73 Chapter 73: Starligh (2/2)
Behind the wall of wood, I was monitoring the battle.
”Hoshizaki-san is still battling Suzuki.”
Pushing my glasses back up my nose again (to look cool and smart more than any actual need to adjust them), I watched the battle with Absolute Appraisal.
”This doesn't seem good.”
Even without the information on my lenses, I could detect a sharp surge in Suzuki's mana, and all of us could see the sheer number of lightning spears that carpeted the heavens.
”He's attacking again! And his next barrage of attacks has increased in power by 5 times!”
”5 times?!” Makoto repeated incredulously. Yeah. Why would I lie?
”This time…”
Suzuki grinned in delight, triumph flooding his mind as he pointed his spear at Makoto's sturdy wood barrier.
”Your poor little wall of trees…”
He swung his spear down.
BOOM!
The entire arsenal of lightning spears sped downward from the skies and rained down on us in a devastating bombardment that obliterated the wooden barrier in less than a millisecond, tearing it apart and sending splinters and shards flying in all directions. A large swathe of the wall simply disintegrated, as if it never existed to begin with.
”…won't be able to protect you!”
Suzuki gloated as he unleashed his devastating bombardment of lightning projectiles. Before we could scatter, something came plummeting from above.
”It's Hoshizaki-san!” Sanada shouted in alarm. ”She's taken heavy damage!”
”Run!”
Even as Hoshizaki crashed back toward the earth, she was more concerned for our wellbeing than herself. Her dress had been torn and tattered in many parts, her star-shaped flying carpet-thing had shattered from the assault, and small jewel-like pieces of broken stars accompanied her fall, almost as if in slow motion.
”Everyone, stand down,” I ordered as I stepped forward, as if to catch Hoshizaki before she hit the ground. ”I'll take care of this.”
Everyone stared at me, bewildered. Makoto, Sanada, Lilith and Aoyama were all rooted in disbelief, pinned to the ground as the devastating hail of lightning spears rained down on them, but frozen by my command.
”Don't worry.”
I turned to give them a small smile before I took another step forward.
”I'm just going to light the lightning.”
”Seriously!? Still making pun jokes at a time like this?!”
”I needed to get a pun joke into the battle in time!”
Before Makoto could retort, the whole world vanished in an enormous explosion of flame and electricity.
”Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Suzuki roared with laughter as he unleashed the devastating bombardment of lightning spears on our position, his gaze riveted on the countless explosions that blossomed from the area of impact as projectile after projectile slammed into the ground.
”You can't escape this time!”
Gloating gleefully, Suzuki felt his excitement raise along with the numerous explosions that annihilated the ground before him.
Before long, the skies ran out of lightning spears and the explosions ceased, leaving only a fuming crater that was thick with smoke and ash, and still crackling with static electricity that caused one's hair to stand on end.
”Oh, that's another round done…it feels amazing!”
Suzuki pumped his fist into the air triumphantly.
”They should have been slaughtered. I actually beat Tanaka, the so-called hero-slayer who has defeated five of us.”
He grinned cheerfully as he sought to check his status.
”I should have broken past level 1,000 this time!”
Nishida jumped out of his hiding place and cheered happily.
”As expected of the boss…he…he actually won!”
”Are you sure you've won?”
From amidst the sooty, gray smoke, a single, dark shadowy figure seemed to emerge ominously, my eyes hidden behind the gleaming lenses of my glasses.
”Eh…?”
Suzuki suddenly felt a cold stab of fear.
As the smoke and fumes dissipated, I remained half-crouched while carrying Hoshizaki's ravaged and wounded body with both hands. She was barely conscious and in a very battered state, but she would have suffered worse injuries had I not caught her before she hit the ground. Straightening up, I grinned at the stunned Suzuki.
”You didn't land a hit on anyone.”
Behind me, Lilith, Makoto, Aoyama and Sanada were all unscathed, standing in the crater without even a single scratch or burn.
”What?! So that's why the kill confirmation message didn't appear…”
”What kill confirmation message?”
I couldn't believe it. Even to this present, my former clssmates were still treating this world like some sort of game. Or at least the ones who weren't part of the Iron Knights, anyway. These guys were beyond delusional.
”How is this possible?! That was the 2nd barrage of the boss's Thousand Divine Lightning Spears!”
Nishida was yelling in disbelief, unable to absorb the sight in front of him.
”What happened just now?” Lilith asked, just as bewildered as the two foes.
”Was that some sort of special ability?” Makoto asked skeptically as he examined himself, finding no sign of injuries.
”How did you protect all of us?” Lilith looked at me curiously, thinking hard as she placed a finger on her chin. ”How did you pull that off in the face of such a devastating barrage?”
”…speaking of which, where are your zombies?” Aoyama asked, realizing something.
”Did you use your zombies as meatshields and sacrifice them to protect us?” Lilith guessed, looking a little mollified. Hoshizaki turned to glance at her, even as I continued to carry her in my arms. She then tapped my hand.
”No…” Hoshizaki mused as she gestured for me to let her down and then bowed her head gratefully. ”That wasn't a barrier or meatshield maneuver. I am sure of it.”
”Yet he managed to allow all of us to escape that barrage unscathed…” Sanada was glancing around, still trying to comprehend what had just happened. ”This is confusing…”
”It means that you used some kind of spell to conduct the electricity away.” Makoto looked impressed, having revised his opinion of me entirely after I saved him and his gang.
”I sensed it,” Aoyama agreed with a nod as he approached me, presumably to heal the injured Hoshizaki.
I shrugged as I turned to glance at him. Aoyama continued as he studied me.
”Just now, I saw the lighting spears all get directed away from us and diverted into a single location.”
”I can sense it too…” Sanada nodded in agreement as he clenched his fists. ”This kind of spell that can render such a devastating attack harmless is terrifying.”
”Conducted away…I see.” Lilith pondered thoughtfully and stared at the ground. ”So that's what this is.”
”Yeah,” Aoyama affirmed seriously. ”If I'm not wrong, you casted a spell to create multiple lightning rods in the ground that attracted and diverted all that lightning away from us.”
”Yeah,” I admitted with a smile. ”I grounded the lightning…or to be more precise, my partner grounded the lightning.”
A colossal shadow suddenly loomed over us. The ancient undead dragon stared down silently, but at least he wasn't as hostile as before.
”I've heard that ancient dragons are capable of casting a vast range of spells,” Lilith murmured thoughtfully. ”But to think they actually have such a spell that is specialized in neutralizing lightning attacks…”
”Yeah, ancient dragons are such awesome creatures.”
I stepped forward and patted the ancient dragon's paw to show my gratitude. To reach an understanding with him, I had struck a partnership rather than a servant-master relationship. I wasn't a tyrannical bastard who enjoyed enslaving others – I wasn't Kobayashi Kenji. I would much rather earn loyalty and goodwill than rule through fear.
”Ancient dragons are highly intelligent creatures who are capable of casting the same variety of magic as humans, and on a much larger scale.”
My smile grew wider as I glanced at the absolutely stunned Suzuki and his equally shocked crony, Nishida.
”Having an ancient dragon is basically the same as having a mage in your party, only several times more powerful and also very capable in close combat.”
Even though the ancient dragon was an extremely formidable foe that required a ton of effort to defeat, having him as one of my summoned undead made all that trouble and pain entirely worth it. Like they said, no pain, no gain.
And I suffered excruciating agony just to defeat this guy. Like I said, completely worth it.
”When Suzuki broke through the wall, I had Ryuu here cast his lightning rods spell and scatter them all over the area. As he did so, I managed to catch Hoshizaki-san before she got hit by the lightning, but since the lightning was all diverted away to the lightning rods, it was a matter of picking the trajectory to avoid getting between them and the lightning rods. And also…Aoyama-kun, you also received my message even during the midst of that thunderous din, right?”
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Aoyama nodded.
”I have, indeed.”
”There you go.”
I smirked as the rest of my zombie wyverns and the undead lesser dragon emerged from the mountains to tower over the dumbstruck Suzuki. But there was no need for them. The battle was already over, because…
”…in any case, the victor has already been decided.”