Chapter 164: Wow! The Iona Bus! (2)
Chapter 164: Wow! The Iona Bus! (2)
"Ice Sphere!"
Whoosh—!
A sharp shard of ice formed at the tip of my staff and shot toward the office door.
Crack!
"Aaaaah!"
A high-pitched scream echoed past the sound of splintering wood. A cultist, who had been approaching after noticing something was wrong, collapsed with a hole through his stomach.
Hmm... I was aiming for the heart, but since I fired the spell through a door, my aim was a bit off.
Feeling a bit apologetic, I lightly tossed the Shining Lion Dagger held in my left hand. As if someone were pulling it, the blade twitched naturally and embedded itself into the cultist's heart.
Well, someone was pulling it. I had used telekinesis to correct the throwing trajectory.
The dagger glowed briefly, and the guy went limp and silent.
But this was only the beginning.
With a scream that loud in a hallway that wasn't even soundproofed, every cultist in this branch would be swarming us.
I used telekinesis again to retrieve the Shining Lion Dagger and then channeled my mana for the next spell.
Thump—
My heartbeat gradually quickened. My mana rose in proportion to it—proof that my fire-attribute magic was being enhanced by pseudo-resonance.
Elisha, standing beside me, was also drawing a magic circle while floating the Shadow of Elements above her head.
The moment the first person to arrive spotted us—
"Wind Cutter!"
"Intruders—Aaaargh!"
I immediately unleashed the prepared spell, slicing him in half.
But that was just one down.
Bam!
Doors along the hallway burst open simultaneously, and cultists, ready for battle, directed their collective hostility toward us. I quickly scanned them to size them up.
Three with purple eyes. Two with green. Five with gray. And the remaining seven had ordinary black or brown eyes.
"Three with mental-type Magic Eyes, two poisoners, five necromancers, and the rest are physical enhancers."
"I'll keep them at bay, so prepare whatever you need, honey."
"Got it."
As soon as I finished speaking, the cultists' eyes and hands began to glow, or they simply charged at us recklessly. I quickly pulled Mental Defense Potions and Antidote Potions from my inventory and splashed them over the three of us.
The effect would be weaker than drinking them, but it should be enough to hold out for a while.
Meanwhile, as if to prove her words, Elisha began pouring out water and wind attribute spells from her Shadow of Elements.
Swish—!
Boom!
Gales swept through the narrow hallway, and water shaped like circular saw blades spun toward the legs of the charging enemies. My head felt dizzy for a moment, likely due to the Magic Eyes, but thanks to the potions I’d sprayed earlier, it didn't last long.
"Watch your heads!"
"Guaaaah!"
"You idiot! If you only worry about your head, your legs will get blown off!"
The cultists screamed, desperately trying to break through Elisha's magical barrage. Behind me, I could hear Carla's voice chanting a spell so fast it sounded like a low mumble.
I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but based on the feeling of the mana flow, it would still take a little more time to complete.
Just as the poison spread by the cultists began to sting my mucous membranes, I saw the guys in the back with gray eyes shimmering, summoning all the nearby undead.
As I prepared my next spell, I changed my title in the status window.
Title: Clumsy Treasure Hunter -> Title: Ghost Buster
It was a title that gave a decent bonus when dealing with the undead. Feeling my body grow slightly but surely lighter, I released the spell I had prepared.
"O burning storm. Sing of thy rage. Tempest Burn!"
Despite skipping the magic circle for a fast cast, the mass of fire condensed with a terrifying momentum. The essence of the two elements gathered at the tip of my staff soon unraveled, creating a massive storm.
Fwoosh!
A vortex of flames swept through the entire hallway.
"Kuaaaaah!"
"O Narrow-minded Usurpation...!"
"I can't die before I kill that bastard...!"
Along with the poison mixed in the air, the guys who had somehow managed to push through Elisha's magic were instantly incinerated. They weren't called fanatics for nothing; they tried to push their bodies forward even through that firestorm, but...
How could they hold out when their bodies were literally melting?
In the end, most of the charging cultists turned to ash and collapsed within a couple of steps.
All that remained were the Magic Eye users, who had been relatively far back and only suffered heavy injuries, and the necromancer types, who were completely fine since they were outside the range.
Of course, they weren't true necromancers but were mimicking the act through their Authority... regardless, they were annoying pests who manipulated corpses and scattered curses.
Whether they had succeeded in drawing in the nearby undead, the hallway was now filled with skeletons, making the fact that Elisha and I had killed or incapacitated more than half the cultists feel moot.
Accompanied by eerie prayers, skeletons reinforced by curses charged forward, trampling over the corpses of their former allies.
Clack. Clatter.
Greeeee...
Groaaa...
They were just bones, yet they made a strange variety of noises. If a horde that size kept pushing in, Elisha and I would eventually be overwhelmed by numbers, no matter how many spells we fired.
After all, we were fighting in a narrow space too.
However.
"The swell becomes a wave, and the wave grows in height. Thou art an irresistible disaster, the wrath of the sea."
It was about time for Carla's magic to be completed.
"Rise. Swell. And sweep away. ...Tidal Wave!"
As she shouted the activation command, a massive magic circle fitting the dimensions of the hallway formed in front of Carla's staff. It covered everything from the ceiling to the floor and both walls... in a way, the blue magic circle looked like a lid for this long corridor.
Judging by the bone-chilling mana and the strange pull I felt in my heart, this was definitely an intermediate spell packed with both resonance and mana overcharge.
Seeing the mana light overflowing from Carla's eyes as she glared forward, I quickly threw myself to the side along with Elisha.
Immediately after, a massive torrent of water erupted from the magic circle.
Rumble—!!
It was as if a hole had been punched into a giant reservoir. The water, filling the hallway without a single gap, surged forward at a speed that was hard to even estimate.
There weren't many who could withstand this insane water pressure.
At least, not a single cultist here.
Rumble—!!
Amidst the deafening roar of the water, I thought I heard the sound of things being crushed.
"Tch... when did she reach this level...?"
Elisha grumbled, pouting her lips. However, her eyes were sparkling like a child's. I probably had a similar look on my face.
Carla's magic continued for a long time, and only when the water began to flow back and threaten to flood the office did its power finally exhaust and vanish.
"...Huh?"
Where had all that water gone? All that remained was a bit of moisture on the floor, my still-thumping heart, and the sight of the branch office having been scrubbed clean.
The black piles of ash, the severed limbs, the unpleasant sounds of prayer—even the unnecessarily realistic idol shaped like an eyeball. Everything had been swept away by Carla's magic, leaving not a trace behind.
It was like a giant plunger had gone through the place...
The crushed remains were likely gathered near the mountain villa at the far end, where Iona had previously deployed her Bloodsucking Curtain.
Even if they had survived the water pressure itself, they would have been turned into mush by the debris, and on top of that, their vitality would have been drained by the Bloodsucking Curtain.
It was safe to assume there were no survivors.
It was simply amazing that all of this was the result of a single spell. Once I could use resonance, would I be able to cast magic like this too?
With a mix of admiration and anticipation, I looked back at Carla.
"Hieee..."
She was swaying like a deflated water balloon.
Well, it was only natural to be exhausted after using that much water magic in a place without a water source. Perhaps because her strength had left her, she stumbled, and I moved to support her as she sank down.
Carla then naturally rubbed her entire body against me, pretending to lean on me. The way she tilted her head up while pressing her face against my chest, sending me a suggestive look, was quite the bold display.
"How was it, Master? Did you like it?"
"Of course I liked it. People often cite the freedom of shaping as the advantage of water magic, but you just showed me that creating matter with mass can be a weapon in itself, didn't you?"
"Hehe... it was maximized because of the situation. Usually, earth magic is more efficient for mass-based attacks."
"Hmph! In other words, doesn't that mean you immediately realized that water magic, brute-forced with mana, would be best in this situation? Just take the compliment quietly, Carla."
Whether it was just temporary exhaustion or not, Elisha grumpily praised Carla as she stood back up on her own feet.
Just as the three of us were creating a warm atmosphere—
"Gyaaaaaah!! S-Stop! I told you that was everything!"
"No! No! Seeing how you're talking back, you still have some energy left, don't you? I think I need to knock a bit more wind out of your lungs before you start speaking honestly!"
"What kind of bullshit is th—Aaaaaargh!!"
At the sound of a desperate scream from behind, the three of us turned our gaze to one spot.
It was the branch manager, his eyes pierced by thorns, blood streaming from his nose and mouth. There were almost no external injuries... but his insides were likely a mess due to Iona's magic.
Iona, who had been interrogating the branch manager—now the sudden sole survivor—snapped her head around and smiled brightly at us.
"Amazing! Amazing! Carla, you've gotten even stronger since the last time I saw you! Since we're outside the Academy, I was going to teach you something if there was anything I could... but there's no need for that at all!"
"You crazy bitch..."
The branch manager muttered, looking appalled.
Hmm... even to me, the way Iona flips back and forth right now makes her look a bit like a psycho.