Infinite Classes in the Apocalypse

Chapter 181: Uninvited Guest

"He’s not half bad," the leader of the Phoenix Clan stated as she rose to her feet. "I guess you keep him for more than just his looks."

Damon frowned. "She didn’t even try to defend herself... Is everyone in this world crazy?"

He charged forward once again.

Using shadow step, he appeared right in front of her, ignoring the blazing heat creeping at his skin as he thrust his blade forward.

Once again, Phoenix Clan Leader fell to the ground without a fight, though this time, there seemed to be even less amusement in her eyes, as though the idea of dying was more inconvenient than anything else.

Moments later, she rose once more.

His frown deepened as he killed her again, and again, and again.

Each death and resurrection was almost identical.

Occasionally, she tried to switch it up, throw a single strike, more so to throw Damon off rather than to actually fight back. At the same time, Damon’s mana was depleting with each kill.

"Are you just going to keep at it?" Yoru finally asked, after a sixth or seventh death. "Killing her won’t kill her."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"I do," she said. "The resurrection technique truly has no flaws. It comes from the eternal flame, an existence that transcends life. As long as it exists, the resurrections will continue."

"Are we saying we should target the flame?"

Yoru shook her head. "No need..." Her gaze locked onto the Phoenix Clan Leader, who had just risen from another one of her deaths. "There is no way she would let her champion run around with a risk of dying. As flawless as the resurrection technique is, only one being can use it at the time... all we have to do is kill her and her champion at the same time."

A moment of silence passed over the clearing before a loud clapping sound broke the silence.

Phoenix Clan Leader clapped her hands together in an almost overexcited excitement. "Amazing theory. But... how are you planning on making it work?’

"It’s quite simple, really." Yoru’s smile sharpened. "I will continue killing you while he finds and kills your champion."

Phoenix Clan Leader let out an overexaggerated sigh. "How futile... Well, it’s not like I should’ve expected more from someone who had been locked down by no other than the Tengu Clan."

Something twitched across Yoru’s face. She took a step forward, ready to deal another death, only to pause midstep.

Everyone’s gaze suddenly snapped toward the south of the clearing.

There, approaching from a valley edge, a hooded figure approached.

Yoru and Damon looked mostly confused rather than surprised, as if anyone appearing now seemed out of order, while the Phoenix Clan Leader’s expression changed.

Her previous calm and calculated demeanour, designed to discourage her enemies, faltered, replaced by something close to... fear.

Her gaze shifted nervously across the clearing, then to Yoru and Damon, then back to the hooded figure who approached them at an unhurried pace, their steps light with confidence.

The figure adjusted the walk slightly, turning more so to Damon than to everyone else.

She stopped only a handful of meters away from him, before raising both arms up and lowering her hood.

Crimson hair cascaded across her shoulders. The second her red eyes locked onto Damon he recognised them immediately.

Ivy stared at him from across the valley with an expression that seemed rather distant.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, Damon’s mind spiralling at how she was there.

Then, she finally spoke. "It’s been a while, Damon."

Yoru frowned. "You know this creature?"

At the same time as she asked this, the voice of the Phoenix Clan Leader cut through the valley.

"What the hell are you doing here? I told you to stay behind!"

A moment of realisation passed over Damon’s and Yoru’s faces before they finally pieced it together.

Phoenix Clan Champion... it was Ivy.

He slowly began to remember her death back in the central station, and Ayame’s comment on her return to life.

But despite immediately recognising it as the Phoenix Clan’s resurrection technique, even she couldn’t have guessed that the technique didn’t just come from a random system class but from the very same Phoenix Clan she recognised it from.

"What are you doing here, Ivy?"

She lingered for a moment, her eyes shifting across the valley, before answering. "I’ve been summoned... same as you."

Damon frowned.

This was bad.

The only way to kill the Phoenix Clan Leader was by killing her champion along with her.

Yoru shifted beside Damon. "How fortunate... Our win condition walked in here all by herself."

Ivy’s gaze shifted to Yoru for a moment before turning back to Damon, who looked perplexed by the situation.

"Kill her," Yoru said impatiently. "I will handle the leader. Let’s get this over with—"

"No," he cut her off.

She blinked. "What?"

"She can’t die."

"Tssk. Damn mortals. Fine..." Yoru’s expression darkened. "I will kill them both myself, starting with the newcomer."

She lunged forward at a terrifying speed.

Damon shadow stepped, appearing in front of Ivy just in time.

CLANG!

The echo of his ringing weapon resounded across the valley.

"You will throw away our alliance for some lowly human girl?"

Damon didn’t respond right away.

Instead, he simply pulled back his weapon and dismissed it completely, leaving himself, at least in theory, fully exposed.

Yoru raised a brow.

"The Phoenix Clan Leader will die... Just not today." He said, no hesitation in his words.

Yoru watched him with an expression that was completely impossible to read.

Nobody in the valley moved.

Even the Phoenix Clan Leader stayed still, watching Yoru with an expression of someone who knew her better than anyone and had never seen someone oppose her so directly.

Yoru’s eyes stayed on Damon for a long, unnerving moment.

Then, she finally spoke.

"Three days," she said, already turning around and beginning to walk away. "We return to this foul land in three days."