304 Rise of the True Gods (Part 2)
Laskia’s gaze studied the elven navy ahead of her own. Her fan gracefully swept through the air to redirect an enemy spell into the sea as a playful smile danced on her lips. ‘They really thought they could go around my empire to attack Skardia’s southern shores.’ Laskia sighed.
‘Exile owes me one for this, and Parthus’ trade ships and warriors arrived a few days ago. Our alliance will have to launch a counter-offensive soon. However, Parthus himself is too busy with the wars on his borders with the help of Exile’s Phoenix Eagles. Hm, what to do?’
Laskia rolled her eyes as another spell probed her, only to be redirected at an enemy ship. ‘Exile had his ass handed to him by Mikijah. That should spur him on to learn Dominion. With his talent, he’ll become a worthy partner for clearing this game. Well, that just means I can’t let Skardia fall to this invasion.’
Suddenly, a wave of Divine spells shot over the sea toward her. ‘Hm, this is too much for me.’ Laskia sighed.
“Father, could you take of this for me, please?” Laskia asked as she turned to the man behind her with black dragon scales on his forearms.
“Of course, daughter. You’re improving well, but this is definitely beyond your abilities just now.” Kraeln replied as he stepped forward.
The spells barrelled toward him, but he didn’t show the slightest trace of fear. He focused all his attention on the incoming spells, and they slowed down until they stopped! With a grunt from Kraeln, the enemy spells retraced their routes back to those who sent them!
Meanwhile, in a dense forest outside Valheim, greenish liquid arrows fired between the trees at Clara, who chuckled as they stopped mid-air and fired back at Mikijah! The latter grunted as his own technique didn’t have the strength to contend with Clara’s, and his own spells struck him!
Mikijah felt his chest grow cold as his vision dimmed. His head throbbed painfully. “Wha-? What happened… Why can I not cast magic…?”
Clara snorted. She’d already taken control of a number of his spells, but it was amusing to her that he hadn’t caught on that she could’ve stopped him from casting at any time she so chose. Before Mikijah realised it, Clara was standing before him!
“Listen up, child. A friend of mine asked me to make sure you don’t bother Exile for a while. I also won’t tolerate any other titled players trying to mess with Skardia for now. I want to see how things play out. If you want to torture players who can’t defend themselves, I suggest you start looking for a new race to support you.” Clara grinned before killing Mikijah for the second time. “Now, to deal with those elves in Skardia’s north.”
Merlin groaned as sweat trickled down his forehead. Camelot’s divine realm was under attack by an anomaly of a player. ‘Even using the artefact I recovered, I can’t overpower her!’ He grunted as he fired several spells at half the cost at his opponent. However, they all stopped and redirected themselves toward him!
“Agh!” Merlin groaned as he was knocked backwards into Camelot’s players behind him. The strange woman kept advancing as an all-out assault on her took place. However, she quickly took control of the barrage and redirected every spell at Merlin! ‘Damn! I can’t lose here! Not to some nobody!’
However, the attacks never landed. A shining knight with golden armour and sword stood before Merlin with his hand outstretched!
“Arthur?” Merlin grunted. “How?”
“We can talk about it later. Just watch.” Arthur waved his hand toward the ground, forcing the redirected spells to fall harmlessly into the dirt.
“Oh? Now this is interesting!” The strange woman smiled. “There are no records of you being able to use that.”
Arthur shrugged as he held her gaze. “It’s something I picked up myself a short time ago. Camelot has no business with you. I suggest you leave.”
“Is that a challenge?” She snarled before throwing a wave of golden arrows at him. They were met with a flash from Arthur’s blade. Several shots struck him, but none of them had any effect, nor did they slow him down in the least!
Merlin felt the sweat trickle down his back as the battle wore on, but still, neither side gained the advantage over the other. Then suddenly, she changed her strategy! She raised her hands above her head and a black mist covered everything around her as two large wings grew from her shoulders!
“What…is this…?” Merlin gasped.
The strange woman chuckled as her dark wings flapped overhead, pushing away the swirling mists of darkness surrounding her! Her smile disappeared when several golden stars shot toward her through the mists. However, all of them stopped before striking her! With another grin, the woman shot toward Arthur while casually dodging one of his spells before casting several spells of her own.
However, she was taken by surprise when Arthur cast a spell of his own! A silver rectangle appeared before him with a mirror-like surface. When her spells made contact with it, they disappeared inside it! Arthur sighed as he plunged his blade into the ground. ‘Starlight!’
A huge healing field covered the area, healing the members of Camelot at a rapid pace! “Give her everything you’ve got! Let’s show her our strength!” Arthur roared as Camelot’s morale soared! As Arthur shot forward, the mirror floating beside him returned the woman’s spells at her! She was so taken by surprise that she failed to dominate them in time!
Arthur closed the distance quickly until only about five meters separated him from the strange woman who struggled to deflect each and every one of his attacks. Suddenly, the strange woman fell to the ground on one knee as golden light surrounded her. Arthur watched as she raised a hand toward him. “Let us end this now!”
‘So this is your last attack? Hmph. I guess I can’t let my guard down.’ Arthur grunted as he readied himself for whatever came next. The light surrounding the stranger brightened until finally, it imploded! When the explosion died down, Arthur stood alone on the battlefield, covered in wounds but alive nonetheless! ‘Her spell must have been powerful to break through my barrier, but where did she go?’
The healing field of Starlight rapidly recovered his strength as he heard screams from behind him! ‘Tsk! She used the cover of the explosion to target my people!’ He grimaced and turned around with his sword held out before him…only to find Merlin standing there holding his broken staff. Merlin grinned weakly at him. “You don’t know when to quit do you?” Merlin asked with a chuckle.
“Not when it comes to what we’ve built,” Arthur replied coldly. Then suddenly, he smiled warmly at his friend and shook his head ruefully. “It seems we’re still weak after all.”
Merlin shrugged as he nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t say weak. We just need more practice. Anyway, how do we stop her?”
The pair eyed the woman as she attempted to massacre Camelot. However, Arthur’s healing prevented any of them from dying as they rushed her with melee weapons. “We keep attacking her without spells until she’s exhausted.” Arthur sighed as he placed a hand on Merlin’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to sit this one out. Your style will only strengthen her.”
Merlin clenched his jaw as he glared at the woman in the distance. “Fine. Give her a good beating.”
Arthur flashed him a grin and then pushed him away before turning toward the woman who had grown tired of attacking the players and was now concentrating solely on attempting to destroy Arthur’s Starlight spell. Her attacks were starting to become erratic as she defended herself from the players while searching for a weakness in the spell.
‘Now I think she might be tiring.’ Arthur grinned and dashed forward towards the strange woman. ‘This is our chance!’ The rest followed behind their leader, some even pushing past those injured, for which they would receive stern warnings for later from Arthur. When he closed the gap between them, Arthur began casting spells faster than ever before, completely overwhelming her defence. With a scream, she fell backwards onto the ground, unconscious from the barrage caused by Arthur and the rest of Camelot!
‘She lost her focus, and with it, her advantage over us. These new players are tough, but they can be defeated with teamwork!’ Arthur sighed in relief as Camelot’s cheers filled the air. However, Arthur studied the unconscious woman. He had hit her with a spell that healed her at the last moment so she wouldn’t die from the attack. ‘It would be best to imprison her and keep a guard on her. That way she can’t respawn and cause trouble somewhere else.’
Arthur grinned as he looked around at the happy faces of the members of Camelot. ‘Still, more people like her will appear. And it seems like Paul never taught us everything about the Domain technique. This woman… She was definitely using an advanced version of it. Just like what I learned when fighting the will at that inheritance.’
‘Something is happening in this game that I don’t understand.’ Arthur groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘I’ll have to pay Ragnarok a visit. If anyone has any answers, it’ll be Paul.’
“So, what do you want to do with her?” Merlin asked as he approached Arthur and glared at the woman.
“Throw her in the dungeon. When she wakes up, see how much information you can get out of her. There’s something I have to do.”