The Lightning Storm (2)
As Enlir chanted the incantation, lightning enveloped his entire body. Rune characters floated around his waist. It seemed this bastard's technique wasn't from some item but his own magic. The lightning recklessly boomed with thunder. His consideration for the neighbors was probably fed to the neighborhood mutt—the roar was loud enough to guarantee 100% complaints from next door. But my Flame Fist didn't flinch and smashed into the bastard's mug.
—Zzzap!! 【What the fuck!!】 The fist that connected with his face was blocked by lightning. It couldn't advance further, as if stopped by a force field. 'Lightning that carries physical force?' On top of that, the bastard's current wrapped around the blocked fist and dug into my body. Blocking the enemy's attack while automatically dishing out DoT damage! It was truly offense and defense in one.
Enlir burst into roaring laughter. 【Hahahahaha!! Hahahahahahaha!! ᚲ(Kenaz)'s rune! Next comes ᚦ(Thurisaz)'s rune!! I'm glad to meet a human rune sorcerer besides us, friend!!】
【We've barely met and you're already calling me friend, you son of a bitch!!】
I felt my mana evaporating like a hot iron dropped into a puddle, but I didn't panic. This was nothing new. The rune protecting against offensive magic was functioning, and the consumption was minimal. I stepped into the true stance and unleashed the fifth form of Gertur's offensive technique. A skill meant for ultra-close range where swinging or thrusting a spear was impossible. Both the posture and mana manipulation were difficult, a high-difficulty attack I'd only recently mastered.
The power from my legs flowed to my waist, from my waist to my shoulders, and from my shoulders to my arms and the fist at their end. 【If you want to drop the honorifics, show me your ID first!! Anyway, kids these days have no manners!!】
Reproducing a spear technique with my fist, I threw a one-inch punch like the fajin of Ding Ho and Chai Chien martial arts. 【Mushroom Cloud—Six Kings Fist!!!】
【Kuuuugh?!】
—BOOOOOM!!
With the steam propulsion added to Gertur, Enlir was forced to step back. I used the newly created distance to spin 180 degrees. The roundhouse kick infused with muscle and mana completed its form in the blink of an eye.
【Kuh, khahahaha!! A mana contest?! Against me?! Your courage is admirable, but—】
【—Shut the fuck up!! Volt Tackle!!】
—CRACK!!
The spinning back kick I launched while cutting him off sent Enlir flying. 【Kuk, khahahahaha!!!】 Unable to kill the impact, the bastard shot off like a bullet, smashing through the room's wall and disappearing into the corridor's darkness. Laughing even after getting hit like that, that masochistic fuck was clearly a sadist.
【Huff, huff……! That's a well-honed knife!】
The guild master pulled the knife embedded in his helmet's slit and tossed it away. Besides blood, a white crystalline substance clung to the blade. It was impressive that it hadn't scrambled his brain despite being driven in so hard.
—Click! As Larilura snapped her fingers, Ring Ring 3.5 formed a spearhand. When a Magic Missile manifested on those fingers, the guild master raised his shield to defend.
—Vrrrrng.
—Clang!!
Ring Ring's arm, which had seemed ready to pierce through the guild master with the spearhand, performed a 360-degree rotation impossible for human joints. The magic had obviously been a feint to make him raise his shield. Larilura drew a thick cleaver-like knife from Ring Ring's arm and deflected the shield. A needle shot from Ring Ring's mouth. The guild master, whose vision had been ruined to one eye by the earlier knife, didn't seem capable of staying calm in the face of the needle.
【Such crude modern contraptions!!】
Trusting in his armor's defensive power, the guild master rolled backward. It was the right call. The thick armor deflected the needle. As soon as he regained his posture, the guild master swung his arm as if to throw the hammer. I tried to stop him but froze at the surge of mana flashing in the corridor.
“Receive this, my lord!” Veronica, descending the secret staircase, hurled a spear. She too was a user of ancient divine mana and had sensed the same threat I did.
I caught the spear. Though it was a mana-devouring spear, it could still enter the stone tablet's extradimensional space. The principle was different from a barrier, apparently. Either way, since it was there when I needed it, I set my curiosity aside.
Rumble—!!!
The moment I grabbed the spear, lightning came streaking. I had been about to perform the second form of the counter technique, the windmill spin, but remembering that this lightning wasn't ordinary electricity, I changed the form. Counter technique third form. A defense meant to knock away heavy projectiles.
—BOOM!!
The heavy sensation that numbed my hands convinced me I'd chosen correctly. The lightning I deflected upward smashed through the ceiling, scattering debris and current. That lightning was a compound attack of energy and physical force. Good thing I'd chosen projectile defense. If I'd spun the windmill, the spear would've been carried away by the lightning's kinetic energy and I would've been electrocuted.
'I can parry this!' Because it was magic that sent current flying through space like Lightning Missile, I could deflect it. If it had been real lightning, by the time the thunder reached my ears I'd already be a machoist roast. The sparks flying along the spear shaft made that obvious.
【The Anti-Demon Spear, is it. How coincidental.】
The guild master, unhindered, threw his hammer. Spinning like a boomerang, the hammer aimed for Larilura. 【Where do you think you're going!!】
When Larilura bit down on Ring Ring, someone who had rushed out from the secret staircase blocked the incoming hammer. It was Dana.
【The only things allowed to be thrown at our youngest are tips and praise!!】
Mana danced like a serpent along Dana's arm. A shield unfolded to protect her and Larilura.
—Clang!!
The hammer struck the shield. The guild master activated his equipment's magic once more. 【Stone Hammer! Prove the natural order!】
The guild master's incantation worked. Cracks raced across Dana's sturdy shield.
【Ugh?!】
【What?!】
But Dana wasn't the only one surprised. The guild master looked shocked, as if he hadn't expected the shield to fail against that hammer. Half by instinct and half by deduction, I realized the hammer possessed the same mana-repelling function as my spear.
【You item-dependent fuck!!】
Yet there was no opening to use that against the guild master. Lightning came flying again.
—Crash!!
When I deflected the lightning, now stronger than before, sparks set the ledger on fire. 【Damn it!!】
The lightning that hit the ceiling poured down like a broken generator. Feeling like an electric eel was raining, Zoid, who had been targeting the guild master, had no choice but to retreat.
【Brother!! Can't you deflect it somewhere else?!】
【The ceiling is the best place to avoid sparks!! Would you rather spill it on the floor and get electrocuted?!】
It was a combat style where the guild master tanked and Enlir spread electricity. Good thing I'd marked Enlir personally and given the ᚦ(Thurs) talismans to the others except Zoid. Otherwise, even if they swarmed us we wouldn't have won. These bastards weren't particularly close, yet their combination was formidable.
I licked my dry lips. 【Your skill is impressive. I apologize for underestimating you.】
—Clatter. The guild master connected a mana chain to his hammer. It was the same magic the pirate leader had used last time; it seemed to be a function of the hammer as well. No wonder he'd thrown it without hesitation—he had a way to retrieve it.
<Stop right there! Throwing it in a fit of rage and then picking it back up is seriously uncool★!>
【Anyway, that shorty can't understand Romanian!】
<No, he can.>
Larilura and Dana ignored the guild master's reply and grabbed the mana chain, but their expressions changed in a single second. Ring Ring 3.5's thick arm and Dana's gauntlet began being pulled toward the guild master.
'No fucking way, those two combined are losing in raw strength?'
I knew our senior sister was far stronger than a pure healer should be, and that Ring Ring 3.5's output was nothing to scoff at. Yet even with mana and an item, a merchant bastard was winning a tug-of-war against them. Dwarves really were a broken race. Weak humans could only cry.
【Consider it an honor. The experience of laying hands on a dwarf's treasure.】
The guild master spoke calmly, as if he had excellent anger management despite having lost an eye. His mana writhed like a dragon. The two holding the chain made the wise choice. They let go. Though his posture wavered slightly, the guild master moved as if to catch the retrieved hammer.
Once again I tried to move but had to stop. I saw the electric sparks flying in the corridor. Fuck, that bastard. Hiding while only watching me. I couldn't let him increase the power, so I countered with a freezing beam.
—Fwoosh!!
The lightning dodged the ice fog spray, but the mana pulsation stopped as if the incantation had been cut. The hammer returned to the guild master's hand.
—Whoosh!!
A knife flew as if chasing the returning hammer. The guild master, who must have treasured his remaining eye, abandoned his vision and blocked the knife with his shield. The one who threw the knife had clearly aimed for that. 《Arise as a god (Dd.f xa m nTr).》
Her black hair, loosened to wear the hood, fluttered as Franc burst out from the stairs. —Crunch! Franc, who had grown a golem's hand larger than her own body below her wrist, tore the surrounding wall away like styrofoam.
【Zoid, get out of the way.】
Force against force, dwarf against dwarf. A chunk of stone as heavy as a cannonball flew across the room with a terrifying sound, like a cannon shell. Franc had unleashed 100% of her strength.
【By my beard.】
Watching the stone wall fly like a slingshot, Zoid stood dumbfounded, forgetting he was in the middle of a melee.
—BOOOOOM!!
The shockwave shook the dust and papers in the un-cleaned room like an H-beam falling from a building under construction. The guild master endured with his shield raised. The magic-reflecting shield must have had excellent defensive power; it only suffered minor scratches. When sparks, dust, and papers rained down together, some embers went out while others burned fiercer.
—Crackle, crackle.
In the space filled with the sound of burning sparks, Franc landed. The golem's hand on her wrist collapsed, unable to withstand the time limit. The spilled earth vanished in the blink of an eye. Her straight black hair fluttered in the wind that had rushed in. Though she wore a mask, Franc's eyes were heavy and sunken.
【……A half-blood, I see. So you were the one who found the stairs.】
The guild master spoke. His tone was surprisingly gentle for addressing the person who had slashed his eye with a blade.
【However, woman who carries the blood of our kin, are you aware of what you are doing right now?】
【Revenge.】
At the cold reply, the guild master laughed. 【That was not a simplistic question. I asked whether you understand what it means to live as a half-blood.】
【I think I understand it better than you do. ……But that doesn't seem to be what you meant.】
【Quick on the uptake. Better than pure-bloods who rot relying on their innate privileges and talents.】
The guild master lowered his waist, shield extended. 【Yet we half-bloods are lives whose fates were decided at birth as cornerstones for our race's future. Even if you try to escape destiny by relying on the blood of chaos, those drawn by that blood will come to shackle your neck with the chains of fate.】
【……Is that the reason?】
Franc asked in a voice that didn't sound angry. She didn't seem interested in understanding the guild master's nonsense.
【Is that why you're destroying your homeland?】
【Tracing it back to the root, that is correct. Why do you think I sell charcoal from the rowan tree at a low price? To question the qualifications of those who abandoned the craftsman's spirit, blinded by gold.】
【With what right do you do that?】
【It is not a right. It is a duty. The duty of one who knows destiny.】
Veronica extinguished the burning flames with a gesture. With the fire gone, night returned to the room where the secret staircase was installed.
【……My friend believes in destiny.】
Franc spoke, her back to the wind Veronica had raised. 【She hoped my husband would be the one to save her clan. But at the very least, that child never tried to force that destiny on my precious person—let alone on a completely unrelated man—for their own sake.】
【……………….】
【I don't know what you learned or why you're doing this. Still, I will judge you with the words my beloved often says.】
—Click. Franc drew a knife from the armor's extradimensional space.
【Don't make excuses, criminal. No matter how plausible a justification you attach to your sins, you're nothing more than the worst kind of sinner who buys armor with other people's blood and tears.】
【……Is the reason you fight resentment? Or a sense of duty?】
【Neither. The reason I won't forgive you is because I learned from the one who loves me. That to achieve a dream, you need a proper ending.】
【Good.】
The dwarf, armed with armor that incited rage and madness, laughed in the darkness. 【You should have been born a pure-blood.】
—BOOOOOM!!
The guild master, stepping into his footwork, dashed forward. Light lingered on his feet, as if even the armor's greaves were some kind of magic item. Lightning followed once more. As I parried it, Franc shouted.
【Go ahead!! We'll handle this one!!】
【—Right! I'll be back!】
I answered, casting aside any grand words or unnecessary worries. Franc and the other party members weren't burdens I had to worry about and protect. Enlir's lightning was dangerous. Franc and Larilura had low mana reserves. Even with the talismans, we didn't know when their mana would run out, and if he increased the power further, it could likely pierce magic resistance. Fighting clustered together against that wide-area lightning was a stupid choice. That lightning bastard needed to be handled by the fastest and strongest person. And a real man should charge into any dangerous place without hesitation for his woman.
I gripped the spear and ran into the corridor's darkness where blue lightning sparks flew. To pierce the throat of the beast waiting there with this spear.