Chapter 25 - Escort Mission(Part 6)

Point-of-View: Arkiela

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Ughh, this really sucks...this sucks so fucking much!

Can't believe I'm really doing this...but then, I can't exactly let that shithead die, or I'm dead too. I'm so pissed off right now...I suppose I'll just let off some steam by vaporizing this bitch.

As I finished charging up the massive sphere of Destruction Magic, I swung my arm down to sent the sphere shooting down towards her, her eyes widening in horror as it came barreling down rapidly.

"[Walls]!" She cried out in alarm, several earth walls rising up in front of her as my sphere of destructive energy closed in on her, the walls not even slowing it down as my destructive sphere disintegrated her defenses with ease.

It's pointless, my Destruction Magic can't be blocked. It'll keep tearing through everything in its path, only stopping when the Mana I've imbued the attack with gets used up, or if I myself dissipate the energy.

Compared to mortals, my Mana Pool may as well be infinite, and I charged up that sphere with quite an immense amount of Mana, so it won't be running out of steam anytime soon.

"Heh, die, bitch," I smirked, as the last of her earth walls got taken down.

[Blast Away]!" She exclaimed desperately, I let out an annoyed click of my tongue as I spotted her flying across to her left, using her Spell on herself to literally blast herself out of the way.

"Slippery little-...!" I growled in irritation, as I fired out a barrage of red beams down at her.

She quickly healed herself and raced away, narrowly avoiding taking any direct hits, crying out in pain as my attacks grazed her.

Tch...I can only materialize my body in this world for about five minutes, due to certain reasons, and when I'm immaterial, I can't use my Destruction Magic.

Otherwise, I'd have just attacked her with staying in my normal dematerialized state, in which only the shithead can perceive my existence.

Suddenly, the rabbit girl blasted herself up towards me, closing in rapidly before locking her gaze onto me with a fierce glare...

"[Die]! [Disappear]!" She snapped, before a look of horror appeared on her face as her Spells had no effect on me.

Like I said, my Mana Pool is vastly superior to that of humans. So her Spells have no absolutely no chance of affecting me directly.

"You're the one who needs to die and disappear," I scoffed, as I fired out a powerful ray of Destruction Magic at her.

"[Blast Away]!" She quickly chanted, sending herself flying across to her right, breaking her left arm in the process as she narrowly evaded my attack.

"Damn it, just stay fucking still, you little sh-...!?" I began to snap as I took aim at her while charging up a Destruction Magic blast.

"[Explode in from Every Direction]!" She yelled before I could fire, my eyes widening as the area all around me began shimmering.

I quickly dematerialized myself, just in time as powerful explosions burst inwards towards me from every direction, devastating shockwaves exploding out as the explosions collided with each other.

"[Smoke Explosion]!" She exclaimed, before a massive cloud of black smoke burst out around her and I sensed her zipping away at a rapid speed.

"Oh, no, you don't," I muttered, rematerializing myself and taking aim-...

Suddenly, several towering earth walls rose up ahead, as explosions erupted all across the area, before I glanced up as about a couple dozen boulders came plummeting down from the sky.

Damn it, I can't ignore those...I can avoid them pretty easily myself, but if let them fall, that shithead will get crushed and die, which of course, would kill me in the process.

Tch, that little bitch.

I charged up my Destruction Magic as the boulders barreled down from above rapidly, grimacing as the rabbit girl left the range of my sensory field, before firing out a massive blast of my Magic up at the incoming boulders.

A bright red light illuminated the area as I fired out the blast, which engulfed all the boulders and vaporized them into nothing, as the black smoke began to dissipate and clear the area.

Damn it, she fucking got away.

I know which direction she went it, and I can probably catch up if I rushed after her. But I'm almost out of time, I can't stay materialized for much longer.

Plus...it's way too much work, and I'm not about to expend any more effort on a lowly mortal.

And, I should probably finish healing that stupid shithead too.

I only healed him enough to ensure he wouldn't die, but he's still far from fully healed. Might as well take this opportunity to get in his good graces, that'd make my life easier in this world. And since I'm stuck here for however long his lifespan will be, I suppose that's worth the effort.

Hm...

I then flew down towards Aura, landing in front of her and assessing her condition...she's pretty badly injured, though I don't think she'll die. Can't be sure though, mortals can be so fragile and breakable.

He seems to like her, so I bet healing her will help earn me his favor more than if I only healed him.

I looked around at the area as I began healing her...that Word Magic bitch sure did a lot of damage. All the Unicorns are either dead or long since ran away, the carriages are in pieces, and it looks like everyone except for these two are dead.

Hm? Oh, uh...looks like I might've inadvertently vaporized a couple of the bodies of the Knights with my Destruction Magic.

Eh, whatever, they were dead anyway.

There, I'm done healing this girl. Now to finish up healing the shithead. After that, I'll wake him up and get him to head back to Septen. It's not impossible that the Word Magic girl will come back here with reinforcements.

I then flew over towards him, landing beside him and picking up where I left off, resuming healing the remaining damage to his body.

I have to say, he did pretty well not to die back there, all those falling boulders and the explosions, he reacted with insane speed to avoid fatal damage.

I mean, yeah, if I hadn't been here, he would've still died. He may not have sustained any injuries severe enough to kill him instantly, but with so many broken bones that were puncturing several of his internal organs, he only had a few minutes left at best if he'd been left in that state.

Some of his injuries were so bad that, even with my advanced healing powers, there's gonna be a few scars left behind, mostly on his hands and arms, with a few across his torso.

Getting back to the reaction time he displayed to survive that assault...that was definitely superhuman, no normal humans could ever hope to react that quickly to something. I'm quite sure he wasn't capable of that before.

His physical growth and how sharp his senses are, it shouldn't be possible to achieve those levels just through training or whatever. I've noticed it before, but it wasn't significant enough to consider too seriously, so I just put it to the back of my mind.

But there's no doubt now, he's definitely progressing and improving in the physical aspects of his abilities at an abnormal rate. And I think I understand why that's happening...now that I'm focusing more closely on him, I can sense it.

It's very faint, practically unnoticeable if I wasn't looking for it, but it's definitely there...I feel it, there's Mana flowing into him from his surroundings.

He's an empty vessel in this world as far as Magic is concerned, so as a result of that, Mana seeps into his body, sort of like air filling a vacuum or something, I guess.

But since his body isn't compatible with containing Mana as he doesn't have what's known as Mana circuits, the energy doesn't get stored inside him. No, instead, it redirects and seeps into his physical body and slowly but steadily strengthens his entire body and sharpens his senses.

Come to think of it, his reaction time especially improved after that time he went into the Orcus Grotto, particularly when he was fighting that High Level Monster.

At the time, I just assumed his body instinctively pushed past its natural limits, a sort of 'mother lifting a car off her child' kind of thing.

But it wasn't that, I should've figured as much by the fact that he hadn't torn any muscles by moving that quickly so suddenly.

Grottos are richly concentrated with Mana, so he was basically bathing in the stuff. Yeah, now that I think about it, I do remember the air feeling kinda heavy around him the deeper we went into the Grotto.

I really should've caught onto this a lot sooner. I mean, a person who doesn't have Magic in this world, basically a normal human like the masses in his previous world, shouldn't be this physically strong or have developed such sharp senses at only sixteen years of age, when their bodies are still in the process of growing and developing.

Even if he doesn't train, he'll keep gradually growing stronger and stronger, just by existing in this world...I suppose there might be a limit to how much he can benefit from this, but at present, it seems like that limit is still a ways away.

Heh, this is good news for me...I can feel a bit more optimistic about my chances of surviving the period of my banishment to this world.

Alright, I'm done healing him now, so I should wake him up and-...hm?

"[Au...Autorecovery]," Came a weak, dazed voice wracked with pain.

I quickly turned in the direction that the voice came from and dematerialized, before spotting where the chant had come from. Oh, it's that Knight Captain lady.

Wow, she's still alive, huh?

Did she see me? No, I don't think so. She's too focused on healing herself...hm, based on her Mystic Pressure, she's at a pretty advanced level of mastery over her Recovery Magic.

Guess that explains how she survived. She must've had her guard down because it was only one person who was attacking, how careless. Considering how fragile and, you know, mortal, Humans are, you'd think they'd be more careful with their lives.

Well, whatever.

Since she's awake, she'll probably wake this dumbass herself once she's done healing herself. Guess I'll just go back into his collar and hide in the meantime...

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Point-of-View: Lexis Shakespeare

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"[R-Re...Regenerate]," I uttered weakly, as I limped into the entrance of the hideout with a grimace, before leaning against a wall with a weary sigh as the exhaustion hit me, my vision blurring slightly.

"Hm? That you, Lexis? Wow, you look, uh-..."

"Shut it, Icaro, I don't want to hear it...just help me in, would you? I'm fucking exhausted," I Interrupted him with a frown, barely able to stand.

I've used up nearly all my Mana getting away from that woman, I'm completely and utterly worn out.

"You should really try saying please, you know. I mean, I do outrank you," He pointed out with a wry smile, before picking me up and tossing me over his right shoulder.

"Whatever, I couldn't care less about that right now," I grumbled wearily as I let my body slump against his shoulder.

"So, how'd it go? Did you eliminate the target?"

"No, I failed."

"Oh, I see. Well, don't let that get you down! We all fail from time to time, it's nothing to be ashamed of!" He grinned, likely an effort to make me feel better...but it had the exact opposite effect.

"Just take me to my room and let me sleep, you muscle-brained brute," I sighed in exasperation.

"Actually, the boss has been waiting for you, I'll take you to him to make your report. I'll carry you to your room afterwards."

Ughhhh!

Despite my irritation, I kept quiet as he took me through the hideout, before stopping in front of a door and knocking on it loudly.

"Come in."

Icaro pushed open the door and stepped inside, shutting it behind him before heading further into the room.

"Hey, boss. She just got back, she looks pretty tired and looks like she's about to pass out any minute now, so we should make this quick," He remarked, as he set me down, my legs wobbling slightly as I stepped onto the floor.

"Yes, I can see that. Welcome back, Lexis, I'm glad to see that you're okay. Let's cut right to the chase, shall we...tell me, how did it go?" Our leader asked me.

"Um...not particularly well. You see...," I began hesitantly, before explaining everything that had happened after I attacked them.

I didn't leave anything out, being as detailed as possible...the more thoroughly I explain, the less questions there'll be afterwards, which means this'll be over sooner, and consequently, I'll get to go to sleep sooner.

"Hm, I see...," He muttered with a slight grimace, as I concluded my explanation.

"I'm fairly sure that the young man I fought is the same person who fought Icaro and nearly killed Vera. The weapons he used were unlike anything I've ever seen before, and they match the descriptions that Icaro and Vera gave of him, as did his weapons.

But as for the woman I fought who suddenly appeared right before I could kill him, I don't even know what the hell she was...her Magic was powerful, and she had immense strength and speed too. It was all I could do just to get away from her," I replied in frustration as I bitterly recalled what happened.

"I've never heard of any race matching her description as you've detailed it...and as for the young man you mentioned, those weapons sound like-...well, never mind. Icaro...you really should have killed that one when you had the chance," He sighed in response.

"He had so much potential though, it would've been a waste to kill him."

"Well, I suppose there's no point in complaining about what's been done, so let's just hope he doesn't turn out to be a serious obstacle to our cause. Ideally, I'd like him to be eliminated, I do not want those vile weapons in this world..."

So, um, am I done here? Can I go sleep now? I really wanna sleep...

"By the way, are we going to be making our move anytime soon? We've been staying hidden and only launching sneak attacks and stuff for ages now, let's get out into the open already!" Suggested Icaro with an eager grin.

"No, not yet...but it will be soon, so just be patient. Actually, considering how you went off on your own and did as you pleased in Septen for those few months, you of all people have no right to complain," Came the exasperated response, before adding, "We'll focus on strengthening our forces a bit more before we do anything else, we've undoubtedly attracted a lot of attention recently, so let's lay low until we've built up our forces to a level where we can carry out our goal with confidence. We, the Order of the Black Rose, shall soon be known throughout the entirety of Acheron Island..."

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