Chapter 145: Sparkling Fires
Hilda, Jill, and Esme stepped up in front of us while Elden, Nemora and I took a step back; we gave room for the combatants to blast off into the incoming wall of Heathens.
The Cloak of Verdansk enveloped us all while, ahead of me, a ball of dim light enveloped Jill; his powers gurgled throughout him as he prepared to incinerate as many Heathens as possible. Beside him, Hilda unsheathed her Manifestation from thin air, clasping it between her hands, while Esme, as usual, kept her Manifestation hidden away.
To this day, I still don't know what her Manifestation is exactly.
She hasn't told me, and I'm not in a position to pester her after years of hiding the truth away from my dear sister.
I think she'll tell me if I ask, though.
Regardless...
"Shrieee!!!"
"Ghuaa!!!"
"Chik! Chik!"
...the bellows of dreaded Heathens overwhelmed the skies.
Just as when we entered the local area of the monument, whereby the waves quietened, allowing us to hear once more, this place was the same. The waters carrying The Canary mellowed out as we approached the Heathens, and they, us.
Flames and lightning sputtered from beneath Esme's feet as they wrapped around her legs, "See you on the other end." Esme tapped Hilda's arm, and-
CRACKLE!
Bolts thwacked and whipped at where Esme had stood seconds ago.
She was gone.
"W, wait! Es, Esme!" Meanwhile, Hilda was thrashing around to douse the flames and lightning that had wrapped around her legs moments ago.
Then...
"Wai-!"
...she too was gone.
"-t!!!!"
Her voice echoed as I observed a flash of blazing orange trail behind my sister, who had her powers under more precise control. Unlike Esme... "Waaaaa-!" Hilda was tossed carelessly into the depths of the incoming meat wall.
"..." Jill silently thrust himself after them with a tame burst of light enveloping his body.
As the trio dove towards the Heathens, we didn't waste time.
Elden was the first to act by planting the Cloak of Verdansk onto us. Not to mention, this time he didn't hold back with the concentration of Blessings and Curses placed within his Manifestation.
On the other hand, I provided the trio with a base level of aid.
[Jill - Hilda - Esme - Body Reinforcement - 50% - 20 Minutes]
[Jill - Hilda - Esme - Body Amplification - 50% - 20 Minutes]
I didn't provide a Blessings and Curses improvement to any of them; that was wholly unnecessary against enemies of a lesser rank.
On the other hand, Nemora acted as a static spell turret. Her Manifestation took place within her hands as she grasped it, brought it to her mouth, and commanded:
"Arcana Manifestation, Type-Speech. Repel."
From the source of the Curses fluttering around Nemora's hand in my vision, a wave exploded outwards in the shape of a cone; a cone of Curses, at least it looked that way in my eyes, that repelled all that it came in contact with and zipped through the air.
The folding waves of air approached the soaring trio, and, as it was about to collide with them, my Orders impacted them, amplifying and solidifying their strength and endurance.
Zing!
A grating sound rippled through the air the moment the repelling force overlapped with our cohort.
It, however, didn't damage them.
Instead, the frighteningly powerful shockwave blasted past them and directly into the horde-
Crack! Splash! Squelch!
...
A cocophonous harmony of gore and death reverberated across the horde, stopping them in place and pushing them backwards even as it crushed the weaker swimming Heathens, slammed the flying Heathens together, and obliterated the land Heathens that were running across the backs of the swimming ones.
"Resonance."
It didn't end there. A second command ruptured the horde apart, giving the trio space to breathe and charge into the depths of the Heathens as they came into contact with the horde.
Landing atop a grounded Heathen residing upon an aquatic one, Esme gave it a grinding tap of her boots. A bolt of flaming lightning exploded downwards from her heels, through the Heathen, and into the collection of aquatic Heathens residing beneath it.
A kaleidoscope of black, grey, orange, red, and blue crackled outwards with a thundering explosion. The blobs of meat and chitinous plates, furry limbs, and smooth bits of skin splashed outward, dropping back down like a flash flood as they submerged Esme's surroundings in death.
Almost a hundred meters away from Esme's landing spot, Hilda's loosely formed body slid through the gaps between Heathen's.
Tentacles whipped out, limbs lumbered towards her, and sharp, scythe-esque forelimbs attempted to shred her.
But she slipped by it all.
Even though her body wasn't small, even though she seemed to be the easiest target out of the three...
"Hehe~ The little dummy is watching~" Hilda giggled, maniacally, joyfully... Why? Because her lover was watching, so, she had to show off!
Twisting her body playfully amid the siege of over 50 Heathens...
Hilda drew her sword.
A spiral of green.
A sheen of gold.
Both colours intertwined over her weapon as she spread her free arm outwards, and, with a sweet, lovely smile tinging her lips, her sword struck.
Horizontally.
Vertically.
Diagonally.
All directions at once, lines thrust themselves into each Heathen.
For a moment, the shrieks of the Heathens continued, the chittering of their limbs clamoured, and their vile breaths heaved, intending to crush the buxom-looking lady.
Of course, it was only for a moment.
Because that moment had already passed.
Her surroundings had already gone quiet.
And with this quiet...
Splat.
Splat.
Splat.
...
Simultaneously, all 50 Heathens were diced into pieces, their skin, flesh, organs, and bones; everything turned into an evenly-shaped cube.
Amid all of this, Hilda twirled backwards to face the distant Canary, waving-
"Did you see that! I call it Lover's Dice!"
-her smile was undoubtedly beautiful at that moment.
"Stop showing off." A dull, bored voice fluttered by Hilda's ears for a split second as, Thwack!, a bubble of dim light crashed into a collective of Heathen's that had been encroaching on Hilda's location.
That clamour of a chain echoed alongside the bursting noise of tearing flesh.
Amid the mayhem, a flicker of Jill's visage revealed itself.
And, in his hand, flinging around and cracking skulls, crushing torsos, and breaking limbs, was a flail; a metallic, dull flail.
His Manifestation.
Just like Hilda, he, too, had a cold weapon for a Manifestation.
Keeping his movements simple, Jill tore through a beast-like Heathen, stepped on top of a tentacled, aquatic Heathen till it burst as a form of jump pad to delve deeper into the horde, and split the swarm of Heathen's apart till they couldn't tell their lefts from their rights.
His body contorted eerily with each second, taking advantage of every gap and room available to push himself even further towards his limits.
He moved like a machine; a well-oiled, shining, yet, ironically, dull machine.
The chain followed loosely behind the spiked head of the flail, acting as a heavy whip as it blasted through ranks of Heathens as though they were worthless cretin.
A satisfying sight.
Jill's simplistic movements complemented the violence of his Manifestation.
Whenever an attack was beyond his reaction time, the Cloak of Verdansk would firmly consume the impact, freeing Jill to retaliate.
And, whenever the horde began to overwhelm him-
Vwoom!
-a shockwave rushed by, imploding the Heathens and giving him some breathing space.
The combination of my Order, Nemora's backing, and Elden's Cloak of Verdansk was a terror to face against. Perhaps it was fortunate that the majority of this horde of Heathens was mindless; otherwise, instead of the boring screams of these creatures, we'd be hearing the terrified cries of helpless, sentient Heathens.
Thus, in the distance, we were given the greatest show of flickering lights...
What were they called again...?
Fire...?
Something...?
While I struggled to recall that word, the flashes of white, the bellows of intertwining gold and green, and the explosive flickers of lightning and flames filled the swarm of Heathens before us.
"They're coming." Putting down the collection of Curses gripped in her hand, Nemora pointed her head at the Heathen's that had slipped past our crazed trio.
Thwuck!
Shutting the pages of my Book of Heresy, I allowed it to drift away back into my body as I stretched my limbs and loosened my muscles.
"I'll take care of them."
I didn't need my Tales for this collective of pathetic creatures.
Even my own patheticness cannot compare to their worthlessness.
Grinning, the emotions rising from the pits of my stomach told me everything I needed to know about myself. I love fighting. I love the adrenaline. I love the sense of freedom.
Everything about it, I love it.
Not the risk of death, but the rush of air, the rush of control!
The ship beneath my feet was no longer swaying in rough waves; the winds were calm, and the air was pure yet tinged with the fetid smell of Heathen blood wafting in from afar. The mingling breath of the nearby Heathen's also mixed in with the scent of the foul blood, drenching the air with a deadly concoction of poor smells.
And I...
Hehe!
...I jumped upwards, landed on the bow of the ship, and surveyed the Heathen's beneath me.
There were only 4 incoming types.
A half-fish, half-beast monstrosity that carried the crabs on its back. The crabs themselves. A furred bird with torn wings that flapped using Curses. And the slimes that took the form of a tentacle.
The first three were at the First Step, and the slimes were at the Second.
Not threatening, but also not easy to quickly take down.
The perfect combination for a fun fight~