Chapter 151
Chapter 151
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: Forced Breakthrough (6)
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“Rian, I'm going ahead. Explain it to Tess and Amy.”
“Huh? Hey, Shirone!”
Before Rian could even call him back, Shirone teleported, disappearing at incredible speed.
A moment later, Amy and Tess caught up to Rian.
“Rian! Where did Shirone go?”
“He went on ahead. Just now.”
“What on earth is he thinking? What did he say before he left?”
“It seems he's planning to use Rampage to trigger the traps ahead of time. He said he had to go alone because he knew you wouldn't allow it.”
“Of course I wouldn't! Who would approve such a reckless plan? Besides, Rampage is a kinetic barrier, so if the timing is off, it can be extremely dangerous!”
“Yeah. That's why he went alone—so he wouldn't have to hear you say that.”
Amy was furious. Not because he had acted on his own, but because, in terms of effectiveness, Shirone's chosen strategy was indeed the best.
But it was too dangerous. In a normal situation, one might bet on success even with low odds, but in this case, no matter how high the probability of success, they had to consider the cost of failure.
“If he fails, he'll die! That idiot!”
Screaming at the absent Shirone, Amy placed her hands on Rian's and Tess's waists.
“This is bad. It's too late to stop him, so let's provide support. Brace yourselves. We're going after him at top speed.”
Amy leaned forward and cast Teleport. A brilliant flash of light shot forward, parting the stream.
* * *
The upper part of the valley, the only path to the hideout, was completely blocked by a twenty-meter-high wall.
About ten of Falcoa's men were already stationed there, and more who had been part of the encirclement began to arrive one after another.
“The enemy is coming! Prepare to activate the traps!”
“They're much faster than expected! We don't have enough time to activate everything.”
The squad leader clicked his tongue. He didn't know whose idea it was, but it was a clever one. With no way to bypass the traps, their strategy was to charge the shortest distance and force a confrontation.
“It doesn't matter. These traps were designed to annihilate hundreds from the start. Activating just half of them will be more than enough to bury four people.”
The squad leader remained calm and issued his orders.
However, when he saw a lone boy charging from two hundred meters away, he couldn't hide his bewilderment this time.
“What? Why is he alone?”
“Looks like he rushed ahead in his haste.”
The squad leader didn't think so. While that was a possibility, the moment he realized the enemy was alone, an unusual feeling stirred within him.
He began to feel that it would be a waste to activate the traps.
“He's good at psychological warfare. It's a waste to use wide-area traps on just one person.”
“Then what should we do? Go out and fight him?”
“What do you mean, what should we do? Activate the traps! Can't you think? That's what he *wants* us to think. I'll give him credit for gambling with his life, but he's underestimated us. Taking out just one of the two mages will tip the scales. This is no time to be frugal.”
“Understood. Hey, we're starting now! Everyone, get ready!”
Shirone glared at the top of the wall blocking the valley. About ten enemies had drawn their bows and were aiming at the sky.
'An arrow attack?'
Shirone was puzzled. It was nearly impossible for just ten archers to hit a target from a hundred meters away.
But the enemies fired their arrows without hesitation. Shirone stopped running and looked up at the sky.
They looked no different from ordinary arrows, except that the colors of the arrowheads varied.
'Mana Crystal Arrowheads!'
Shirone cast Teleport and reflexively retreated. If he hadn't seen Mana Crystal Arrowheads in person at the Kergo Ruins, he would have been caught completely off guard.
“Shirone!”
At that moment, hearing Amy's voice from behind, Shirone stopped his retreat.
The fact that she had arrived much faster than expected told him just how anxious she was.
But Shirone didn't change his mind. With neither advance nor retreat possible, the Mana Crystal Arrowheads crashed to the ground.
A powerful explosion erupted. The roar shook the valley, and thick smoke from the gunpowder enveloped Shirone.
Shirone realized their strategy. They intended to block his vision and then finish him off with traps.
“Amy! Stay back!”
Even if Shirone hadn't said anything, Amy wouldn't have dared to enter. In the areas untouched by the smoke, she could see massive vibrations originating from above the valley.
As expected, terrifying catapult-like contraptions appeared along the cliff. Though they had wheels, they were so large it would take several people to move them.
“Now! Unleash everything!”
At the squad leader's command, Falcoa's men activated the devices. Enormous boulders were launched into the valley below by the power of levers.
The boulders were massive, large enough to fill the cross-section of the V-shaped valley.
Judging by their power, these traps weren't made to stop a few people. They were a trump card, meant to annihilate the enemy in a final, decisive battle.
“Shirone!”
Amy cried out in despair, but it was already too late. One by one, the giant boulders plunged into the smoke.
Amy heard an auditory hallucination, the sickening squelch of something being crushed. But the next moment, a powerful sonic boom shattered the illusion.
The smoke that had been slowly filling the valley scattered in all directions, revealing Shirone, enveloped in a sphere of light.
'Rampage!'
A sphere of light flashed around Shirone. The Spirit Zone, with a maximum diameter of twenty meters, was larger than the boulders.
As that immense light rampaged at an insane speed, it was blinding to behold.
The light, imbued with mass, desperately generated a repulsive force. But the boulders countered with their formidable weight.
Shaking violently, the boulders pierced through the Rampage, looking as if they would crush Shirone at any moment.
But the moment they were halfway down, the boulders shattered into dozens of pieces. And from that point on, Shirone's Rampage began to overwhelm them.
The number of medium-sized rocks increased exponentially, setting off a chain reaction of explosions.
Smaller. And smaller still.
Shirone unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of photons until the rocks turned to dust.
By the time what was once boulders reached Shirone, only tiny grains remained. But even those were caught in the cycle of light and flung away.
The time it took for the boulders to fall to the ground was a mere two seconds, which was exactly the same amount of time it took for them to be disintegrated into dust.
The thousands of events that occurred in that interval were compressed within human perception, creating the illusion of a massive explosion.
The dust that had scattered in all directions settled to the ground with a soft rustle.
An eerie wind whispered through the valley.
Falcoa's men couldn't comprehend what had just happened. A light had flashed, and the boulders had exploded like dust. That was all they could see.
Shirone stepped onto the dust-covered stream and glared at the wall. He could see the men who had activated the traps returning one by one.
The squad leader realized something was wrong. He had survived on the battlefield for over ten years, but he had never even heard rumors of such magic.
“Damn it! Who the hell is that kid?!”
“Leader! What do we do?”
“Ready the Mana Crystal Arrowheads! Fire at will!”
As the men swiftly detached the arrowheads and attached the Mana Crystals, Shirone, who was glaring fiercely at them, focused his mental energy in front of him.
A sphere of photons burst into existence, absorbing the surrounding light and vibrating powerfully.
“Leader! Look at that! It's dangerous!”
A man who had previously witnessed Shirone's technique at the Royal Pub shouted to the leader.
Indeed, even to the squad leader's eyes, the sight of light larger than a human face being compressed was ominous.
“Tch! Hurry up! Fire the Mana Crystal Arrowheads now!”
The men's hands moved faster, but the magic was quicker.
A line was drawn between Shirone and the wall, as if a straight flash of light had suddenly been born.
*KWWAAAAAAANG!*
The Photon Cannon slammed squarely into the iron gate, and a piercing metallic screech tormented their ears.
The men assembling the Mana Crystal Arrowheads grimaced and ducked. The impact was so powerful that the vibrations were felt even atop the wall. Long after the magic faded, the iron gate continued to hum.
“Wh-what? Is it broken? Check it!”
A subordinate went down the stairs leading to the ground and inspected the gate. The thick iron plate was bent overall, but it wasn't destroyed.
Perhaps feeling even this result was a victory, the man shouted with a bright expression.
“The gate is intact!”
“Good! Now it's our turn to attack.”
Seeing the Photon Cannon's attack fail, Tess turned to his friends.
“Magic won't be able to break through that gate. Rian, let's climb the wall.”
To win a siege, one of two things must be accomplished.
The first is to destroy the gate with siege weapons or magic and then push through with troops.
But if the gate cannot be destroyed, climbing the wall to eliminate the enemy is another option. And that was a task for swordsmen like Tess and Rian.
“Alright. It's better if we go up.”
Rian sheathed his straight sword on his back to run more easily. But just as the two leaned forward to start, Amy stopped them.
“Wait, hold on.”
“There's no time to waste. We have to strike before the enemy regroups. Now's our chance.”
Tess's judgment was correct. Amy, being a fire-type mage, was weak against impact forces, and Shirone's Photon Cannon was useless against the thick iron gate.
However, Amy knew that Shirone had one more weapon in his arsenal.
Furthermore, it was a spell that exhibited the highest efficiency in situations like this.
“It's okay. Shirone will handle it.”
Not understanding the situation, Tess looked back at Shirone with a bewildered expression, then his eyes suddenly widened.
A red light was spreading from Shirone's body.
“Wh-what? Isn't that dangerous?”
Humans feel uneasy when they see the color red. It reminds them of blood.
If even Tess found the eerie crimson glow unsettling to look at, the enemy's wariness was beyond imagination.
“Leader, what in the world is that?”
Shirone shot a flash of red light forward. A single beam of laser reached the iron gate in what could only be called an instant, heating its surface.
“Agh! What was that?”
The men, who had already experienced the power of the Photon Cannon, flinched and stepped back in fear.
But there was no expected shockwave or roar.
The squad leader, who had been observing the gate from below the wall, regained his confidence. The current magic was merely illuminating the iron gate; there was no discernible power to it.
“Alright! Now's the time! Ready the Mana Crystal Arrowheads!”
Including the men who had returned from the traps, their numbers exceeded forty. With that many, they could obliterate the area around Shirone with a barrage of Mana Crystal Arrowheads.
As all the men finished aiming, the squad leader lowered his hand and shouted.
“Fi—! Huh?”
*RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!*
At that moment, the wall began to vibrate violently.
Not only the squad leader, but also the men who were about to release their bowstrings looked at each other with startled expressions.
A man who leaned over the wall to check the iron gate spoke with a trembling voice.
“L-Leader! That...!”
The iron gate was shaking madly. Eventually, the vibrations originating from the gate spread throughout the entire wall, shaking the structure to its foundations.
Falcoa's men could only stare in horror at the sight, something they had never seen before in their lives.
The iron where the laser hit began to seethe, then bulge out like bubbles.
Then, the wall shook as if it were about to be uprooted, and finally, with a deafening blast, the iron gate exploded.