Chapter 134: Battle At The Factory(II) (Bonus)
However, although Casper had survived that attack by the narrowest of margins, he hadn’t escaped unscathed.
He had sustained a cut that sliced clean through his suit jacket and grazed his shoulder, leaving a thin line of blood seeping through the torn fabric.
Unfortunately for him, before he could even think about recovering his stance or assessing the damage, Nina’s golden shield came flying in at him again like a massive frisbee.
Casper’s head turned just in time to track its trajectory, stepping sharply to the side and letting the spinning shield fly past him.
But the moment he dodged it, he was immediately met by an enraged half-dragon summon who had already launched herself into the air above him, her flaming sword raised overhead and swinging down toward his skull.
The range and angle of the descending sword suggested that dodging was functionally impossible given how close she already was and how fast the blade was falling.
But right then, Casper brought both palms together above his head in one smooth motion.
He caught the flat surfaces of Nina’s blade between his hands with his teeth gritted hard, holding the flaming weapon down as his feet cracked the ground beneath him from the sheer force of impact driving him downward.
Casper’s upper body clothing had gotten completely incinerated from the sheer heat radiating off Nina’s Flaming Sword skill.
But his hands, which were directly gripping the blade itself while flames licked at his skin, seemed barely scorched even when they were literally inside those roaring fires. His palms showed only faint redness.
In that same instant, with both of them locked in place, Casper straining to keep the blade from his head while Nina drove it down with all her legendary-class strength, Ethan extended his left hand toward Casper’s exposed position.
Then unleashed another devastating barrage of lightning from his amplified Lightning Fury Bolts.
The range and spread pattern of the bolts as they erupted from his magic circle suggested that they were going to strike his own summon as well given how close she was to Casper right now.
At the last possible moment, Ethan dismissed the summoning skill. The half-dragon dissolved into specks of purple light, leaving Casper alone and exposed, his eyes widening in genuine surprise at the sudden disappearance of his opponent.
He took the full brunt of every lightning bolt at once, and the sheer force behind the spell lifted him off his feet and hurled his body backward.
Casper’s body flew through the air uncontrollably before crashing violently into red container sitting in the open yard of the facility.
Nina was instantly re-summoned at Ethan’s side in another burst of purple light, materializing with her sword and shield at the ready as they both watched closely to see what effect the attack had on their opponent.
Casper’s body had carved and imprinted itself into the container, leaving a perfect outline of his form on it.
Smoke rose from his electrocuted body, his pants charred and in tatters, yet he forced himself upright from the wreckage.
This deeply unsettled Ethan, who stared at him with growing concern on his face.
"How is this guy still standing?" He whispered to himself in disbelief.
Casper’s head was faced downward for a moment, then he raised his face slowly to reveal a wide grin spreading across his face despite the pain he had to be in right now.
He let out a short, sarcastic laugh before speaking.
"Ah, you’re really full of surprises, kid," Casper said with genuine amusement in his tone.
"In addition to being a caster and a summoner, you swing that sword like a decent saber too...Which happens to be the only weapon that could possibly harm me in this place."
Then he exhaled slowly, rolling his shoulders like he was loosening up stiff muscles after a warm-up exercise.
"I will now proceed to putting this to an end," Casper said with finality in his voice.
Right then, something changed in his stance.
It looked as though an orange glow was emanating from within his fists, visible through his skin like light shining through thin, translucent paper. The glow illuminated the network of veins along his hands and forearms.
Nina immediately recognized the threat and quickly assumed a defensive stance. But without any warning at all, something else happened.
A concentrated beam of dark red energy suddenly streaked across the distance from a different direction.
Nina’s head snapped toward it instinctively, and she immediately realized it was aimed directly at her. She moved her shield just in time, bringing it up as the beam struck its surface.
Ethan had levitated sideways from Nina’s immediate position to avoid getting caught in the attack.
The impact was so powerful that Nina’s legs began dragging backward across the floor despite her best efforts to hold her ground.
This devastating beam attack had come from Bierzim, Dante’s demonic summon spirit, who was somehow releasing this continuous stream of destructive energy from the very tip of its spear.
Dante himself watched from some meters beside his summon with his arms crossed, no longer content to simply watch from the sidelines anymore, or any orders.
Casper turned his head toward Dante with genuine fury in his eyes at the unwanted interference in what he considered his personal fight.
Right then, Ethan quickly readjusted his grip on Ragnarok’s hilt, holding it steady for a brief moment before hurling it like a javelin with all his amplified strength toward the demonic summon across.
The legendary sword spun through the air, aimed directly for Bierzim’s head.
However, Dante caught the moving trajectory, and by extension through their mental bond, Bierzim did as well.
The summon then leaned its head backward, letting the spinning blade pass through. The sword’s tip embedded itself into the thick concrete body of a support pillar beside Bierzim.
But in that exact instant when Ragnarok struck the pillar and came to a sudden stop, Ethan stretched his right hand out toward it and whispered, "Recall."
The command triggered immediately, and Ragnarok telekinetically wrenched itself free from the pillar it had been stuck in and reversed its trajectory, flying back along the exact same path it had taken but now moving even faster due to the skill.
Bierzim saw it coming this time as well through the corner of its eye, but the increased speed of the recalled blade made dodging significantly harder.
The legendary sword sliced clean through a substantial portion of Bierzim’s neck as the summon barely managed to jerk its head to the side at the absolute last instant, avoiding complete decapitation by mere centimeters.
Dark blood sprayed outward in from the deep gash carved in its throat as Ragnarok’s hilt returned smoothly back into Ethan’s waiting palm.
And the demonic summon let out a roar of pure anguish, extending one of its six hands toward its neck as blood gushed through.
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A/N: Last Bonus Chapter comes out in a few minutes