CHAPTER 48 - CAUGHT
LUKE HODGES
I looked at the giant cavern, bigger than where the 'original' elderwood guardian was. Residing more than a hundred vine trees, all having the same objective, killing the lances in front of them.
Of course, lances being lances, had more mana capacity than myself or anyone here in the dungeon of Dire Tombs but that was far enough from having infinite mana. Aya and Alea didn't know or have the idea of what Mana Rotation is capable of.
However, they would soon learn–
That thought simply stopped itself because I knew the truth of whether they would learn it or not.
"Screw Fate. To hell with the right path."
I was going to save everything and everyone from their deaths, even if it means going against the Asuras themselves.
And for that, I needed strength, power, of those who are familiar and more experienced in the battlefield.
I walked, fast but not too fast, towards the lances who clearly had no trouble fighting these S class mana beasts. And yet there was a variable in this, they were humans, people who have a limit and are not indestructible.
I raised my hand upwards, summoning a blizzard of ice and snow, covering most of the cavern without much sweat. In truth, I was tired. The fatigue had been hitting more and more as I used the ice deviant. My legs–with every step I took–became more heavy and unstable to keep leaning on.
But I couldn't show that, not in front of these mana beasts. In some sort of way, they had a way to communicate with Agrona of his forces and relay the message that I had a weakness. I wasn't going to let that happen.
I was going to kill them all, cover this whole dungeon with ice before they get to send another word to the basilisk sovereign.
Information was a weapon in Agrona's hands and I wasn't going to hand it over to him without a proper response. Killing them would answer his questions but not entirely, there wouldn't be a range of my abilities and how strong they are.
Knowing how cunning and overplaning Agrona is, if I get out of here alive–which will be the outcome–Agrona will have his forces more powerful than in the novel or bring even more powerful soldiers by upgrading their emblems and what not.
Aya noticed my presence and moved towards me while Alea was busy with three Elderwood guardians. "Luke, you are safe." Her voice had a hint of relief, something I didn't think she had in her. I gave her a nod in confirmation before she continued, "We need to get out of here, take Alea and take her out of here, I will follow you after making sure they don't follow us."
"That won't be necessary." I said, freezing in place, one of the many guardians that tried to attack us. Its limbs fell in small chunks until it had reached its head, later revealing the mana core. "I found a hole we can escape through… the only problem is…"
The black haired elf took a moment to understand the situation at hand. Her black eyes scanned the battlefield for any doubts that she still held onto before giving me the okay to proceed.
"Then let's get going." I pointed to where I had made the hole. Both lances sprinted without second thoughts before looking back at me. "Keep going!" I roared, unleashing a barrage of icicles into the almost-infinite number of giant vine trees heading towards us with the desire of killing us.
With my current power level, I could only freeze a couple hundred before I ran out of mana. Even then, it would be impossible to outlive this right now.
The room temperature dropped down, below zero in an instant as my deviant devoured the hot and normal temperature only for Absolute Zero to come on top.
Having the advantage in magic at the moment, I casted an ice wall between the vine trees and us. The ground and ceiling shook as the wall took form in thickness.
Even if they are S class monsters, they should have some trouble at least.
Without giving much attention to the wall, I turned and ran as fast as I could to where the lances were. Going through the hole I noticed a strong presence of mana not that far from me.
Worried that maybe there was another elderwood guardian, I decided to use something I thought I wasn't going to use. Not until I knew how to use it. [Ghost Step]
One movement forward, aiming towards the energy source, I found myself being pulled by a sense of force into what felt like the speed of light, as if someone was pulling me while they ran. Each step I took felt like it had a meaning to it and where I was going.
"Arthur!"
ARTHUR LEYWIN
[Thunderclap Impulse]
A surge of black lightning coiled around my body as I effortlessly dodged the thousands of vines that shot out at me.
Every vine that the tendrils of black lightning touched instantly disintegrated and withered away, but for every vine that crumbled, dozens replaced it. Using the vines that were shooting at me as a foothold, I breezed through the onslaught of thorn-covered vines as thick as my body, drawing nearer to the core of the elderwood guardian.
I could already feel the recoil from using the second phase as my body began trembling and I held back the need to vomit blood.
It was time to end this.
"White fire," I muttered.
My hands ignited and became engulfed in a blazing white flame that seemed to freeze the moisture in the air around it. This was the most powerful offensive skill that I had in my arsenal, but one that was also the hardest to control. While my Lightning Attribute skills were focused more towards one-on-one combat, I geared my ice attribute techniques for a more widespread form of destruction, just in case the situation arose.
The white fire ablaze in my hands grew larger as I absorbed the now-visible specks of water attribute mana particles into my body. Using the last of my strength, I released my final skill.
[Absolute Zero]
The elderwood guardian, who was in the form of a giant wave of entangled vines, rapidly became encased in ice as the very atoms that made up the mana beast froze in place where the white fire had spread.
Exploding forth the black lightning around me, a deadly coil of dark electricity traced through the frozen tsunami of vines and instantly shattered it, leaving only the beast's mana core.
The second phase wore off as I heaved out a mouthful of blood. As my body began plummeting down, I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the shimmering fragments of ice that once made up the legendary S class mana beast; It had the surreal effect that one would only see in a dream.
Before I hit the ground, in the background, a faint voice that came with my name echoed through the diamond cavern.
"Arthur!"
My eyes, barely open enough to see a figure of a boy my age running towards me with his helmet melting or disintegrating until his features were revealed. Instantly without a doubt I knew who this was, yet I knew something was wrong at that moment. The two people that trained him during our stay in Elenoir were already in front of him trying to reach me.
"L-Luke?"
I muttered, finally being able to see him after trying to find him in Xyrus City.
As my body was inches from hitting the ground. I was caught by a black haired elf, Aya was her name, I think.
"Luke, we must take these people out of here as well. Alea and I will make sure they are safe on the surface before asking for reinforcements from the guild." Her voice was muffled a little but I was still a little conscious of what was going on.
The black haired boy with red eyes appeared seconds later next to Jasmine and Elijah, conjuring a small–which grew in size later–green orb. It was healing magic.
"I've run out of mana, Alea, Aya, can you spare some mana? Just enough to get them healed." Luke had concern laced in his voice, though he wasn't trying to show it for the rest of us. There was something going on for him to be this startled. He seemed agitated, trying to get us all out of here before something or someone arrived.