Chapter 72: Let’s go!
“Alright. Since you insist on being on the raid team, let’s see whether you have the skill to back up your mouth,” Bernard said as he gave a blunted sword to Alicia. “A mage is crucial, but they are nothing more than baggage if they don’t know how to fight for themselves, and we don’t have the manpower to escort mages. I hope you understand. This won’t be like your usual mage duty, where you can sit in the fortress nice and cozy. You must fight!”
“I am the greatest knight and mage in Shadowstep. You should be worrying whether you can pull your weight.” Alicia cocked her hips. One might wonder whether she was being arrogant or whether she was feeling proud. But one thing was for sure: she had confidence. Not in her own ability, but in the cheat Goddess Sistielle gave her.
“Let’s have a spar. No magic, okay?” Bernard drew his sword.
“I will kick your ass!” Alicia unsheathed her sword. She then leaped straight at him. Then, her blessing started giving signals, telling her where to step, telling her where to press the advantage.
Instead of an overhead swing, Alicia went for a light stab. Bernard parried the stab; his reaction was quick. He then went for a wide sweep with his blade. Instead of parrying it, Alicia crouched, letting the blade pass above her. Her hair swayed as the violent wind from the blade passed above.
Instead of pressing on, her instinct told her to flee, and she did. She tried to press on the attack, but her legs refused to move. She tilted her head at the sudden mismatch. Confusion crawled into her heart at the weird sensation.
She didn’t feel as if she was winning. In fact, her instinct told her she would lose if she kept it up.
She was supposed to be unparalleled in swordsmanship. So, why was her instinct telling her she would lose?
She didn’t know that sword skills granted by the goddess didn’t betray the laws of physics. She couldn’t suddenly blink behind an opponent or parry them to lead them by the nose. In a swordfight, strength mattered as much as skill did. And while the goddess gave her the skill, her body lacked the dexterity and strength to carry it out.
“That was good reflez. Didn’t think you could dodge that. If you were a bit older, you might win.” Bernard nodded. “I guess you can back your mouth up a little. You do seem to have received some sort of training. But it was a bit too soon for you to accept this kind of request, kid.”
Bernard lunged. His greatsword swept low. Alicia blocked the strike with her training sword, but the force was too great. She was thrown to the ground.
Bernard then thrust his greatsword. This time, Alicia’s instinct kicked in. Her sword skill had given her an insight.
This is a chance! She could win this!
Alicia swept her sword and thrust right at his neck. Bernard’s eyes went wide at the sudden thrust. But his experience on the western frontier didn’t allow for such an opening. His decision was swift. He blocked the sword with his hand and turned. His leg crashed into Alicia’s flank.
“Ouch!!” Alicia plopped down. Her grip loosened and her sword was flung from her hand. If she was not a girl but a man, such a halfhearted kick wouldn’t matter. But she was just a girl, barely twelve years old. That kick alone hit her worse than she had expected.
Alicia, who had never experienced discomfort or injuries before, yelped. Paralyzed with pain, her eyes spun as she lay on the ground, her mouth tasting dirt and sand.
“Owiee,” Alicia groaned.
“I guess that’s about it.” Bernard sighed in relief. For a moment, he thought he would lose. After a second thought, he didn’t want to bring Alicia. She was too young. She should be making tools to enrich people instead of risking her life in a suicide mission.
“That’s cheating! I scratched you with my sword! I won!” Alicia scowled.
“Hm…” Bernard frowned. Technically, she was right. Blocking with a hand counted as a hit. However, this spar wasn’t merely for a tournament or for show. They had to survive, and Alicia, despite how dumb she looked, was actually very smart. Her skill with swords was divine. If she had trained hard, she would have surpassed Bernard in no time. Bernard knew that. But currently she lacked experience in life-and-death situations. A single kick was enough to paralyze her. That was the proof.
“Bernard. I think we should let her in.” His adjutant, who acted as a referee, told him. “Without her, our chance of survival would be extremely thin.”
“No, I doubt she would survive. What if something happens to her? The country couldn’t afford to lose a level-seven mage like her. She can reach even greater heights than this. The time of mage warriors had passed. Mages should stay in the back, supplying us with weapons.”
Bernard didn’t want her to join. He was loyal to his country. He knew how much Alicia was worth. A single level-seven mage like her was worth more than even a hundred sergeants like him. That’s why he was adamant about refusing to let her join.
“But we couldn’t possibly slip past liches with just a squad.”
“We could. It is after we destroy the Arcane Initiator that troubles will begin,” Bernard said.
Undead mostly relied on their commanding officers, the liches. Apart from that, they mostly relied on sound. Some zombies could probably see, but their vision was no better than that of children or pompous nobles. Bernard was confident in his ranger training.
If the scout who delivered the information about Arcane Initiators could do it, so could he.
The problem was after the Initiator was destroyed. He didn’t know what would happen. It would be best if all the monsters would just perish, but on the off chance they went berserk, he and his squad would definitely perish.
Alicia could open a way for him to escape. Her magic was perfect for this. If they could escape to nearby fortresses, this whole calamity would end.
As he stewed in his thoughts, another alarm rang. A short burst, signaling another fort had fallen.
“Attack! Ride out, we need to save the retreating soldiers!” a soldier ran to him. He then turned to Alicia. “You are expected at the mage tower. We need your mana.”
“On it.” Alicia took a deep breath, rubbing her flank as she walked toward the mage tower. She and Elidranthia had just appeared here less than a week ago, and they were already indispensable for the fort’s defenses. Bernard clenched his teeth. Just as he thought, he should do this alone. There was no way he could risk Alicia’s life just for his own.
“Ready several volunteers. We will do this mission without her after the assault. We shall depart in the evening,” Bernard whispered.
Meanwhile, Alicia was complaining to herself at her apparent lack of skills.
“Ugh… How could I lose? I thought I had cheat powers from the goddess.” Alicia felt pain in her flank. Bernard, to his surprise, failed to hold back when he kicked her.
She thought she had received cheats from the goddess. After all, she had won in all friendly matches against her peers when she played around in the scholar course. They didn’t look like they held back either. So she was confident she had the instinct, just not the strength and dexterity.
“Ready the fire arrows. Mages, summon the meteor shower!”
“Huh? Are we really going to summon it toward our own allies?” The commander tilted her head. Alas, she still obeyed the command.
“Alicia, charge this arcane stone. I will prepare the array to summon a tactical spell,” the sergeant of the mage corps, Larenia, ordered. Alicia sighed and took her post. Her mana spread out, widening around the tower.
This was ritual magic, a magic that combined several mages’ mana and arcane stones. Alicia pondered over the spell. Her brain failed to catch up. Despite all the cheats the goddess provided her, Alicia realized that she could only cast fireballs. This magic was above her current pay grade. Even though she might have enough mana, she couldn’t construct such a complex spell just yet.
The sky then darkened. Lightning zapped between the dark clouds as a red glow pierced through them. Alicia expected a meteor as large as a mountain to crash into the helpless skeletons below. But instead, the spell cast hundreds of small flaming stones upon the marching army.
“Oh. Amazing. You missed the retreating party,” Alicia commented when she realized the meteor shower missed the retreating soldiers despite them being more than a kilometer away.
“You will do better someday, if you practice. Please don’t let up on the mana. They are depending on us.” Feeling proud, the mage commander refocused her effort on casting another volley of meteor showers on the enemy backline.
Using dark arts, the enemy liches cast a dark shield above them as they marched toward the fortress. But it was enough. Alicia and the commander had done their duty. Their meteor shower had stalled the enemy, burned the vanguard, and bought enough time for the retreating soldiers to reach the fortress.
Now it was time for the soldiers to fight them close and personal.
“Should I go there and help them?” Alicia wondered as a ballista shot an explosive arrow at the lich. The bolt exploded, blasting the lich into ash.
Then another arrow went off.
“You shouldn’t,” the mage said. “It’s not safe there. As much as I hate it, we are more important than common soldiers. Without us, this fortress couldn’t defend against the liches’ magical attacks. Instead of fighting them there, we should provide support fire from here. I have a few other tactical spells designed for close quarters.”
“Why don’t we use them?”
“Mana shortage. I wasn’t supposed to use them without permission, but since we have a rank-seven mage here, will you help me?”
“Yes! I will give you as much mana as you need! Let’s do it!” Alicia was eager to see another large spell.
“Understood. Let’s help them as much as we can. Soldier, please inform the sergeants that we will perform a fire encirclement in 3 minutes,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am!” The soldier saluted and left.
And so, Alicia was ready to work.