Reincarnated as Itsuka Shido: Collecting Spirits as Lovers-Chapter 164: Territory

Shido charged toward the center of the cemetery, cutting down the skeletal warriors that blocked his path. With each swing of his weapon, bones shattered and clattered to the ground, forming a trail of shattered bones and discarded weapons on the ground.

The skeletons were almost infinite as they march towards him mindlessly, however, the skeletons stop spawning when Shido was about to reach the temple in the center of the cemetery. There he saw a suspicious group of people wearing black robes surrounding an old man in red robes.

The old man was Khajit who kidnapped Nfirea. Shido's eyes narrowed. The hand he had severed from Khajit had somehow regenerated, but it was clear the recovery had come at a cost. Khajit looked weary, his face pale and drawn

Khajit and the other black robed men men was chanting something in a low voice but Khajit raised his hands to stop them when he noticed Shido was approaching.

His gaze locked onto Shido, filled with venomous hatred, not just for the pain of having his arm severed, but for the toll it had taken to regenerate it.

He had been forced to use Heal, a 6th-tier magic spell, an extremely costly and valuable resource. He hadn't wanted to waste it, but regrowing his arm had left him no other option. The price he paid was evident in his pale, drawn face.

"It's you!" Khajit growled as Shido stopped about ten meters away.

"Yo, old man. Looks like you managed to grow that limb back," Shido taunted with a smirk.

To his surprise, Khajit didn't erupt in rage. Instead, he snorted in contempt.

"Hmph! I'll make you pay for what you did. Don't think you can escape from here alive!"

As Khajit gave the command, his men sprang into action. They began chanting in unison, gathering flickering flames in their hands before launching fireballs toward Shido.

But Shido moved in unimaginable speed. He dodged the incoming blasts effortlessly, the fireballs crashing into the ground behind him and exploding in bursts of flame and debris.

Without hesitation, Shido charged forward, closing the distance in an instant. His blade flashed in the dim light as he them, cutting through heads, slashing necks, and piercing hearts. Each swing found a vital point, felling the black-robed mages one after another.

Khajit saw this and immediately retreated to the back since he know that once Shido got close to him, he would immediately be killed. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

When he glanced in front of him again, all his men were killed without resistance. However, Khajit didn't feel angry instead, he grinned evilly. "Foolish!"

"Got you!"

A sudden flash of light erupted behind Shido, and in the blink of an eye, a sharp weapon appeared, aimed straight for the back of his skull. The strike was swift and deadly, perfectly timed for an instant kill.

Shido didn't even flinch instead he only move his head to the side, easily evading the piercing weapon.

He had already seen that attack coming with his observation haki activated. It was Clementine, waiting for the opportunity to deal serious attack on him. However, she had already failed before she even attack since Shido could see her hiding behind him, in addition to his ability to peek a few seconds into the future.

With a quick motion of his hand, he used his sword and used the handle of his Elucidator to hit Clementine the guts.

"Guagh!"

The force that hit Clementine was so heavy that she almost kneel into the ground however, she prevented herself from kneeling as she stumbled back, creating distance between them.

"Tsk! So close." Khajit muttered, clicking his tongue in frustration. He hadn't expected Shido to so easily see through their plan.

Meanwhile, Clementine had a pained expression, she was having a hard time recovering since Shido's attack made it hard for her to breath. Fortunately for her, Shido didn't follow his attack and simply stand on his original spot.

"How could you hit a beautiful woman like me?!" Clementine pouted at Shido for attacking her without hesitation, however, she was using this time to recover.

"If the beautiful woman is you then I would already be killed if I let my guard down around you." Shido replied at her words. If possible he didn't really want to attack a woman with a hard method but Clementine was different since she was a dangerous person. A single mistake can cost a life.

"So boring! I don't want to play anymore." Clementine said like a little girl tried of playing with her toy. A minute had already passed and Clementine had already recovered from her agony.

"This might be irrelevant since you're going to die anyway," she said with a mischievous grin, "but may I know your name? By the way, I'm Clementine, and that old man over there is Khajit-chan."

She giggled, as if the failure of their ambush was just a minor inconvenience in some game she was playing.

"Hmph! Don't talk too much, Clementine!" Khajit shouted at Clementine since she was being too talkative.

"Boo! Khajit-chan is so boorish!" Clementine's response only made Khajit angrier but he couldn't do anything about it since he doesn't have any control over her.

"Alright then. You should remember it well since this might be your first time and last time hearing mu name. My name is Acheval Dreisen."

"Wow, so arrogant!" Clementine clapped her hands in amusement "Didn't expect you to be the cocky type too. I like that!"

"Enough talking and end this!" Khajit raised the purple orb in his hands. Shido could already tell that something was coming but he didn't panic, he didn't even put a stance.

Just as Shido thought, something from above descended and tried to attack him as soon as it neared him. Khajit revealed a grin on his old face but Clementine looked confused and perplex when she saw that Shido didn't do anything or activate a martial arts.

To her surprise, her vision suddenly change and she was now a little closer to Khajit while she was also looking at him. But before she could process what had happened, a cold, instinctual dread surged through her.

'Something's behind me!'

Without a second thought, she activated her martial arts one after another.

"Martial Arts: Ability Boost! Greater Ability Boost! Greater Evasion!"

Her body surged with power and speed as she leapt aside just in time. A deafening impact shook the ground behind her, sending dirt and debris flying into the air. A thick cloud of dust rose, momentarily obscuring everyone's vision.

A massive skeletal dragon now stood where she had just been, its claws buried deep in the earth. Its empty eye sockets burned with a faint, eerie glow, and its bony frame radiated malice.

It was the one that had attacked her.

"KHAJIT!" Clementine shouted furiously, her eyes blazing with anger as she pointed at the skeletal dragon. "What the hell was that?!"

The massive undead beast loomed silently behind her, its claws still embedded in the cracked earth where she had just stood. It was clearly Khajit's summon.

"I was attacking him, not you!" Khajit shouted back defensively, equally confused and alarmed. "I don't know what happened!"

He hadn't meant for the skeletal dragon to target Clementine. The beast's strike had been aimed directly at Shido. Just before the impact, Shido had been standing perfectly still, barely a few feet from the dragon's claws. But then, in a flash, he vanished... and Clementine had taken his place.

Khajit's eyes narrowed as he tried to piece it together, but even he couldn't understand what had occurred.

Clementine, still seething, took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Her anger subsided into wary suspicion as she replayed the moment in her mind. Something wasn't right.

She turned and looked toward the impact site again, and her expression darkened.

Shido was now standing exactly where she had been moments ago, his stance relaxed, arms crossed, as if nothing had happened looking at them with a playful smile. Meanwhile, she was near Khajit, facing the skeletal dragon's attack zone from a safe distance.

'Our positions were swapped.' she realized, frowning.

"...What kind of ability is that?" she muttered

A sudden thought flashed through Clementine's mind. 'Does he have an ability to distort dimensions and switch our positions?'

She turned sharply to Khajit, voice low but urgent. "Could he really switch our positions like that?"

Khajit frowned when he heard Clementine's analysis, "There's no way, right?" Although he wanted to deny it, that was the only explanation that made sense. However, that ability is very dangerous, especially in group fight.

But Khajit didn't dwell on it. He had the power of death itself on his side, along with his skeletal dragons. Such magic, he believed, would be enough to keep Shido in check.

Still, both Khajit and Clementine exchanged wary glances.

Khajit and Clementine became more vigilant of Shido. Although they could see that his plate tag was only a copper rank, they know that he was stronger than his rank implied.

That's right. Shido had used Territory at the last moment, just as the skeletal dragon's claws were about to crush him. In an instant, space twisted subtly, and he had swapped positions with Clementine making her receive the attack instead.

"If you're not attacking, then I will."

Shido was starting to become bored of this conversation so Shido initiated the attack and thought to end this as soon as possible.