Chapter 169: But Then The Bus Flipped Over (3) |
Sawtooth Sophia.
If Edmerek, whom I had previously defeated by vomiting, had ascended to the position of Archbishop through a special power, Sophia was the opposite.
Among the followers of the Intolerant Plunder, she was granted only the very common necromancy and curse-related powers.
However, she honed these basic powers to eventually ascend to the position of Archbishop.
Ordinary, but without noticeable weaknesses like Edmerek.
Well… it wasn’t that there were no noticeable traits like other bosses. The weaknesses were certainly there.
The undead horde were screaming and running towards us.
I raised my staff towards the half-rotted ears and tail of the beastman undead leading the charge.
Whatever plan we could come up with, the first step was to send a distress signal to Iris.
So, for now, let’s focus on taking down Sophia.
It would be difficult on my own, but… with Carla and Elisha, it was entirely possible.
“It’s basically the same as last time. I’ll deal with the undead as much as I can, Elisha, you protect Carla. And Carla, you know what to do, right?”
“Don’t worry about it. The only ones who can touch Carla are you and me.”
“Not you either! Only the Master! We’ll give it our all, so please somehow hold on, Master.”
Nodding at their reliable responses, I gathered my magical power.
Whoong.
Red and green magic circles floating in the air merged, quickly filling in with a complex and bizarre text.
Most magicians couldn’t move at all during such full-power casting, but I had the system correction.
While chanting spells like crazy with my mouth, I diligently took out various potions with my hands and scattered them around.
A harmonizing potion that slowed the undead’s reaction, a mind defense potion that strengthened the mental barrier by one level, a continuous detox potion that neutralized poison for a certain period, and so on…
I took out everything that could be of help without thinking twice.
But perhaps my appearance seemed defenseless.
Suddenly, the undead that could touch me with a few steps all reached out toward me at once.
Their rotting, flesh-torn fingernails. You might think it wouldn’t penetrate deeply, but…
What was truly frightening wasn’t their nails but the tar-like black liquid dripping from them.
The undead’s poison was a deadly poison that could cause extreme pain and necrosis, even in very small amounts.
Of course, if it couldn’t hit you, that was the end of it.
“Burn. Assault. And thus, represent my fury. Tempest Burn!”
Among the spells I could use, the one that burned the widest area with the strongest force unfolded.
Whooosh.
The flame storm released from the overlaid magic circles burned the approaching undead to ashes.
“Keeeeeek!!!”
Even as they screamed, they stretched out their hands. However, this magic combined the elements of fire and wind.
It wasn’t just high in temperature but also possessed significant repelling power.
At least, they wouldn’t be able to resist with their burned and melted muscles.
The fiercely burning undead staggered in the storm before falling backward and rolling on the ground.
Although the radially fired magic seemed to allow a few close ones to escape and rush at me…
“Gale Tornado!”
Elisha’s quick magic pushed them back, rolling them again in the pit of fire.
Their already soft flesh burned and peeled off, leaving only white bones rattling.
These guys were probably beastmen who lived in Kundal Harbor originally.
Brainwashed by dark magic in life, revived as undead in death, working for the Intolerant Plunder.
It was complicated to think that from birth to death, and even after death, they never lived for themselves…
But that aside, we must finish what we have to do properly.
Being undead, they wouldn’t find peace with just this. At best, the undead would have turned into skeletons.
I prepared the next spell before the duration of Tempest Burn ended.
“Be firm and heavy. That is the mace of the earth. Rock Throw!”
The person who named it first was a dwarf, so the magic spell’s name was somewhat crude.
But its power was undeniable.
Rumble.
With a heavy sound, a rock the size of an adult man suddenly appeared out of nowhere in mid-air.
As I dropped my staff downwards, it fell among the beastmen undead who were still struggling.
Kwaang!!
The shock transmitted from the ground shattered all the bones of the struggling ones.
But it didn’t end there.
“Invisible hand! Force Grab!”
Using telekinesis magic, I pushed the rock slightly embedded in the ground.
Kung! Kung! Kung!
A huge boulder rolled down noisily, causing the undead in its path to hastily jump aside… But essentially, being slow, they couldn’t avoid it properly.
The sight of skeletons getting crushed under the rock was quite satisfying.
…Though this had only disrupted one of the leading groups.
The countless legions of the undead were visible in the distance. Only a part of those heading towards Iona had come here, yet there were still so many of them.
Sighing deeply, I gathered magical power for the next spell.
The next skeletons marched in step over a sprawled pile of bones.
The orderliness of their formation, as if the previous charge was just probing, was far from ordinary.
Skeletons with shields and spears in the front line, and skeletons with bows in the rear.
Looking at the blue flames flickering beyond their empty skulls sent shivers down my spine.
This was what the undead were. This was why the Intolerant Plunder was terrifying.
Each one might not be much, but gathering such creatures to form an army was formidable.
Although not visible here, the fishermen coming up from the seaside were probably similar.
In the midst of swallowing saliva, my eyes met with an old woman gnawing her nails alone among the skeleton crowd.
Had the curse been completed? Along with the advance of the undead, Sophia pointed her crooked fingertips at me.
Normally, while struggling under the curse, the undead would rush in and tear me to pieces nicely.
…A pattern I was all too familiar with.
Sawtooth Sophia ascended to the position of archbishop by honing the basics.
Therefore, she didn’t have a special weakness. But conversely, it meant every moment could be a weakness.
Being faithful to the basics also meant being predictable.
Those who faced Sophia until now knew this but couldn’t counter it and perished… But I was different.
A flawless, solid fighting style?
Then what did that make me, who had defeated such a Sophia hundreds of times in the game?
I dare say, I was stronger in standard play than anyone in this world. After all, how many hours had I spent in H&A?
Counting silently to 2.5 seconds, I released the gathered magical power at the right time.
Whoosh!
Pure magical power itself, not crafted by magic, emitted a blue light as it flew.
It felt like a shooting star descending from a lower place. But this didn’t last long.
The magical power wandering in the air suddenly turned black and disintegrated like powder.
The curse shot by Sophia reacted with the magical power.
Right. When facing a magician, she would always start with curses that reacted to magical power.
If it had hit, it would have caused a big problem when using magic.
If it had hit, that was.
Smiling slyly at the bewildered Sophia, I recited the incantation for the magic I had prepared.
“Light. Become my power.”
Several orbs of light floated near my staff.
The momentum was somewhat weak due to releasing magical power once during preparation.
Of course, this could be resolved by pouring more magical power into it. The mana stored in the core was still plentiful, after all.
Woong.
The orb of light, greedily absorbing magical power, quickly swelled in size.
Sophia bit her nails in surprise as the cluster of light grew to the size of my head.
It was too late. Now, the only curses she could shoot were the instantaneous ones with weak effects.
I could somehow block those with the potions I’d spread in advance.
Despite having swept them away once, I murmured softly towards the undead that had gathered even more densely than before.
“Light Bullet.”
Ssssshhhh…
The cluster of light shot from the tip of the staff exploded upon hitting the front row’s shields.
Boom!!
The bone shields set up in front were instantly shattered, and the orderly ranks of skeletons collapsed in an instant.
-Gaaaah.
-Tak…tak!
-Queeek.
It was low-level magic, and yet too strong a result for light attribute magic, which was supposed to be weak in physical force.
It was a natural outcome.
The undead’s weakness was light attribute magic, especially my light bullet filled with my magical power.
Even the traits of the Apostle of the Sun God and the loathing against the cultists combined inflated the final damage.
While it wasn’t enough to take them down in one hit like Tempest Burn, it was more than enough to topple the front lines.
Their dense formation, perhaps meant to increase breakthrough power, turned out to be poison.
As the front row fell, the skeletons in the back started to tumble as well.
At that moment, when about a third of the skeletons were left defenseless…
“…This is a light that cannot be hidden by any veil, an eternal flame that nobody can resist!”
Carla’s magic was completed.
“Prominence Flare!”
The marvel of magic Carla first showed me.
The strike I tried to replicate by creating even the Tempest Burn.
Whooosh.
The small ember floating in the air rapidly swelled.
The overwhelming heat and brightness that could blind the eyes.
It was as if the entire sky was on fire.
Sophia, panicked, hastily directed the curse she was shooting at me toward Carla’s magic.
Well… it was unlikely to work.
Why was the Lindelheit family called a prestigious magic family?
It was because they themselves were from a strong lineage.
Sophia’s lifelong accumulated curse powers?
They would melt away powerlessly in front of Carla’s amplified and further amplified magical power.
“?????!”
As Sophia screamed something in the distance, a small sun fell over the undead, just starting to rise.
Kwaang!!
My vision flickered, my ears were ringing, and despite knowing it wouldn’t harm me, the heat made me flinch.
The too-strong light momentarily darkened my vision, which slowly recovered.
The scene revealed was truly horrific.
A pit as large as the undead legion filled my vision.
Inside, only sparks that were popping due to the residual heat, and a small cluster of white remained in the corner.
Bones intertwined and melted into complex shapes.
Was that last command meant to protect themselves?
“Huuk.. .hah… huu…”
Carla, seemingly completely exhausted this time, collapsed and couldn’t easily stand up.
Elisha briefly fed Carla a potion of magical power.
Pop!
A bone shard shot from the white orb surrounding Sophia flew like a bullet, aiming for Carla.
Of course, I remembered such an easy-to-predict pattern of desperation well.
“Ugh!”
I clenched my teeth and leaped in front of Carla and Elisha.
Clash!
The sound of something breaking continuously was followed by the remnants of magical tools falling from my embrace.
It had the power to penetrate the shield I had set up in advance and a few defensive magical tools.
It wasn’t the first or second time I had died due to carelessness about this.
Thud.
I stepped on the bone shard that had fallen to the ground, having lost all its power, and smirked.
“If you’ve received something, you should return the favor.”
Having prepared in advance, I was able to throw the shining lion dagger with fluid motion.
Ssshhhh!
A gap was created when Sophia shot the bone shard.
Sophia hurriedly rotated the orb surrounding her to intercept the dagger targeting the gap.
The gap moved sideways as the orb rotated half a turn instantly.
It didn’t matter. Being conventional meant making the same choices in any situation.
I had somewhat anticipated this would happen.
“Force Grab…!”
As I threw the dagger, I cast the telekinesis magic I had prepared.
As I swung my arm, the dagger’s trajectory sharply turned, drawing a ‘ㄱ’ shape.
Then, swinging my arm to the other side.
Ssshhhk… Thuck!
The dagger, slicing through the air, turned in an impossible direction and burrowed into the hole Sophia had moved into.
To an onlooker, it might seem as if the dagger was sucked in, so natural was its trajectory.
Even Sophia couldn’t react in time, as I felt something being pierced through by the telekinesis magic.
A moment of silence. Then, light burst from the hole.
Soon after, the orb surrounding Sophia shattered, turning into ordinary bones.
At its center lay the body of an old woman, instantly killed with a hole through her forehead.
Even if Sophia was proficient in handling the undead, she wouldn’t be able to revive herself after death.
“Hoo….”
Sighing deeply, I flicked my wrist.
Catching the dagger returning to me with the help of telekinesis magic, I looked up at the sky.
The halted, multicolored smoke slowly rose into the sky and vanished with a faint light.
This should do it…
Kuuung!!
“What’s this now…?”
I stopped mid-gesture at the shock that shook the ground and instinctively looked behind me.
And there, I saw a giant thorn bush made of blood that hardened like stone and crumbled.
“Ah.”
I realized as I saw Iona staggering and falling from the crumbling bush.
The battle with Sophia had lasted too long.
At this rate… Iona wouldn’t last until reinforcements arrived.
Crunch.
Blood dripped from my bitten lip.
Blood as red as her falling hair.