Chapter 188 - Dragon Steps (1/2)

Chapter 188: Dragon Steps

“You gotta do better than that, young general,” Buhnd grinned, wagging his finger.

Infusing fire into the mini gales of wind I had in my palms, I prepared to try and hit the dwarven elder once more when a barrage of wind orbs hailed down from above.

With a click of my tongue, I ignored Buhnd’s provocation and focused my attention on Camus’s assault. I easily dodged the orbs of wind until the ground beneath my feet rose and stiffened around my leg, rendering me immobile.

One of the wind orbs nicked me in the shoulder, but it felt like I had been hit by a cannonball.

I held back the need to curse and just gritted my teeth through the pain.

That’s how you want to play.

My initial reaction was to raise up a wall of earth or ice in hopes to block Camus’ barrage, but through these past few days, I’ve been constantly trying to think of better ways to combat certain situations.

This oftentimes meant running variou scenarios and trying to think of multiple ways around it while taking into account cost of mana and physical stamina.

The orbs of wind felt almost solid, but it was actually a whirlwind packed into a sphere. Tossing out my usual response of erecting a solid wall in hopes to deter the wind spell, I enveloped my arms in condensed gales of wind.

Rather than trying to block the attack, I used my wind gauntlets to redirect the wind orbs. As I expected, the clash of winds propelled Camus’ spheres in different directions.

“You both are going to have to do better than that,” I smirked, aiming the wind gauntlets down. With another thought, I shot my gauntlets at the stone cast trapping my legs to the ground.

“Interesting concept,” Camus said approvingly as he remained floating above me in a swirl of wind.

“That cockiness will be the death of you,” Buhnd added with an eager smile.

The old dwarf began running toward me as chunks of the ground began congregating around him, forming an armor of stone mid-charge. Meanwhile, Camus kept his distance and prepared another spell.

I expected another barrage of wind from the elf but instead, a gale formed right behind the dwarf, abruptly accelerating his charge so that his stone fist was in range before I could blink.

Buhnd was fast but I still had time to react—or so I thought.

When I tried to raise my arm to block his augmented fist, I was met with resistance. Again, the familiar sensation of my body being submerged in a viscous liquid washed over me.

Camus, while accelerating Buhnd’s movement, was also increasing the air pressure around me to slow me down.

Before I could break out of his spell, my face was met with the loving touch of Buhnd’s giant stone fist.

My vision flashed black for a split second and I found myself on the ground with Buhnd’s stone-clad form just a few feet away.

Ignoring the high-pitched ringing in my ear, I forced myself to focus. The gears in my mind whirred into overdrive and I found myself thinking about the crevices that formed in the ground whenever Buhnd sparred. Every time he was met with a physical attack, a crater formed beneath his feet as if a meteor had collided.

At first, I thought it was the force of the spells that caused the ground to cave below Buhnd but I knew it wasn’t as simple as that.

“Try to block this!” Buhnd exclaimed, raising a rock arm in the air. The stone that made up the thick armored fist shifted and convulsed as if it was coming to life. Buhnd’s stone-clad arm soon changed shape into that of a giant hammer twice his size.

A rush of wind coated the hammer as it was about to drive down into me.

If that hits me, I’m done for sure.

The memories of the craters Buhnd had formed continued to flash in my mind when it suddenly clicked.

Still laying on the ground, I raised a hand directly in the path of the giant hammer. I augmented my body but not in the protective way I normally did. Instead, I envisioned a tunnel-like path of earthen mana both inside and outside of my body.

I spotted a trace of hesitation on Buhnd’s face but there was no way for him to stop his attack now that it was just inches away from me.

If this doesn’t work, I’m going to be in a lot of pain, I thought.

The hammer struck my palm like a nail and I could feel my whole body protest. Normally, if I attempted to block that strong of an attack with just a hand, my arm would’ve shattered, but instead, the ground below me took the force.

I found myself in the epicenter of a crater the size of my room with my hand still stretched out. My arm, shoulder, ribs and back felt sore, but I had succeeded.

Buhnd, still wearing his armor of stone, looked down at me in disbelief until a smile crept up on his bearded face. “You’re a bit scary, General.”

I stifled a laugh, attempting to get up off my back when a surge of pain rushed up.

I lied. It wasn’t just my a few parts of my body that felt sore, it was every fiber of my body.

“O-Oww,” I croaked, finally succeeding in sitting up.

Buhnd dispersed his earthen armor and stuck out a burly hand. “It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Extremely,” I admitted. “You made it look like nothing.”

“Well, I have better control over that technique than you do, and I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and divert the force of an attack that strong in the first place,” the dwarf replied. He tried to straddle my arm over his shoulder, except, my legs were awkwardly dragging on the ground due to our differences in height.

“Here, let me help,” Camus said as he floated down to the ground. An updraft lifted me up to my feet as Camus dipped his head below my other arm.

“I was just about to carry the boy like the princess he is.” Buhnd gave me a wink.

Rolling my eyes, I leaned on Camus. “Leave me with some dignity.”

“You took a risk, but I’m guessing it was worth it?” Camus scoffed, his eyes still covered behind his bangs.

“For now, yes, but we’ll see how my body feels about this tomorrow morning,” I groaned, limping alongside the elf.

My sister came running to me, her gaze laced with concern. “Are you okay? I mean, I know you’re strong and all but that was a big crater you just made.”

Emily, who was following behind my sister, adjusted her glasses as she peered out at the sparring zone. “Luckily the crater didn’t reach the disks underground.”

“Thanks for your concern, Ellie,” I smiled wearily before turning my gaze to my assistant close behind. “I should be fine, … right, Alanis?”

Her eyes shifted into its multicolored hue for a second before turning back to its original colors. “The shock disrupted your mana flow, which is the cause of your internal pains. I suggest you get some rest, General Arthur.”

“Good idea,” Buhnd agreed. “I remember my first attempts in trying the force diversion spell. You’re lucky to have gotten away with just some soreness.”

“Or skilled,” my sister pointed out smugly.

Buhnd laughed. “Or skilled.”

“Hester and Princess Kathyln are away visiting Prince Curtis at Lanceler Academy anyway,” Camus mentioned, carefully setting me down.

“Ooh, I can just imagine the eyes of those would-be knights glistening with sweat when they see the princess,” Emily sighed. “I should’ve gone with her.”

My sister nodded wistfully. “Me too. I heard from my friend that a lot of the guys there are good looking… and toned.”

“Eleanor! You’re only twelve!” I sputtered.

“Don’t ‘Eleanor’ me! I’m a curious lady isolated from the world because of my distinguished upbringing of being the cherished sister of this continent’s youngest lance!” she lamented, wiping away a nonexistent tear.

Emily fell into a fit of laughter while even Alanis looked amused as I stared at my sister.

“Don’t be so overprotective! I had my first wife when I was your sister’s age,” Buhnd snorted.

“Well humans and dwarves have different societal standards for these kinds of things,” I protested.

“Ooh, you’re being racist, Brother.” My sister shook her head disapprovingly as Buhnd clutched at his heart in mock despair. Meanwhile, Camus and Alanis had a look of amusement but neither seemed to have any intentions of backing me up.