Grim Reaper in the Apocalypse: Reaping Immortals

Everyone felt their entire Soul System shake from that sneeze, discombobulating them from accessing their powers.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

This would have been the time to panic, but thankfully, none of the Canzers moved to attack them.

"Kugh! How did it know?!"

"It shouldn't have! My illusion was perfect!"

The Canzers shouldn't have seen them move at all. The Mesmer's illusion prevented any disturbance from leaking out perfectly. Yet, somehow, the Canzer was able to 'sneeze' and disrupt their casting at the most critical moment.

If they were able to support Ninth, they would have killed or at least injured the bespectacled Canzer named 'Oc.

'My allergy is really acting up!'

It turned out that 'Ess' never even sensed the upcoming ambush! Atlan didn't know if it was just a coincidence or something else. Either way, they would have to keep an eye on the sneezing Canzer and brace themselves so that their LifeSkill wouldn't get interrupted.

Meanwhile, seeing as she was the only one facing the Canzer, Ninth immediately retracted her sword and struck the Canzer's brown hat again, creating another spark. She didn't stop there. She kept slashing it continuously without break, reaching a thousand hits a minute.

Her stubbornness disallowed herself to be bested by a Canzer's 'hat'. And the fact that the Canzer did nothing as she hacked her sword made her even angrier. It was as if the Canzer knew that she couldn't ever cut through it.

Finally, the bespectacled Canzer looked up at Ninth and took out a mining pickaxe from behind its back. This weapon seemed to have materialized out of nowhere because it was way bigger than the Canzer's body itself.

The Canzer swung the pickaxe towards Ninth without any windup. It looked like a throw-away attack with no effort. But when Ninth received this attack, she felt its heaviness push her outwards.

She tried to fight it by digging her feet in the soil, but the Canzer proved to be too strong for her to overcome.

Ninth was thrown backward and was caught by the Tank behind her. The two of them skidded on the ground for a few meters before they finally stopped.

Ninth looked at her shaking hands. The power she felt from that pickaxe still lingered in her mind. It was at that point that she realized that she wouldn't be able to contend with the bespectacled Canzer in terms of brute strength.

Given that physical prowess was not her strongest suit, she was still the strongest person in the team by a large margin. If she couldn't overcome it, then no one could.

She'd had to fight it some other way.

"I'm sorry, Ninth. I thought my illusion was perfect."

"It was. They just have better eyes."

"Do you want me to take the shot? I can still hit him," asked the Sniper.

She shook her head. "That thing's too tough. For now, I want you to shoot for defense. If you see any one of those Canzers moves, then make sure they only move backward. Don't let them approach."

"Copy."

"Mage, same goes with you. Coordinate with our Sniper and make sure we only fight one by one. Keep them at bay."

The Mage nodded, with her wooden wand at the ready.

"Scout, tell me if you see any sneak attacks or traps."

"I will," he responded.

"As for you," Ninth said as she looked at Atlan. "Are you feeling okay?"

Atlan nodded. Although he was completely too slow to see attacks of these high-level Canzers, much more dodge them, he still had an advantage that nobody knew about. He could hear the Canzers talk to each other.

"As long as you stay deep in our formation, we'll protect you," she assured.

"I don't think we have to worry about that," said the bodyguard beside Atlan. "They don't look like they're aggressive. They haven't attacked us yet."

But it seemed his words were said a little bit too soon. Atlan heard the impatient voice of a Canzer who was rearing to go.

'Is it going to take any longer?! I'm running out of patience here!' Gee bellowed.

The bespectacled Canzer named 'Oc looked at the angry 'Gee' and replied, "You can do as you please. This will take a while."

As soon as he heard that, Gee rubbed his white beard and eyed the humans with a hidden bloodlust. For someone who was angry all the time, this Canzer was very skilled in hiding its violent expression.

"It's about to attack!" Atlan warned.

"How do you know that?" asked the Mage.

Even the Scout was surprised. "I haven't seen any sign of them using their powers."

Meanwhile, Ninth looked at Atlan with a serious expression. "Who?"

As expected of a good leader, she immediately believed Atlan without a second of hesitation.

"The white beard," he said with a hushed tone. He made sure not to move his eyes away from the ground. He didn't want to alert the Canzers.

She then made eye contact with the Tank, ordering him to heed Atlan's advice and keep an eye out on the bearded Canzer.

However, the Tank thought differently.

"I think I should keep watching the Big Nose. I'm tired of it messing up our rhythm. As long as I keep a careful watch, I can reflect its sneeze outwards and let them have a taste of their own medicine."

The Tank could only face one direction at a time. It just so happened that the angry, bearded 'Gee' was on the opposite side of the Big Nose sneezer called 'Ess'.

Although Atlan warned them about the upcoming attack, he gave no reason as to how he acquired that knowledge. They didn't know if it was an educated guess based on evidence, or if it was just a baseless hunch.

The Tank's tactic, on the other hand, was much more realistic. From the beginning till now, it was only the Big Nose 'Ess' who posed an actual threat to the team. Two of its sneezes proved to be powerful enough to disorient them for a good second and disrupt their Soul System enough to disable their LifeSkills.

It was only natural to devote their defenses to countering the sneeze.

Ninth was put into a dilemma. Should she follow logic and go with the Tank, or should she trust a novice's gut hunch?