72 Smooth sailing halfway through

(Rudeus POV)

The time has come. Less than half an hour away from us came the army of insect monsters.

As a minor upgrade, I gave Sandor the emerald green sword from Randolph since a metal pole would be less than ideal.

In addition, I handed my kunai and shuriken to him and North God since they are both trained in throwing knives.

It was a bit of a surprise to hear from Sandor that shuriken used to be a thing long ago, but due to its difficult use, people nearly forgot about it. Luckily, Sandor had experience testing different tools in his father's style during his time as North God and was capable of adapting to them.

With everyone prepared, I began the first step: forming a barrier to cover the city. It took another five minutes to form one covering such a wide area above the city. The results were… ominous.

"Holy shit. What have I made?"

I looked up to see the city covered in what I could best describe as a red vault. It was still clear enough to see through, and the light didn't cause some visual hindrance for the people inside or outside it.

"Sandor, is it supposed to have that color when it's getting concentrated?" I asked without pulling my eyes away from it.

All I did was slowly and steadily supply with mana and compress three layers together. Everyone looked at it like it was an attack on Sharia. Even Sandor couldn't help but keep his eyes on it.

"All I can say is that you are a better match to that eye than Randolph. I don't even know if Kishirika could do that."

'Randolph?'

'Never had the knack for it, even though I was born with it, so~... I don't even know.'

Well… that sure isn't reassuring.

Anyway, moving on, I headed out of the vault through the opening I had left for me and Hiryū to get outside. It was the only exit there was, since all the other sides of the city.

With the three items of mine ready, I went next to Hiryū and went down on one knee.

With my staff and sword, both stabbed into the ground, I was ready to prepare for the attack.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on gathering mana from within myself and the air, then using both to turn the ground before me loos like soil.

I would then mix it with the steadily added amount of combustible acid coming from the tubes of my sword as the odor in the air began to reek foul.

I carefully proceeded with that procedure while the insects came closer and closer.

They weren't alarmed yet, but that's because I let the acid flow to below where they would be, like setting landmines.

A full three minutes later, the moment for the main part came. They were all above the pool for me to redirect the mud upwards and shoot up to the sky.

Underground insects were pushed outside, and the flying ones got their wings stuck together to fall. Those on the ground lost balance and got stuck in the mud as well, some even sticking against other insects.

Some still evaded it, but with the help of King-class Wind Magic, I cast a tremendous tornado down to the mud pool, turning it into a mud tornado instead.

Carefully, I manipulated the tornado to twist a few times, gathering the insects that had fled the mud tornado back into it.

Unfortunately, it was too much for the crystals on my staff to handle, and so they broke into dust one after another.

I had to let go of both of my weapons and take control of the tornado by hand alone.

I needed to ensure that all of the insects were within it before letting the grand finale begin. Maintaining this manmade force of nature turned out to be more difficult than I thought as my arms started to hurt from it.

"Hiryū! Fire!"

On my command, Hiryū charged his Fire Magic within his jaw, a massive amount of mana concentrated into his flames.

Once ready, he shot out his attack at the mud tornado.

This was our cue to leave. Even if we used our Magic, neither of us would have survived.

Running within the barrier, I closed the gate, fully encasing it within the dome. My arms hurt like hell, but I needed to maintain the barrier for the blast.

A rapid burst of explosions spread through the outside, hitting the barrier harder than I expected.

"Rudeus, the barrier is breaking!" Sonador yelled as everyone watched the cracks expanding from where the explosion started.

"I'm on it!"

I had to do more than maintain it now. I had to create new layers by the second. It cost me a lot of mana, even with the help of my ambient boost.

The vision on the Demon Eye began to blur into the color of my blood, and the exertion of its overuse damaged it to the point where I didn't know if I could still use it.

After a whole minute, the explosions finally stopped, and black smoke went around the vault, blocking the sun. Once I'm done with this, I will need to clean all of this up—with the help of the awakened Magicians, of course.

I was still keeping up the barrier, but I was too exhausted and fell on my back. Not even my senses seemed to work properly since I felt someone using their Magic on me.

I could only open my left eye but saw Sylphy applying her Healing Magic on me despite its relatively small effect.

What happened to the others was unknown to me as the pain immobilized me, but I guess some of them needed to hold their ears from the loud blast. I think I saw Hiryū at the corner of my eye, standing behind Sylphy.

'Woke up already?'

'Oh, hey Randolph… wait, what do you mean woke up?'

'You were knocked out for a minute at tops. Seems like you brought yourself to a limit there.'

'Thank you for maintaining the barrier in the meantime.'

'Don't thank me yet. You may want to check out the outside.'

'… you have got to be kidding.'

I have a bad feeling here. It couldn't be, right?

I moved my head to the left and opened a hole in the barrier to get the sense of dread I hoped not to feel.

My senses were still dulled from the exertion, but I could tell that there were roughly a dozen of them left, all with an overpowering aura.

"God...*cough* dammit."

I coughed out some blood while I cursed out.

A spell good enough to be greater than the nuclear explosion I tried to use against Orsted, and these things still survived? What are these creatures? Are they creations of an actual world-ending god?

"There are survivors!"

I alarmed the others to set out and defeat them while I stayed and kept the barrier intact. Well, Randolph does. I need to circulate my mana so that I won't cramp all over my body this time.

All I could tell was stomping from the vibration on the ground and, hopefully, Hiryū flying off because I just felt a hot breeze hitting me.

Time flew by slower as I lay on the ground, trying to recover. There was little for me to tell on how the fight was going. I could only pray that whatever does go on, they will know what to do.

My sword is probably nothing but crumbled junk after what the explosions have done outside. I can always make a new one, but that will take quite a while. It's a good thing I still have a lot of those crystals.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I could open my eyes and see Sylphy still beside me.

Getting up was relatively easier than the last time I had those muscle cramps. It must be because of the constant Healing Magic I was applied to.

"Rudy, are you alright?"

I didn't face her but instead looked down at my hands.

My senses were still a bit jumbled from the earlier attack. I only have a more limited spatial awareness of my surroundings than before.

Turning my head to the exit, where a handful of knights stood guarding it. I saw outside how Hiryū was flying in the sky and fighting two giant insects. One moth-like and one mosquito-like monster.

Whatever the others were fighting, it seemed to have been tougher than anticipated if it took them this long to defeat it.

"Rudy? Are you planning on going out there?" Sylphy asked.

"No. Like I said before, the others will deal with the monsters."

"What about the plan of trapping the monsters together with them in the barrier while you stay outside."

"That won't work anymore."

I turned to her and opened my right eyelids to reveal what may have been a bleeding eye since I could only see through some red spots.

Sylphy covered her mouth with both hands in shock. She snapped out of it, put her hand next to my face, and applied Healing Magic to it.

'Ask her what rank she is using.' Randolph said.

"Fitz, what rank do you have in Healing Magic?"

"I'm at advanced rank. Why?"

'That ain't going to work. The damage is too deep internally, and you aren't an Immortal like I was, so the eye won't heal properly because it's originally not a part of you.'

'Too bad I'm not in my Demon Dragon form right now. Otherwise, it would have healed on its own.'

I moved Sylphy's hand away for the moment and tried to heal myself regularly.

*Pop*

"What was that?"

"… nothing."

'A vein in your arm just popped from trying to concentrate too much mana through it, didn't it?'

'We will take care of that later.'

"Nevermind. This isn't working."

Sylphy looked a bit dejected, but she wasn't at fault for not doing a good enough job. On the contrary, her healing magic was surprisingly fast. I'm very impressed with that.

But enough flattery.

As it stands, I won't be able to change the shape of the barrier entirely. Opening the exit was the best I could do while in this state.

A group of soldiers just came our way, carrying a few people.

"We got injured people!"

"Get them over here."

I called out to them. I may not be able to use King class Healing Magic at the moment, but lower-rank ones shouldn't be too much trouble.

Sylphy and I proceeded to heal any of the injured people that came over here. Some of them had manageable wounds, and others were not as lucky.

I got shouted at for not being able to give one his arm back, and another time for having to tell a man that his friend is beyond saving since they died.

On the one hand, I felt sorry, but on the other, I felt like I was being overestimated. I can't bring back the dead, unlike what happened with Randolph.

Minutes passed by, and we didn't get any confirmation of how the fight was progressing.

Only Hiryū showed off his success in defeating the two flying insects, their carcasses burning and falling down in pieces. He proceeded to assist in the fight on the ground, sending attacks from above.

Things seemed unchanged for a while before a sudden white light went off with a power slash, throwing a dust cloud at us that pushed through the entrance of the barrier.

'What was that?'

'That's got to be the King Dragon Sword's concentrated attack. They must be in a tight situation for uncle to use that.'

'Is that why it is referred to as the strongest sword in the world?'

'Of course it is. The famous blacksmith Julian Halisco made it from the best parts of a powerful dragon hundreds of years ago. But if Uncle needed to use that attack, it must mean the monster really is tougher than expected.'

Does that mean the attack can be categorized as a red flag? Or even crimson?

Three whole God class swordsmen are fighting something that is holding them back so much that North God needs to use his special attack. I cannot be the only one now who smells how fishy this whole ordeal is.

It became silent for a moment again, but still, no sign of them having won or not.

I don't like this one bit. And the other people were watching in anxious silence as well.

Then a deafening scream rang out, causing everyone present to cover their ears. It took a while before it stopped in a single second, and there was silence again.

No one knew what was going on, and the danger didn't stop just yet.

Hiryū fell from the sky, barely gliding along before having a rough landing in the end.

I can't believe it. This has to be the work of Voice Magic. Just what IS this monster?

The people within the barrier seem to be fine, but I'm unsure whether the people outside are.

I was about to use the Clairvoyant Eye when a second gathering of light shined far away, similar but somehow different than the previous one.

'Kid! Watch out!'

Randolph's warning comes out not a second too late. A second, diagonal energy slash went off. And it was heading towards us!

Swiftly, I activated my thought acceleration and used it to quickly conjured multiple stone wall to shield us from the attack, hoping it would block it.

The force of the power slash was blocked, but its impact on the barrier caused a shockwave that pushed us all against the wall.

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