Chapter 154 - Changing Tides (1/2)

Chapter 154: Changing Tides

ARTHUR

I gnashed my teeth at the sight of Cedry’s body falling limp on the ground. The enemy axe-wielder pried his weapon out of the ground and prepared to swing down, his arrogant sneer exposing his yellow teeth, when a thin blade protruded out of his gorget.

As the axe-wielder’s body slumped, Jona—Cedry’s friend—came into view. With a firm tug, he pulled out his bloodied dagger from the man he’d just stabbed before kneeling down next to Cedry.

Idiot. What are you doing in the middle of a battle?

I was inclined to leave him; that’s what Grey would’ve done. But I was reminded of last night—the talk we had before I went up to fight onstage, and the carefree night of drinking that followed shortly after. I hardly knew them more than the enemies I was facing but the sentiments that we’d briefly shared the night before—albeit, half-drunk—tugged at my consciousness, nudging me to help him.

With an annoyed click of my tongue, I dashed toward Jona, who was cradling Cedry’s corpse tenderly in his arms. An enemy augmenter, pulling the tip of his spear out of a soldier’s head, caught sight of Jona. Even underneath his helmet that covered much of his face, it was obvious that he was grinning at his luck.

Concentrating on the ground just below his feet, I shot a stone spike at the enemy. The spear-wielder narrowly avoided a fatal injury, flopping awkwardly to the ground as he clutched his bleeding side.

I increased the output of mana to my body and dashed toward the wounded soldier. As he lay rolling on the ground in pain, I stepped on his chest to keep him steady.

Mercilessly, I drove Dawn’s Ballad deep into the breastplate of the spear-wielder and watched the light go out in his eyes.

With one fluid motion, I slid my sword out and drew an arc, getting rid of the blood on the blade, before tugging Jona by the scruff of his neck.

“You need to get out of here,” I growled, shaking him.

He looked back at me, his eyes flooded with tears. “Cedry, you’re going to be okay.” he mumbled, his gaze distant as he clung onto his half-elf companion’s body like an infant.

The sharp whistles of incoming arrows and the faint hiss of spells approaching drew my attention, but with both my arms occupied I could only do so much. I’d been stingy in my usage of mana purely because of the unlikely scenario that I’d have to fight against one of the four scythes or a retainer but if I wanted to get Jona and Cedry to a safe place, I’d need to expend more mana than I’d want to.

Grey’s voice echoed in my head, chastising me, urging me to leave them and conserve my mana for the worst-case scenario.

Cursing under my breath, I knocked Jona out with a firm punch to his solar plexus. His body spasmed from the shock I’d added to ensure that he’d be out cold as I heaved him over my shoulders and used my free arm to scoop the half-elf’s body under my arm.

Cedry’s thin corpse weighed more than Jona’s body as I held her by her waist. I couldn’t do anything about her arms and blonde hair dragging on the ground, but Jona’s unconscious body seemed to take offense, his arms dangling towards her from my shoulder, as if trying to scoop her up.

Ignoring the creeping desire to just drop them back to the ground, I freely released the mana I had been conserving. An intoxicating sense of power rushed out of my core, spreading out to my limbs and filling me with renewed strength. Tuning out the chaotic clamor around me, I focused entirely on the mana surrounding me.

Because of the expanding layer smoke and fire, I willed a spiraling barrier around us as I prepared to rush them back to base. A translucent layer of mana whirled around us as a torrent of wind and stone began shaping itself into a sphere.

Strengthening my body, I pushed off the ground. Immediately, I had to tighten my grip around Jona and Cedry to keep them from falling. The barrier I’d conjured remained strong as arrows and spells bombarded it. Sparks ignited each time an enemy hit my barrier, deflecting or redirecting anything that came our way, but the spell was constantly eating away my mana reserves.

Thanks to the mana rotation technique I’d learned from Sylvia, even such a superfluous spell like this could be recovered back in a fairly short amount of time.

I plowed through the battlefield, gritting my teeth to cope with the weight of my two passengers as I concentrated solely on keeping the barrier active despite the intensifying attacks on it.

My body jerked as a particularly powerful spell bombarded my barrier but I held firm and increased the amount of mana into the barrier. Cries from the enemy soldiers ordering their subordinates to bring me down echoed within the forest.

At least with all of their conjurers focused on me, Vanesy and her soldiers will have an easier time, I thought.

As soon as I was out of the main battle, I released my spell. Immediately, an augmented arrow skimmed my cheek, drawing blood. The force of the arrow brought down a tree beside me, catching me by surprise.

With Jona’s limp body sagged over my shoulder, I had to turn around to see who I was up against. Before I could spot my attacker, two more arrows whizzed toward me.

I had barely a second to react, but that would be enough. Letting out a deep breath, I murmured, “Static Void.”

The deadly arrows were only inches away from me when I released the first phase of my dragon’s will. The world grew still as even the chaotic sounds of battle deafened.

In one swift movement, I positioned my right foot on top of one arrow and bit down on the shaft of the other arrow. Releasing Static Void, my neck immediately jerked from the force of the arrow in my mouth as the arrow beneath my foot buried into the ground.

Whipping my head towards the direction of the attacker, I released a torrent of pure mana. For a moment, the afternoon sky grew dark as terrified birds shot from the trees and littered the sky, sensing the malicious intent I’d let loose.

I stood there for just a second, staring at the space where I thought the enemy archer was, his arrow in my mouth, warning him—warning him what I was capable of if he got in my way.

My unspoken threat seemed to have done the trick because there were no more arrows or spells headed my way. Turning back, I bolted into the dense forest, making my way back toward the edge of the cliff where we’d come from.

“Arthur? What happened?” a voice called out as I lowered Cedry and Jona to the ground at the edge of the encampment.

I looked up to see Madam Astera, blood on her face and on her once white apron. Noticing my gaze, she looked only to shake her head with a faint smile. “Don’t worry, it’s not my blood. I’m just helping the medics and emitters patch up some of the wounded that were brought back.”

I nodded. “I see. In that case, please take care of her”—I pointed to Cedry—“and look after Jona.”

Without waiting for the head chef’s response, I turned around toward the cliff, ready to head back, when something tugged at my boot.