"No!" Nadia ducked down, trying to catch the bottle but the only thing she could grab were dirt and glass pieces.
"You won’t understand me now but you will soon, Nadia. I’m doing what is best for you. For all of us."
Alex reached out his hand to touch Nadia’s cheek but she slapped it away.
"You’re insane! You just killed Carsten!"
Alex let out a heavy breath. He did not refuse. Instead, the muscular miner turned toward Siderius.
"Reveal your face, Snow. I know who you are. I can recognize that voice anywhere."
Siderius smiled. He dropped his scarf to reveal his face.
"I’ve always known. Come with me, actor. I will take you to Lady Lyara."
"You are welcome to try, miner." Siderius drew his sword.
"That flimsy body of yours won’t be able to defeat me."
Alex picked up a pickaxe and used it as a weapon.
Siderius raised his sword up high. His eyes squinted. This turn of event wasn’t that unexpected in his opinion. Alex was loyal. But he was loyal to his own thinking, not to Nadia.
He would only do what he thought was best. Even if Nadia disagreed. He was very similar to Siderius. They both trusted their own instinct only.
"You?! You are the murderer?" Nadia widened her eyes. The most update n0vels are published on NovєlFіre.net
"Aye. That is who I am."
"The cure... Was it..."
Siderius’ identity shook Nadia. She heard of him. The actor who killed his own mother. This made her question his purposes. There was no way an actor was capable of producing a cure to the Gray Death.
"It is real, Nadia. What you should be questioning right now is why Alex prevented Carsten from being saved."
Siderius was a murderer. But he did bring a cure. If it was fake, it would be easily exposed once Carsten drank the potion. Even Nadia knew this.
She turned her gaze toward Alex once more, hoping to get an answer out of him.
Alex didn’t want to say anything. But he couldn’t bring himself to face Nadia’s disappointment. He cared about her greatly.
He decided to tell her at least a little bit of truth. He didn’t want her to think of him as a bad man.
"We would be killed. All of us, Nadia. If the cure works. That’s the only thing that I can tell you."
Nadia didn’t know what to think. Her brain was dancing with all kinds of thoughts. But she quickly composed herself. After all, she was the leader of the miners for a long time.
"You should have told me everything."
Alex shook his head. "That would only bring more danger to you.
Now, actor. Come with me!"
"Heh." Siderius smirked. He pointed his two fingers at Alex and gestured at him to come and try.
Alex squinted his eyes and held the pickaxe with two hands.
Siderius quickly glanced over Ashe. "Get out of here!"
Ashe nodded and immediately moved out of the combat zone.
Alex struck first and he charged forward. His pickaxe dropped down from above.
Siderius stepped to the side and countered with a slash. Range was still on his side. The sword was much longer than the pickaxe.
But Alex simply slapped the spine of the sword away, deflecting the strike.
This was the difference between strength. The assassin wasn’t built that great, his body focused on precision and the agility of his feet.
With Siderius’ masterful combat experience and his skill, he could close the gaps between them easily. This was supported further by the Sigils.
Alex, on the other hand, did not have the finesse and skill of the assassin. All of his strength came from his pure power and speed.
Alex wasn’t agile, not the same way as the assassin. He couldn’t execute elegant footwork. But his strike was fast, turning into a blur in the air. It would be a terrifying mistake for any warrior to think that a strong opponent would be slow.
Siderius knew this but he was still surprised. Alex knew how to use his speed efficiently. This couldn’t be acquired naturally. It must be trained.
Siderius extended the distance between them. Once again, he observed Alex. But now, with a different perspective.
"You aren’t always a miner, are you, Alex?"
A light twitch in the face of Alex caught Siderius’ attention. Siderius was right. He could deduce that from Alex’s expression.
Alex wasn’t in the mood of talking. He approached Siderius again and swung his pickaxe from side to side.
Siderius continued stepping back to dodge the blow. Alex immediately connected with a diagonal slash. The sharp tip of the pickaxe aimed at Siderius’ shoulder.
That was a mere distraction. Alex didn’t aim at his shoulder. He’s trying to trap Siderius’ sword inside the pickaxe curved blade and intended to disarm him.
Siderius relaxed his wrist and gently lowered his sword to the opposite side. That was an unnatural movement for the hand and not everyone would think of doing that to escape the trap.
Siderius caught a glimpse of surprise in Alex’s eyes.
"And you aren’t always an actor, are you, Snow?"
What Siderius just did was a simple but delicate movement. He couldn’t have learned how to do that simply by practicing. He must have gone through battles before. Many and many life-threatening battles.
Siderius smirked. They squared off each other in the tent. They both knew the other had something to hide and knew the opponent wasn’t who he said he was.
"Let’s stop playing with each other."
Siderius upped the game a notch. His free left hand drew the Vertigo sigil. The V with a horizontal line lit up in the air, delivering a dizzy sensation to Alex’s mind.
At the same time, Siderius thrust his sword forward. He knew he’s facing an experienced opponent so he didn’t commit the attack too much and exposed himself.
Instead of attacking the body, which would close the range between them and allow Alex to reach Siderius, Siderius attacked Alex’s hand, the hand that was holding the pickaxe.
Alex’s vision spurred. The nausea took over him. But similar to the assassin, Alex was able to fight through the dizziness and parry the strike with his pickaxe.
However, his balance was off. That was all what Siderius wanted. He continued his barrage of attack.
The sword was sharp and it didn’t need a lot of strength to put holes on a body. So Siderius used minimum power and maximized his speed. He thrusted repeatedly, each one faster than the last, trying to get through Alex’s defence.
Alex was good but not enough to stay unscathed. He received pokes after pokes on his arms and legs. He defended his chest and head well, but he wasn’t able to protect his limbs.
If this kept going, Alex was sure to bleed to death. And that cunning dizziness that would just appear in the nick of time to mess with his movement.
The sigil changed everything. Alex was no longer sure that he could handle Snow. A human, he was confident in defeating. But a wicca, that’s another story.
Alex reserved his strength. And after deflecting one of Siderius’ blows, he stepped forward, didn’t care that he would get injured heavily, and slammed the pickaxe down.
Siderius could counterattack, but that would mean that he would absorb the full force of Alex’s strike. Alex was betting that Siderius would retreat and hoped to regain the advantage in the battle.
If Siderius didn’t do that and choose to exchange, Alex was sure that his attack was stronger and would heavily injure Siderius.
This cheap trick did not fool the witch hunter’s experienced eyes. Instead of stepping back, Siderius moved in closer.
He was too close to use a thrust. That option was out.
If he executed a slash, it would give Alex enough time to hurt him. That option was also out.
Siderius used his shoulder to catch Alex’s forearms, preventing him from slamming the pickaxe down. Then, without pulling back the sword, Siderius turned the pommel at Alex’s stomach and slammed it.
Alex let out a wet grunt. Saliva flew out of his mouth.
Siderius didn’t stop there. He let go of his sword then caught Alex in a clinch, his two hands grabbed the back of Alex’s neck.
Then, Siderius channeled all of his strength to deliver one devastating knee into Alex’s groin.