kscans

Chapter 286 - The Second Seal and the Priestess vs. the Bishop

Myra and the Bishop faced off.

Both wielded long-hafted weapons. Myra lowered her stance slightly, gripping her mace at her waist, its head angled diagonally upward. In contrast, the Bishop stood straight, holding its battle-axe parallel to the stone floor, the spear tip aimed at Myra.

A faint light flickered at that tip. The seed of a flame. In an instant, it swelled into a swirling fireball.

Myra began to circle the Bishop, moving with practiced steps. She intended to use her footwork to dodge the moment it was fired and land a blow. The spearhead, which had been tracking her, suddenly swiveled toward me.

In that instant, the fireball was launched.

"Damn it!"

The stab wound in my leg left me immobile, able to do nothing but watch the fireball bear down on me.

"Mash!"

Myra's voice rang out. She spun around and, with a roar, slammed her mace into the approaching sphere of fire, swinging through. The blow shattered the fireball, scattering the exploding flames. I avoided a direct hit, but the flying embers seared my clothes and skin, and hers as well.

"Tch!"

Myra let out a short breath, enduring the pain as she stood protectively in front of me. But before she could reset her stance, the Bishop kicked off the floor and charged. It swung its heavy battle-axe, bringing it down with terrifying speed.

A fierce exchange began between the two.

The Bishop wielded its axe with the same deceptive ease it had against me. A relentless barrage of linear attacks, interspersed with thrusts, rained down on Myra. In response, she gripped the end of the handle, using the weight of the mace's head to create large, sweeping arcs, countering with blows powered by centrifugal force.

But the distance between them was too close. The Bishop's skill in continuous attacks gradually began to give it the upper hand.

"Myra, your spacing—!"

Just as I started to shout advice, a hand grabbed the back of my neck, and I was dragged backward. I turned to look up and saw Nephi's face. She was looking down at me silently.

"Nephi, help Myra, not me!"

She slowly shook her head.

"Untying her fetters comes first."

"What fetters are you talking about?"

Instead of answering, she pressed a health potion into my chest.

Myra, our healer, was locked in combat with the Bishop.

Her black hair swayed in an arc as she dodged the tip of the Bishop's axe. Channeling the force of her spin, she brought her mace down, but the Bishop effortlessly blocked the powerful blow with the axe's handle and knocked it upward.

Thrown off balance, Myra staggered back, and a fireball shot toward her. At the last possible second, she dodged it.

Before she had a chance to counter, the Bishop launched a sharp thrust. Myra dodged that as well.

Her movements were as smooth as a dance, but her breathing was becoming labored.

Like me, she had been hit by embers, and her priestess robes were peppered with scorch marks. However, unlike our earlier clash, she was now able to maintain her distance. But the Bishop's weapon had the same reach. And whenever the distance grew, the enemy would launch a fireball.

The health potion had dulled my pain considerably, but my wounds weren't fully closed. I tied a strip of cloth around my thigh to stop the bleeding and watched the battle unfold.

The steam that had filled the room had cleared. Famu and Mizuki were fighting the worms that had sprung from the flames, with Marmi providing magical support from behind them.

Individually, the worms were slow and manageable. The problem was their numbers. They were born from the fireballs the Bishop launched, constantly increasing.

A swarm of worms was writhing its way toward us as well.

I leaned on Nephi for support and stood up. It hurt to walk, but I could probably manage to fire off some magic from the rear. I would leave clearing the worms to Famu and the others, and with Nephi protecting me from the worms, I should be able to help Myra. Honestly, I'd rather have Nephi, a mage, support Myra directly.

Just then, a sickeningly sweet scent drifted through the air. It was mixed with a foul odor of decay, and I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"Don't breathe it in too deeply. This smell is poison," Nephi said, stabbing one of the worms with her staff.

"What?!"

"It seems to be coming from their antennae. Breathe it in for too long and you'll pass out. If we take too long to fight, we'll all be wiped out."

"How long do we have...?"

"I don't know, but the ones with the least stamina will go down first."

Come to think of it, against an enemy like this, Marmi would normally use a wide-area lightning spell, but she'd only been using single-target magic. And Famu's movements seemed to lack their usual sharpness.

"Ugh!"

I gritted my teeth and turned my attention back to the fight between Myra and the Bishop.

An antidote might work temporarily, but as long as we were breathing this air, the poison would keep seeping in.

Defeating the Bishop was the priority. Until we took it down, the worms would spawn infinitely. I raised my hand to cast a water magic Icicle. But the Bishop sensed my movement and shifted so that Myra was in my line of fire.

"Nephi, target the Bishop from another angle!"

She shook her head at my words.

"They can fight because I'm protecting you, Mash."

Nephi launched an [Arrowhead] of earth magic at the approaching swarm of worms, then stabbed the survivors with her staff. The monsters vanished, but I felt the concentration of the foul smell increase. A fog seemed to cloud my senses, as if my brain were melting, and my body swayed. I shook my head, trying to regain focus, but a powerful drowsiness began to overwhelm my willpower.

"Tch, so they release poison even when they're defeated."

This wasn't just getting us nowhere; it was a dead end. I looked at Nephi's profile as she brandished her staff at the worms. Her large, demonic horns, her calm eyes fixed on the monsters, and her tightly pressed lips all combined to make her look perfectly composed. In Miglutt, we had fought her group, the Messiahs, and I had killed their leader. What was she thinking, joining us, and how could she remain so calm in this desperate situation?

"Mash."

It wasn't Nephi who called me, but Myra, who was still facing the Bishop. She was now breathing heavily, her shoulders heaving. Her body was covered in countless bruises, and the number of cuts had increased. In contrast, the Bishop showed no signs of damage; its robes were as pristine as when it first appeared.

Its surplice seemed to float up, and Myra's body moved to the side. A fireball shot through the space she had just occupied, heading straight for me.

"Tch!"

Before I could aim the Icicle I had been preparing, Nephi stepped in front of me and swatted the fireball down with her staff. From the scattered flames, new worms came crawling out.

I watched it happen with a cold feeling in my stomach.

"I will create an opening. Mash, trust me. Your magic won't hit me. Ignore me and fire at the Bishop," Myra said.

"But..."

At this point, it would be better to switch her with Nephi. I didn't know Nephi's true strength, so I was worried about how she'd fare against the Bishop, but with Myra in the rear, we'd have a healer and more strategic options.

The room had become incredibly hot from the Bishop's fire magic. The worm's poison was a problem, but the heat was also impairing our judgment. I wiped the sweat from my brow before it could fall into my eyes, and I saw sweat trickling down Myra's cheek as well.

The instant it hit the floor, Myra kicked off the ground.

A blow from her mace, arcing wide with centrifugal force, swung down on the Bishop. A loud metallic clang rang out as sparks flew, but the Bishop blocked the attack with ease and shoved her back.

Myra jumped back. I launched an Icicle at her landing spot.

Just as its tip was about to touch her back, she sidestepped, dodging it. With Myra out of the line of fire, the Icicle found its target in the Bishop beyond.

"Hit it!"

My shout was in vain; the Bishop shattered the Icicle with its battle-axe. The fragments instantly evaporated in the room's intense heat. Slicing through the steam, Myra closed in on the Bishop and swung her mace.

"Gah—"

The mace's head struck the Bishop's.

For a moment, the Bishop's body seemed to waver, but the strength returned to its grip on the axe, and it immediately launched a counterattack. A ferocious slash sent Myra staggering. A follow-up strike with the butt of the handle gouged her abdomen.

"Guh!"

With a muffled cry, her body bent in half. The Bishop scooped her up and tossed her into the air.

"You bastard!"

I fired another Icicle to stop the Bishop's follow-up. But it didn't dodge, instead aiming its spearhead at her and launching a fireball without a moment's delay.

The Icicle struck the Bishop, sending it flying, but Myra was also engulfed in flames and crashed onto the stone floor.

"Myra!"

I tried to run to her, but in my anger, I had forgotten my leg injury. I stumbled, and Nephi caught me.

In that time, the Bishop slowly got to its feet. A gaping hole from the Icicle was visible in its robes. But there was no flesh beneath it, only a black, miasma-like substance rising up.

It righted its tilted head. As it held its axe horizontally, there was no sign that it had taken any damage. On top of its high combat ability, it had a tough body. An icy chill ran down my spine at its unfathomable power.

A moment later, Myra staggered to her feet. Her cheeks were blackened with soot, her eyes dull and lifeless. Her mace was still clutched tightly in her hand, but the handle was trembling slightly.

"Nephi, forget about me. Please, support Myra!"

As I shouted, Myra held up a hand as if to refuse.

"Mash, this is for the best. I couldn't land a single blow on the Bishop before, but in that last exchange, I managed to hit it twice..."

"Don't be a fool! What's the point if you get burned to a crisp?!"

Just then, she turned to me and smiled. It seemed so fragile.

"My hero. Lend me your strength."

The instant she whispered those words, she kicked off the ground toward the Bishop.

"Ugh..."

I clenched my jaw and launched an Icicle at her back, just as before.

And just as before, Myra twisted her body to dodge it.

But this time, the Bishop was prepared for the attack. The tip of its axe glowed, and a fireball shot out as if in wait, shattering the Icicle with a roar. Then, with ease, it blocked her blow and raised its axe to counterattack.

Myra had moved to the side, creating a line of fire. I launched a series of Icicles, but the Bishop, even while trading blows with Myra, twisted its body to dodge them. My magic only managed to clip the hem of its robes.

And immediately, it repositioned itself so that Myra was in my line of fire again.

"Damn it, I can't shoot...!"

The Bishop was beginning to overwhelm Myra with the sheer number of its attacks. The wide arcs of her mace had shrunk to smaller movements, and it seemed she was out of options.

As I watched the battle in a daze, Myra kept flicking her gaze toward me.

Was she losing focus? I shook my head to dismiss the thought. This was a signal. She was telling me to fire my magic without worrying about her. Could I trust her, even in this dire situation?

But even if I trusted her, the enemy was reading my magical attacks. If I attacked from a different angle, the Bishop might flinch. But the stone spheres I could curve wouldn't be powerful enough to affect it. It hadn't gone down even after taking a direct hit from Myra.

I looked around for help and my eyes widened at the sight of Marmi, crumpled behind the fighting Famu and Mizuki. The circle of worms was steadily closing in on them.

The encirclement was closing in on us, too. Nephi was striking down newly born worms with her staff, but the sweet smell that stung my nose was growing stronger.

I needed a single blow that would catch the Bishop off guard. As I thought that, Myra's gaze met mine again.

And in that moment, I thought I finally understood her plan.

"Myra!"

I held out my hand, created a stone sphere with earth magic, and launched it at her.

The sphere shot forward, cut through the air above her head, and slammed into the far wall, shattering.

"Hey, where are you aiming?!" Nephi stared at me, exasperated.

"No, that's what I wanted. I'm sure Myra understands."

"Really?"

After launching an [Arrowhead] at a worm, she narrowed her eyes, her brow furrowed slightly as she looked at me.

The problem was making it not shatter. A material with high hardness and viscosity.

I created such a stone sphere and launched it at Myra again. It was a spot that wouldn't interfere with their fight. Just as I intended, it passed by the two of them as they fought.

Whether she tracked it by sound or just sensed it by instinct, Myra's body shifted. The mace she swung drew a large arc and connected with the stone sphere.

A high-pitched sound rang out, and the stone sphere, accelerated by the impact, changed its trajectory and struck the Bishop.

"Guh!"

The Bishop let out a low, dry groan. As its body wavered, Myra slammed her mace into it.

The Bishop retreated a great distance to create space, and as it tried to regain its footing, it began to prepare a fireball. I launched a stone sphere before it could. Myra, just as before, struck the sphere, sending it into the Bishop. At the same time, a fireball was launched, but it only grazed her as it flew past.

Without giving the off-balance Bishop a chance to counterattack, Myra continued to rain blows upon it. At first, the enemy blocked them with its axe, but it couldn't withstand her onslaught, and finally, it dropped the axe to the floor.

The sound of metal clattering echoed loudly.

"This is the end!"

Myra raised her mace high. Then, she brought it down on the Bishop, which was standing there like a ghost. Its robes disintegrated, and the Bishop vanished.

"Whew..."

Myra let out a huge sigh, her body swaying as she leaned on her mace for support. Then, she turned to face me.

"As expected of my hero. But... I'm a little tired... I'll leave the rest to you."

She gave a weak smile and, still clutching her mace, fell to her knees.