Chapter 138: The Tin Knight and the Golden Alchemist (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 138: The Tin Knight and the Golden Alchemist (8)
"First is intellect. Second is wealth. Mana is but a third."
This was one of the adages passed down among alchemists.
Half of it was a joke, but the other half was a serious consideration.
This stemmed from the unique nature of alchemists.
The two great specialties of an alchemist were material reconstruction and the creation of homunculi.
To master the former, a wide range of engineering and physical knowledge was essential.
This was to avoid mishaps like building a boat from heavy rock or forging a sword from soft rubber, which required a precise understanding of material properties. The same applied to the engineering knowledge needed to create more efficient and precise mechanisms.
The latter was no less demanding. Creating homunculi was something one couldn't even dream of without considerable knowledge and understanding of living organisms. This was even more true for higher-level homunculi.
The wealth aspect was relatively simple. Creating and maintaining homunculi consumed a significant amount of funds.
Preparing a laboratory, collecting relevant books, and gathering materials—it all cost money.
Feeding homunculi, whose voracious appetites were proportional to their high physical abilities, was also a burden that few could afford.
Compared to these, mana was a somewhat lower priority.
Once created, a homunculus was an independent living being, requiring money for upkeep, not mana.
While material reconstruction did consume a normal amount of mana, so it wasn't bad for an alchemist to have a large supply, their situation was far better than that of other schools of magic, which would become half-crippled without it.
This was why Elphaba could remain composed amidst the bloody battle on the rooftop, even as she watched the number of undead grow.
'How foolish. To attempt a war of attrition against me?'
It was truly unpleasant, and also laughable.
Certainly, the enemy's forces were increasing, while Elphaba's army was dwindling, albeit slowly.
If this situation continued, the balance of power might eventually be reversed.
But that was impossible.
After all, Elphaba didn't need to expend any mana to make her homunculi fight, whereas Dorothea had to constantly consume it.
Reviving fallen homunculi as undead, making their bodies move, and repairing their wounds—every single one of these actions required pouring in mana. And since the homunculi's base abilities were so powerful, the mana consumption was all the more intense.
'A common mage could manage three at most. Even someone as talented as Franka could probably only handle about thirty if she did the same.'
And that was only if she focused solely on reviving and maintaining the undead, ignoring everything else.
Yet Dorothea was currently maintaining a defensive spell with her staff and single-handedly supplying mana to the Tin Knight.
Moreover, she must have been constantly using mana on her way here. It wouldn't be strange for her to suffer from mana exhaustion at any moment.
No, it was stranger that her mana hadn't run out yet.
'Even if, by some one-in-a-million chance, that girl actually pulls it off... by then, my reinforcements will have more than arrived.'
Elphaba resolved to crush them at the very moment they thought they had desperately grasped onto hope, nonchalantly deploying a force more than double what she had used so far.
The security outside would be somewhat reduced, but she felt it was a necessary price to soothe her wounded pride.
The Witch of the West's eyes gleamed with a sinister and cruel light.
*
"■■■■!"
With a beastly roar, a right arm swung down. As the Tin Knight blocked it with his shield, his body slid backward.
He wanted to launch an immediate counterattack, but dealing with the golden weapons swinging mercilessly, as if to split Dorothea in two, was more urgent.
He parried a spear, blocked an axe, and completely changed an arrow's trajectory, causing it to crush the upper body of another homunculus.
This entire sequence occurred simultaneously, in a single breath. It was a martial feat worthy of being called divine.
The homunculi aimed for the opening created as he focused all his effort on blocking Elphaba's attacks, but even then, he twisted his body to limit the damage to mere gouges of flesh.
He could have avoided injury altogether by using the impact deflection he'd shown earlier, but his mana was running dangerously low.
To fight more easily, he wanted to get a mana refill from Dorothea, but unfortunately, he couldn't fall back right now.
Behind the fighting Tin Knight, inside the barrier Dorothea had cast, Adel was being treated by Sophia.
As if to prove the intensity of the battle, her armor and clothes were in tatters, and her greatsword was chipped in several places.
Blocking the homunculi's spear thrusts from all sides with the barrier, Dorothea asked with a frown.
"Adel. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
The reply was immediate, without hesitation. But because of that, it was obvious she was anything but.
Adel's complexion was deathly pale.
Sophia was healing her wounds as soon as they appeared, but the blood she had lost was another matter.
If not for Adel's uniquely tough constitution, it wouldn't have been strange for her to have collapsed long ago.
"I need to... switch with the Knight. So..."
"If he needs to switch, that guy will signal on his own, so rest until then. You don't think that battle monster's judgment is worse than yours, do you?"
At the slightly cold reply, Adel stared blankly for a moment before obediently nodding.
Normally, she would have argued, saying she was fine or that she had to be helpful, but her eyes were half-glazed over. It seemed she didn't have the capacity for complex thought.
Dorothea inwardly clicked her tongue.
'This is too close for comfort.'
The strategy itself wasn't wrong.
The homunculi's minor attacks couldn't penetrate Dorothea's barrier, and the only attacks that could—those from the Witch of the West—were all intercepted by the Tin Knight, so not a single blow reached them.
The battle for control over the homunculi, which had started at 5 to 195, had now caught up to 50 to 150. As their numbers increased, the rate at which they seized control was also accelerating.
The problem was the Tin Knight and Adel.
Normally, the Tin Knight could crush most enemies and end a battle with just one mana refill. But this time, the opponent was so strong that he had requested mana several times during this single fight.
While the Tin Knight replenished his mana, Adel had to fill the gap, and just to endure for a few seconds, she had to face death each time.
Adel's injuries and fatigue were growing more severe, and the Tin Knight, for his part, had to go back out to fight before his mana was fully restored, causing the intervals between his requests for supplies to shorten.
'If only we had the Belt of Amaryllis, this would be so much easier.'
She had seen the Tin Knight trying to retrieve the belt, but he couldn't move freely as he had to protect the barrier from Elphaba's attacks. Even when he managed to fatally wound the homunculus wearing the belt, another one would immediately inherit it, creating an endless cycle.
It was a razor-thin gamble: would their two warriors reach their limit first, or would they turn the tide by seizing control of the homunculi?
Dorothea's gaze shifted to the green liquid covering the rooftop floor.
She still had a trump card.
But it was a one-time opportunity.
A move meant to counter the spare army of homunculi Elphaba likely had in reserve.
If she used it and failed to capture Elphaba, allowing her to escape, what followed would be a gruesome end for them all before an overwhelming force.
It wasn't a question of courage.
Believing they could win this tightrope walk and save the next move, or ignoring the enemy's reinforcements and aiming for Elphaba's neck now—both were gambles.
Her deliberation was not long.
Dorothea's closed eyes snapped open.
Just as the Tin Knight deflected Elphaba's attack, she shouted.
"Both of you, follow me!"
"What?"
"Understood."
A confused question and a calm reply came at the same time.
Instead of words, Dorothea took action.
It had to be now, in this moment when Elphaba's attack had been deflected.
The instant she released the barrier, she dashed forward.
The homunculi's attacks slashed at her skin, but Dorothea didn't stop.
"Tin Can!"
The Tin Knight's blue eyes turned to Dorothea.
Perhaps because he had been fighting while conserving every last drop of mana, his body was battered all over, a far cry from his overwhelming power at the start.
But even in that state, he was strong.
After a wide swing of his sword made the surrounding enemies hesitate for a moment, the Tin Knight leaped to Dorothea's side.
The moment the four of them gathered, Dorothea activated her staff's barrier again.
Smaller than before, and stronger. To hold on for even one more second.
With no one like the Tin Knight or Adel to keep the homunculi in check, the barrier screamed under the concentrated fire.
Dorothea ignored it and poured mana into the Tin Knight until he was at his limit.
He needed some power left for the final blow.
Ten percent. Cracks appeared in the barrier, and the undead homunculi, having lost their core support, began to be pushed back at once.
Twenty percent. The witch's golden weapons were raised high, and a scream escaped Adel's lips.
Thirty percent. The barrier, pierced by a spear, shattered. Just as an axe's slash was about to split Dorothea in two, the Tin Knight's sword twisted its trajectory.
In exchange for blocking the ensuing arrow attack with a shield of holy power and protecting the party, Sophia was turned to pulp.
Sent flying backward by the shockwave, Dorothea activated her trump card.
The homunculi that had been pushed back suddenly began to drive the enemy away.
Just as in the natural environment of 'The Garden', which she had recreated using a complex combination of catalysts, the plant-parasitized hosts fed on Dorothea's mana and grew explosively strong. It was a move only possible because the corpses were freshly dead.
Because she had used it before securing enough of the homunculi, the forces enhanced by the power of 'The Garden' couldn't annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop.
However, it was enough to hold the homunculi back, if only for a fleeting moment.
The two disciples did not miss that single moment.
The Tin Knight's sword bisected the body of the homunculus carrying the 'Belt of Amaryllis'.
The tip of Adel's foot scooped up the belt and kicked it into the air.
As if begrudging even the time it would take to wear it properly, she slung the belt roughly over her neck and shoulder, but that alone was enough for a power of a different class to surge through her.
As if to stop the Tin Knight's charge, the shield held by the fourth mechanical arm blocked their path.
Adel leaped.
As she spun once in mid-air, violet lightning sparked from the tip of her sword.
The downward strike, a harmony of rotational momentum, her full body weight, and overwhelming strength, forcibly blew the shield away.
Vwoom!
The Tin Knight's sword once again brimmed with mana.
Two Severing Flashes cut through the air, severing the base and neck of the golden pillar.
Twenty percent mana remaining.
The head of the pillar, where the Witch of the West was located, plummeted to the ground.
The witch's face was dumbfounded.
She looked as if she were denying something, that this couldn't possibly be happening.
The Tin Knight tried to cut down the Witch of the West then and there, but the head section surrounding her transformed into a golden sphere, protecting the witch inside.
Not only that, but it even showed signs of rolling, as if trying to reattach to the severed pillar.
The three arms—spear, axe, and crossbow, excluding the shield—also tried to block the Tin Knight.
The Tin Knight's sword energy soared high, cutting them down as well.
Ten percent mana remaining.
Toward the sphere that had crashed to the ground, the Tin Knight brought his sword down.
[The 'Tin Knight' shouts that the desperation phase is over!]
The golden sphere was bisected.