Chương 68: ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ 6, ᴘᴀʀᴛ 3 - ᴇɴᴅɢᴀᴍᴇ: All Out War (I)
~7,544 words
The whole battlefield shook as battle auras flared to life.
A translucent bubble of mana covered the edges of the Ogre Island, encompassing the entirety of it.
The ancient bedrock trembled beneath everyone's feet. The atmospheric mana quivered at the release of such enormous release of power from everyone.
It wouldn't be long before all kind of hell broke loose on this land.
Someone laid a hand on Rudeus' shoulder. "Do we have enough time?" It was Gal's voice. "Should we set up an ambush somewhere, slow him even further?" Having fought Orsted once, Gal was fully aware of the hell he, no, everyone was stepping in.
"There is no need to worry. We even have Lord Badigadi with his armour activated already." Alex interjected, unsheathing his sword and the ground beneath him started crumbling due to the gravity manipulation of the sword.
Badigadi was the trump card. The final blow when everyone had tired Orsted down.
"I will ask one last time. Where is he?"
Despite the low tone, Orsted's voice was a squallous rumble, thundering in everyone's ears.
"You won't be seeing him. Today is the day you die, you evil Dragon God." Alex shouted at him, taking a battle stance.
"The answer was meant for your leader. Not the weak sod standing behind his peers—if you could even call them that. I will ask this again, Rudeus Greyrat. Return Julian. You have a family. Do not turn your wives into widows just yet." Orsted mocked Alex and turned his attention towards Rudeus.
Rudeus clenched his jaw.
"Not a talkative one?" Orsted cocked his head to the side.
Mana surged from Badigadi as he activated his Battle Armour. "No hard feelings, Dragon God. I have learnt forgiveness and have decided to do the Hitogami a favour. Do not hold it against me."
Orsted clasped his palms together, ready to summon his weapon.
----Preserve your mana.
Julian's voice ringed in his mind.
----If such a situation were to occur, why should I?
----That would be the main goal. To deplete your mana. You can defeat them, only if you are going all out. Which you can't. Or rather, you won't. Your mana regeneration is slow. So, if a situation like this were to occur where combat for you is a must, preserve it. Do not use that sword.
Orsted scoffed and stopped the process.
"Ordering me around, huh?" He found the situation hilarious. "Just what are you." He muttered under his breath.
His gaze swept over everyone as he called them out.
The first one was Sword God Gal Farion. He was an adult man with blue hair with a face "like a ferocious wolf" and a prominent scar below his left eye that reached below his left ear and another scar at the tip of his right eye.
The second one was Water God Reida Reia. Reida was an old woman with white hair and blue eyes. Her neck-length hair perfectly framed her with a single ahoge.
The third was North God Alexander Ryback, Kalman III. He was a young boy with black hair and red eyes, around the age of as Paul of Rudeus and Julian's birth.
The fourth God Class was the Ogre God.
Standing right beside him was the Magic God, Rudeus Greyrat. His eyes were closed, chanting something as he prepared a spell, huge amounts of mana congregating all around them.
Atofe and Badigadi also got in position.
The tension in the air got heavier, and everyone gulped. The tension felt like it could be cut with a knife, drying everyone's throats. It was just a moment, an opening that anyone could see and capitalise on it.
Orsted was a single person. But it was enough to keep them at bay. Their fingers itched across the hilt of the sword, their swords screaming at them to unsheathe them but their wills and instincts caterwauling the exact opposite.
And then it happened. The subtle push they all needed.
『Long Sword of Light』
Sword God, Gal Farion dashed forward, his movement lightning quick. Orsted heard his sword slide from its sheath and cut the air, watched the radiant outline of North God Alex move to back him up, then the sky lit up with magic as Rudeus, despite focusing on his grand spell, still hurled whatever spells he could to support the two.
'Silent multicast? Impressive.'
Gal held his breath.
With an equal, if not faster, Orsted moved with the liquid grace of a lifetime of dedication and practice. Against it, Gal's animalistic speed and ferocity were as impotent.
Before their comprehension could catch up with the situation, Orsted deftly parried several rapid strikes from Alex, his movements a display of unmatched skill.
Simultaneously, he shrugged off a barrage of a dozen spells unleashed upon him. Gal, with quick thinking, deactivated his technique and leaped aside just in the nick of time, narrowly evading a vicious kick that sent the ground into disarray, fracturing it into a complex network of crevices.
He lunged with incredible agility, shifting from side to side, a dark blue whirlwind of motion. However, his relentless slashes failed to penetrate the impenetrable battle aura of the Dragon God.
Then, in a sudden and jarring turn of events, Alex, who had been supporting Gal and using the gravity of his sword to deflect fatal attacks, came to an abrupt halt.
The air was pierced with horrified screams and alarmed shouts as Alex's body collided with the comnpact, stiffened stone ground, producing a sickening crunch. Orsted's hand still clutched his collar, a vice-like grip that spelled out the abrupt end to Alex's heroic efforts.
"Unrefined," Orsted's piercing golden gaze cut into Alex's very soul, casting a shadow over his entire lifetime of practice and dedication, reducing it to mere mockery. "From the beginning, you didn't even deserve to be here."
"GAAAAH!" Gal gave a mighty roar that cracked, becoming a tortured yelp, and a heavy weight crashed down the ground, breaking it and turning it into a human sized crater.
Without wasting a second, Orsted brought his arm up, blocking a punch to his head. However, the force was too much as the ground beneath his feet splintered.
It was the Ogre God—Malta.
Malta was single horned red ogre with a height of almost 3 meters, with a build similar to a large tree. He wore a globular bell-like choker on his neck and a tiger-striped rumen on his waist.
"Me kill. You die. Him happy." The Ogre God spoke, pushing Orsted deeper into the opening.
『Fireball』
Countless fire spells were fired in the air as the rained down on them. Malta jumped away from him, letting the spells land on him.
"Hmph." With a grumble, Orsted swatted his hand, flicking away the spells. Looking in the distance, he saw multiple ordinary human mages, firing spells at him from a distance.
Troops gathered by North God. In an attempt to vanquish the evil Dragon God. Or so that was what Alex was convinced of. The attempt to gather glory was the sole thing on his mind. All of them had come here with the possibility of death looming over their heads. They were well prepared. If not land a scratch, at least make enough time for the others to put an end to Orsted's "supposed" tyranny.
However, just like Julian, if it ever came down to it, Orsted couldn't give a flying fuck about the lives of others.
Orsted's presence streaked across the battlefield with lightning speed, his mana signature seamlessly blending into the very atmosphere for a fleeting moment. And then, in an instant, he reappeared with a chillingly sharp, wet sound—a blade cutting through flesh.
He vanished once more, only to reappear again and again, leaving in his wake the extinguished mana signatures of his fallen adversaries, a trail of vanquished foes wherever he set foot.
"ORSTEEEDDDD!" The Water God joined the fray, her sword deftly clashing against the simple silver sword of Orsted.
"Unusual for a Water God average practitioner to lose their composure. Let alone the God Class. Seems like Julian had his fun for you to be this mad, Reida Reia." Orsted taunted, his lips curling into a vicious smirk.
His laughter echoed through the tense atmosphere—a cruel, disbelieving sound that seemed to mock the very essence of their confrontation.
Seeing Orsted fighting multiple God Classes like that, some of the ordinary mages, among which some were even Saint Class took a step back. Fear filled their hearts as they saw Orsted dominating everyone. Someone broke the ranks and attempted to run away.
Orsted's aura whistled, and blood splashed against the ground.
"No one is leaving now. I warned once. There won't be a second time."
With an oddly incredible speed, he spun on his heel and kicked her midsection, breaking the ribs with an ominous, sickening crunch as she was sent tumbling, a few hundred yards away. However, looking down, Orsted felt a wet sensation.
His hand was severed.
Immediately grabbing his severed hand and touching it against the stub, he rejoint it, returning it to its former glory.
However, the hand that had just reattached itself was blown once again as Rudeus fired a stone cannon, bypassing his holy dragon aura and blasted his hand away.
Yet, despite his severed hand and the excruciating pain that coursed through him, Rudeus found himself paralyzed, caught in a horrible, nightmarish limbo. Helplessly, he was yanked off his feet and propelled backward until he collided with a stone frame.
It was a grim, unsettling déjà vu, akin to a macabre memory from his former world—a memory of a boy trapping a rat beneath a sack and then mercilessly crushing it underfoot.
The sensation sounded and felt just like that.
His 『Eye of Foresight』 was going haywire, unable to discern or pick any good future. The future deduction was based on lesser variables before. But now, when he had so many allies and other variables to think of, millions upon millions of possible futures branched in semi-transparent silhouettes, overwhelming his senses.
He was losing track of reality. Despite the futures he saw were only one second in the future, the sheer volume overwhelmed him, rendering him unable to move and the spell that he was forming dissipated away.
He instantly deactivated his future seeing eyes, clicking his tongue as a pained gasp left his throat. His arm was broken, bent at an impossible angle as the bone jutted out of his wrist, cutting the veins in the process.
Panicking, he started healing himself.
Realizing the vulnerability in Rudeus's defenses, Orsted expertly evaded a strike from Gal Farion's 『Long Sword of Light』 and retaliated with a swift swing of his own blade, aiming to sever his opponent's left arm.
However, to his surprise, the cut proved to be disappointingly shallow. The low quality of the sword, coupled with the meager infusion of mana behind the attack, rendered it impossible to cleanly cleave through the specific area that was not naturally meant to be severed.
In a swift motion, Orsted delivered a cacophonous slap to Gal's face, sending him tumbling to the ground. With unwavering focus, he then dashed toward Rudeus, closing the distance between them in a flash.
As smoky wisps coalesced and an orange aura materialized, Malta materialized before Orsted. With a firm grip on his hands, she stood as a formidable mountain, preventing Orsted from advancing any further toward Rudeus.
"No kill Rudeus." He mumbled, his tall stature casting a shadow over Orsted's face. Orsted frowned.
"Do you have no shame, Rudeus Greyrat? Killing and plotting against your own family." Orsted spoke, looking to the side of Malta's wide form.
"Family? I am protecting my family. From you and him. Everything I have done until now, it has all been for them. Do not lecture me on morality, you lizard." Rudeus spat, his words laced in venom as the green light slowly healed him, Orsted's aura that lingered on the impact of his blow before hindering his healing process.
"Naive." Orsted crushed one of Malta's hands and pummeled his fist into his chest. However, Malta blocked it with his other hand. Bending his arm, he placed his huge foot beside Orsted and plunged his elbow into Orsted's face, blowing him away a few steps.
Due to being immortal, his healing kicked in and Malta's hand returned to its former glory. Like a gorrilla, he beat his chest and lunged forward once more.
『LIGHTNING』
A colossal bolt of blue lightning streaked down from the heavens as Orsted enveloped his entire being with his potent aura.
Yet, in a minuscule but critical moment, the relentless assault chipped away at his aura's surface, allowing a few sparks to penetrate and disrupt his otherwise impenetrable defense. Orsted's body seized with momentary paralysis---one tenth of a second, but enough to disrupt his momentum.
However, in a fight of this scale, that one tenth of a second was everything.
Malta closed in and punched Orsted into the face as Malta as well was subjected to lightning, albeit more than even Orsted.
Orsted fell to the ground, his back hitting the ground for the first time.
Rolling on the ground immediately, he avoided a quick stab from Gal and then side-stepped again as a dagger zipped past his cheek, severing a lock of his silver hair.
Alex was healed up by now. Although his will was wavering, he still had a lot to showcase.
Orsted's realisation struck like a bolt of lightning in his mind. He was encircled, just like a pack of ravenous wolves working in unison to bring down a formidable prey far beyond their league. The odds were shifting against him, and the relentless determination of his enemies began to weigh heavily.
With a surge of power, an individual thrust forward a spear, causing it to extend in a deadly arc of lightning. However, despite the element of surprise, the Dragon God, Orsted, exhibited his incredible agility, darting several feet to the side just in the nick of time.
The unleashed bolt of energy thundered into the stone floor, creating a deep crater as it missed its mark.
The world around the user appeared to decelerate, time itself stretching as electricity surged along his nerves, enhancing his reflexes and perception—an extraordinary power not of his own making.
Thin tendrils of lightning extended from him like an intricate network of neural pathways, serving as extensions of his nervous system, allowing him to sense attacks from any direction, and before they even reached me.
An addition to his already all-seeing eyes.
As the reverberations of the explosion continued to echo across the battlefield, though they sounded dull and muted to Orsted's heightened senses, the figure in question moved once more.
"That voice? Ruijerd Superdia. So, you've elected to align yourself with him too," Orsted remarked with a calm demeanor, although the restraint he exercised was clearly gnawing at him from within.
Orsted released a deep breath, his focus unwavering as he disregarded all around him—the incantations forming in the air, Gal Farion poised to unleash his Long Sword of Light once more, Reida Reia closing in to unleash the Sword of Deprivation, and the gravitational force exerted by Alex's sword pressing him down. Everything else faded into insignificance as he homed in on his singular purpose.
"One person at a time."
The weakest on the field. It was Ruijerd.
Even with the lightning-enhanced senses, Ruijerd found it a monumental challenge to keep pace with Orsted.
As he took a single step, it felt as though the very ground forced to drag him closer to the Dragon God. In a desperate sidestep, he narrowly managed to evade Orsted's scything hand, the tendrils of electricity aiding in dispersing and redirecting the force of the ferocious attack.
Yet, even as he flashed past his opponent, Ruijerd couldn't escape the disconcerting sensation of Orsted's golden eyes tracking his every movement.
Orsted's attack shifted its momentum mid-strike, a seamless blur of inhuman agility that left Ruijerd with no time to react.
In an instant, he found himself hurtling toward the nearest building. His breath was forcibly expelled from his lungs as he crashed into it, smashing through walls and debris. A cloud of dust and shattered stone enveloped him, blinding his vision.
He could hear the ominous groaning of the structure as it began to shift, and then an overwhelming weight descended upon him as the entire building collapsed, burying Ruijerd beneath its hair-raising mass.
He turned in Orsted's direction, coughing up blood, his eyes wide and disbelieving. Then suddenly Orsted's foot came down, crushing out the last of Ruijerd's breath out of him, making his eyes roll to the back of his head.
"RUIJERDD!" Rudeus howled. A thin stream of blood flowed from his lower lip, dripping with muffled plops on the ground below and getting mixed in with the rushing sand. "Battle Armour."
The air crackled as mana crept on to his body, encasing him in his ultimate close quarters weapon.
Malta jumped at Orsted, punching his jaw but Orsted slapped his hand away, throwing him off his balance. However, the Ogre God wasn't classed in the God division for no reason. He regained his balance and swung his hand like a club from above Orsted's head, hammering him down in the ground like a nail inside the coffin.
Thunder exploded outward from behind Malta, and the weight pinning and blinding Orsted was doubled.
Blood dripped in between Malta's legs as Orsted's hand pierced through his tough skin. However, it didn't stab it all the way.
However, it was enough to make him stumble back as Malta got on his knees. A black wisp formed on Orsted's fist as he sunk it into Malta's face, blowing half of his head away. The half of his face that had the horn attached to it was blown away, followed by a cacophonous boom of an explosion, that burgeoned and ballooned before imploding inwards and atomising the Ogre God, chunks of his red flesh flying everywhere.
Rudeus' armour had fully covered him from top to bottom in a shimmering black piece of metal, oozing an eerie amount of mana. The helmet descended down and closed his face, showing one last glimpse of his blood-shot eyes as he looked at Ruijerd's unmoving form.
Every time he exhaled, Rudeus felt his mouth drying, as if his breath was filled with abrasive grains of sand.
Rudeus' mana immediately took the form of electricity.
*Flash*
Before Orsted could even finish analysing, five bolts of lightning fell from the sky. So fast that Orsted could barely react. Flaming with mana, Rudeus' staff was already prepared to release another spell. It was so fast and strong that the bolts from before that zapped Orsted before felt like little sparks.
"Back up."
Gal shouted; his voice panicked as everyone started falling away from Rudeus' attack range.
Lightning rained everywhere.
With each lightning bolt that struck the ground, a deafening explosion rent the air. The spells wielded possessed an overwhelming potency, surpassing even the divine rank magic Orsted had encountered before.
The second spell, in particular, gathered the lightning's energy, coiling it around the tip of the staff until it transformed into a spear. This electrified spear then streaked toward Orsted with formidable velocity and power.
Orsted had realised it until now. The level of the magic of those who had reincarnated was beyond comprehension. Their mastery of the art was immaculate. Just like Julian, Rudeus as well enjoyed using modifications of his magic, utilizing different spells in his own style.
While Rudeus' spells were flashy and destructive, Julian's spells were silent and lethal.
*Flash*
The lightning spear shattered Orsted's magic barrier. Before the sharp, shattering sound could reach his ears, blood dripped from his ear lobe. The spear skimmed his ear. Even the strongest warrior with the fastest blade couldn't make such a fast strike.
Orsted cast another shield and gritted his teeth.
Now that he didn't have to worry about others jumping him, he could have some breathing room. However, the boy in front of him wasn't the same as before. The armour he was wearing was just a little less efficient if not just as good as the Fighting God Armour.
The spear that Orsted narrowly evaded abruptly altered its course, wheeling around and hurtling toward his exposed back. With impeccable timing, Rudeus unleashed another spear with a slight delay, creating a nearly impossible dodge scenario for the Dragon God.
As Orsted managed to evade the first projectile and dropped to the floor in an instant, Rudeus acted with lightning speed. He conjured and launched a third spear just as Orsted executed his first attack spell. By the time Orsted had initiated his offensive, five spears were already in relentless pursuit.
With remarkable control, Rudeus gathered all the spears in front of him, creating a formidable array of weapons.
Orsted's hand slowly moved towards together. However, before he could touch them, he shook his head and refused to summon it.
『 The Godsword』
It would consume a lot of mana and he might be able to end thing, if he really tried and give it his all. However, he wanted to believe in someone.
In his hundreds of thousands of loops, he had worked alone. Except the one before this and this particular. And he never felt this reassured before. He wanted to lean on to someone. Years of lonliness, a result of his father's fixation on revenge had left his reeling for some company.
Someone strong enough to realise how lonely he felt. Someone who didn't depend on him. Someone he could trust and leave his back to defend. Someone strong enough he could obey.
So, he decided to trust Julian. Put his faith in him and refused to summon Godsword.
Bracing himself, Orsted augmented himself in Holy Dragon Aura. Most of the spears deflected to the side. But two of them bypassed it, stabbing him in the thigh and the other one in the right side of his chest, narrowly avoiding his rapidly beating heart.
Orsted stood up and smirked, spinning his cheap iron sword slightly. It was a blade you could find in any blacksmith's shop. Yet it was still in crisp condition, thanks to the holy aura augmenting it. However, sooner or later, it would not be able to bear the burden of the exact aura that was protecting it.
Conduction of mana had its limits.
To Orsted's continual surprise, a sensation he had grown accustomed to throughout the day, Rudeus produced a colossal sword that defied the very definition of the term.
This weapon was beyond the scope of a mere sword; it was massive, thick, heavy, and possessed a rugged, raw appearance—more akin to a heap of unrefined iron than a conventional blade.
Rudeus cracked a sneer. "I call it the dragon slayer."
"You wish." Orsted cackled with a maniac-like smile on his face.
Before his booming laughter echoed in the field, Rudeus exploded a huge amount of mana from the outlets in his boots and propelled towards Orsted.
The Dragon Slayer, formidable as it was, rebounded off Orsted's iron sword. Despite the utilization of the suppression technique, Rudeus's colossal weapon was forced to retreat a few steps.
However, to Orsted, this outcome appeared trivial, and a knowing smile graced his countenance as if the resistance posed was of little significance.
"Is this all you amount to, Rudeus Greyrat? All this flashiness just for this?" His voice boomed once again as he used all of his strength and brought his sword down at Rudeus.
He brought his own sword up, but the impact sent a tremor through his arm, shattering the bones to a mess as he was sent like a ragdoll into the distance. The healing magic scrolls inside the armour activated, healing his broken ar,
Orsted followed the tumbling Rudeus, but his mind was calculating.
'I could feel a pull on my sword. What was it?'
Although there was a sense of 'convergence,' Rudeus' suppression technique couldn't overcome Orsted's extreme strength and momentum.
A mutual understanding of each other's abilities had leveled the playing field between Orsted and Rudeus.
With their knowledge of one another's strengths and weaknesses, introducing an unexpected variable into the equation proved to be a challenging task. Orsted recognized that his best course of action was a direct confrontation, forcing his way through Rudeus' formidable defenses in a high-stakes long distance fight.
Orsted's sword released a deep rumble. The gigantic aura compressed and infiltrated the blade of the sword. Just with that, the cheap sword turned into a more dangerous weapon than any legendary sword. The dark desert they were in illuminated with a dazzling glow from the aura.
Orsted spun his torse violently and generated a huge tornado. The lightning flickered and got sucked in a near instant towards the eye of the storm, breaking it down as the lightning broke into blue mana particles, dissipating completely.
Rudeus tried to get on his feet, but Orsted had caught up to him. He swung Dragon Slayer at him, a feeble, desperate...pathetic swing that Orsted swatted away with his left hand and kicked his sternum.
A shockwave went through the ground as everyone present there faltered, ready to fall as Orsted kicked Rudeus deep inside the ground. Picking Rudeus up by his hair, he threw him into the air and then Orsted's body blurred around the edges, and he repeated the single-step maneuver that he did with the magicians.
Dragon Slayer swung around to intercept him, but he shifted his momentum, taking a near-instant step to the side and around the spear before closing the rest of the way. The point of his elbow came down on Rudeus's shoulder to the sound of metal shearing and bones breaking.
Rudeus's vision dimmed, and he found himself gazing up at Orsted from the ground, his entire body numbed and his spells dissipating as he lost concentration. A dull, throbbing ache deep within him swiftly overtook the lesser pains. As he examined his condition, he realized the front of his armor had caved in, exerting painful pressure on his sternum.
Orsted continued his advance, slowly creeping up to him. His face had a look on it. A look that was enough to tell Rudeus that no amount of bargaining with going to save his life.
Rudeus raised the arm that was not broken towards the sky. Before Orsted could gather his wits, the sounds of spells—shattering ice, rushing wind, crashing stones—exploded from nowhere and everywhere at once.
He blinked, trying to see what had hit him.
It was then that Orsted realised. The time when Rudeus was standing idly and doing nothing. He was shaping the spells in the sky and below the ground and was currently luring him into the traps that would automatically trigger those spells.
Meanwhile, a blur whisked past Orsted and picked up Rudeus. Bringing him at a safe distance from Orsted, Badigadi placed him down.
"Always the show-off, aren't you? Fighting the Dragon Gid one on one without waiting for the rest of us." He hummed as they touched down, the impact again jarring whole of Rudeus' body. He set him on his feet, his gaze turning back to the Orsted. "How long do you need to recover? We need you."
"A few minutes...."
Rudeus knew what a few minutes amounted to when it came to Orsted. Without Rudeus' almost infinite pool and potent magic, everyone would've been wiped out by now. Although Badigadi was still not fighting, along with Atofe, they were still in a grim situation.
Badigadi studied Rudeus for a moment, the air exploding with frozen missiles in the distance behind them as Rudeus' pre-made spells rained down on Orsted. "Well then, you better pull yourself together quick." He flashed him a jaunty grin, then began to walk off.
"Are you finally going to participate?" Rudeus asked, taking healing scrolls out of his pocket as he dispelled the armour for a short while.
"No, but she is." Badigadi cocked his head towards Atofe with a grin.
Rudeus shifted his focus inward, attempting to ascertain the extent of his injuries.
Despite Orsted having only landed a few blows and refraining from employing any spells, the area around his chest throbbed with tenderness, exhibiting signs of swelling and bruising. His clavicle was undoubtedly fractured, and there might have been additional broken bones.
An unsettling, grinding ache extended from his neck up into the base of his skull, hinting at potential fractures within his neck as well. The pain was both excruciating and worrisome, underscoring the severity of the damage he had sustained.
He stood and pushed mana into the injured sections of his body, supporting the broken and fractured bones. Without a proper healer, there was nothing he could do to speed the healing. He would simply have to fight on as he was.
The air above the battlefield had become pure chaos. Despite everyone trying their best to wear Orsted down, even though Rudeus' 『Frost Nova』had subsided, everyone could feel the chill of his spells as he froze the very air, causing heavy flakes of snow to fall down on the ancient ground.
Ice formed over Orsted's arms and legs, and though it shattered when he launched himself at Alex, it slowed him just enough that he was able to avoid the attack, conjuring a wall of opaque distortion due to gravity between them and hurtling away at full speed.
Rudeus healed himself enough to be able to fight again but once he conjured his armour again, he stayed away, waiting for a moment to strike Orsted.
As soon as he healed up, the ice began forming again, clinging heavily to Orsted. Orsted's golden eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment, staring into the distance instead of scanning the sky for the other spells.
Despite his momentary lapse in concentration, Orsted effortlessly deflected a barrage of sword strikes and magical assaults. However, his attention was soon once again ensnared by the ongoing battle.
No matter where he directed his gaze, towering pillars of ice materialized, obstructing his line of sight. Simultaneously, a powerful headwind assailed his face, causing further distractions and impeding his ability to focus, regardless of which direction he turned.
In the same instant, though, he bucked backwards. Only a foot or two, but enough to prevent him from launching another attack. Then gravity shifted again, and he dropped a foot toward the floor, and again a few inches toward the sky, keeping him off balance.
This gave the God Classes a chance to get close and attack. Cuts and bruises appeared all over Orsted. Gal landed one 『Long Sword of Light』after another while every counterattack from Orsted was countered by Reida Reia as she was in range to execute her 『Sword of Deprivation』, deflecting Orsted's blows and counterattacking with her own sword slashes.
Orsted ceased his futile resistance against the relentless onslaught of spells assaulting him. His chest rose as he drew a deep breath, and his hand gradually ascended, fingers curling together.
The ambient mana that enveloped him quivered in response, and then, with a sharp twist of his wrist, a resounding crack reverberated through the area, sending shockwaves through the mana itself.
The sheer force of this mana disruption was palpable to everyone present, marking a pivotal moment in the battle.
Atofe screamed, and from the corner of Gal's eye, he saw her tumble out of the air like a bird struck by an arrow.
At the same time, Orsted kicked off a pillar of ice and vanished. Instinctively, Rudeus who was watching everything turned his future seeing eyes on and immediately turned toward Alex just as he appeared at his side.
Alex was surrounded by a barrier of quickly changing gusts of wind, but Orsted's claw punched through it without effort.
Rudeus released the lightning held in sky in the form of a flash of blinding light between Alex and Orsted. At the same time, the air around Orsted froze solid. For a moment, he couldn't see what had happened. Then the block of ice shattered, and Rudeus watched as Alex slid from the end of the Orsted's hand covered in blood.
With a resounding roar, Gal catapulted himself toward the Dragon God, colliding with a tremendous force. His sword shattered upon impact against Orsted's upraised arm, only to reform, but it met the same fate as it was effortlessly swatted aside by the formidable foe.
In the midst of this clash, Rudeus discharged a surge of electrical force from his fingers to his sword. When the next blow fell, it triggered an explosive discharge of lightning that sent Orsted staggering to the side, momentarily disrupting his composure.
Just behind him, a pitch-black orb of nothingness, a sphere so dark that light itself couldn't escape its clutches, materialized. Orsted lurched backward and into this abyssal void, disappearing from view.
There was a low boom as Gal reached his top speed, scooping Atofe out of the air just before she would have crashed into the rubble of one of the many buildings destroyed in the fighting.
"Thank you, human. Damn this. I am getting fired up!" Atofe mumbled before coughing up huge amounts of blood as she wiped it with her sleeve. "Damn it. He is too strong."
"We should thank Rudeus for sealing the other monster away." Gal spoke, breathing heavily.
"Other monster?"
"The Void God. We all would've died by now if he was here."
"You say interesting things, human."
Gal tremored, goosebumps rising on his body. "I am not kidding, Demon King Atofe. That boy...no, that thing is a monstrosity. The last time I faced him, he was unable to perform the strike that every sword user dreams of. But I am not very sure if he is still unable. We have to end Orsted here. I have a bad feeling about this."
Atofe was about to shrug it off but looking at the genuine fear in his eyes, she shut her mouth, grated her fists together as black mana sparked from it and lowered her stance. "Well, whatever! All I want right now is to punch the life out of Orsted!"
Smiling bitterly, Gal nodded his head and took out another sword that was attached to his hip. "Damn him. He broke my strongest sword with that piece of junk!" Gal cried out, and bit on his lip later on.
Atofe was breathing heavily as well, her eyes wide and teeth bared like an animal. "That aura be damned. It is not letting me get close or land as effective hits."
"It will wear off." Gal replied calmly.
"Haah?"
"He can't go all out because he doesn't want to waste his aura or mana. There is hope."
"I don't get why you humans cling to hope so much but but nevermind that. Time to kick ass!"
Wind mana scooped Rudeus up, as he flew behind the cover of a house, hoping against hope that Gal, Atofe and Reida could hold him for a moment so he could inspect Alex's wound. But as soon as he sat him down and began looking him over, he pushed Rudeus aside.
"I'm fine, Rudeus. His hand was covered in something, and it did something, interrupted my mana, but I'm not badly hurt," he said, gesturing to a bloody, gaping hole wound in his side. "I am an immortal. I will heal. Focus on the battle."
"Right." Rudeus replied.
"I will try to do what I can." Alex spoke and stood up.
I readied myself, both my staff and dragon slayer in my hands.
The very air itself distorted, contorting into curved missiles that launched in rapid succession, relentlessly pelting Orsted's exposed back. In a swift follow-up, arcs of lightning intertwined with Rudeus's wind missiles, transforming the electrical energy into something more insidious.
Simultaneously, Rudeus unleashed Nerve Fracture, aiming to disrupt Orsted's defenses and exploit any vulnerabilities.
As the lightning-infused bolts found their mark, electrical impulses spider-webbed across Orsted's skin, their energy traveling through his mana barrier and into his nervous system. The intent was to paralyze him, yet Orsted barely twitched in response.
As Gal and Atofe circled around Orsted, Rudeus closed on him, a dozen transparent blades scything toward him from every direction.
Orsted's form exhibited a near-unbelievable level of agility and precision, appearing to stutter and skip around the battlefield. Almost as if he was glitching.
His movements were so swift and precise that it seemed as if he were teleporting mere inches at a time. He expended only the minimal effort required to avoid an incoming attack, allowing it to either shatter against his arm or shoulder.
Simultaneously, his cheap sword lashed out in a mesmerizing display, executing slashes and thrusts in every conceivable direction, simultaneously cutting through spells he couldn't evade, dismantling opposing spells, and then absorbing the released mana to fuel his own strength.
They needed to fall back, but they were locked in place. Badigadi needed some time to prepare.
Despite having touched both Rudeus and Badigadi equal period of time, Julian's neural impulse overload had left a crippling after effect on Badigadi, rendering it impossible for now for him to engage in combat. However, his immortal cells were regenerating.
Soon, he would be back in fighting condition.
Rudeus finally managed an opening and stabbed Orsted's liver with his dragon slayer. The sword arched to the side, opening the whole side of him, splattering blood everywhere. A glimmer of hope rose in everyone's eyes. A large chunk of iron-rich stone rose up from under the ground.
Hurtling a bolt of lightning-attribute mana into it, he infused it with the mana, then manipulated it to spin in a looping arc through the iron.
Orsted shivered as he kicked backwards, sending Gal spinning away, then whirled his sword around him in a circle. As he shifted his hold on it, Atofe pulled his hand.
The iron that Rudeus conjured before became an enormous magnet, ripping the sword out of Orsted's unexpecting hands. It flew straight up into the air and hit the metal hovering in the air with a clang.
Everyone took the opportunity, falling back as Rudeus conjured several barriers of ice as he did.
But Atofe kept fighting. Her fists that arched like blades and the aura ballooning around her, expanded and condensed, Orsted excnaged blow for blow but Alex had recovered until now and he started throwing tangible gravity strikes towards him.
So much that Orsted could no longer block. His healing was halted. He was bleeding all over. Still, he turned cold black eyes on her, letting the gravity blades strike at him from every direction.
The battlefield seemed frozen. As if in slow motion, Orsted reached out and grabbed the mana swirling in the air, as he had before. But the instant before he broke Alex's spell, Atofe sidestepped. Her body became as the wind, which coiled around Orsted and reformed, now right behind him, her fist across pummeling towards his head.
The punch connected and it sent a ripple through the air. Orsted's vision doubled, and he staggered.
Then...
They moved simultaneously.
Atofe brandished her blade that flashed to the side as he spun, his hand pointed like the tip of a spear to strike her in the stomach, shattering her aura barrier.
With chilling clarity, everyone present watched in grim silence as his arm plunged through her stomach and burst out of her lower back. It was dripping with her life's blood and had a section of what could only be taken as her broken spine clutched in a tight fist.
"GRANDMA!" Alex screamed, raising his sword above his head.
"Stay back, stupid Alex!" Atofe screamed back at Alex and with her spine still in Orsted's hand, she coalesced as much mana as she could around her sword and swung it at him.
The hand that had stabbed her fell on the ground, allowing her to flee from his grip.
Or so she though.
Orsted placed his boot on her back and with a razor-sharp accuracy, he plunged his hand into her back again, pulling the long spinal cord from her skin. There was no abnormal blood splatter from her. Instead, her vision blacked out as Orsted kicked her body away, looking at her spine in disgust.
"Truly spineless."
The words of contempt were met with a barrage of sword strikes as North, Sword and Water God attacked in tandem.
Orsted was still healing from the stab by Rudeus' Dragon Slayer.
'Poison?'
However, there was something else that got Orsted's attention.
A deluge of shimmering, electric ions were being scattered all across the battlefield.
The energy of the swirling lightning, seemingly distorted, underwent a remarkable transformation, morphing into a brilliant beam of azure light that scattered through the air.
In the midst of the dark battlefield and approaching night, numerous small columns of lightning energy emanated a divine radiance. The once unstable and twisted lightning energy had vanished, replaced by these meticulously arranged columns, as if they had been expertly sculpted by a master craftsman.
"You finally came where I wanted you to be." Rudeus grinned, looking at Orsted as thunderclouds congregated over his head.
Rudeus' sword pierced the ground. At that moment, all the floating lightning columns fell to the ground. The sword was dull for a reason. It was a lightning rod.
Orsted was in striking range. He wanted to crush Rudeus' heart in one fell swoop, but he couldn't as out of nowhere, a strong electric shock ran through the ground. No, it wasn't just the ground. Even as Orsted breathed, the piercing electricity stabbed her throat.
The blue columns surrounding the location where Dragon Slayer had become lodged enveloped both combatants within a radiant field of lightning energy.
For the time being, Orsted had little choice but to maintain his distance. While it might be conceivable to advance, the uncertainty of the repercussions within the "field of lightning" left him feeling apprehensive.
Outside this electrified domain, the opportunity to land a sword strike remained, and there was no necessity to venture into the field to showcase the disparity in their abilities.
However, there was a catch. Orsted was reaching his limits. If he doesn't use his abilities...he was going to die. With an open abdomen and stabbed liver, there was so much he could do. His entire body was covered by some deep, some shallow cuts from Gal and Reida's Ultimate Techniques.
Small surges of lightning surged swiftly, resembling a narrow channel. They had unmistakably emanated from the vicinity where Dragon Slayer and the Lightning Columns were gradually eroding. The lightning waves beneath Orsted's feet were as weak as embers, and they seemed to have no relation to the fierce and rough lightning current eroding the land.
The gathered lightning energy around Rudeus was launched toward the small channel of lightning waves. Like a giant serpent passing by, a deep hole appeared where Orsted had been standing before dodging.
'That was dangerous. I will die at this rate.'
He thought that and turned his head. But at that moment, Orsted's eyes were filled with a piercing thunder. Quite literally, thunder came crashing down from the sky and struck the hole once again. After the loud thunderous sound pierced her eardrums, even Orsted couldn't help but shudder.
"Was that... an earthquake?"
Right after the thunder fell into the hole, there was a slight earthquake on the ground where they stood. And it was thanks to the tremor that Orsted realized that the small waves of lightning that had "caused the thunder" had actually spread throughout the entire area.
There were small lightning sparks sprouting from everywhere. If all those small sparks could summon thunder...
He contemplated that scenario for a brief moment, and it was enough to send shivers down his spine. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end in response to the unsettling thought.
'If it is him, he can definitely summon an unlimited amount of lightning with his reserves. Even Laplace wasn't able to make spells like this.'
The sky was tore, apart as this time the lightning caught Orsted. His body convulsed, foam raising to his mouth. Rudeus took the moment and blasted a Stone Canon.
The Stone Canon whistled in the air before exploding on contact with Orsted.
Once the dust settled, everyone's eyes glittered as they saw Orsted's right hand and left feet blown off.
He was standing but his state was reassuring.
Since he wasn't healing throughout the battle, no one expected him to do it.
'Something is wrong.'
Rudeus thought.
As if on cue, Orsted looked up and sneered at him. "To hell with you, Julian. I am not gonna listen to you."
Mana swirled all around him as his hand and leg reattached themselves.
He rubbed his palms together and from his left hand a brilliant white light shimmered.
A chill ran down everyone's spine.
『Godsword』
Orsted had finally summoned his ultimate weapon.
Orsted arched the sword in random direction as it formed a huge fissure in the ground. Pointing the sword at Rudeus, he cracked a smirk.
"Defend like your life depends on it. Because it does."
Saying that, Orsted's aura expanded.
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