BXBX NOVEL Book 2: 320
Although it looked like he was being buried under waves of undead, in reality, he was overwhelmingly smashing the enemies without receiving a single wound.
At least two undead fell with every swing of his sword.
Of course, this was only possible with Yuriah’s exceptional support.
Thanks to their efforts, only one or two undead ever made their way to Lukas, and even then, most of them were low ranking, so it wasn’t hard for him to deal with them on his own.
‘Even if they bicker constantly, they have great teamwork in a fight.’
Being able to make up for each other’s shortcomings in a fight showed just how well they understood each other.
It would probably be more interesting to watch all of five Swordnaz fight together.
‘…five of them.’
Lukas forcibly suppressed the depressing thought that threatened to surface in his mind.
He knew that such an act was simply hiding from the truth, but with the current weakened state of his mind, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to overcome it if he were to face it head on.
Bang!
—About 15 minutes into the battle.
‘This is weird.’
Hoffman frowned as he swung his greatsword.
‘Why does it not seem like their numbers are decreasing?’
By now, Hoffman had already turned dozens of undead into powder. And yet, the density of undead surrounding him didn’t seem to have changed.
‘…no way.’
Just as Hoffman’s expression became stiff at a sudden thought.
“They’re being reinforced—!”
A voice dug into his ears.
It was Yuriah.
Hoffman’s expression crumpled.
This wasn’t good. Although he still had stamina, the fight composition was really bad. He hadn’t given up his rear yet, but there were undead pushing at him from the front as well as both sides.
If he were to slow down his speed of killing the undead by even a little, they would rush to occupy the rear, and then, regardless of how good of a Swordsman Hoffman was, he would not be able to last more than a few minutes at best.
Yuriah, who was at the back, was able to grasp this situation much more easily.
‘This is my fault.’
Even though she had placed herself in a position that allowed her to grasp the state of the entire battlefield, she had taken too long to notice the enemy’s reinforcements. This was a result of being too focused on getting rid of them.
To add a bit to her excuse, because she was floating in the sky, it was hard for her to notice the undead hiding behind the trees in the forest. But in the end, it was still an excuse.
‘We have to retreat…’
Should they go across the river?
Undead couldn’t swim. Even if they tried to cross the riverbed, most of them wouldn’t be able to make it.
But the problem was Hoffman. He couldn’t afford to relax even for a moment. If he slowed down the speed with which he swung his sword, he would be surrounded by undead in an instant.
Suddenly, she heard a voice.
“7-star… spells.”
It was Lukas.
He was fighting three undead at the same time. In all honesty, he looked like he was in a more desperate situation than Hoffman, who was fighting dozens.
“Can you use… them?”
His heavy breathing broke his sentence into parts.
Yuriah responded in a cold tone.
“I am an Archmage.”
“I can see that.”
He could see it?
“What I’m asking is if you have enough mana to spare.”
“I do. But it will take at least 5 minutes to cast.”
The enemy numbers were constantly increasing.
In these circumstances, she couldn’t be certain whether Hoffman would be able to survive for 5 minutes.
“You’re planning to use Blizzard…”
“How did you know that…?”
“…”
Most of the spells she had been using so far had either water or ice properties, of which, the latter had the greatest effect against undead, and Blizzard was the most effective 7-star ice spell.
…Instead of explaining this, Lukas just decided to skip to the main reason he’d called out to her.
“There’s a difference between being emotionless and being calm. That is something you need to understand if you intend to call yourself an Archmage.”
“What?”
“Mind like the surface of a still lake. Even if a stone were to cause a ripple on the surface of a still lake, it would eventually calm down again. Maintaining that stillness requires acknowledgement. Acknowledge the fact that you’re in an unfavourable situation. Acknowledge the fact that you might die. Acknowledge the fact that you are feeling desperate. Then think of a way to overcome it.”
“…”
Unknowingly, Yuriah began to focus on Lukas’ voice.
Usually, it was easy to ignore the ignorant words of laymen, but for some reason, she couldn’t now.
“Cast the spell. I will help you with the calculations.”
“Help with the calculations?”
“You just need to focus on casting Blizzard. Distance, power, range, I will calculate the other things.”
“…what the hell are you saying? You can’t leave things like that to someone else.”
“Do you have any other way? If this continues, that man will die.”
“…”
“If you don’t believe me, then use a different spell. In these circumstances… the 5-star spell White Hail is probably the most appropriate.”
Yuriah had said that this man was not a Wizard.
That thought remained unchanged even now.
“…heavy rain, frozen by the cold.”
So… she wasn’t doing this because she believed him.
Sss-
Cold air began to spread from her fingertips.
As he wielded his sword against the three undead, Lukas kept a close eye on her actions.
He could see it.
Mana flowed out of Yuriah’s mana room. Then, it began twisting and merging to create the circle required for the spell. It was like a sculpture that was being carved at an extremely high speed.
“Become the teeth that bites at ash and dust.”
Lukas took a few steps back, closing the distance between him and Yuriah.
At least, enough to interfere with Yuriah’s magic.
“My enemies, please do not beg for mercy.”
Her mana fluctuated.
With a soft cracking sound, countless hailstones began forming in the sky.
It was at that moment that Lukas swung his sword.
There was no sign of awkwardness in the sword that he swung with confidence. Even if he wasn’t a Swordsman and his technique wasn’t swordsmanship.
Right. This wasn’t swordsmanship.
It would be more accurate to call it a sword dance.
Yuriah couldn’t help but feel that Lukas’ movements were smooth and beautiful.
Paht!
“…!”
Her eyes went wide.
Someone was interfering with her magic. The mana circle, which was the foundation of the spell, began to twist.
…Was it twisting?
No.
It wasn’t twisting, it was evolving.
Crack crack-
The tips of the balls of hail became sharp like spears.
They also began to absorb the moisture in the atmosphere and grow in size.
More importantly, it transformed from just being an area of effect spell, as each individual hailstone pointed towards an enemy as if they had their own wills.
The next moment, Yuriah and Lukas’ voices resounded terrifyingly.
“White Hail.”
Kakakak!
White hail began to pour down.
“Screech!”
“Roar!”
The screams of the undead erupted. Before going silent a moment later.
“…huh?”
In the centre of it all, Hoffman stood stiffly with a blank expression on his face.
“…”
Looking at the spell that had manifested, Lukas realised he’d made a mistake.
There was no need to use a 7-star spell.
The enhanced White Hail was more than enough to get rid of all the undead reinforcements.