Chương 68: 1.4.02 - Spark of Inspiration

Mark II felt heavy in my arms, the coils glowing slightly from the heat of the last shot. I had pushed the output a few percent above the 20% threshold I tested the last time as the spot I found to snipe at the shack was a bit further than I would have liked. I knew that pushing it above the tested threshold risked damaging the coil gun but I needed to make sure the shot punched straight through the shack as I had only one shot.

My arms ached from suppressing the recoil, making sure that the coil gun would not shift during the moment of fire. The time I had given for my body to grow into my new soul mutation had paid off, as evidenced by the carnage Mark II had left. In my vision, the signal from the two men sitting down had disappeared, the figure lying on the ground was still there and alive, although in what condition I could not tell yet. The last figure had jumped out of the shack and rolled down the side of the slope.

The moment I saw the note, I had rushed back to the Weeping Grotto to retrieve my coil gun along with the new projectiles. I had arrived here more than an hour ago and had detected the people up in the shack even before arriving at the clearing. I decided to circle around and observe the people inside, and quickly guessed that poor Garrick must have been left on the ground, not even being given a chair.

That worked to my benefit, as I could tell the other people who were upright and moving freely were likely the kidnappers. I had to wait for any opportunity where one shot could take out more than one target — I would have liked all three to be taken down at once but there was one person that never stopped moving. The very same person now running towards the area I was in. He must have guessed where I was based on the direction of the projectile.

He was also smart enough to assume I might have a second shot as he was running in a zigzag pattern — something I did not have unfortunately. I placed Mark II on the ground where I stood and rushed to meet him, hopefully far enough from here so that Mark II would not become collateral damage from our fight.

I primed a Lightning Bolt in my hand as I headed towards him, running through the forest and avoiding the tangle of roots and loose rocks by relying on my Electrolocation while I kept the blue glowing figure approaching me in my view. When we were less than 100 meters apart and I had a clear line of sight, I unleashed my spell at him.

The man was not running straight at me but he probably had a spell primed as well, as he unleashed what looked like a bolt of fire in my direction the moment he saw my spell flying, meeting my Lightning Bolt midway. The resulting clash caused an explosion of fire and lightning, blowing the trees nearby apart and setting some of them on fire. I ran to the side, headed for another clearing between us. I could tell he had no intention of running as he headed towards the same direction.

I was still trying to figure out why these men would kidnap Garrick to target me but everything clicked when I got close enough to see the Fire mage's face. I could still recall the faces of the first men I killed, that was something that stuck with you for a long time. The Fire mage's face resembled the sleazy guy, the Wind mage that I had fought after I had woken up. We both stopped at the edge of the clearing, sizing each other up. It was obvious that only one of us would be leaving here alive today.

I had no intention of letting someone who had hurt the people close to me leave, my resolve hardened having killed more bandits since becoming an adventurer.

"You Jonas?" I asked. He was obviously the Wind mage's brother. I was just trying to get a response out of him and goad him to be more hot headed.

"I hope you won't go down as easy as your brother did" I said in a cheeky tone. His face turned into a scowl at the mention of his brother.

"You'll pay for what you did. I'll take my time burning your skin off piece by piece." Jonas said with a sneer, then released a Fire Arrow at my face. The arrow was way faster than any Wind Blade I had seen. I had to dodge to the side, which resulted in the spell blowing a hole in the tree trunk behind me, setting it on fire. I launched my own Lightning Bolt as I dodged, aiming straight at his torso. I did not see him make a move to dodge at all and was expecting the spell to hit him square in the chest.

Instead, I saw him flick his hand up and a wall of fire was raised a few meters in front of him. The Fire Wall disrupted the ionization trail of my Lightning Bolt, which caused my spell to veer upwards towards the sky. My Lightning Bolt did clip the edge of the Fire Wall near the top, which caused a small explosion. The explosion sent embers of fire flying at Jonas's face, which did not seem to bother him at all. He must have an innate fire resistance, similar to my resistance to lightning.

Also, that Fire Wall spell is a problem if I don't find a way around it. Jonas had a look of delight on his face as he started launching Fire Arrows at me, which I could only dodge. At times, I sent my own Lightning Bolts at them, causing the spells to explode midway. He continued to stay in the same position, only using his Fire Wall spell to defend against attacks launched at him. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Recalling that I had daggers on me, I removed one from the bandolier and launched it at Jonas. As we were quite far apart, Jonas had more than enough time to side step it when he saw the blade flying towards him, even after I had sped it up with Lightning Manipulation.

"HAHAHA! What's the matter? Getting tired of jumping around?" Jonas mocked me as he continued to launch Fire Arrows at me. He was also getting better at anticipating my movements, as he would launch Fire Arrows consecutively — each of them getting closer and closer. There were a few that had already singed my pauldrons when they got too close. The pauldrons were seared right through, even though they only caught the edges of the spell, offering no protection whatsoever against the concentrated fire construct.

Suddenly, I sensed my lightning mana behind me being displaced through my Electrolocation — a spherical construct heading straight for my head. I quickly ducked and rolled, seeing a ball of fire flying through where my head had been in the corner of my eye. Fuck, that was close! When I got up and faced Jonas, I could see he had an annoyed look on his face. When I looked around, there were patches of fire everywhere from all the Fire Arrows I had dodged.

While the fire was not spreading fast due to the natural mana in the plants, it had lingered on the spots where Jonas's spell landed and begun to grow. He must be able to manipulate the fire and use it to attack. Shit, the longer the fight goes on, the more disadvantageous it is for me. I briefly contemplated running away or luring him to a different clearing and starting anew.

However, there was a risk that he might choose to run away today and try to ambush me another day — or worse still, kidnap someone else and use one of his underhanded tactics. I started to use the environment to my advantage as well. I blasted some of the surrounding trees instead, causing either branches or tree trunks to fall on him. He dodged some and used his Fire Wall to shield himself from some. That was when I noticed a peculiarity with his Fire Wall spell.

Every time he summoned a new one, his previous Fire Wall would dissipate even if he had only just cast it. It seemed like the spell was channeled and he could only have one wall at a time. I began to formulate a plan in my head with that knowledge. I started to focus more on dodging and intercepting his spells, while Jonas started to weave in more attacks using the fire in the surroundings as well.

There were a few attacks which I could not avoid completely, and I was starting to take some burns on my legs and back when a few spells flew too close.

"Dance for me little monkey! Let's see how long you can keep this up!" Jonas taunted while he continued to unleash Fire Arrows and use the surrounding fire to weave into orbs of fire. The spell that had been on my mind started to take shape in my core. I took note of the position of the other dagger I had launched earlier, and sent another dagger flying off to the side.

I aimed for the location such that the two daggers would form a triangle with me as the third point — while Jonas would stay somewhere in the middle.

"HAHAHA! Are you getting that tired that you can't even aim? Even wasting your last dagger like that!" Jonas laughed when he saw me throwing my dagger to the side instead of at him. I had infused my mana into the second dagger and placed an Anchor Rune on it. I had to use this as a crutch for the first instance as I was not sure it would work. I released my Lightning Bolt aiming at the second dagger.

Jonas was still smiling initially, but years of combat had probably given him a sixth sense as he looked over at the dagger and saw something unexpected. Instead of my Lightning Bolt ending at the dagger, it arced and jumped towards him. He managed to cast a Fire Wall at the last second, causing the clash to explode and knock him back a step. I ignored the familiar ping of notification at the back of my head, probably alerting me of the spell tier up.

I took the opportunity to release another Lightning Bolt straight at him, causing him to look back in my direction and intercept it with a Fire Bolt. In the same breath, I had prepared another Lightning Bolt, and fired it at the first dagger — this time without needing to rely on a prepared Anchor Rune like on the other dagger. Jonas quickly cast another Fire Wall to intercept that.

The tables turned this time, I started alternating the direction of attack using the daggers to jump my Lightning Bolts — for a brief moment, the image of a Sith Lord releasing lightning at his target flashed in my head. It did not take long before Jonas was overwhelmed by the number of attacks and one of the Lightning Bolts finally hit him. He collapsed immediately and I followed up with another Lightning Bolt. Jonas's body was seizing on the ground after being hit by the second spell.

I could tell through my system that his nervous system was starting to shut down — but I still had my guard up while I slowly approached him. When I stood over him, what surprised me was that he was still holding on to consciousness. I used my Lightning Manipulation to yank one of the daggers out, floating it right over his head to end it for good.

"THIS — IS — NOT — OVER!" Jonas hissed with ragged breath. I flicked my fingers, sending the dagger straight through his right eye. His body seized one last time, before going still. I walked over and absorbed his core, searching his body for a coin pouch and anything else that might be valuable. The only thing I found was an insignia that looked oddly familiar, but I chucked it to the side as it was just a lump of metal.

I was concerned that the fire from our fight would spread but it seemed like it was kept alive by the mana from Jonas. Now that the man had died, the inherent mana in the plants was resisting the flames, gradually putting it out. I retrieved both the daggers before I trekked back to where I had left Mark II earlier. After securing it in the satchel I brought along, I finally headed over to what I came here for in the first place.

"Ok old man, you better still hang in there" I said as I walked towards the remains of the wrecked shack — his signal in my vision was much weaker than I would have liked.