I Reincarnated As A Stick

"[Lesser Seraphim Art]!"

"[Tears of the Grieving Seraphim]!"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

As the people that had sent out the attack were in an arrow formation, the arrows that were shot out through their intangible auras had also taken on the same formation, with a great portion of them not hitting the target at all.

At first, Aurus thought that the group of people he was fighting against were mostly brawn but almost had no brains. But then, he soon realized that he was the one in the wrong as a small portion of the intangible arrows weren't even meant to hit him in the first place. Instead, some of those arrows embedded themselves into the ground, forming an encirclement around him as he felt like it was harder for him to move. Then, the remaining arrows headed up to the skies before falling down like rain, becoming the reason for the skill's name.

Seeing as how it had become slightly difficult for him to dodge the attack, Aurus went ahead and utilized his teleportation skill, disappearing in front of the group for a split second before returning, soon noticing that only a small portion of the arrows that started to fall from the skies had collided with the ground. Realizing that the attack would more or less make him frozen to the spot, Aurus decided to fight force with force as he conjured a hundred blades before imbuing it with the power of [Impenetrable Shield of Nil], using one blade to nullify the effect of one arrow.

Surprisingly, one blade was not even enough to nullify an arrow's effect, needing him to use two or three blades to do just that. Not only that, but after those bunch of blades nullify the arrow's effect, they then dissipate into thin air, making Aurus realize that his blades couldn't handle that much force in the first place. Then again, Aurus's stats and skills made him seem like a glass cannon that could fire out strong attacks for hours upon hours on end. But if he was hit even at least once, there was a high chance he would be severely injured because of that.

In fact, the skills he gained as a Spiriveritas was also skewed towards the offensive, only barely giving him enough of a boost in his defense thanks to his high comprehension level over the Epiphany of the Tempest. In any case, Aurus eventually got out of the first attack unscathed as he tried to attack the group of people, imbuing the element of void into the blades he conjured.

Within seconds, he had conjured a thousand blades before sending it flying towards the group of people. In response to the blades, the Royal Seraphim Forces covered their whole bodies with the intangible aura, as well as their weapons as they hurriedly took on a formation that focused more on defense. After that, those at the front hastily spun their spears in order to deflect the blades while one of the people at the back of the formation left the formation and headed to where Aurus was by himself.

"Be careful!" one of the people in the formation shouted towards the man that left the formation. "We may have found out that our enemy is weak in close combat, but never become overconfident!"

"Understood, sir!" With a shout as a response, the man eventually appeared in front of Aurus, imbuing all of his strength into the spear he held as he thrust it. Without even panicking, Aurus bent his body to where he would just barely miss the tip of the spear. Even though he was an Inanimate and he felt no pain from such attacks, even one hit from the opposing side would reduce his vitality by quite a lot.

Not being discouraged that his attack had missed, the man quickly retracted his spear before going for a horizontal sweep, to which Aurus swiftly teleported, reappearing when the man had finished his sweep. Then, imbuing one of his fists with the element of Wind, Aurus swiftly punched out to hit the man in the face, only for the man to intercept the attack and redirect it with his free hand.

Nevertheless, the force behind Aurus's punch was enough to strain the man's arm, reducing the speed and force behind his next attacks. However, they were still swift and ferocious to any normal person, with Aurus having to waste a lot of his energy to dodge a spear barrage sent out by the man. 

While the man was stalling Aurus in place, the other people from the Royal Seraphim Forces silently made their way around the two, circling the two as they swiftly stabbed their spears into the ground, channeling their intangible auras into it. A few seconds later, the ground within the circle made by the Royal Seraphim Forces took on a slight white hue as it faintly glowed.

In response to the phenomenon happening on the ground, the man fighting Aurus seemed to have improved in all attributes. In fact, even the strain on his arm seemed to have disappeared. At this moment, Aurus looked at the people that surrounded him, sensing how the change in the ground was connected to the people, prompting him to think that a barrier of sorts that enhanced the man's attributes and abilities was created around the two of them.

With that, Aurus went ahead and activated [Domain of Nobility], deciding to not use one of his trump cards for now, lest he wanted his opponents to take advantage of it. A few seconds after he activated the skill, the ground, which previously took on a white hue, was now tinged with green as well as all of Aurus's attributes had been considerably enhanced while the opposing side's attributes were slightly weakened.

Seeing how his opponent was having an easier time managing his attacks, the man could not help but tightly grip onto his spear before going into a frenzy, showing Aurus all of the moves he could do with the spear. Unfortunately, it was still all for naught as Aurus swapped between teleporting and moving to dodge the attacks without breaking a sweat.

Eventually, the man decided that he had enough as the intangible aura intensified in pressure and strength. After that, the intangible aura started to spiral around the spear he held, giving off the feeling that nothing could hinder its path as the man started a round of attacks once more. As for Aurus, he increased the amount of energy he allocated towards the skills he had activated, watching his opponent intently as he was waiting for the right time to retaliate and end the battle in one go.

Fortunately, it did not take long for the opponent to show an opening, which Aurus took advantage of as he leaned his body forward before sending a right jab on the side of his opponent's chest. The strength in it was not enough to send his opponent flying, but it was more than enough to make the man grimace in pain for a bit. After all, he and the others were part of the Royal Seraphim Forces, where the minimum rank for their class was Rank 8.

Just as the man was quickly recovering from the pain he felt, he soon noticed that a few beings had appeared behind his comrades, prompting him to stand still in shock as he also noticed that all of them…looked like the one he was fighting against!

Adding on the fact that all of them seemed to have spears equipped, everything soon clicked inside the man's mind as he shouted, "Look behi—!"

Puchi!

Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to warn his comrades, Aurus hastily conjured a spear out of thin air and pierced the man's neck from under. As blood started to trickle off the wound that Aurus opened, the man gradually lost strength in his body before lying limp on the ground.

Seeing how their comrade was killed with such an underhanded attack, the remaining people from the Royal Seraphim Forces could not help but look at Aurus with rage, wanting to avenge their brother that had just fallen. However, as they recalled their fallen brother's last words, all of them instantly had the feeling that they should look behind them…only for them to regret it at the very end.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

With three copies of Aurus for each person, by the time all of them looked behind, the Aurus copies brandished their spears and put in all their strength towards piercing their necks. Some had a grievous hole in their necks, while some people had their necks lobbed off from the force behind the sneak attack. Nevertheless, the whole group eventually joined their fallen brother in silence as the surrounding ground became more and more green under the effect of Aurus's skill.

Deactivating [Domain of Nobility], Aurus was just about to continue teleporting in the direction of Seraph Kingdom until he noticed a man wearing shabby clothing standing just 20 to 30 meters away from him. Although one would dismiss the man as a nobody from their first glance, Aurus could not help but look at them intently, sensing a feeling of danger from the man's body language.

Without giving the other side a chance to make a move, he instantly covered the man within the range of [Domain of Nobility] as he allocated all of his energy towards [Dark Universal Blade]. Then, condensing a great amount of Wind energy particles, he formed a blade imbued with the power of void as he slashed down on the man, wanting to bisect him.

"[Spellsword of Ruination: Lost Art]."

"[Penultimate Blade of the Chaotic Tempest: Fragarach]."

Swoosh!

Surprisingly, rather than feeling any resistance from the man's body as his body was being cleaved in half, Aurus's blade instead faced no resistance at all, cleanly cutting off the man in half. However, that was all. There was no scream in pain, there was no blood gushing out. It was just Aurus and a man cut in half.

"Quite an interesting usage of the element of Wind," the two halves of the man said as the two parts seemed to grab onto each other, mending the cut that was made in the middle of his body. While a light smile was on his face, he could not help but lightly frown as the steel glasses he wore could not be salvaged. With a snap of his fingers, he created a set of steel glasses over his eyes as he combed his blond hair.

"Ehem." Clearing his throat, the man extended one of his arms towards Aurus and said, "The name's Dalton Thymesis. Nice to meet y—"

Puchi!

Of course, Aurus did not care about introducing himself to the man in front of him. In fact, who would even introduce themselves to the enemy they had to defeat? With that, Aurus stabbed his sword into Dalton's chest. And just like before, nothing much happened after that…well, if one excluded Dalton's emotions.

Gradually taking on a grim expression, Dalton sternly looked at Aurus, surprisingly giving Aurus the chills. This was the first time that his body shuddered like this, so Aurus felt that the feeling foreign. However, the primal instinct controlling him said otherwise, knowing very well why his body would shudder.

The opponent in front of him was strong.

Realizing this, Aurus hastily turned around, wanting to teleport away from him. Naturally, after being treated rudely twice in a row, Dalton did not show his nice side anymore, placing his hand on Aurus's shoulders before a great strength pushed down on the latter, making his feet dig into the ground for a few centimeters.

"No manners, eh? No worries, no worries. I'll teach you how to greet a stranger properly," Dalton said as a wave of energy washed over Aurus's body, gradually making the primal instinct lose control over Aurus's body. After that, Dalton sent in a few more strands of energy into Aurus's body as he rigidly started to move. Soon after, one of his arms extended, making it seem like he was giving Dalton a handshake. In response, Dalton firmly grasped on the hand and shook it up and down with a nod of satisfaction.

"Good, good. You're learning well."

"This is definitely the best way to greet strangers properly."