seeing him stretch his body lazily.
"H-Hey... I don’t think my Poison works anymore," Rogers whispered, his voice trembling. He could still feel Leon inhaling the special poison he had released in the air, yet it no longer did any damage to him.
It was as if there was no difference between the poison and air.
He had been making the poison target Leon specifically, which allowed his teammates to attach without fearing the poison.
Yet, his ability had suddenly become useless.
John’s expression darkened, and he cautiously walked over to Ichigo.
"What is it?" He asked, seeing the deep frown on the man’s face.
"That guy..." Ichigo muttered. "We should run."
"Huh?" John blinked, then felt the air distort behind him.
"Kuack!"
His eyes widened, and he looked down to see a spearhead protruding from the left side of his torso.
’When... how?’
His vision grew blurry, and his body was thrown into the distance as Leon shook him off his spear.
[You have slain a Level 35 Tier One Evolver John Stone!]
[You cannot level up!]
[Progress has been stored!]
Leon’s gaze lingered on his bloodstained spear for a moment, then he glanced at Ichigo who had distanced himself from him.
"You..." The man’s brows twitched.
From the hotel building, Chloe and Henry reappeared. The middle-aged man was shocked when he saw John’s dead body, but he didn’t fly into rage.
He looked at Leon deeply and asked, "Can we stop this here? We’ll give all our supplies and weapons to you. I hope you can forgive our actions against your group."
From the moment he had received that blow, he knew they couldn’t win. So, to preserve the lives of everyone else, he needed to lower himself and beg.
Leon tilted his head, seemingly surprised by the man’s words. Then, he shook his head with a helpless sigh.
"I’m sorry, I’m not the type to leave loose ends."
Abruptly, Ichigo’s eyes widened and he swung his axe behind him. Leon, who had appeared behind him, using Shadow Teleportation, stopped the attack by holding his wrist, then slowly inserted his spear into the man’s back.
Ichigo’s eyes trembled as he felt his heart being pierced smoothly by the spearhead, and he couldn’t help but cry out in pain.
"Arrrgggghhhhh!"
His guttral scream was painful to listen to, but Leon’s expression didn’t change. He leaned closer and whispered to the man’s ear.
"Next time, do not look at the people around me with those eyes."
Pulling out his spear from the half-destroyed heart, he tossed him over to Chloe and Henry.
"Heal him. He can’t die yet."
Chloe already moved before he finished speaking, her hands covering the wound on his back as she began to heal him.
Leon nodded, then turned back to Henry.
The man had a dark expression on his face as he glared at Leon. "You... was that necessary? Do you really have to kill everyone here? Don’t you have a conscience?"
Leon chuckled. "Conscience? I do, I always do. But as I said, I don’t leave loose ends."
Henry gritted his teeth, his fists clenched. He deeply regretted attacking the small camp in Williamsburg, as that was the reason for their imminent demise tonight.
’Why the hell... did we have to make a Tier Two enemy?’