The shadow wielding claws lunged at Marcus once again. This time, without facing the attack head on, Marcus shot backwards and retreated into the narrow gap between two almost completely ruined wooden walls. The claws tore both walls down, but at the same time the throwing blades from the other shadow were blocked as well.

Marcus looked around. Gloria was fighting another shadow who wielded a metal whip at some distance behind him. He stomped the ground and launched himself backwards, heading towards the location of Gloria’s opponent. Under circumstances like this, focusing their power and taking down at least one shadow would be their best bet.

Gloria seemed to think the same, and after leaning back and letting the metal whip strike a tree by her side, she shot at Marcus.

“Stop them!” The shadow who had been attacking Marcus with throwing blades leapt up from a broken roof, shouting at the shadow wielding the metal whip while shooting two blades at Marcus.

Marcus rolled on the ground to evade the throwing blades, unzipping his jacking while doing so. And just as he pulled himself to the back of a tree, the metal whip swung down his way. He burst out from his hiding place, both hands extended forward at the shadow who wielded the metal whip, holding his gun.

“Bang bang bang!” Three rapid shots in the blink of an eye, all of which struck the shadow on the chest. The shadow took a few steps backwards, but did not go down right away. Gloria shot from behind and delivered a powerful hand chop onto this shadow’s neck. The shadow collapsed in an instant.

“Fuck!” The fury of the shadow wielding throwing blades was palpable. Before either Gloria or Marcus could turn on him, he pulled out two handfuls of blades from both his sleeves and unleashed them on the two all at once.

The two handfuls consisted of more than a dozen mini blades and spinning rings, all enclosing them from a wide angle. Marcus grunted, pushed his Qi to course through his entire body, grabbed Gloria by her sleeves and rushed towards the back of a thick tree.

A few loud clunks exploded from around Marcus. Three blades bounced from his shoulder and his back, tearing his jacket and shirt but not leaving any visible marks on him. The trees around them took the brunts of those blade attacks.

“Thanks, but you didn’t need to do that.” Gloria sighed and looked Marcus up and down: “Are you hurt? I know your Qi can harden your body. But it’s not beneath these bastards to lace the weapons with poison - ”

Before Gloria could finish, light smoke arose from Marcus’ back - he was pushing the tiny traces of poison left on his back using his Qi. Lucky for him, there was not that much poison.

Another shadow shot at the tree, two metal claws glowing in light green. Gloria immediately pushed Marcus to the side while jumping backwards. The next moment, the metal claws broke through the trunk of the tree, sending splinters everywhere. The other shadow shot out from the side, shooting another handful of throwing blades at Gloria.

Gloria threw out a loud curse before tapping her feet on the ground and launching herself backwards to find more trees to hide behind. This took her further away from where Marcus was. Without much of a choice, she rushed to an area behind a small hill and opened up her backpack. She was not expecting that she would get ambushed here, thus she put her own throwing blades in the back and not in her clothe pockets.

Taking a moment to focus and calm her nerves, Gloria shot out from behind the hill and towards Marcus’ direction. The other shadow was jumping over the hill, just in time to see Gloria pass him by.

The shadow wielding two metal claws was dishing out a flurry of attacks at Marcus, swinging both claws one attack after another. But Marcus kept leaping around, dodging swing by swing, not letting even one swing get close to him. Yet, the attacks were so rapid in its succession and he was never able to get a good shot or counter attack.

“Come and face me head on!” This shadow screamed at Marcus as he tore down another unfortunate tree that was barely three adult men tall.

Marcus looked around once again, and he saw that Gloria was heading his way from a distance, chased by the shadow who used throwing blades as weapons. He leapt back again, narrowly dodging another attack. The metal claw left a long gash on the ground.

The shadow with two claws roared, then swung both claws at Marcus. His light green and light blue Qi shot out, in the shape of two claw marks in the air.

There was not enough room or time for him to dodge again. Marcus had to cross his arms in front of him and take the attacks directly. The Qi claw marks exploded on him upon impact, throwing him into a tree, breaking his gun and tearing a few gashes on his arms. The shock squeezed the air out of his lungs. His visions went blurry for a brief moment.

The shadow lunged forward and swung his right arm at Marcus’ head, and his left at Marcus’ waist. Marcus immediately lowered his body and blocked the shadow’s right wrist with his right hand. His left knee thrust forward, aiming at the shadow’s abdomen. The shadow’s body arched back once again, his Qi focused on his front torso, attempting to dissipate Marcus’ attack like last time.

This time, however, the knee was not the only attack from Marcus. His left hand turned to a claw and swung from below to up, striking the shadow right at his right waist.

Dull pain shot from the four fingers of his hand to his entire left arm. A metal plate underneath the shadow’s cloak was pierced and cut through by the sharp blades of Qi on Marcus’ fingertips. The excess Qi shot into the shadow’s torso, cutting his inside like four thin blades slashing at high speed.

The shadow screamed for a brief moment, before Marcus headbutted his nose and muffled his voice.