Is That What They're After? (2)
A sharp sound echoed through the canyon as the suspension bridge snapped, the thick ropes tearing apart.
The people bound as hostages screamed as they plummeted into the air.
"Uaaaaaah!"
They fell toward the deep, dark canyon below. Watching the scene, the dark mages laughed ominously.
There was only one reason they hadn't killed the people immediately.
It was to force Ghislain to use his power in order to save them. Any attempt would inevitably drain his strength.
But Ghislain had already seen through their plan.
"Erenes."
"I know!"
As Erenes raised her hand high, spirits of wind revealed themselves.
The transparent spirits flew toward the falling people, slicing through the air.
Fwaaaaash!
The people's fall slowed, as if feathers were drifting down. The wind intertwined and supported them.
But below was a river. A deep, fierce current flowed mercilessly.
"Breath of water! Embrace them in your tranquil arms!"
At Erenes's shout, a massive wave surged up from the river.
Water spirits formed a pillar of water, gently catching the falling people.
Instead of falling into the river, they flowed down the water column, embraced safely in the spirits' care.
Watching the situation unfold, the dark mage leader, Bulag, bit his lip.
"Spirits? We had no intel on a spirit mage."
But even faced with this sight, he couldn't deny it. They had hoped to exhaust that lunatic mage's power, but an unexpected enemy had appeared.
"Kill the people first."
The dark mages, observing the scene, quickly reached out their hands.
Black mana condensed, bringing forth lightning, fire, and poison all at once.
Erenes was already managing two elemental spirits at once. Having expended so much power, she had no time to react to the dark mages' attack.
That's when Ghislain stepped forward.
"Shield."
A short and simple incantation, but its power was far from ordinary.
Fwaaaash!
A massive dome-shaped shield formed above the people cradled by the spirits. The dark mages' attacks were blocked by the dazzling barrier.
Kwakwakwakwakwaaaang!
Fragments of magic scraped the cliffs of the canyon. But the people were safe.
Erenes sighed in relief and began guiding the people toward her.
Yulian and Kyle ran up and shouted,
"Ghislain! We did it! We saved everyone!"
"Good. Everything went according to plan. Now let's retreat."
With the suspension bridge gone, there was no way to cross the canyon from their side.
Their plan had been focused solely on rescuing the people. Once they pulled back, they'd regroup or find another way to deal with the enemy.
But suddenly, Ghislain grabbed both their arms.
"This is a great opportunity."
"For what?"
"You don't get this kind of training often. When else will you see that many monsters gathered together?"
"…?"
Ghislain then hurled the two of them with all his might across the canyon.
"Uaaaaaah!"
"You son of a—!"
Yulian and Kyle soared through the air, crossing the canyon.
The other mercenaries watched in a daze. Then, Ghislain quickly approached Lionel.
He looked at the dazed Lionel and grinned wickedly.
"You should put what you've learned to use. You've got some mana now. If you want to improve, nothing beats real combat."
"D-don't do it. You crazy bastard."
"Hold your shield tight. Don't drop it mid-flight."
And with that, Ghislain hurled Lionel as well.
Lionel didn't even scream. He just flew with a lifeless expression.
Thud!
Landing on the other side, Lionel immediately raised his shield.
'What the hell? If you wanted to kill me, you could've done it yourself. Why go through all this trouble?'
The only explanation he could think of was that dying in battle would look better somehow.
Lionel clenched his teeth.
'I won't die! I'll report everything to the Holy See when I get back!'
Kraaaagh!
The other side of the canyon was swarming with grotesque monsters.
Chimeras formed from unnatural combinations.
Undead dragging rotting flesh as they advanced.
There were too many. It seemed like every creature in the region had been gathered here.
Yulian muttered quietly upon seeing it.
"…This is a bit much."
Kyle chuckled in disbelief and drew his sword.
"Haha… They don't seriously expect us to handle all of these, right?"
Lionel clutched his shield and darted his eyes around.
But there was no time to hesitate. The sound of monsters' hooves shook the canyon, and the stench of rotting corpses filled the air.
"Uaaaaah! Damn it! Why is training always like this?!"
Kyle's cry echoed loudly. Yulian said nothing more and swung his sword, beheading a charging monster.
Lionel, determined not to die, kept pushing monsters back with his shield.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
And so, the three of them began fighting the monsters with all their might.
Ghislain watched them for a moment. With their skills, they should be able to withstand the monster assault.
The dark mages' attacks weren't a concern. All their focus was on him now.
'All of them are 5th circle.'
From their previous attack, he'd accurately assessed their level. They were conserving power to deal with a superhuman like him.
Ghislain turned his head. Deneb and a few mercenaries were still with him.
Deneb stretched out his hand with a pale face.
"Ghislain, not me. I'm not ready yet."
"This Osval will die if I go!"
Ghislain hesitated briefly, then nodded. The others probably wouldn't survive over there.
"Hey hey hey hey! Hurry up and help!"
Kyle's desperate cry rang out. It seemed the monsters were too much for them to handle alone.
KA-BOOOOM!
At once, Ghislain exploded into motion. He pierced the air, shot forward, and landed in the center of the monsters.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
His unleashed mana burst in every direction. A blue flash tore through the monsters' bodies, shredding them apart.
Through the air thick with flying blood and flesh, Ghislain's mana danced, piercing the remaining monsters.
Yulian instinctively stepped back. Kyle muttered with his jaw agape.
"He could've done it all by himself… Seriously..."
Lionel flinched with every explosion.
'I really am a weakling…'
His self-esteem had taken a significant hit.
Ghislain didn't wipe out all the monsters. He needed to give the three of them a proper training opportunity.
He only cleared the ones blocking the path and began advancing.
And then, in the distance, four dark mages finally revealed themselves.
"Target only him."
At Bulag's command, magic circles rose around them, pouring out crimson-black mana.
Boom!
Lightning-fast spells tore through the ground and struck Ghislain.
In an instant, the battlefield was engulfed in smoke.
Yet Ghislain, shield still up, pressed forward without hesitation.
Piercing through the barrage of spells, he hurled away the charging monsters, shredding and crushing everything before his eyes as he advanced.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With Ghislain joining the fight, the number of monsters attacking the three decreased. There were still many, but with enough effort, they were manageable.
At the rear, Erenes was safely guiding the people upward.
"Slowly! It's okay! The spirits are holding you, don't be scared!"
The mercenaries rushed in and began moving the people, one by one, to the safe zone behind them.
Once everyone was saved, Erenes used the wind spirits to lift herself into the air.
"You all stay here and protect the people. It's too dangerous over there."
She said to the mercenaries, then crossed to the other side.
Watching her fly away, the mercenaries muttered one after another.
"Ma'am, we can't fly."
"Not like we'd be much help even if we did."
"This Osval! Regretfully, we shall wait here!"
All the remaining ones could do was take the rescued people further back and reassure them.
Swoosh-!
Flames scorched the sky, and the wind screamed.
As Erenes stepped onto the battlefield, the energy of the spirits following her surged explosively in all directions.
A blue whirlwind slashed through the necks of chimeras, and fireballs burst, devouring the swarm of undead.
The monsters, numerous but chaotic and disorganized, collapsed helplessly under the overwhelming force.
The dark mages were horrified at the sight. There weren't many of them, but every one of them was far too powerful.
Especially the one at the front, steadily mowing down monsters as he approached—he was even more formidable than the rumors.
Bulag, tense and sweating, muttered,
"Astion… you're truly something."
He had heard the opponent was a superhuman. He expected it to be tough—but seeing it in person was a different matter.
As he watched Ghislain slaughter wave after wave of monsters, steadily closing the distance—
All the dark mages felt fear.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With every swing of Ghislain's staff, monsters were launched into the air, and with every spell, the surroundings exploded.
Watching the scene, Bulag clenched his teeth.
"More than half the monsters are already gone."
If things continued like this, they'd all end up captured or dead.
There was no choice but to use their final plan. As he gathered his mana, he spoke.
"…Let's begin."
They never expected to win through a direct fight—they were only 5th-circle mages, after all.
They had made considerable preparations to capture a superhuman.
"Pour it all in."
At his words, the dark mages all simultaneously forced their mana into overdrive.
Gwooooooooh…
All the mana they released seeped into the ground.
Soon after, the earth began to tremble slightly.
Ghislain, who had been pushing forward while clearing monsters, furrowed his brow. An unnatural energy stirred beneath the earth.
'This…?'
He could feel an enormous surge of mana from underground. It was far beyond what four 5th-circle mages could generate.
A thought crossed his mind.
'Wait, this feels like… something I used to do…'
Before he could finish the thought, a colossal explosion of mana burst forth from beneath the earth.
KWAaaaaaaaaANG!
The entire canyon shook.
A massive pillar of flame swallowed Ghislain and split the sky.
The air burned, and the ground melted.
The epicenter of the explosion was completely obliterated—just a gaping hole remained.
Everything nearby was consumed by the storm of mana. The monsters were vaporized in an instant, and only blazing flames of destruction remained.
Watching it unfold, Bulag's expression twisted with euphoria.
"Keuh, kukukuku! Incredible! Absolutely incredible!"
Bulag and the dark mages had embedded countless runestones into the ground to create a trap.
Its power exceeded expectations. Even a superhuman couldn't survive something like that.
And even if he did, he would've exhausted all his mana and been rendered incapable of fighting.
"Kuhaha! Even a superhuman's got limits! You really thought we'd just be sitting here waiting without a plan?!"
Taking hostages, summoning monsters—those were all just bait.
They'd distracted him while hiding the real trap.
It was all to lure the superhuman in and erase him in one fell swoop.
"Hehehe… For this kind of power… It was worth using all those runestones."
The runestones had been provided by priests of the Salvation Church. Using all of them was unfortunate, but capturing a superhuman was a massive gain.
Especially one notorious across the continent as a lunatic.
The other dark mages also let out sighs of relief. Now they just had to kill the ones left on the far side and it would all be over.
As they relaxed and moved a little forward—
Booooooom!
Suddenly, Ghislain burst out of the flames.
His condition didn't look good. He was kneeling on one knee, breathing heavily.
He had clearly overexerted himself—blood was flowing from his nose and mouth.
The dark mages were stunned at the sight.
"That… that's impossible…"
"He's really alive after all that?"
"Is that guy even human?"
Bulag shouted urgently,
"Kill him now! He doesn't have the strength to fight!"
The dark mages gathered the last of their mana. They were nearly spent too, but in better shape than Ghislain.
Ghislain staggered to his feet. But even his toes were trembling, and he dropped to one knee again.
"Khak!"
Coughing up more blood, Ghislain let out an amused chuckle.
"This… getting hit directly really isn't a joke."
Four 5th-circle dark mages had poured all their mana into detonating an enormous number of runestones.
It was far stronger than what Vanessa had used during the Battle of Perdium.
He now understood how Victor must've felt when he'd been caught in that trap.
"Hah… To think I'd fall for this. I underestimated them and let my guard down."
They'd really prepared extensively to fight a superhuman. To think they even dug a trap like this.
But, well, what could he do? It wasn't his fault.
"This body's just too weak."
If it had been his original body, he wouldn't have been hit this hard. This fragile form was the real problem.
At Ghislain's comment, Astion spoke in disbelief.
—…Just how monstrous was your original body?
"You'll find out one day."
If Astion ever reached the level where he'd fight beings called Apostles or Prophets.
In any case, the big problem was that he'd taken significant damage. He needed more time to recover before he could move.
Seeing that Ghislain couldn't even stand properly, the dark mages felt relieved once more.
Bulag shouted loudly.
"Kill him now! This is our chance!"
They were exhausted, but had just enough energy left to kill one man. And he wasn't that far away.
The dark mage at the front reached out his hand. With this, he'd release his remaining mana and kill that arrogant bastard.
As he prepared to pour out his final strike on Ghislain—
Ghislain, with his head lowered, muttered,
"But I'm not alone right now."
Fwish!
Yulian burst through the flames, emerging behind Ghislain.
"Huh?"
The dark mage's eyes went wide. Caught off guard, his body froze.
And in that fleeting moment—
Slice!
Yulian's sword severed the dark mage's neck in a single stroke.
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