BXBX NOVEL Chapter 75 - Twenty-Seventh Episode - Zeshum Ruins (18)
Chapter 75 - Twenty-Seventh Episode - Zeshum Ruins (18)
I had straddled the beast-shaped golem with Maizen to chase after Ebelheid.
When I looked up, I could see the ruins floating and heading straight for the city of Lomarn.
At first, I had planned to go alone, but Maizen bowed to me, saying ‘I really want to see it through’, and I had to take him along with me.
There is a pair of men in Lomarn’s town who have fallen out with Maizen.
He must be worried about them.
“Abel, can’t you go faster! At this rate, we’ll be in town by the time we catch up…”
“Mmm, I can’t……”
I shake my head slowly, holding my mouth.
“I, I see…… I guess so, right?\'”
Maizen disappointedly let his head hang down.
“If I go any faster, I feel like I’m going to vomit…… I don’t want to break the constant velocity motion…”
“It’s all right then! P-Please, Abel! When that one, that one goes to town…… You can puke if you want! I’ll take it in my hand!”
What will that solution solve?
You’ll just get more people to lose.
I smack myself on the side of the head and stroke my throat.
I’ve calmed down a bit. I think it’s safe to reaccelerate the speed soon.
Going any faster is going to put a lot of strain on the beast-shaped golem…… but in any case, it’s destined to break if the hydeem magi-metal disperses.
I’m not going to spare you on that point.
“…… just hold on tight.”
“Okay.”
When I waved my staff forward, the beastly golem accelerated at once.
In no time at all, the distance between us and the flying fortress was decreasing.
I and Maizen tipped our backs forward and stuck to the beast-shaped golem’s back.
“Tha-, That’s amazing! At this pace, we’ll be catching up soon…”
My hand floats in the headwind. My cane nearly flies away.
I hurriedly reached out and managed to follow it, raising my upper body and grabbing it.
I was relieved, but this time my body floated.
“Abellllllllll!?”
Maizen somehow managed to hold my hand in flight and stop me from falling off.
But because of the wind knocking me off, I couldn’t see back and forth or up and down at all. I didn’t have time to give him the order to slow down.
Somehow, Maizen pulled up and slammed me into the back of the beast-shaped golem.
“Tha-, thank you…… I seriously thought I was going to die.”
“I seriously thought I was going to lose it too…”
When they settled down, the fortress was already almost directly above them.
I slowed down the beast-shaped golem so that it wouldn’t overtake me.
“Refine”
I waved my wand and chanted.
From the air, I created a metallic ball of hydeem magi-metal.
Outdoors, there’s no need to limit its size.
I made it twice as large in diameter as it was when I slammed one into the beast-shaped golem.
I flew it as hard as I could without holding back and smashed it into the floating fortress.
Just before the metal ball hit the fortress, it hit something transparent in color.
An auto-deploying ward.
But no problem.
A crack immediately appeared in the space and the ward collapsed. As it was, the metal ball collided with the fortress.
I was a little worried about whether the attack would pass through the wards, but with the way they look, it seems to be a matter of course.
“Did-, didn’t you already do it?”
“…… those wards are self-repairing-type huh.”
Maizen gasps at my muttering.
“Self-repair? I don’t really know…… but is that bad?”
I’m afraid I’ve caused you some unwanted anxiety.
I have to explain myself properly.
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. At that pace, you have about 15 seconds to get the warding back on track.”
“O-Only 15 seconds!? Oh no…”
“Yes. If it’s going to take fifteen seconds, it’s as good as not being there in this situation.”
“What!? Is, Is that so?”
“That’s because if you throw away your weapons and armor and stand on your feet for fifteen seconds in the middle of a battle, you’re going to die for sure. Maybe that repair function is not intended to recover in the middle of a battle.”
“Is, Is that… how it is? I don’t know much about magic so I don’t understand, but I still feel like it’s definitely different. Because…… fifteen seconds……”
Maizen was holding his head and muttering to himself, wondering what was tripping him up.
When I twisted my head, Maizen didn’t say anything.
For now, he seemed to agree with me.
If you’re going to sell continuous self-repair, it would be useless unless it’s strong enough to be broken by a few attacks, or fast enough to prevent all continuous attacks.
Even I, who have no experience in actual combat, can understand that level of detail.
That fortress will fall if you keep shooting metal balls at it.
I’ve never seen any other magic fortresses, so I can’t say for sure…… but it may not be for combat.
As I was observing to see if there was any movement in the fortress, I saw Ebelheid on the roof.
The other side was also staring at us, and our eyes met.
“Ebelheid, come down here!”
I shouted, but there was no response.
At this distance, he couldn’t have heard me.
The floating fortress opened here and there, and cannons came out.
It’s quite an impressive sight to see the turrets lined up all over the place.
They are in full attack mode.
Ebelheid, standing at the top of the fortress, points his hand at me.
All the cannons were aimed at me.
I give up on my persuasion and I imagine ten magic circles to smelt the hydeem magi-metal.
“Refine”
At the same time that I released the first metal ball, a bullet of light was released from the cannons of the floating fortress.
The metal ball thrusts forward while canceling out the light bullets, smashing through the newly repaired wards.
With fifteen seconds to complete the next self-repair, I’m going to put the end on it all at once.
I shoot out the nine remaining metal balls and imagine a new magic circle.
I don’t have any particular aim in shooting them out.
The metal balls dug’s into the wall of the floating fortress and penetrate it. Crushing the cannons one by one.
Smoke rises from various parts of the fortress.
No bullets are flying this way.
The hydeem magi-metal is a metal that can be made quickly and disappears quickly.
Instead of having to prepare it every time, its properties can be changed to some extent according to the occasion.
This time, the hydeem magi-metal has the property of attracting magic power.
As a result, the bullets of magic power released by the floating fortress will be attracted to the hydeem magi-metal and collide with it, all of which are dispersed.
Although it doesn’t have that strong of an attraction, but the fact that the other side is in a situation where they are aiming at us, it’s very effective.
When I thought I couldn’t see Ebelheid, who was at the top of the floating fortress, he seemed to have buckled or fallen down, and I could only see his hand on the edge.
I had also planned a few plans for when I couldn’t destroy the floating fortress, but I guess it was an unnecessary worry.
It’s going to be easier to get rid of it than I thought.
“Abel…… how strong are you……”
Maizen looked up at the crumbling surfacing fortress with his mouth half-open.
As he was thinking that the floating fortress was about to fall, the air in the area suddenly changed.
The lower part of the floating fortress split open, revealing a huge crystal.
As the crystal began to emit a suspicious purple light, a high-pitched sound rang out.
“w-, what the hell was that……”
“I’ve never heard of it before either, but it’s the sound a spirit makes when it runs out of power. Normally it’s a small sound that humans can’t pick up…… but when a great number of spirits collapse at the same time, I wouldn’t be surprised if you heard that.”
Perhaps that is the Arrow of God launchpad.
It would probably shoot out a laser-like mass of magical power from a giant crystal.
That thing can’t be broken by the metal ball.
If I stop the pilot, Ebelheid………no, depending on the structure of the fortress, once the order is given, it may not stop even if I take away the pilot’s consciousness.
I throw down my wand and hold out my hand to the sky after imagining the magic circle.
“H, hey, Abel! Without the wand…”
Originally, the wand was meant to improve accuracy.
If you’re only concerned about power, you’re better off without it.
“Oh flame, form, ball.”
A large flame emerges in my hand and it gets more and more compressed.
When it gets smaller, I add more flames and compress it again. Eventually, it became a pure white, luminous mass.
When I had a cold, headache, and a nightmare and really hated the world, I mobilized all my knowledge and weaved a magic circle to be stirred up by something.
In theory, this could destroy anything with it. Honestly, I thought I’d never use it in my life.
This is probably the true maximum power I can produce at the moment.
I pointed up into the sky and shot straight out.
At the same time as I fired, the giant crystal that is the launchpad for the Arrow of God shone strongly with a crack.
My vision was covered by the blinding light and I couldn’t see anything.
A loud explosion sounded, and the earth shook.
The giant crystal shattered, and the floating fortress cracked and shattered.
“Oh light, shine”
I threw my wand away so I had to cast it from the spell to draw a magic circle.
“Oh wind, carry”
I shot out a mass of wind into the sky and let it scramble through the debris to keep it from falling on us.
As it was, I retrieved the falling Ebelheid and placed it gently on the back of the beast-shaped golem.
“H, hey! You’re letting this guy live!”
“I’ll leave it to the city to decide what to do with Ebelheid from now on.”
I don’t know what Ebelheid thought of me.
Still, I think of Ebelheid as a friend with whom I could talk about magic.
I couldn’t bring myself to kill him with my own hands.
“If I let him live, it certainly…… doesn’t look like he’ll be able to do anything bad again……”
Ebelheid was limp, staring at the wreckage of the floating fortress with lifeless eyes.
That must have been all he had.
I don’t think I did anything wrong.
If it had gone on like that, the city of Lomarn would have disappeared.
Still, looking at the exhausted face of Ebelheid, is a little heartbreaking to see.