Capítulo 67: One Down...
Shoutout to my new patrons:
Takatchi
Brent Sears
WyrmDragon
Rebek
DCor
Johnny Larsson
You are all bloody legends!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve observed all the enemy targets from the top of the titan's head, carefully analysing their positions and debating how to use Godzilla further than this. The point was to show the world the raw ability and power of the Ptah Familia by putting on a demonstration, which judging by the complete reactions he was getting on the listening devices he'd planted throughout Orario and on Ptah, Godzilla had done the job perfectly.
But now the War Game had to continue...they'd come here for a fight, and they were not going to accept surrenders even if the adventurers were terrified of the Titan. Knowing that all eyes were on him from both the opposition and the city, Steve pulled one side of the chain back to make Godzilla turn its head in the direction Steve wanted it. Godzilla was guided to look right at the Freya Familia base, and up at the tower where Ottar was situated.
Grinning, Steve flicked the chains signalling the titan to start charging up. The rumbling of Godzilla's dorsal plates charging energy rumbled throughout the landscape as blue energy shone through the ridges between the titan's scales while blue fire built up in Godzilla's mouth. The enemies' eyes widened as they knew now exactly what was going to happen.
Godzilla fired a beam of atomic breath, illuminating the land even in the daylight, straight towards the tower. Ottar tensed as he grabbed his two swords that were stuck in the ground, and jumped off the tower just in time as the blast hit it. Heavy stone bricks, wood and tiles simply sublimated in the face of this breath attack and those of the Freya Familia who were on the ground had their faces hit with scorching heat generated by the beam, as high above the ground as it was.
Ottar impacted the ground and rolled to keep from damaging his knees. As he settled into a crouching position, he smelled something burning and looked over his shoulder to see the small cape he'd worn had caught alight somehow. He'd very narrowly escaped. He stood and with a hand tore off the expensive piece of fabric and tossed it on the ground.
His heart was racing and the heat of his blood filled his eyes. He'd been right; something unprecedented had happened. Never before had he been faced with any creature even remotely as large, powerful and terrifying as that beast out there in the lake. And the fact it looked that big even when it was 3 to 4 miles away, Ottar couldn't even comprehend how big it could be.
"What are we doing Ottar?" Hedin asked with his staff out and clad in his best magic repellent robes. "How are we going to stand against this thing?"
"He can use that monster all he likes." Allen said, though a visible bead of sweat ran down his face. "We are not giving up now...right?"
"Even if we did surrender, it does not seem that they will accept judging by what they've just done." Ottar stood to his full height. Even though he couldn't see outside due to the wall, he felt as if he could still see Godzilla from here. "The flag cannot be protected here. That monster is going to just barrel through this castle like it's a sand hill."
"Yeah, something tells me he's not coming for the flag." One of the Gulliver brothers said.
"With a monster like that, he most likely wants to just stomp everything to the ground."
"So typical of a human, always going around stepping on everything."
"He has to be strong though if he could enslave that thing."
...
They were cut off as Godzilla roared in the distance once again, and it seemed that this noise finally struck something in the adventurers of the other teams.
From the Apollo Familia, adventurers immediately started jumping the walls of their base and began running away as Hyakinthos could only sit in his pompous makeshift wooden throne with a white face of terror as he was too petrified to even speak.
Over with the Ishtar Familia, Haruhime had shrunk back while gibbering in fear. Eventually the shock became too much for her to bear and she fainted into Aisha's arms who retained enough awareness to catch her. The Amazon grimaced before looking back to the toad.
"Well, what's the plan now?" She asked. "You sure you want to go up against that thing?"
The toad said nothing as her grotesque mouth hung open in disbelief before she turned around and jumped off the roof and began running in the direction of Melen. However, there was a crack of thunder and what sounded like a boom in the sky even though it was a clear blue. Then something fell out of it and landed in front of the toad woman as well as every other woman trying to flee the place.
The dust settled revealing a deep crater where the object had landed, and it was revealed to be two women. The forefront one was Alex and the one standing behind her was Kai. Both kitted out in their netherite armour, the weight of which being the cause of the extra deep crater upon their landing. Alex put on a grim smile as her eyes flickered between all the women before her, before she fixed her gaze on Phryne. She lifted her sword and pointed it at the toad.
"You there. Are you the captain of this troop of apes?" Alex asked as causally as if she were commenting on the weather.
That insult seemed to activate some innate instinct within women to defend themselves over their looks and they scowled heavily at her for it.
...
"The hell did you call us bitch?!"
"Apes?! Have you had a look at yourself..you. you..."
"Don't lump us in with the captain. We are beautiful young women that can have any man we want."
"I'm going to torch your hair and pierce those pretty green eyes of yours!"
"You're going to die here!"
...
"Talk about NPC language." Kai muttered before purple lightning suddenly crackled around her form.
The Ishtar Familia seemed to notice this, but before they could notice anything further, the lights went out for them. Phryne simply saw Kai standing behind Alex, and she suddenly appeared 20 feet behind her, right beneath the wall of their base. Every adventurer she'd passed by simultaneously collapsed to the ground unconscious with their eyes rolled back and their tongues lolling out.
Thanks to her hearing, Phryne could hear them still breathing but only just barely. The purple lightning which cocooned Kai seemed to die down and absorb itself into her heels. Cold sweat ran down Phryne's back as she realised how fast Kai had moved. In a fraction of the time it took for someone to simply blink, Kai had moved from adventurer to adventurer and had knocked them out with none of them even realising they were unconscious.
And reality only seemed to just register it happening as about a moment later, a draught of wind blasted across the area from what the toad supposed was Kai's path that she'd taken. Then from Kai's previous standing place appeared footprints in the form of flattened grass, that looked as if an invisible person was currently walking all over the place. The footprints swerved and curled around the places where an adventurer lay before eventually stopping at where Kai currently was.
It was so boggling that that Phryne could only stand there, confused and bug-eyed...or toad-eyed.
"Boy do I love this new skill." Kai commented to herself as she brushed some dirt off of her armour. "I'll have to thank that puppy later for acting as my dummy to test this power on. I wonder what he'd like... something to ponder on later I suppose."
Kai then took a red candle from her inventory and dragged it across the surface of the wall to crate a large red X on it. Phryne's large mouth opened in confusion before a sudden rustle behind her urged her to look to where Alex had been previously standing. But this time, the smaller girl was in front of her with a furious grimace on her face as her wide, sharp eyes glared at the toad in disgust.
"You are an absolutely repulsive looking creature." Alex growled angrily. "I'd be more than glad to finish you myself, but my captain is the one who wants to rip a pound of flesh from you...so I guess I can only provide the appetizers."
Alex buried her fist deeply into Phryne's gut, and the Minecrafter cringed at exactly how much blubber her fist had to pass through for her to hit something more solid. On top of that, the rest of Phryne's body ballooned out like a squeaky ball that had been stepped on as her eyes threatened to pop out from the force of the blow. In a split second, the toad's body contacted the wall right where the Kai had marked and the whole thing came crashing down.
While the toad's body bounced off somewhere, the room that had been revealed was in fact where the Ishtar Familia flag was, guarded by three Amazon women and Tammuz, the male aide one would find situated besides Ishtar's throne, and the official vice-captain. The Amazons did not spare their captain a passing glance as their survival instinct kicked in and they leapt at the two girls who entered.
One of them tried to roundhouse kick Alex in the side. But what could be expected when flesh and bone hit an immovable object which was also coated in a material even denser than diamonds which were already denser than normal diamonds because they originated from a world with a gravity three times greater than what was here in this world?
The answer was the Amazon's leg completely shattering as the shin onwards bending forward in the wrong angle as the Amazon mangled her own leg. The scantily clad woman dropped her sword which she was hoping to use in a follow up attack and grabbed her injured leg, howling as she hopped on one leg to try and keep balance. Alex cringed at her screams, and could feel a literal ringing in her ear due to the racket.
"Will you just shut up?!" Alex shouted as she back-handed the girl away. There was a crash which revealed the injured Amazon's body buried in the wall with a sickening crunch. Blood pooled out from behind her head as she slid to the ground, still and unconscious with her eyes rolled back. There was also what looked like a crater in the left side of her ribs where Alex had back-handed her, which suggested broken bones, and probably pierced lungs...or even a pierced heart.
Kai meanwhile zipped past the other two Amazons and kicked the back of their legs so they both began spinning in the air. She then pulled out two Netherite swords from her inventory and impaled them both at the same time through their abdomens, holding them there for a few seconds before she let the sword drop and the bodies slide off.
Tammuz meanwhile pulled out a gleaming sword that was an unusual silvery white in colour, even lighter than the metal collar around his neck.
"Those three were just low level twos." He said grimly.
"Really?" Alex asked. "Explains why they were so weak."
"But I'm a level 4!" He said as he got into a stance and held his weapon above him while the sharp point was still pointed at Alex who had actually gotten closest to him, intent on taking the flag. "And I bear a Durandal weapon!"
"Durandal huh?" Alex paused and put a finger to the side of her chin. "Makena mentioned something about that. What were they again?"
"Some sort of special way of forging or something that's supposed to make the weapons unbreakable." Kai said. "One of Steve's birds, that little Ais darling, her weapon is a Durandal, you know the one that Steve enchanted?"
"Yes, I remember now." Alex said before she looked back at Tammuz. "You think that a fancier sword is going to help you in any way?"
"Enough procrastinating!" Tammuz thundered. "You insulted the honour of Lady Ishtar, and for that, you and your heathen Familia shall pay dearly for it!"
He rushed at Alex and swung the sword towards her neck. He put the full might of a level 4 behind it, such that a pressure field was created around the blade and for a moment, he was certain he'd hit his mark on the exposed skin of Alex's throat. But he did not even register Alex ducking down just enough to catch the blade in her teeth. Tammuz was shocked at how simply and fearlessly she'd stopped it, especially in the way she caught it.
And no mater how he tugged and he pulled, he could not wrench it free. Alex then began pushing back on him and he began resisting, trying to fender her off with his Durandal sword still stuck in her teeth. Alex increased the pressure that her jaw was exerting and in front of his astonished eyes, cracks began to spread all around the blade, before it simply shattered into dozens of fragments and he could only watch helplessly as he held the hilt while the rest of the broken blade clattered to the floor.
"But...but...it was a Durandal from Lady Ishtar herself!" He stuttered, his usually cool and placid eyes wide in shock and disbelief. "This impossible! They're unbreakable! They're-"
CRUNCH!!!
Tammuz keeled over as all the air was knocked upwards and out of his mouth as his eyes bulged out in the most unbelievable agony he'd ever felt, pain flaring up in his nether regions and extending to his stomach. Alex's armoured leg had caught him between the legs right in the batteries via a swift kick.
...
At that moment, every man viewing this in live time in Orario collectively hissed and cringed in pain, while some closed their legs or cupped their genitals in reflex at seeing this.
Just the sound alone made some of their testicles instinctively recede as far as it could back into the body. Immediately, many across the city clasped their hands and prayed in sympathy for Tammuz's suffering, and mourning for the possibly lost generations meant to come.
...
"What do we do now?" Kai asked as she rolled up the flag. "Getting this thing doesn't disqualify them. They're going to still fight."
"We are not expecting anything less." Alex said firmly. "Now let's get out of here. Zuri's about to level this whole place with a spell. These worthless ants might not be able to harm us but one of our own very well might."
They were both interrupted by a cry from above and they looked up to see that the roof was giving away a little. Due to Alex punting Phryne through the wall so hard, the damage had extended to the roof and now that too was caving in. And who should have slipped and was now hanging on for dear life other than a Renard in a red robe who'd been frightened awake again.
Leaning over the edge of the collapsing roof was an Amazon with the right side of her face covered by hair, and she grasped the Renard's right arm with hers as she tried to pull Haruhime back up. As Aisha yanked her back up, Haruhime's hood fell back, revealing the yellow hair and fox ears.
Alex and Kai's eyes narrowed as they squinted at the features of both girls, and it clicked for them both simultaneously as they nodded at each other. These were two of the people Steve had marked out for them not to kill or dismember...as a matter of fact one of these two was one that Steve had stressed on not harming the most.
Alex kicked up a brick before volleying it at the ceiling, making it crack and collapse beneath both women. The rest of the roof fell away, making both girls gasp as they lost footing and found themselves falling through the air. Aisha righted herself and prepared to land first so she could catch her friend.
But Haruhime was saved from impacting the ground by Kai clasping onto the back of her robe with one hand. The Renard meekly gasped as she was suspended above the ground and she looked into the eyes of the taller girl with a playful smile.
"Nice of you to drop in." Kai said sweetly.
"...Seriously?" Alex groaned in disgust at the pun.
"What?! It fits the predicament." Kai sulked.
"Let her go!" Aisha said as she drew out her Podao. "Drop her and face me!"
"Easy there, tiger." Kai held a hand in front of her. "We are under explicit orders from our Captain not to harm her. For whatever reason, he seems to think she's quite valuable. Whatever it may be, it's clear he wants her."
Aisha paused at that as her brain tried to make sense of this. Nobody should have really known about Haruhime as the Renard was the most background character of the entire Familia and she was enveloped in secrecy. The only times she really came out was when it was night and the entertainment district was full of customers. But even if Haruhime had never actually managed to entertain anyone, nobody should really have suspected anything about the girl.
She was certain as the de-facto vice-captain that absolutely nobody outside the Familia knew about Haruhime's special power as it was the most closely guarded secret amongst all of Ishtar's other dirty works, so there was no way the Ptah Familia's captain could want her for that.
Word was flying around that Stephen Hewer was an exceptional womaniser, which was why he could secure the Sword Princess and that he apparently had thing for blondes...and Haruhime was also an exceptionally beautiful blonde. Given that the boy was already seemingly starting a harem as every almost powerful man usually did....
...Aisha gripped her weapon harder as her gaze hardened. She did not like the implications.
"You really should watch your choice of words Kai." Alex chided her. "Look, she's got the wrong idea."
"I did my best." Kai said calmly, not even fazed as Aisha leapt forward, the ground cracking beneath her under the force of her feet at she swung her sword at the outstretched arm holding Haruhime.
Kai simply reached out with her other arm and flicked Aisha's wrist, making the blade veer off to the side and open the Amazon's defences wide. The blonde haired Minecrafter then jabbed at certain points on Aisha's body faster than lightning and the Amazon dropped to the floor, her body completely seized up as she could not even move a finger.
"Classical nerve attack." Kai looked down at the Amazon. "Usually I use this move when I aim to keep my opponent alive as I tear them apart...and make them feel every moment of it. You're fortunate today, since the captain also seems to want you."
Aisha could not even frown in contempt as her facial features were also frozen. Alex walked forwards and picked up the frozen Aisha by an arm and threw her over her back before she turned to the quivering Renard held forth in Kai's grip.
"Listen here real good little girl." The vice captain said to Haruhime. "We don't intend to harm you, so comply quietly and you may find a better place to be in than the whorehouses of Ishtar and whatever else they do to you there. You don't comply, then we'll have to use more efficient methods to take you back with us."
Haruhime said nothing as she froze up in fear of Alex's words. Kai just rolled her eyes.
"Yikes, and here you're berating ME about my choice of words." Kai said with a voice laced in irony.
Alex just narrowed her eyes at her before a pile of debris in the corner of the room shifted and out rose Phryne with blood running down her face as her flabby hands poked at it. Under her fingers, she could feel several cuts and scrapes and her insides hurt like she'd never felt any pain ever before. Her toad eyes widened in horror as she realised her features had been marred.
"HOW DARE YOU, YOU HORRIBLE WENCH!" The toad rasped in her guttural voice. "YOU HIDEOUS WITCH! YOU WERE JEALOUS OF MY BEAUTIFUL LOOKS SO YOU DECIDED TO TRY AND RUIN THEM! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"
"Perhaps I went too easy on you." Alex muttered before her form blurred and Phryne was sent crashing through the other wall into the main part of the storehouse where the rest of the Ishtar Familia were situated. Clangs of metal and and the scrape of sharp weapons started to ring forth from that room as Kai put Haruhime down and turned her to face her.
Aisha, who'd been dropped by Alex before the orange haired girl had gone after Phryne looked up at the two as she tried to hear what Kai was saying over the roars of battle.
"Look here...uhhh..." Kai scrunched her eyebrows. "What's your name by the way?"
"H-H-Haruhime." The Renard stuttered. "Sanjouno Haruhime."
"Sanjouno then. Can I call you that? That is your given name right?"
"N-No. It's my family name. Our g-given names come last w-where I come from."
"Oh right. An eastern tradition thing." Kai sighed. "Haruhime then?" She got a nod in return. "Look, we're not here to do anything bad to you, or your friend down there. And I know it's a stretch to claim that when I've just incapacitated her..." The body of an adventure was flung through the hole in the inner wall and collided with a support pillar, which broke the thing in half and brought more of the roof down on top of the body. "...and after my friend there is basically pulverising your Familia. But believe us, our captain wants to save you."
"Save me?" Haruhime asked, her eyes widened in disbelief. "B-But I don't even know him!"
"And he's never met you either by his own admission." Kai chuckled before looking into the girls green eyes. "I know you're going to find it hard to believe anything we say especially when we have a 400 foot monster out there in the lake giving everyone the death stare for ten miles around. But we're not cruel people, and our captain definitely isn't. He has special powers...and he can tell when somebody is in trouble...and when they're in trouble, he comes to help them. Sometimes he just knows things, and he uses his mysterious knowledge to help people."
"...Like a hero?" The Renard asked tentatitively.
"I wouldn't exactly call him the typical gallant white knight hero type astride a noble steed." Kai scratched the back of her head. "But...he's a hero to everyone else on our team. Take me for instance. I just found myself stranded in a strange land once with no memory but my name and certain abilities I had. I would not have survived one bit since that place was crawling with monsters who would pursue me endlessly for my blood, and could only be deterred by deflections and circumstances of great magnitude. But it was Steve in the end who pulled through, and made me a part of his family."
"But...but you're not a prostitute like me." Haruhime's ears drooped. "Hero's don't save prostitutes."
'No, they just plug into them when no one's looking.' Kai thought grimly.
"It never really mattered to him what our background could be. There is one amongst us who cannot stay still unless she's killed something that day, and she's always fingering one of her weapons. Who knows what background she might have had? But regardless, she was in need of help, and Steve helped her." Kai grabbed Haruhime's forearm. "Tell me little girl...are you in need of help?"
"...No."
"Tell me honestly. We are high levelled adventurers, and because of that, I can hear your heart speed up when you lie."
Haruhime looked down at Aisha who was still frozen solid. The Amazon would have loved nothing more than to make a decline to Kai's offer. But from what she was hearing and seeing, their Familia could not stand ay chance against perhaps even one of these two freaks alone. And she was helpless as she could not defend or assist Haruhime in any way or form. The safest bet was to go along with whatever the Ptah Familia had planned, and take this easy escape route.
Aisha could smell a bloodbath coming and she would rather not have Haruhime within ten miles of it. So as best as she could, she tried to convey her message to Haruhime through her eyes. And luckily, the Renard got it.
"...Y-Yes. I am in need of help." Haruhime said before she looked up at Kai. "But please! Don't go to these lengths for our sakes. We're not worth the trouble!....why us out of all the other people in the Ishtar Familia?"
"You'll have to ask him when you meet him." Kai said. "I was merely told you to bring you two back with us." Kai's keen eyes caught the situation between the two girls. She stood to her full height and looked down at the frozen Amazon. "Our captain is very much aware of the activities Phryne Jamil indulges in...and due to that, he has made the judgement that she will not live past the setting of the sun tonight. With her gone, Ishtar will lose her strongest pillar of support, and she will be swarmed by all the other opportunistic scum in her district. Come with us, and the little fox will be away from all of that. If not the second thing, won't Phryne's death alone be good enough reason for you two to come with us?"
Kai stared at the Amazon as she waited for an answer.
---
"So this is your strategy?" Zuri asked Steve as the Minecrafter kept using Godzilla to fire blasts of atomic breath at different points of the fort in which the Freya Familia was situated. "Keep the strongest of our foes on their toes so they don't come here, while the rest of us collapse the bases of the other two Familia and take their flags."
"I want this to be a true battle royale at the end of it all." Steve said. "We destroy their nests, and the rats will come flooding out. Then I will use a world border to force them all into one spot and there, the true carnage will begin."
"Speaking of which..." Sunny said as he stared out at the vast expanse of the grasslands between Melen and Orario. In the horizon, Babel was just visible and the people from the Ishtar and Apollo Familia who were fleeing Godzilla entered that large area of grassland. "...you might want to put the border up now. They've crossed the line you drew out."
"Have they?" Steve looked out and confirmed what Sunny was saying. "Oh, well it looks like they have. Ari, take over for me." Ari jittered in excitement at being able to take control of Godzilla but Steve pointed a long finger at her face. "No killing. I just want you to break down their walls bit by bit and make them reveal their flag. I want to drive the whole lot of them into the grasslands."
"Alright fine." Ari huffed as she took the chains from him. "Party pooper."
Steve rolled his eyes as he typed out the border limits his chat bar and ran the command. People who were fleeing suddenly slammed into some invisible forcefield and nearly broke their faces as they stumbled backwards and looked up as a new phenomenon broke their minds once again. In view of all the people in Orario and in the surroundings of the battlefield, there rose what looked like a magical barrier of rippling blue colours.
It seemed to be just a tall wall of rippling blue waves that stretched high into the sky, possibly going on forever as it stretched even higher than Babel. The adventurers who had been trying to flee into Melen tried to cross the barrier once again but found that no amount of effort, pressure or force they exerted, they simply could not pass through into the fishing village. In that way, a world border which stretched from the lake to the walls of of Orario which surrounded the grass plains in between the two locations was put up, trapping all participants within with the Ptah Familia and the Titan that they had brought forth.
Seeing this, the adventurers decided to move as far away as possible away from the titan which was to cross into the grasslands and move to the part of the barrier that was nearest to Orario. Steve then faced a palm to the barrier and activated {Tongue of the Laws} as he began to weave certain qualities into the barrier which would not be normal or conventional in the normal game.
Zuri raised a brow at the muttering Steve was doing but waited until his captain was done doing what he was doing and then decided to pose the question.
"What did you do exactly?" The spectacled player asked.
"In summary..." Steve grinned. "...anybody inside here, will have their deaths denied and nothing we do in here will effect the outside world."
"So they're just going to have the totem effect as you kill them over and over?" Zuri asked. "What exactly is that supposed to accomplish here?"
"It prevents them from escaping." Steve answered. "And once we destroy their bases, I'll reduce the barrier to just the grassland and exclude the lake. That is where they will test our real might...and I also have my own reasons."
"...You have a specific target in mind." Zuri realised. "And you want to provoke their Falna into making them progress further. But who stands to have the biggest achievement by further progress?" Zuri held a finger to his temple as his brain rushed through all the candidates for who Steve's target could be before it clicked. "...It's him. You're aiming for him so he can level up...aren't you?"
"...Your genius is actually terrifying." Steve said. "I did not divulge any part of that to any of you and you just figured it out on the spot."
"What are you gaining from this? They're supposed to be our enemies."
"I have genuine respect for the guy. Anyone who doesn't is a fool. And he hasn't been able to level up because he hasn't had a proper opponent. It's about time he moved to the next level...as an adventurer alone, I'd say he's earned it." Steve then looked at Efe who was carrying a rolled up bundle in her arms. "You ready to prop that thing up soon?"
"Yes Onii-chan." She nodded.
"Good." Steve said in satisfaction before they heard rustling behind them as Alex and Kai teleported with two other girls in their grip. Alex had a still Aisha slung over her shoulder while Kai had her arm around Haruhime. "About time you were back. I would have thought giving you the teleport ability would speed things up."
"We had a scuffle with a rather over-sized toad." Kai said as she pushed Haruhime towards him. "But we have them now, so we can move on."
Haruhime turned white however as she looked behind her and saw Godzilla's huge dorsal plates behind her. She then looked to where her feet were, noticing that the floor was unusually hot and saw that she was standing on giant, black scales. Looking ahead, she saw that they were all standing on the head of a rumbling Godzilla as Ari kept guiding the titan to fire blasts of Atomic breath at different parts of the sea fort and making members of the Freya Familia run amok.
"Welcome aboard, Miss Haruhime." Steve said. "Glad to see you could join us. We don't exactly have any place comfortable for a dignified dame like yourself to sit, but we should be able to figure something out."
"...Heeh!" As impossible as it had seemed, Haruhime's face turned a shade even whiter as steam came out her ears. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed unconscious on her back, still as a dead person.
"Well...that was helpful." Zuri folded his arms.
"Shut it." Steve grumbled. "Now do your thing before I kick you off of here."
"You know I'd just fly back up." Zuri shook his head before he took out his wizard's staff.
Knocking the butt of it into the floor (which was Godzilla's head), a giant blue magic circle full of intricate runes and spinning hieroglyphs appeared in multiple layers around him as a pillar of blue light shot up into the blue sky from where he stood. Steve was taken aback at this as he looked to Noor for an explanation.
The curly haired girl who was stroking her cat smiled at him and answered his silent question.
"It's a part of his new skill." She said. "He's now able to cut out parts of different magic circles and weld them together instantaneously just by visualizing them and with no need for a long chant." She held a finger up as she explained. "He can take a boosting rune from from one spell, and a rune that deals with efficient magic expenditure. and a glyph that multiplies the effect of a spell and smash them together to create a spell, the content of which is free for him to realise. He doesn't need to read off a script anymore, he can just think it, and he will get what he wants."
"Quite close to my {Cataclysm} skill then." Steve said.
"Oh no, that skill of yours is still leagues more powerful." Noor said. "You're just only able to use offensive intent behind it. That's your limitation...while Zuri can use his for anything."
"I guess that's what you get when you are a dedicated mage like him." Steve said. "The Falna gives you things befitting of your personality...well done Zuri. I'm proud of you."
"Let him concentrate then." Kai nudged him before leaning in and whispering. "I bet he's showing off for his girlfriend watching this at the moment."
"I CAN HEAR YOU!" Zuri thundered as he looked away from his spell, though there was a notable blush on his face. "And Riveria is not my girlfriend...she's just a very good studying partner and fellow researcher. We share several interests after all."
"I didn't say Riveria now did I?" Kai grinned slyly.
"...Just shut up and let me focus." Zuri looked back to his work and grumbled. Though a small smile did form on his face after a short moment.
...
But just ask Kai had said, Riveria was watching this proceeding with great interest. As much as she'd been shocked by what had happened so far, what with the giant monster appearing out of the lake and stuff, nothing had captured her attention more than what Zuri was performing right at this moment. He'd promised her a demonstration of his offensive power.
His magic circles were far bigger and dozens of times more complex than hers as there was runic figures within the runic figures, adding more to the functionality of the spell and its output of power. To a normal person, it would seem tedious and boring, but to Riveria's eyes, she could see the absolutely massive difference between his talent and her own. It encouraged her to work even more to accomplish even a tenth of what Zuri was doing right now.
And on a side note...he was looking quite good now. Zuri had removed his armour and long mage robes with a bit of plating on them was revealed. He'd also removed his glasses while charging this spell up, bringing his handsome face out even more as his curly hair almost became straight as it flapped around his head in the outpour of pure magical power just overflowing from the circle. The pillar of wispy light he'd created out of those circles continued to brighten and illuminate the skies.
...He was everything she'd imagined a great mage looing like ever since she was a young girl...and her cheeks warmed a little as she finally got to see what she'd sought for so long, perhaps not in herself like she'd always wanted but certainly in one who was more deserving of that title.
Finn and Gareth eyed her from the side before returning to look at the magical screen in their living room.
...
A lenticular cloud formed above the Ishtar Familia's storehouse base as the hollowed inside of it glowed with blue light and lightning spewed around the outsides. As the magic circles of Zuri's spell span faster, so did the cloud as it churned with magical power and widened to great proportions until the heart of the cloud expanded to be even bigger than the storehouse and everything that immediately surrounded it.
Thunder crashed and wind howled as Zuri's magical presence made waves of water flow around Godzilla and bits of debris and large rocks and boulders began to levitate as every adventurer in the barrier felt the pressure of his Mind Pool bear down upon. Zuri pointed to the lenticular cloud and utter his line.
"{ᓭ∴𝙹∷↸ 𝙹⎓ ↸╎ᔑᒲ𝙹リ↸𝙹ᓵꖎᒷᓭ}!" Zuri shouted.
{Sword of Diamondocles}
There was an almighty clap of thunder that made children outside Melen and in Orario jump and cry with fear while scared mothers tried to desperately calm them down. The people viewing this in Orario were comforted that all this was happening within the constraints of a War Game...but for once, the ordinary people got to see just what kind of people they lived amongst...children of the gods.
Out of the mouth of the lenticular cloud dropped a magnificent diamond sword. Had this been in the game as Steve was used to, it would have looked just like the blocky standard diamond sword. But of course now, the weapons and items were super realistic in the real world amongst real physics.
This diamond sword however was almost as big as Godzilla, and almost as wide as Babel. Due to it's sheer size, it looked like it was falling slow motion but the Ishtar Familia sure learned otherwise as it fully emerged from the cloud and struck the storehouse. There was an explosion of fire and a blistering shockwave as the diamond sword sunk deep into the earth, and the dirt it pushed up while sinking in became molten as the rocks and metal properties melted under impact.
Every adventurer inside the now demolished store house was instantly killed as a wave of fire scorched the earth black and a rumble shook the air as the ground quaked with the impact. The earlier shockwave was powerful enough to push Godzilla back through the waves of the lake and slam the titan into the barrier Steve put up. The players held on to the titan's back while Kai and Alex held onto their hostages...uhm, guests.
Ari pulled on the chain bridle to help Godzilla settle himself as Steve planted his feet firmly into the titan's back. They stayed in silence for a moment as Zuri lowered his staff and grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry, I didn't realise how powerful it was." The mage said apologetically.
"Forget that." Steve said as he pointed. "Look there."
They looked to where his finger was pointing and watched as clouds gathered over the central part of the grasslands and the cluster of water vapour spat out some flailing figures. Figures of the Ishtar Familia that were supposed to have just died came hurtling out of the clouds and fell through thousands of feet of air as they collided harmlessly with the ground, any fall damage mysteriously denied to them as they rolled in the long grass while gibbering in terror, shock and trauma at having been stomped by a powerful adventurer, then flattened by a giant sword, then mysteriously resurrected and thrown out of the sky for thousands of feet, making them think they would die again by splattering on the ground only to not feel anything at all.
"Respawning them to put them through hell again." Alex said as she looked to the world border knowingly before looking at Steve. "You are one sadistic bastard."
"Thank you." Steve said, smiling at what he took as a compliment. He then focused on the base of the Apollo Familia. "Now then...Noor and Sunny...you're up next."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Comment and Review!
Discord: discord.gg/Jg8pH27e
Read ahead on my Patreon:
Patreon/ Vulkizaro_Zoromi
For commissions:
Ko-Fi/ vulkizarozoromi
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder