Immediately - Part 3

His suddenness makes me freeze as my brain scrambles to prepare for what's to come.

Confiel grabs a small gem, and a minute amount of mana leaves his body, then he turns back to us and says, "Lord Mavel may be desperately trying to find powerful artifacts in the Legado dungeon, but he's not blind to the outside world. If he wasn't paying attention to you before, just knowing that you've gotten closer to us will make him alert and assume that you're a threat to him.

"He must be fortifying his position, so the longer we wait, the more difficult it'll be to kill him. It'll take twenty minutes to mobilize my forces, you have until then to prepare."

Roxanne gets up and speaks before I can respond, "If we are to break the Shell, then it might be advantageous to us if we can test its sturdiness beforehand."

Confiel's hands clench nervously as he responds, "You can use our castle's Shell to test that while we prepare. Just... don't open a hole in my wall."

Roxanne smiles very stiffly. "I can't promise we won't damage it, but I doubt we'll be able to 'accidentally' open a hole," she says and bows slightly.

Confiel nods and returns to me. "I, Confiel Rincipio, True Noble and Crown Lord of the Eastern High Forest, give you my word that I'll fulfill my part of our agreement. Let the Gods observe me and judge me for my actions."

I feel a tightening in my heart that tells me that I also have to fulfill my part of our bargain. Then we both nod at each other in understanding.

Confiel touches a gem embedded in the table and the servant immediately comes back. "Take them to the private gazebo and then to the Shell. Dismiss any guards nearby and hold on to this," he says and hands a lithograph to the servant.

The servant casts [Gate], then we step on the black circle that appears.

The cool air of the meeting hall is replaced by the stuffier atmosphere of the outside. The sun paints the well-mowed grass and the small water streams with a faint shade of yellow, and the shadow of the Shell slowly creeps closer to us.

We're in a covered large octagonal platform made of ashen planks with several lounging chairs, couches, and a bed. Eight pillars support the conical roof, where a mesmerizing kinetic sculpture spins without the need for wind.

The servant motions for us to follow, so we cut our sightseeing short. We walk along a tree tunnel until the servant suddenly stops us. He crosses through a metal gate at the end, then Alissa hears him dismiss a guard outside.

After even Alissa can't hear the guard's footsteps any more, the servant comes back and motions for us to follow him.

We exit the gate onto a wide cobbled path and see the pitch black color of the Shell in front of us. Then we walk far enough away from the path so that the servant can't hear us talk.

"I'll spread my soul over it. Roxanne, do your thing," I say.

While the rest of the girls maintain their equipment and temper their minds, Roxanne and I start studying the Shell.

I spread my soul over a part of it and "taste" the bark. Within it, I find minute amounts of mana and a very dense material. I can't see the atomic structure, but the feeling that I get from it is very similar to metal.

This is truly a shell with a capital "S."

I walk forward, then I knock on it and in return, I receive the feeling and sound of knocking on concrete.

"Hm~... The Shell is tough, but I think that with the amount of mana that Confiel and his mages have, they should be able to knock it down."

Roxanne readjusts her glasses as she says, "Remember that they'd have to spend time chanting and use all their mana on something big enough to breach the wall. Even a simple [Earth Bullet] big enough to open a hole in this would require a long time just to gather the necessary mana. I'm guessing that Confiel wants something more 'instantaneous.'"

I cringe as I say, "Which brings us to our specialties... instantaneous spells."

Roxanne sighs. "Yeah... put my extra points into [Mana Overuse Resistance]."

I pull out one of the Decay pots and throw it at the wall, then I observe the effects with my soul.

Have you ever eaten a rotting corpse? That's what I think this feels like. The Decay goop sickens me, and I need Ciel to cast [Refresh] so that I can continue my observation.

And I see something fascinating. It's like watching a complex web simply "unravel" in front of me. I can't even understand how it unravels, it just works.

The Shell starts to puff up and warp a little as it becomes less dense, and some of its components become gas or liquid that then slowly seeps out of the wall, leaving it porous.

I chant and cast, "[Earth Bullet]."

The ball of rock hits the wall and gets embedded in it, then it starts to get dissolved by the goop.

We observe for not even a minute before the servant suddenly spurs into movement and marches towards us. "I've received a report about something tampering with the Shell."

I merely nod to him and the servant returns to his previous position.

"I see... so we don't have much time to let the goop work," I say.

"How deep did it penetrate?" Roxanne asks.

"Barely one-tenth."

"We can use it, but... it wouldn't be wise to rely on it.

"Cast two small [Explosion]s. One in a place with goop and the other in a place without."

I pull out a barricade, which everyone hides behind. Then Roxanne casts the spells. After making a small mess and spreading some of the goop over the cobble path, we assess the damage.

The goop-covered part of the wall received a visibly deeper scar than the part without it. I focus deeper into my "soul vision" and notice that the outside layer of bark seems to be tougher than the inner bark. The outer bark seems to have gone through some sort of treatment, possibly something to make it better resist the elements and small scratches.

In the time that we have left, we use the golems to transfer the goop from the Decay pots into a repurposed leather jacket that's been sewn into a container by Lina. Then we discuss our plan.

The girls don't like it, but I convince them to go big or go home.

--

Alissa senses someone coming just as we finish our preparations. I look back and see both a mage and the servant looking at the Shell in horror.

There are a few grey blobs of slime on the wall slowly dripping towards the floor and many small white globs all over the cobble path.

"The... Lord awaits us..." The mage mutters, his eyes still glued at the sullied Shell, the symbol of the Lord's unassailableness.

"We are ready," I say and the mage casts [Gate].

We are taken to a dimly lit building where multiple knights are moving about and making preparations. The sounds of footsteps and wooden armor hitting and rubbing against itself resounds through the building, giving us a sense of urgency.

Not-Conan, the barbarian, appears before us and says in a soft, but imperative tone, "Helios, come with me."

We pass through a lavish living room and climb a set of stairs, then we enter a guest room with a wide view of the street outside.

Confiel's group that we met previously in the dungeon is all here. Confiel is looking impatiently out of the window towards the dark Shell of Escanso; his wives are sitting on the bed as they meditate, doing something similar to our mana circulation training; Ervo is looking out of the window, too, but he's staring at the empty streets below us; Ceiro, their healer, is chanting [Blessing Magic] in an area, covering the entire room; the two bodyguards are standing by the doorway and merely glance at us when we enter.

There is a Wind, Fire, Water, and [Earth Spirit] on the bed, adorably dancing in a circle. The [Wind Spirit] is a transparent, green little guy with long, thin shoes; baggy pants; a round face with cute, round eyes; and long, winged ears.

We walk towards the middle of the room and Confiel asks without looking at us, "You think that you can do it?"

"We have a plan, but we don't have enough information to make any sort of reliable prediction," I say.

"If you fail, then we'll do it the hard way." Then he turns to look at me in the eye. His stern face and "danger" aura blow away the last shred of levity I had within me. "I want you fighting close to me, but when the time comes to fight Lord Mavel himself, I want you to stay away and focus on taking out his reinforcements. Also, I know that it's dangerous to ask this of you, but I want you to keep in mind that the only ones that need to die are the three Este Lords. Anyone that you can spare will benefit the entire High Forest."

"We'll keep that in mind," I say and bow slightly.

He nods. "Good. We are ready. You can attack this wall in any way that you see fit, but I advise you to let Ceiro finish Blessing us all. We have enough time; the patrols around this area have been diverted for ten minutes."

I nod respectfully. "Thank you for the aid."

"There's more. Your weapons and armor may be good enough for this battle, but I can give you better ones, though I'm not sure if you'll be able to fight as effectively with something you're unfamiliar with."

Hana and Ciel nudge me to say, "It's better for us to keep using our own equipment. We are fine the way we are."

He nods and resumes staring at the Shell.

We wait four more minutes for Ceiro's Blessings to be cast on us. We sit in comfy chairs and slowly feel our heart rates rise as the sounds of the men getting ready downstairs wanes.

So fast... so sudden...

We receive [Wind Armor], [Swift Foot], [Rainbow Shield], [Rainbow Crystal], [Warrior's Respite], and [Mage's Respite]. They are all stronger Blessings than what I can cast.

Then we nod appreciatively at Ceiro, who snorts a little smugly and returns the nod.

We go down the set of stairs and huddle up in the corridor that leads outside. We see Escanso's night mist slowly seep in from under the door.

My skills are like this:

--

Wolf Ryder Skill Report

Physical

Sword Use: 12+9 | Dodge: 4+5 | Parry: 4+5

Block: 1+8 | Shield Bash: 0+1 | Battlefield Perception: 1+1

Muscle Explosion: 1+1 | Acrobatics: 5+0 | Ekrano Style (creator): 1

Magical

Sense Mana: 0+6 | Mana Control: 0+15 | Mana Recovery: 6+0

Mana Efficiency: 0+7 | Reduced Mana Cost: 0+7 | Mana Overuse Resistance: 0+3

Fire Magic: 1+4 | Earth Magic: 0+3 | Water Magic: 0+1

Wind Magic: 0+2 | Electric Magic: 6+14 | Light Magic: 2+8

Space Magic: 7+23 | Summoning Magic: 13+24 | Blessing Magic: 8+22

Nature Magic: 2+18 | Conjuring Magic: 0+1 | Spirit Magic: 0+2

Illusion Magic: 0+2 | Golemancy: 0+9 | Redirect Mana: (creator): 3

Sense Soul (creator): 6 | Soul Manipulation (creator): 3 | Godly Language: 30+0

Miscellaneous

Cooking: 0+4 | Andraste Language: 4+6 | Dismantling: 0+4

Massage: 0+1 | Mana Genitals (innate): 1

--

But I temporarily shift my points around for our plan.

Aoi gets down from my shoulder and grows into big-Aoi, then stands on her hind legs in a way that reminds me of a bear. She has to use her wings for stability, but this posture is much safer for her in melee combat than staying quadruped.

"What a day," Ciel comments.

"So fast," Roxanne adds.

"No rest for the weary, or the hunted, or the wary," I say, absentmindedly.

Ciel chuckles and says, "From fighting a sequence of monsters, to walking through a mysterious city, to nearly unraveling the riddle of the dungeon, to a meeting with the three of the most powerful Lords of this region, to a battle to kill other three of the most powerful Lords of the region. What's next after this?"

"An encounter with heretics? I want payback," Alissa asks. Her ferocity seeps through [Bind], but I easily keep my anger in check.

"Maybe we'll meet with the Monster King, too," Lina says.

"Or another one of the Symbols of the Elements," Alissa suggests.

She means someone like Gecynd.

I shift some of my points in melee skills into [Mana Overuse Resistance] and [Blackout Resistance]. I can only put ten points in each because any more makes me feel "heavy," which I believe means that my soul isn't ready for more.

I close my system and smirk as I say, "You girls are thinking too small. Remember that I had a vision of something beyond the Everlasting Storm. We are going to explore the unexplored! Conquer the unknown! We'll explore strange new lands. Seek out new life and new civilizations. Boldly go where no man has gone before!"

"No hu-man-oid," Ciel corrects with a slight pout.

"I bet that was a reference," Alissa says and smiles at me.

"Why would we bet against that?" Hana asks.

"Silly, she wasn't serious," Roxanne says in a slightly condescending tone.

"I... I know!" Hana protests and Roxanne chuckles evilly.

Lina hugs my chest and starts, "United, day and night,"

We smile at each other and continue reciting our vows in unison, "In pain and pleasure, success or failure, life or death. Wherever we may be, we will never abandon each other. All for one, one for all."

The levity lightens our hearts, making me realize how tense my shoulders are. Then we join in a group hug, and this time we don't even need Gify to connect us to fill our hearts with determination. But I still need one last push.

"Gify, hit me with the good stuff," I say.

"Gih!"

I get an instant erection as visions of dragons fill my mind. Then I open the door and we walk outside.

The world is my oyster and I'll take charge of my Fate.

"Lina, the goop," I order.

She pulls out the leather bag filled with goop and immediately throws it across the street. It hits the Shell, rupturing the leather and spreading the goop all over it.

I'll do whatever I must to keep these women safe.

I start counting in my head. When I reach 30 seconds, Roxanne starts gathering her mana, then I hold the "button" for [Monster Summoning] and choose the Grim Giant.

I'll go as far as necessary to get the power I need to kill the fucking heretics.

The Grim Giant that I killed was old and decrepit. As scary as it already was at that age, it was even more powerful when it was young.

I can't modify the monsters that I summon that much, but I can choose to summon a younger version of them, so I choose to summon the [Grim Giant] at its prime.

A dragon doesn't measure efforts to vanquish their enemies.

My soul locks up and my body goes limp, yet I remain conscious. Hana holds me in place as the pain explodes in my head, then my body convulses as my life force is drained away to feed the Grim Giant.

Ciel casts [Heal] multiple times, making my HP shoot up, then crash down as my spell continues to drain me. My veins burst, bruises appear along my body, my nose bleeds, and my eyes become bloodshot.

My lack of control over my body at least prevents me from screaming and crying like a little girl over this extreme level of pain.

I feel like my limbs are being slowly ripped from my body while something is chewing into my chest, aiming to eat my heart.

When my MP reaches minus one thousand, the pain vanishes as suddenly as it came, and an enormous mass of glowing matter appears in front of me. In the next instant, a grinning, muscular, and naked gigantic man appears kneeling in front of me. The street can barely contain his massive body, with his arms brushing against the houses near us.

I summon all of my strength and use [Godly Language]. "BECOME STRONGER!"

The muscular man turns into a bodybuilder, and my own body feels like it's made of steel.

"KICK IT!" I order.

The Grim Giant stands up and easily reaches twenty meters tall, yet he's still smaller than the Shell. But that's enough for us.

The Giant slams his fingers against the Shell and pierces it lightly, giving him the leverage to bash against the wall with more of his strength.

Alissa makes me chug a few of Roxanne's Moonlight Moss MP potions while Ciel continues [Heal]ing me and then casts a few [Purify Body]s to counteract the side effects of the potions.

The Giant draws its foot backward, then slams it against the Shell, right where all the Decay goop is splattered.

The street trembles with the loud bang of the impact, and Roxanne's barricade protects us from the spray of goop. I immediately feel multiple [Gate] scrubbers being activated all around us.

Come on...

The Giant pulls back its foot again and I can see that the skin of its toes is melting off.

Another bang blasts through the area, and my ears start hurting from the noise. In the distance, we see civilians running away from this place with all their energy.

Come on...

The Giant readies its foot again and I see that it's bleeding. Another slam and the wall is painted red with the Giant's blood.

Come on...!

The Giant kicks the Shell again and breaks his toe.

"ROXANNE!"

"[EX-PLO-SIOO~N~]!"

Goop flies everywhere and starts melting our wooden barricade. Then the Giant bashes the wall again, and I wince from the extreme loudness of the thump.

Something cracks, and the Giant's foot enters the wall. Then he wrenches the foot free, and we see some light coming out of the wall, a hole.

Ciel casts a quick [Heal] on everyone's ears so that the buzzing goes away and I unsummon the Giant, finally stopping the horrible strain on my body and soul.

"CHARGE!" I hear Confiel's magically enhanced voice boom across the street.

Knights burst out of windows and doors of the surrounding houses, then a stampede flows around us as they all pour through the hole.

We give Roxanne one of the Moonlight MP Potions, and Ciel casts [Purify Body] on her so that she can recover from the paralysis.

Soon after I'm starting to feel strong enough to fight again, Confiel appears beside us. "Let's go," he orders and rushes into the hole.

Without any hesitation, we follow him into battle.

--

On the other side, we see a hellish scene as Confiel's knights plow through the hastily organized defense without much of a problem. Elves fall left and right from arrows and blunt weapons. Whether they are alive but unconscious or actually dead, only Alissa and others like her would know.

There's a corridor of stunningly arranged formal gardens between us and the castle, but the destruction has already tarnished all of the beauty of this place. The geometric patterns of the gardens and the trees surrounding them are already up in flames or broken apart by the crossfire of spells.

Enemy archers and mages use the guest houses scattered along the straight corridor of garden space as cover, which means that the destruction is brought upon these houses, too.

"Through the middle!" Confiel yells. The men make way for their Lords' party, and numerous enchantments protect them from any harm coming from above.

I summon three Hollys and spread them out to get a complete view of the battlefield.

Escanso's golden castle is similar to Goloria's. It has a thick, cylindrical trunk where most of the rooms are located and dozens of branch-like towers extend outwards, making it look like a dried bush. Currently, each of these branches holds a powerful archer.

As we run, I help Alissa and Roxanne fire long-distance arrows and spells towards the men in the towers, forcing them to hide behind cover.

Confiel's party notices what we are doing, and their three mages start to help, too, but none of them can cast spells as fast as Roxanne can, and nobody can reach the same level of accuracy with their aim the same way that I can by guiding the girls with [Bind].

Near the end of the corridor, we reach the front line and Confiel assumes command.

He slashes his sword at the elf in front of him, and his sword is stopped by the enemy's shield, but an ethereal arm and sword passes through the defense and completes the slash. The enemy elf yells in pain, and his shield arm loses strength.

He's a Spirit spell sword!

The soldier is clearly not prepared to fight a [Spirit Magic] user and tries to parry the next strike, only to get his throat cut by the [Soul Blade] and immediately fall unconscious.

The soldiers make room for us to fight alongside them, and Hana opens up with a strike that sends her opponent to the floor.

I cast [Lightning Bolt] to freeze my opponent and slash at his leg. My strike gets stopped by his wooden armor, but with the aid of [Telekinesis], his knee gets twisted and he falls on the ground.

Lina comes in right beside me and bashes his helmet in. The man stops moving, but is likely only unconscious.

[Battlefield Perception] triggers, and I make Hana protect herself with her shield. A light shines out of one of the towers, and a bolt of light is launched. It's aimed towards Hana's head but is intercepted by her shield.

Once the light is gone, we see an arrowhead peeking through her shield. The Godsdamned enchanted arrow went through [Wind Shield] like it was nothing.

Luz aims towards the tower with her red crystal staff and lets loose a [Fireball] the size of a person. A few seconds later, we hear an explosion and see that the top of the tower is no more.

Preoccupied with swinging her halberd to plow her way through the enemies, Aoi doesn't activate her [Wind Shield] in time before an arrow cracks one of her scales. Even with my ample field of view over the battlefield, I still missed that arrow coming at her, and that makes me unreasonably angry.

"RAAAAH!" Aoi and Hana receive the brunt of my anger, and both of them blow their flames at the men in front of us, who drop their weapons and roll on the grass, trying to put out the fire covering their bodies.

Lua casts [Water Wall] on top of the men, which extinguishes the fire. Fortunately, they all decide to remain on the ground, moaning in pain from the burns, which allows us to continue on.

Confiel, not-Conan, Hana, and I detach from the main force and strike at the scrambled men in front of us before they can make a shield wall capable of slowing us down.

[Battlefield Perception] triggers again, but my view of the offending mage gets obstructed by a small wall of fire that blocks the spell. Luz's [Fire Spirit] absorbs the [Fireball] and starts a short exchange of spells with the opposing mage's [Fire Spirit].

A longswordsman bars my way. I let him attack me, and I dodge to the side, allowing Alissa's arrow to pierce his gut. I glide my way into the stunned man's guard and cast [Rush] as I sink my sword into his armpit, right through the opening of his armor. The padding wasn't enough to stop my powered thrust, and he wasn't wearing chainmail, so he paid the price.

The next soldier in front of us is a shield user, so I slide under his guard with [Telekinesis] and stab his crotch. The shriek that comes in response makes me realize that it's actually a woman. Fortunately for her, my sword can't fully pierce through this kind of padding without [Rush].

I slide a bit sideways and push myself off the ground, then I float in place and spin my legs, kicking the back of the soldier's helmet and making her crash on the ground. [Acrobatics] plus [Godly Language] is amazing.

I feel a large amount of mana coming from the enemies in front of us, so I get wary.

A few spearmen manage to land blows on Aoi, but they are all deflected by her scales. Then one scale breaks, and another wave of anger hits me.

STOP HURTING MY DRAGON!

Lina disrupts their footing with [Earth Wall], then Ciel and Aoi strike together at the spearmen, breaking their little formation apart and giving Lina a clear line of sight to me.

The next target is a young elf, who desperately charges towards me while screaming expletives in Ingua. I trade a few blows with him before he suddenly grows tired. Lina's [Weaken] saps his stamina, and he runs out of breath.

I sweep his legs out from under him, and he falls backward, hitting his head against the stone path. I let anger empower my actions, then I stomp at his face until he stops moving.

The next soldier is an officer who is wearing ornate dark wooden armor and is using an enchanted sword. I control my anger so that I won't make a mistake.

I dash towards him, and we clash with fury. There's barely any time to gauge your opponent's level of ability in a battlefield; the intention of every strike must be to maim or kill.

His eyes are cold and calm, and his strikes are confident and lethal. He's more experienced and much more skilled in swordsmanship than I am.

Getting this taste of real experience gives me chills and washes away the anger. But the worst thing is that he doesn't even use his enchantment, which unnerves me.

Then I see a figure rise up against the orange sky of sunset. [Battlefield Perception] triggers, and I activate [Dead Zone].

Like a wave, lightning washes all around me and the others, then continues towards the bulk of our forces behind us.

Confiel's men are prepared, and they all activate [Dead Zone] to stop the massive [Discharge], but everyone has to spend a copious amount of mana to keep the spell away.

I didn't have the time to fully recover my mana before we started this battle, so this makes me especially wary.

While the officer in front of me doesn't act, I drink an emergency MP potion from one of the metal flasks in the bandolier secured firmly across my chestplate.

The spell ends, and the battle continues. In one moment, the officer is standing with his sword pointed at me, but in the next, [Battlefield Perception] triggers as his sword pierces my throat. [Wind Armor] suddenly triggers, and I feel a burst of wind pushing us apart.

I need a fucking neck guard!

I push his sword away and glide backward, then I feel something warm running down my skin from my throat, and at the same time, the pain hits me, making me grunt.

Ciel's [Holy Spirit] inside my helmet glows, and the wound is healed in just a few seconds. I cough a little and spit out some blood, but then I'm ready to fight again.

Even from behind his helmet, I see the officer's surprise at my quick recovery.

Heh, I won't go down so eas-...

The sky above us explodes with particles as Luz's and Lua's four Spirits fight Mavel's wives' four.

I shift my head to the side, and an arrow flies past me, then it sinks into the shield of the officer, who has to block his view to not get hit.

Impressive reflexes.

At the same time that he raises his shield, I cast [Rush] and drive my sword into his neck. I get a good way in before he simply disappears from my sight and reappears a few meters away with a hand covering his wound and his bastard sword clanking heavily on the ground.

Mavel's men finally reform a proper shield wall, and our advance is stopped. Their formation also blocks the elven officer from view.

The soldier in front of Hana falls on the ground in pain as an [Ice Lance] pierces through his shield and into his arm. Then Hana casts [Earth Bullet] at his face and chops at his helmet with her sword, knocking him out.

The spells stop flying above our heads, and an eerie silence falls around us, but the battle still continues in the distance.

The shield line in front of us makes way for a man in golden armor to pass through. A single white feather adorns his "close" helmet. I see hints of white grain in his armor, which means that his armor is wooden and not actually coated in gold.

"CONFIEL!" Lord Este bellows and points his sword towards the Lord in white. Both of the Lords' swords glow with a faint sheen of blue. That's Kanal, the perfect metal for enchanting.

"SURRENDER AND EVERYTHING ENDS!" Confiel yells.

Mana starts to be gathered all around us, worrying me a little.

Lina and Aoi catch up to us along with the rest of Confiel's men. Ciel is a short distance behind us with Ceiro and a few other healers, making sure that the wounded men don't die immediately. Alissa and Roxanne are a few meters behind Ciel, taking cover along with a few of Confiel's men that are pushing mobile enchanted barricades for protection.

The battle spreads out to the sides as the allied soldiers encircle the last bastion of our enemy and start to take over the Shell. The white and gray of Confiel's men outnumber the gold and white of Mavel's men, and no reinforcements are coming to Mavel's side any time soon.

The air starts to feel cold and I see the enemies in front of us sweating with heat. The sounds of the battle start to fade away, and it becomes harder to breathe. I see dust coming out of the cracks in the bricks, and it starts sticking to our bodies. The wives of both Lords are trying to wrestle for control over the weather.

Fuck! Too many spells!

I summon a wind elemental and order, "Give us air!" The atmospheric pressure immediately returns, and the [Vacuum] is countered, allowing us to breathe.

Confiel and Mavel charge towards one another and start their duel. I blink and Mavel suddenly appears in front of Confiel. Mavel cuts downwards, but the white Lord was waiting for that and defends himself. Then an ethereal sword extends out through his shield and aims to jab at Mavel.

Another [Blink] and Mavel appears a meter away.

The men yell, and the officers sound their whistles to order their charge.

"LINA! DISRUPT THEIR LINE!" I yell.

She casts multiple [Earth Wall]s at the men's feet, making them stumble and fall.

I cast [Rush] and charge ahead of our shield wall. I stop at the first soldier, who's stumbling forward, completely open. I sink my sword into his shoulder and see the elven officer behind the enemy line, still with a bloodied hand covering his neck wound. His eyes lock with mine, and I keep my attention fixed on him.

"WOLF!" Confiel's voice gives me chills, and I reflexively protect my neck with my shield.

I turn my head to the side and my vision gets partially obscured by a faint golden light, then I feel something cold slide into my armpit. In response, I extend my soul out from the wound and cast [Shocking Touch] on Mavel's sword.

Suddenly, the cold sword inside my body is gone, and through Holly, I see that he's back to fighting with Confiel.

I smirk as the [Holy Spirit] heals me immediately, then I summon a Nalusa.

The two-meter tall monster stands before me. A horrifying human-like thing made of charred flesh with bones protruding out of its back.

"PUNISH THEM!" I yell an order.

Each of its four eyes focuses on an enemy, then it swings its hand, and the sharp claws make deep grooves in the wooden armor of one of the soldiers. Then the claws reach an exposed spot and slice through the skin, letting the blood flow.

The blood that the Nalusa draws starts to float around it, then the droplets dart away like bullets. They create chaos, opening more wounds and causing even more bleeding.

My summon starts a chain reaction, drawing more and more blood that it can control, rapidly increasing its power. A vicious spiral of red expands outwards from our position, sweeping through our enemies and piercing their exposed skin.

The two shield walls finally clash, and Mavel's men are quickly overwhelmed as they get randomly wounded by the Nalusa. They don't know from where or how they are being attacked, so they can't even defend themselves.

Mavel's sword glows and grows to ten meters in length, then he tries to sweep at Confiel's men, only to be stopped by the white Lord himself.

Confiel's shield glows with the heat that it absorbs from Mavel's sword, then the energy is expelled outwards in an explosion, pushing the sword away.

The dust gathering at my feet starts to slow me down, but then it suddenly stops, and the cold air returns to its normal temperature. At the same time, four figures rise up into the sky, and they all start to gather mana for massive spells.

The elven officer [Blink]s in front of the Nalusa, and I immediately cast [Lightning Bolt] at him. His muscles seize up, and the Nalusa sweeps at him, sending him flying away.

I don't need to look to see you, fool!

Then I guide Roxanne, and she casts, "[EXPLOSION]!"

One of the flying figures has her spell interrupted as the explosion near her waist burns her robe and violently pushes her away.

Mavel's eyes turn to Roxanne, and his angry glare gives me chills. We've hurt one of his wives, and now he needs to return the favor.

He [Blink]s forward towards Roxanne, but he's still very far away from her.

HAH! I GOT YOU, YOU FUCKER!

I guide Roxanne, and she casts another [Explosion]. Mavel [Blink]s again, and the air explodes a few centimeters from his face. Taking effect too quickly for [Wind Shield] to activate and protect him, he's sent backward to the ground, and Confiel catches up to him with [Rush].

An ethereal and naked Confiel crouches down and grabs Mavel's head, then he pulls Mavel's soul out of his own body.

Hana, Lina, Ciel, and Aoi surround me and the Nalusa, keeping us safe from any other attacks.

With [Telekinesis], Mavel's physical body rises up and strikes at Confiel, but the strike is dull and easily parried.

A blade appears in the ethereal Confiel's other hand, then he slices it at the ethereal Mavel's neck. Mavel's physical body falls limp, and Confiel sinks his real sword into an opening in the back of Mavel's golden armor.

The sky explodes with three spells. A huge torrent of fire hits an equally huge boulder and explodes. The chunks of debris never hit us as they are gathered up by the wind, and along with the fire, they converge on Mavel's wives and consume them.

Like a shockwave of silence, the men stop fighting, and the stunning stillness spreads outwards quickly. After just a minute, the only sounds left are the moans of the wounded and the crackling of the fires.

Confiel flourishes his sword through the air, instantly cleaning it of all the blood, then he yells, "THE ESTE CROWN LORDS HAVE BEEN DEPOSED! THE BATTLE IS OVER!"

Mavel's men drop their weapons and start to cry. Confiel's men simply stare at their defeated foes in muted sympathy.

"You are now level 26," the female announcer says in my soul space.

--

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Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Oracle Maximillian Hübner.

Prince PreownedFIN.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord Hope.

Lord Samuel Lim.

Lord Bill.

Lord Novgarod.

Lord DJ.

Lord Cidant.

Lord Ashadun.

Lord Michale Erwin.

Lord Joxsan Herrera.

Lord Enrique Peña Gomez.

Lord Vampmire.

Lord Braidborn.

Lord Bakerdea.

Lord Kalsted.

Lord Yeeteris Dedmeem.

Lord D4rk Sheep.

Lord Nevarec.

Lord Nathan Vanbrunt.

Noble Salty Panda.

Noble Evil.

Noble Yamibomb112.

Noble Maurice.