Chapter 183
Chapter 183
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 183
Chapter Title: Reversal of the Law (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Should I go in?"
"No. The Nor use nature-affinity abilities. They're at a disadvantage in tight spaces. They know that, which is why they're trying to lure us in."
The commander used his Schema ability to shout, his voice echoing thunderously through the cave.
"Come out now, or you'll regret it! I'll count to three!"
His men drew their bows and nocked their arrows.
Though not explosive arrows like an Arc, arrows propelled by the physical force of Schema could pierce even rock. Anyone inside the cave would be turned into a pincushion with no chance to escape.
"One!"
The cave was silent.
"Two!"
The commander's face twisted. *Have they decided to die?*
The only thing the Nor could try was to use earth magic to block the cave. But such a stopgap measure wouldn't last long, and it would mean cutting off their own escape route.
"Three!"
A red dot appeared between the commander's eyes.
As something shot out from the cave, the commander drew his sword with superhuman reflexes and shielded his face.
But by the time he realized what he had blocked, the projectile was already exploding.
"Damn it...!"
With a deafening roar, a fireball engulfed the commander.
The fiery aftermath reached his men, and their startled horses thrashed about wildly.
At that moment, Shirone's group emerged from the cave.
Thrown from his horse, the commander glared at them, smoke rising from his body. He stood up, planting his sword in the ground, and glanced at his disorganized ranks before shouting.
"They're with the Mecha! Don't let them escape!"
They had been pursuing the Nor, so they never dreamed the Mecha would be present.
Shirone had aimed for that blind spot.
His prediction had been spot on. Kanya and Lena had waited for the pursuers to approach, monitoring them with a drone, and fired the Arc at the perfect moment to create an opportunity to escape.
"There are too many of them! Find us a narrow path!"
At Shirone's words, Kanya checked the terrain with the drone and changed direction.
The pursuers, having seen through their plan, fired their bows.
Fired directly from a hundred meters away, the arrows flew without losing speed, whizzing past Shirone's group.
Clove turned back in annoyance.
"I'll buy us some time!"
"Don't! Just run!"
"I have to land one hit to preserve the Nor's honor!"
Clove dipped his hand into the shallow water and cast the ancient magic, Shaving.
The stream began to freeze, its color bleaching to white.
*Crack!*
The sound of solidifying water echoed through the valley, and pillars similar to the ones they had seen in the cave rose from the frozen surface.
Shirone watched the scene even as he ran.
The scale of ancient magic, which borrowed the power of nature, was far greater than he had expected. The stream had frozen, and countless pillars now blocked their view, making it impossible to advance on horseback.
A loud crack of shattering ice was heard.
The group's faces paled. The pursuers, having abandoned their horses, were smashing through the ice pillars with swords and fists as they charged forward.
"The Nor and the Mecha have joined hands? How fitting for lowly heretics!"
Kanya aimed her Arc and shouted.
"We are Shinmin! You have no reason to interfere with the law, you're Shinmin just like us!"
The moment she released the handle, the Arc's projectile shot forward.
A warrior with a longsword sliced the projectile in half. A moment later, two fireballs exploded behind him.
"Those who break the law shall be beheaded! We are the First Shinmin, chosen by God!"
The Kergo pursuers raised their weapons and let out a roar.
They were completely different from the Kergo civilization he had seen in his original world. Luxurious armor and extravagant accessories. They were the nobility of the Shinmin class.
Shirone, running beside Kanya, asked.
"Why are they like this? What's the reason for fighting so fiercely when they're all Shinmin?"
"It's a heretic hunt. Among the Shinmin, they're the race with the most fervent faith. That makes them arrogant and hostile toward other Shinmin. Nothing good comes from getting involved with them."
Shirone fell silent. They were already deeply involved.
"They're annoying, but they're strong because they use the power of giants. Purgatory is a zone of divine extraterritoriality, so they can do whatever they want. If we get caught, they won't give us a clean death."
The distance to the pursuers was steadily closing.
Every single one of them used Schema, and on top of that, Shirone's group had an injured person, Gardlak.
Gardlak shouted to Clove.
"Clove! Let's cast Eios!"
"It's dangerous! Master, you're injured!"
"We'll all die at this rate anyway! Hey, we're getting out of here first!"
Gardlak cast the wind magic, Eios. As Gardlak floated up, Clove also flew up using the same spell.
Eios reminded Shirone of the Fly spell. If the mechanism was similar, it would be difficult to maintain atmospheric balance in a narrow valley.
As expected, the two of them became more unstable the higher they rose. It looked like they might crash into the cliffs at any moment.
Without them, there was no way to get to the Nor's shelter. Deciding he had to save them, Shirone conveyed to his friends.
-*Each of you take one person! We'll use teleportation!*
Canis wanted to use Dark Port, but with four mages needing to transport two Mecha and two swordsmen, he had no choice but to opt for Photonization magic.
Amy grabbed Tess, and Shirone grabbed Rian. Canis and Arin also grasped Kanya's and Lena's hands, respectively.
In that time, the pursuers had closed the distance to a hair's breadth.
The leading Kergo raised his sword from atop his horse. The silver longsword descended toward Shirone's head like a lightning bolt.
At that moment, the bodies of Shirone's group turned into flashes of light and shot upward.
Gardlak and Clove almost lost control of their spells.
Not only creating light but turning into light itself. On top of that, simultaneously transporting the Mecha was something unimaginable in Heaven.
At least, by human standards.
"H-how can you use light magic without borrowing the power of nature?"
Ancient magic absolutely required borrowing the power of an element. Among them, the most difficult was light.
Light was a faint and widely dispersed power. Therefore, even with ancient magic that borrowed nature's power, there was difficulty in concentrating it.
The only time a Nor could cast light magic was when there was a Shining Spot, a place where light gathered.
Clove felt deeply unsettled.
Shirone's group, who had instantly caught up to their altitude with teleportation, was completely different from the insignificant and incompetent imitation humans he had imagined them to be.
Even when he saw Shirone's Shining magic, he had just assumed it was light brought from some Shining Spot elsewhere. But these people created light from their own bodies.
And as far as he knew, besides Ra, there was only one other phase in Heaven that could manipulate light.
Arin, reading the Nor's emotions, transmitted through the mental channel.
-*It seems the Nor don't know teleportation magic.*
Amy scoffed and said.
-*Hmph! Isn't that obvious? Photonization theory is one of the greatest discoveries in magical history, even in our world. They'll be sorry if they underestimate the geniuses from the Land of Earth.*
Amy felt proud to have been born in the Land of Earth.
But the Kergo of the Sky were not to be trifled with. They were using external gravity to run vertically up the cliffs.
Amy lay prone horizontally and unleashed a Fire Strike.
The pursuers, spotting the descending spear of flame, split to the left and right. Making a wide detour along the cliff face, they increased their speed even more, closing the distance to Shirone's group.
-*Tch! They're so persistent!*
-*I'll give it a try.*
Arin extended her tentacles and attempted to use mind control.
Most of the pursuers resisted, but one fell for it. The warrior, now controlled by Arin, swung his sword at his comrades, disrupting the pursuit formation.
"You incompetent fools!"
The commander watching from the bottom of the cliff scrunched his nose. Then, taking a deep breath, he let out a roar toward the cliff.
It was the Schema technique, Howling.
"Awooooooooo!"
The reverberating sound of the Howling spread up the cliff and struck the mages' minds, causing the Nor's Eios spell to break.
Shirone focused his concentration and endured it. It was a technique that shook the mind itself, like Etella's Exorcism Roar.
Shirone cast teleportation on the falling Gardlak. Just as he grabbed his body, Amy flew over and snatched Clove's ankle.
He cast Photonization magic to reset their inertia. As Shirone landed with Rian and Gardlak, his friends promptly arrived on the ground one after another.
"Damn it! Howling is always the problem. The Nor are a bad match for the Kergo."
Gardlak, having lost face, made an excuse. Come to think of it, the master and disciple weren't so different after all.
Then, a question struck him. He couldn't understand why Shirone's group was fine when they had been hit by the same Howling.
"Hey, how come you guys are okay?"
Sometimes, an innocent question can be more annoying. Canis, filled with that sentiment, replied bluntly.
"What do you mean, okay? My head is ringing like crazy."
"Then how did you cast the spell?"
"You just endure it. If you get shaken by something like this, don't go around calling yourself a mage."
Unlike the Nor, who borrowed the power of nature, the magic of the Land of Earth was manifested by combining omniscience and omnipotence. It was undeniably a more difficult method than ancient magic.
But that concentration, honed through inefficiency, had the effect of strengthening their mental fortitude.
Furthermore, Shirone's group had many members with special abilities.
For Arin, who specialized in mental power, mental defense was her major. Amy was completely immune thanks to her Red Eyes. And Shirone possessed a mental fortitude known as Diamond-Hard, which was said to be on par with the effect of Red Eyes in terms of durability.
Clove landed face-first in the stream. He then stood up with an angry expression and looked back at Amy.
"You! How dare you slam me down?"
He could no longer tolerate Amy's insolent attitude. Her temper was foul, but it had its own charm, so he had put up with it. But now, a mere imitation human was walking all over him.
"I definitely won't let this slide...!"
Clove felt a chill and stopped talking.
Amy's eyes were glowing red. Moreover, the expression she wore as she glared at the pursuers was as chilling as a ghost's.
Without even turning her gaze, Amy said.
"Don't bother me during a fight. I'll deal with your whining later."
Clove slowly turned his head. The Kergo pursuers were approaching, their eyes glinting like wild beasts.
Clove's face contorted as if he were about to cry.
"It's all over. We're going to be caught. And we'll be tortured until we die..."
"Stop interfering with the strategy. If you're not going to fight, get in here."
They needed to win with momentum even when the odds were against them, so what was the point of showing weakness?
Amy grabbed the back of Clove's collar and pulled him, and Clove, whose legs had given out, fell on his butt.
This time, even Gardlak didn't seem to have the presence of mind to look after his disciple and instead asked Amy.
"Is there some kind of plan?"
"I can't be sure, but it looks like we made it just in time. Shirone, are you done?"
"Yeah. It was a close call."
Gardlak tilted his head and asked again.
"What are you talking about? What's done?"
Shirone looked up at the sky. His Spirit Zone, which had been a four-directional target shape, was now curved and reaching for the sky. It was a unique form, so it had taken quite some time to modify.
Without touching anyone, Shirone cast Photonization magic on everyone. It was Mass Teleport, a spell he had mastered at the cost of risking his life on the cliffs of the Uncrossable Bridge.
"Get them quickly! They're planning to run again!"
The pursuers' commander ordered his men to charge. Then he took a deep breath and unleashed a Howl.
A deafening roar swept over Shirone's group. Gardlak and Clove grimaced, but the Diamond-Hard mind did not waver. Compared to Marsha's sound cannon, it was barely noise.
As if to crush the enemy's fighting spirit, Shirone calmly watched the commander before casting Mass Teleport.
A thick flash of light scooped up the group and lifted them to the top of the cliff where the Spirit Zone reached.
"Damn it! To think the Howling didn't work!"
The pursuers' commander seethed and ground his teeth.