"You think you can hurt my brother? Not a chance!"
Just as the shadowy longsword was about to pierce Alan's back, something strange happened—within a half-meter radius centered around the black shadow, the gravitational pull began to reverse in an eerie upward drift.
An instant later, countless pebbles and brittle branches were swept up from all directions and hurled toward the shadow like a hailstorm of debris.
Though the shadow itself had no tangible form, the Dark Mage hiding within it was very much a living person. And he couldn't attack while simultaneously dodging this sudden burst of counterattack.
Whoosh!
The shadow melted back into black mist and vanished into the earth.
When he resurfaced again, he was already several dozen meters away from Alan.
Alan narrowed his eyes.
He could tell—this wasn't teleportation. Nor was it any instant-move or blink-type spell.
