Chapter 233: Less than Half
———Lerim———
<12: 21 pm>
“...Haaaa…” My body feels quite numb after tanking that. No matter. I still have enough in me, and if my speculation is correct, they are not in a good situation either.
“What the hell was that?” Vatch said, approaching me with an expression of utter confusion and terror. Seems like he has truly no idea that an attack would take place.
“A surprise attack meant to wipe this place out, obviously- Ah.” Damn, even my legs are starting to give out. Not that it matters. In all likelihood, they use up a lot of energy from the entire group to launch such a powerful and deliberate spell. They can’t attack immediately after.
“Hey! You okay?” He asked, seeing that I was looking like I was about to collapse.
“I’ll… be fine.” I said before sitting down and reaching into my bag, chugging down an entire bottle of a mana potion.
“Y-You even have stuff like that lying around?” He looked quite baffled at me using an important and expensive item without a shred of hesitation.
“Better to use it than leave it in the bag for all eternity. We need to inform the rest about the attack. We need to attack. Now.” I said before getting back up and jumping off the roof.
*Ring* *Ring* *Ring”
“<To all soldiers and explorers, come to the meeting room immediately. Repeat->” Well it looks like they quickly take the initiative before I could even say anything. Guess I can at least skip one step. Alright, let’s get there quickly. I need to explain to them what even happened anyway. I know for damn sure that they’ll probably come to a wrong conclusion if I didn’t provide them with any context.
Everyone is walking towards the same location, some much more hasty than others and some looking understandably afraid and confused. The shockwave from the attack colliding with my barrier alone probably gave them quite a scare if the area being covered in blinding light didn’t do that already. I’m not running and looking panicked. The main threat is already dealt with. Next is basically the cleanup.
This is probably one of the more well kept rooms, which is certainly quite a priority, but I have no time to fuss over such a thing.
Now the plan is quite simple. Hopefully they at least have some inkling as to what should be done at this point, since they managed to survive that unscathed thanks to me.
———Wiina———
<12: 25 pm>
“That was… certainly quite terrifying.” Karra commented as we looked at the area from overhead and saw the little dots on the map moving into a singular location, with a few fleeing the area entirely. “I can guess, but I wanna hear it from you, what was that?”
“A ritual spell. A complicated and powerful spell that needs such a large amount of mana that a single person can’t reasonably supply all by themselves, characterized by its long preparation time and usually requiring a group of people. It’s relative, of course. As you just saw, your friend there managed to shield everyone from the attack just fine.” If that thing caught her off-guard she would’ve perished alongside everyone else, but she quickly noticed the incoming attack, so at worst she would’ve been severely injured but still alive. This is the best case scenario, of course. She has just enough time to erect and maintain a barrier large enough to eat up the spell, if she acts on it even a few seconds too late the barrier might not hold. Even if she has enough mana in her reservoir to create a powerful defensive barrier, she can’t really get rid of the element of time in the equation. “You might already suspect it to be the case, and it’s quite clear whoever is the leader of the opposing party is quite skilled in magic to come up with such a powerful spell.”
“I’m surprised that she even managed to tank it at all.” She remarked.
“It’s a bit of a flaw when it comes to the ritual spells. They are usually constructed and used for a very specific purpose and punch way above their weight class. Most infamously are the summoning spells that use the providence elements that most don’t have access to, summoning demons or even other people. They usually can’t be maintained for long once the spell is cast for that very reason. It seems that despite its destructive potential, the spell fizzled out before it could come in contact with its intended target and spread out the damage. If that woman tried to simply counter it with an offensive spell of her own instead of stalling it out, the result would’ve been very different.” And this is despite the rather low quality of the ritual spell itself. If it had been something more refined or had a bit more power put into it, then Lerim would’ve had no choice but leave the rest of them to die or worse. It seems like whoever is in charge of it thinks this would be enough, and it would’ve been if Lerim wasn’t there. The other reinforcements were not capable enough to pull off what she did.
“So… What now?” Karra asked, even though the answer to that is quite obvious.
“Such a grandiose spell takes a lot out of many individuals. Depending on what was done it might’ve fatally drained a few people out of their mana and lifeforce. They can’t really afford to fire another attack right away. Considering the relatively modest nature of the ritual spell, it’s clearly something that could be replicated and fired off not too long after. Maybe not even a full day needs to be passed until it can be fired again. Now is the best time to strike.” There is an issue of Lerim depleting a lot of her own power to shield everyone, but she clearly has more than enough mana potions on her, considering her attitude and overall composure. “If they are quick enough, we might even get to witness the entire thing before the next class starts.”
“I feel like those soldiers are gonna take a while to get geared up and move, right? The adventurers should be much faster on foot than most of them.” She pointed out.
“That’s assuming the soldiers aren’t trained in the way of magic. That seems unlikely considering how much time has passed since the Eclipse and how many cases of those without magic getting stomped even with the advantage of their weaponry, and the fact that the opposing party feels the need to use such a powerful spell more or less spelled it out that the side your friend is on isn’t weak. Just perhaps not quite reaching the point where they can subdue the group on their own.” Considering the state of their headquarters, perhaps it’s a resource issue, or maybe just poor decision-making. Regardless of the reason for them being lacking, I know for a fact that they’ll come out of this just fine in the end.
“…Weren’t there some sort of ban on it by the government?” Karra pointed out, since it’s part of their operation to shut down anything related to the mystic arts early during the Eclipse.
“And were you seriously expecting them to be honest?” That’s a rather bad judgement call on her part.
“…You know what, that’s fair.” She conceded. I know that in general people don’t like to automatically assume that someone is lying, but on this occasion it’s already been proven a few times that more than a few big wigs do know and want to abuse magic, they are simply being way more quiet than they usually are. “I guess they’re gonna keep moving then?”
“What else can they do, just wait around and endure that long-range attack? They can’t even retaliate, especially with her exhausting much of her power to keep it at bay. From her perspective, even if she knows what type of attack that was, she can’t be sure that they can’t also find a way to tank a similar attack from her, and she’s not even a ranged specialist.” Her focus is more on one-on-one combat. Any sort of offensive area control ability isn’t her strong suit. It’s quite fortunate that she does learn how to create a barrier on that scale.
A dot on the map then moves first before all the rest, honing in on the location of the enemy’s base. She sure is quick, it has only been a few minutes. Quite uncompromising, if for a rather valid reason.
———Lerim———
<12: 38 pm>
*Dash* *Strike*
“We’re being attacked!” Someone screamed out loudly as I landed my first hit on the first person I saw. Doesn’t matter who that was. I just need to make sure to put them all on the ground before the rest of them arrive. If they don’t, I might need to do something drastic.
*Strike* *Smash* *Smack* *Kick*
I ran around and hit everyone with a strong punch or kick that sent them flying. I’m just going to keep doing this until I hit someone that doesn’t automatically go flying. In this day and age, it’s might that determine who is the boss more than anything else.
A simple solution to win a battle against a group is to take out its leader, and the quicker I can find whoever that is, I can end this farce and go back home.
*Smack* *Strike* *Punch*
I’m on autopilot at this point and just keep attacking. If the leader doesn't show themselves then I can’t guarantee that I won’t use a more permanent solution.
With what just happened, there is no way I can allow whoever that was to slip past my fingers.
*Zap* *Swat* *Leap* *Punch* *Crash* *Thud*
I don’t know who that was that tried to paralyze me with a spell, but I immediately got up in their face and punched them hard enough to crash through multiple trees. Someone with that kind of spell can’t possibly be a simple henchman.
*Dash* *Slash* *Kick* *Grab*
He doesn’t snap in half from the slash of my sword, and he’s still conscious after I follow it up with a kick to the head. Now who is this guy? Let me get a good look here.
“W-What the hell… are you?” That’s quite a typical response as he’s being held up by his neck.
“Just a normal girl.” I said before deliberating what to do with him. Maybe I can bait the leader of this pack. He should be something akin to a second in command, I doubt they can leave him alone.
*Drop* *Punch* *Leap* *Kick* *Crash*
I dropped him and punched him into the sky before following it up with a downward kick to send him back to the little base they created for themselves. I can even see the circle meant for performing a ritual from up here, so this is definitely the place.
*Blast* *Block*
As I landed back down another spell was thrown my way. The weight of it is much more significant that the little zap the guy beneath my feet was attempting to stop me with.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
It’s then followed by multiple gunshots that harmlessly bounced off me. Nothing but a waste of bullets. Those things can’t harm someone on my level unless I was caught by surprise.
*Swing* *Slash*
I swung my sword in the direction of the assailants and all of them were blown away by the pressure except for one.
“You must be the one.” I remarked before kicking the guy beneath me away, unable to move at all, clearly struggling to even stay conscious.
“Quite the nerve to come here by yourself.” Yeah yeah, that’s what they all say. “I can’t say I know which faction you came from, but it doesn't matter. You’ll die here.”
“Oh. You got two things wrong.” I said before he could act. “One, I’m not a part of your ilk. Secondly…”
*Sizz* *Blast* *Leap*
I jumped out of the way of the giant fireball and let the gravity drag me right towards him.
*Shine* *Swing* *Block*
He blocked the incoming attack from above with a barrier. I was bounced back by the force of the collision.
“You die here, understand?” I cannot leave someone so willing to glass an entire area to roam free now, can I?