Chapter 19: Power, magic, swordsmanship
In the dungeon of the New team.
The new team has now made it halfway into the dungeon. They are now facing a dozen or so numbers of high-orcs and a minotaur. Every one of them can feel the amount of energy the minotaur is pouring out. Not only the minotaur but the high-orcs as well.
This is due to the fact that the dungeon hasn’t been challenged for over two hundred years. It made sense that they wouldn’t be your typical run of the mill monsters. This is now a real battle for them. Their hearts start pounding as sweat begins to roll down on some of their faces. Light steps up and takes the lead.
“Luke, Kelvin. I think I’ll need your help with this guy.” Says Light as he looks at the minotaur.
Luke and Kelvin nod their heads in agreement.
*ROAR*
The roar of the minotaur shakes the entire area they were standing on. The amount of bloodlust that the minotaur is releasing is insane. But none of them passes out nor retreats. They were trained by the most powerful person they knew after all.
“ALL OF YOU! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!”
With those words from Light, everyone prepares. The high-orcs charge at full speed whilst the minotaur just waits in the back holding its giant axe. The guards also charge at them meeting each other in the middle.
The guards have already been trained at handling orcs. They divide into teams of four and tackle the high-orcs. They are handling themselves quite well but it isn’t an easy fight.
“I guess it’s our turn to fight.” Says Light with a grin.
“Don’t let your guard like last time. One mistake with this guy and you’re dead.” cautions Luke.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Don’t worry, I won’t. Just cover our back. Let’s go Kelvin.”
Light and Kelvin charge at the minotaur. Luke remains behind and prepares his spells. The minotaur smiles as it swings its enormous axe at them.
*KABOOM*
A thunderous crash shakes the structure. The two manage to dodge the attack easily and continue on. Light leaps up into the air and slashes the minotaur in the chest. The slash is enough to only remove its chest hair leaving a small scratch.
Too shallow.
A punch comes hurtling to Light as he is still in mid-air.
“Wind gale.”
A gust of powerful wind magic strikes the minotaur in the face.
“HEY YOU IDIOT! I JUST TOLD YOU NOT TO BE CARELESS! I swear to God.” Shout Luke at Light.
“Thanks, buddy.” Says Light as he smiles, giggling like a child.
As the dust clears on the minotaur’s face, the wind gale Luke just shot had no effect.
I knew it. The is no way this guy can be injured by my wind gale. It’s still not there yet. It still has not reached ‘his’ level yet.
Wind gale is a low-level magic spell that uses compressed wind that is rotated using a strong torque. It is one of the spells Allen upgraded after he saw just how weak the original version was.
The minotaur roars before it charges to Luke’s direction. Kelvin is able to halt its charge by tugging it by its cow like tail and throwing it towards the wall. The minotaur crashes hard as the area quakes.
“Mana slash.”
With his sword glowing with mana, Light releases a mana slash that pummels the minotaur further into the wall. The minotaur stands back up. It only has minor injuries to it.
It grabs a piece of rock from the rubble and throws it at Luke’s direction. Luke manages to blow away the attack by casting gust. The minotaur then appears next to Light who is surprised by the minotaur’s speed and swings its axe. Light manages to block the attack with his sword but the force sends him crashing into the wall.
Luke and Kelvin are shocked, but the minotaur didn’t slow down as it appears next to Kelvin, kicking him with its giant hoof to the wall.
***
The guards who are fighting their own fights are shocked.
“Are they going to be alright?”
“That minotaur’s fast. I couldn’t even see it.”
The guards start murmuring as fear creeps up on them.
“You guys don’t need to worry about those three.” Says Marco as he cuts one of the high-orcs’ head.
“You guys should just focus on your own fights. Lightning blade.” Says Marco once more as lightning crackles over his sword.
“If it’s Marco who is saying this then those guys will be fine. Come on guys. Let’s fight.”
***
“Wind cutter.”
Luke shoots three slashes of wind at the minotaur. The attack didn’t do much damage.
Damn it. Why? Why isn’t my wind strong enough?
As Luke’s frustration rises up to an abnormal point. He couldn’t help it but think back when Allen was training him.
***
Luke was with Allen in the forest.
“I’m going to teach you wind gale today.”
“Wind gale? Isn’t that a low-level magic spell? I thought you were going to teach me a stronger spell?” said Luke frustrated.
That was to be expected. The only thing Luke had done up until now was train his mana and do meditations on the top of the cliff. Allen did teach him low-level spells like wind cutter and gust, so he was expecting for Allen to teach him intermediate-level magic spells.
“Yes, it is. But this wind gale is different from the standard wind gale you know.” Said Allen as he stretched out his arm. “By compressing the wind and rotating it at a certain speed. You can create something like this.”
Wind twirled around his palm forming a ball of wind. It was more oven in shape than round. He then shot out the wind gale magic spell that wasn’t even bigger than his palm. However, the wind gale was so powerful that it drilled a hole on a boulder and continued on to blast a tree in half.
“See. Even a low-level spell can be deadly.”
Luke was amazed by what he saw. Wind magic was classified as weak compared to other types of magic. So, it wasn’t unexpected that Luke was frustrated after discovering that he had an affinity for wind magic.
But now, the weak magic he believed, had the potential to drill a hole on a boulder like it was butter.
“That’s not all. If you were to further compress the wind and increase the speed of rotation and its length, then you can create something like this.”
Allen stretched out his arm and opened his hand. Wind twirled but this time it wasn’t like the wind gale spell. The wind was stronger, and the noise of air being shredded rang in their ears. And just like that, a wind cane was formed. A wind cane was basically wind compressed and stretched out to the size of a cane.
“You might want to stand back for this.”
Luke stood back as he watched Allen. With a single slice from the wind cane, the trees began to fall. No sound had even come out from his attack. The only thing Luke saw was Allen swinging and the trees falling.
After witnessing that, Luke began training hard but no matter how hard he trained, he could never recreate what Allen did that day.
“You are fighting the wind. Don’t fight it.”
Those where Allen’s last words he said to Luke when he was training him.
***
Back to the present.
Fighting the wind?! What did he even mean by that? My thoughts are getting in the way of my casting. Calm down, Luke and remember how Allen did it.
With that thought in mind, Luke starts casting the spell remembering how Allen did it. He brings both of his hands close to his chest and chants the spell, keeping the image of compressing the air that is being created on his hands.
“Wind gale.”
The wind compresses even further on Luke’s hands as the speed of rotation increases. He opens his eyes and shoots it at the minotaur.
The attack collides with the minotaur damaging it, leaving a spiral shape on its chest. Even though it isn’t fatal, it’s an improvement.
Well, that’s better than nothing, I guess.
“Are you two going to keep taking a nap or are you going to help finish this guy?” asks Luke.
“Well, we thought you had figured something out so we didn’t want to disturb you.” Says Light as he jumps out of the rubble at incredible speeds.
Kelvin also jumps out at the same time. Light appears behind the minotaur as his sword illuminates from mana. He slashes its calf muscles. The minotaur roars in pain as it losses its balance, falling to the ground. Kelvin jumps up and punches the minotaur in the face sending it crashing to the floor.
“Who wants to finish this guy?” asks Luke.
“Kelvin. It’s yours, buddy. Just like I promised.” Says Light with a thumbs up.
“Sorry but I don’t have an attack that can finish this guy in one hit.”
Light looks at Luke who shakes his head no.
“Sigh, I guess I’ll take care of him, then. Don’t say I didn’t give you guys a chance when we are done with this training.”
Light takes a sword stance. The minotaur struggles standing up and is on its knees. Light’s black eyes become razor focus. No, it would be accurate if I say the colour of his eyes deemed, turning dark.
“Thrust of Death.”
Mana gushes out of Light as faint strips of dark energy follow. He thrusts his sword towards the minotaur, blowing its head off its shoulders.
Everyone gapes their mouths in awe at the site.
“What the hell was that?” asks Luke shocked.
“That was thrust of death. A powerful technique that uses all the mana I have in my body in one go.”
“And you’re still standing?”
“Yep. That’s just how powerful I am.”
After saying those words, Light collapses to the ground like a chopped tree.
Of course, a move that strong would have consequences. Idiot. Now we must wait for him to recover his mana. Damn, why did he have to use a move that would make him look so cool? Not that I think he was cool. But was it just me because I’m sure I sensed an ominous feel from Light when he unleashed that technique. Ponders Luke as the guards behind him all cheered.
“Cool.”
“Amazing!”
“I knew they could do it.”
Now, as they recover from the aftermath of the battle, Uriel is still hiding behind pouting. She thought that she could make a hero entrance after they fail to win against the minotaur. Sorry Uriel.