Valoran Subjugation Battle (3)
BOOM—!
A roaring inferno surged skyward, as if it meant to swallow every last scrap of air in the area.
That made six.
“Haa…”
I scavenged what little oxygen remained and straightened my stance.
Normally the second phase should have started by now… but whether it was because this was reality or something else entirely, Valoran felt far tougher than the one from the game.
And, as always, not knowing how much health he had left was pure misery.
Clack—
The thunder of hooves shattered my thoughts, announcing Valoran’s next assault.
Whoosh—!
A hoof dropped like a guillotine. Spheres of demonic energy detonated. Magic circles bloomed across the ground. A greatsword tore through space itself as it came screaming in.
I mapped the optimal path—parry, dodge, survive—and drew it in my mind.
Two steps back. The hoof smashed down, carving a crater the size of a house right in front of me.
Two steps right. Bursting demonic energy scattered my clothes as it burned away into nothing.
Three steps forward. The magic circle lunging for my feet fell behind.
I bent low and swung the greatsword I had been trailing upward.
CLANG—!
A jolt raced through my entire body as the greatsword that had been hiding behind the demonic energy was knocked aside.
I rode the rebound, hurling myself clear of the magic circle, then locked my body in place with blood-qi and killed the inertia.
Stance restored, I stepped forward again.
I was keeping a razor-thin distance from the magic circles when—
“Ugh—!”
I threw my upper body back. A scythe of pure demonic energy sliced past, shearing the bangs from my forehead with a sound that felt like it was cutting my eardrums.
“Hup—!”
I sucked in a breath that had been stuck in my throat and threw myself aside.
BOOM—!
A pillar of fire erupted from the exact spot where my feet had been.
Failed that one.
[Doesn’t it feel like he’s getting faster?]
“Haa… Y-yeah, it does—!”
Whoosh—!
I cut myself off mid-sentence, bending my legs to dodge a spike of demonic energy.
Without straightening, I stamped a true step and swept Frey in a wide arc. Screeech— the spikes that followed were sheared apart, blooming into a fog of demonic energy.
I held my breath, swept the fog aside with a burst of blood-qi, and flung the two daggers at my waist onto the ground.
Crunch— the blades sank into the two magic circles racing toward me. BOOM—! A towering wall of flame erupted.
I reset my stance.
The instant Qi Sensing told me the horse’s muscles were coiling, I reversed my grip on Frey and swung upward.
CLANG—! I knocked aside the greatsword that had been lunging for my throat.
Then I adjusted my hold on Frey and brought it crashing down.
Crunch— the reins snapped; the horse’s neck hide split open.
Before the greatsword that had carved flesh and sprayed thick blood could touch the ground, I launched myself upward.
My body spun in midair, and Frey followed the motion, dropping toward Valoran’s head.
BOOM—! It never reached him.
A fist the size of my torso batted the blade aside.
I had expected that.
Using the fist as a foothold, I reversed my direction and landed cleanly.
The slash that followed flowed as smooth as water.
Power from the true step at my toes traveled up my legs.
From legs to waist. Waist to shoulder. Shoulder to forearm. Forearm to fingertips.
From fingertips into Frey.
I reproduced the exact slash my mind remembered and my body had already learned.
There was no sound.
Spheres of demonic energy flying in from every direction split and burst, and the fog they birthed rose in a thick cloud.
That fog scattered outward, oxidizing everything it touched.
The hoof that had been charging me was cleaved cleanly in half, and the wound already carved into the horse’s neck twisted even deeper.
I didn’t let myself relax. I whipped blood-qi around my body and flung myself the other way.
BOOM—!
An even fiercer inferno swallowed Valoran whole.
And then—
Crack— a fracture spider-webbed across the Bracelet of Verdure.
Just reproducing the slash had been enough to crack it.
[Unbelievable.]
I caught my breath and silently agreed with Cartia.
Then the anomaly began.
Thump—
A violent heartbeat pounded from within the flames that had engulfed Valoran.
Phase two.
I crammed painkillers and anesthetics into my mouth, chewing and swallowing as fast as I could, then drove clawed blood-qi deep into the earth to brace myself.
The first attack would be sound.
Next, spatial teleportation and a slash.
After that, a vortex of demonic energy with real tensile strength.
Twice as many spheres and spikes as phase one.
Everything else I could handle, but I had no answer for the sonic assault.
That was why I had brought the painkillers and anesthetics.
Wounds could be patched with potions for now.
And if it came to it, I could always ask Rubia to heal me later.
“Haa…”
The moment I steadied my breathing—
[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!!]
A howl packed with pure calamity shook the earth and made the sky itself tremble.
Just as expected, hot liquid burst from my ears.
The only mercy was that I felt no pain at all.
Ser had poured her heart into brewing these medicines, and the effect was outstanding.
While the drugs took hold, every scrap of rubble and stone lying on the ground turned to dust and scattered on the wind.
Even the foundations of the buildings that had somehow remained cracked and exploded until no trace was left.
The heartland of Cartia, once a place of quiet comfort, had become a desolate plain—a dead land where not a single spark of life remained.
Twenty minutes.
It had taken only twenty minutes for this land to die.
[Watching a place I lived in for nearly a thousand years get completely fucked is a weird feeling.]
I drained the blood that had filled my ear canals and nodded at Cartia’s voice ringing in my head.
The thought that the place Rubia had loved most—calling it the most comfortable spot of all—was simply gone… tugged at something in my chest.
After roughly clearing the blood, I poured a top-grade potion into each ear canal.
One bottle per side.
Heat gradually filled my ears, and the sounds of the world began to return, little by little.
The whisper of wind.
And then—
Clang—
The sound of space itself tearing reached my brain.
Teleportation.
I twisted Frey upward without hesitation.
A heavy impact traveled up the blade as the greatsword swinging in from the right was knocked away. I spun with the rebound, stomped on Valoran’s abdomen, and shoved him back to create distance.
I bled off the inertia with blood-qi.
Then leapt.
The sound of dirt flying.
The sound of my heart pounding.
The sound of ragged breathing.
The sound of wind being sliced by Frey.
And again—
Clang—
I scraped the ground with blood-qi claws raised to their absolute limit and twisted my body. Whoosh— Valoran’s greatsword grazed my clothes, shearing through a drop of blood that had fallen from my chin.
I yanked a dagger from my waist and flung it to the ground, then used Frey to block the heat of the rising flames as I ran.
Sweat on my chin evaporated.
Smoke mixed with the breath I exhaled.
My faintly spreading presence swept the demonic fog aside, and blood-qi that lashed out like tentacles shoved the vortex of demonic energy back.
Then—
Clang—
Valoran vanished.
Right.
I swung the greatsword.
Above.
Frey, extended as it carved through warped space—
Diagonal right.
Into Valoran’s nape.
Left.
It sank deep.
Front.
Blood mixed with demonic energy pattered onto the ground.
At the same moment, Valoran’s lips curled into a smile as he seized Frey’s edge with his bare hand.
[What the hell.]
He smiled?
In that instant—
Clang—
“Huh?”
The scenery convulsed.
Empty space.
No.
[Oh, fuck.]
The sky.
A cold wind wrapped around my body and passed through.
Blood-qi with nothing to stand on flailed uselessly in the air.
A body with nothing to brace against was robbed of all freedom.
And from below, a greatsword came swinging.
I spun my body around the weight of Frey.
CLANG—
Because I had blocked from an awkward posture, my body couldn’t absorb the rebound and was sent flying.
As I drifted through empty air, Valoran’s greatsword never stopped.
Spikes that lunged at every moment grazed my nape; spheres of demonic energy detonating from every direction spun my sense of direction into chaos.
I couldn’t block.
I couldn’t dodge.
I couldn’t parry.
I couldn’t even control my own body.
And all the while my body was plummeting toward the ground.
So I focused on landing.
Ignore the minor wounds. Protect only the vitals. Wait for the timing.
I immediately expanded Qi Sensing and mapped the distance between myself and the earth.
Roughly fifteen seconds.
Blood-qi I released drove the demonic energy back.
My spreading presence cleared the fog.
Frey, swung hard, knocked Valoran’s greatsword aside.
With every brief exchange, dozens of new wounds opened across my body.
Clang—
[Right!]
A greatsword wreathed in demonic energy, black as the night sky, came dropping toward me.
I twisted with the help of blood-qi and wrenched Frey upward with every ounce of strength I had left.
And then—
CLAAAANG—!
It felt as if every organ in my body was being wrung dry; overwhelming force accelerated my fall even further.
Forward.
Two seconds.
And then—
Suddenly right in front of me—
Thousands of spheres. Hundreds of spikes. A greatsword cloaked in death. A massive fist. Fog that numbed the senses.
[Noah!]
In that instant—
BOOOOM—!
A curtain of divine power so brilliant it dazzled even through Qi Sensing slammed down and blocked everything.
[Fuck… fuckfuck I really thought we were completely screwed!]
“Haa… You really need to put on some weight, Noah. You’re way too light.”
And then—softness—
“…Huh?”
“I’m late. Sorry. I got lost on the way.”
“Ru… Rubia…?”
CLANG—!
“Save the chat and get ready already!”
“She’s right. No time for small talk. Are you hurt anywhere?”
While I nodded in a daze, Rubia’s divine power began knitting the wounds across my body one by one.
“Ru… Rubia, you’re… really hurt too, aren’t you?”
“Ah… hehe. I took a few tumbles on the way.”
Her clothes were completely shredded; she had roughly wrapped herself in a robe, and her body was covered in blood.
There were no open wounds left, but the thick scent of blood told me exactly how badly she had been injured.
“Still, I’m glad nothing serious is left.”
After checking me over thoroughly, Rubia’s gaze shifted to the side.
There stood Hermila, bandages wrapped around her hand, planted at Valoran’s feet and deflecting every attack that came her way.
“Noah. I know this is a terrible thing to ask, but…”
Rubia steadied her breathing and spoke in a quiet, earnest voice.
“Even if your arm gets cut off, I’ll reattach it. So please fight. Trust me.”
“Pfft—!”
Even if my arm gets cut off, she’ll put it back on.
Not exactly the kind of thing a lover should say.
But those words made me happier than anything.
“Okay. I’ll trust only you, Rubia.”
And so I drew Frey once more.
My steps felt impossibly light as I strode forward.