Chương 64: Chapter 63 The Weapon Beneath the Well

Had anyone ever heard of the physical law known as action and reaction? Karath had successfully used the Fireball and the ogre femur to knock the drake's jaw upward and redirect its breath. The reaction to that success was immediate.

"Ghh." The Fireball's explosion hurled him backward. Cracks spread across the ogre femur that had struck the spell, while burns and scrapes covered Karath's body from the blast and his violent roll across the ground. He had no time to care about the pain. The moment he stopped rolling, Karath forced himself upright. Instinct warned him that the creature might attack again.

"Grrrr." Despite its furious expression, the drake remained in place and struggled to regain its breath after releasing the flames into the sky. The breath attack seemed to place a considerable burden upon its body.

"Krog!" Realizing this was their opportunity, Karath called Krog's name and rushed toward him.

"Ah! Everyone, atta..." Krog finally recovered from the shock of witnessing the breath and appeared ready to order a full assault.

"That is not what Karath means. Lure it toward the village well!"

"What are you saying? You want us to bring that monster into the village?" Karath had no time to explain everything.

"There is a way to kill it! Karath will go to the well first and prepare. Keep its attention for a while, then lure it there!" After shouting the instructions, Karath immediately ran toward the settlement. One of the warriors could die while he prepared or during the attempt to guide the drake into the village. The only way to reduce that possibility was to finish as quickly as possible. The orcs waiting inside the settlement stared at Karath in alarm when he ran through the entrance.

"Karath?"

"What happened?"

"Open the gate completely and retreat toward the rear entrance! The drake will arrive soon!" Once again, Karath omitted every explanation and shouted only what they needed to do.

"The drake is coming?"

"D-did something happen to the warriors?"

"Do not say something so cursed!" Confusion began spreading through the village.

"Everyone shut your mouths and move!" Chief Grild's roar immediately restored order. After calming the tribespeople with one shout, Grild looked at Karath. His expression suggested that he had countless questions, but for now, he would place his trust in him. Karath was not certain whether he had interpreted the chief correctly. He nodded once and ran toward the well.

"Good." As Karath had confirmed that morning, the water had risen so high that it was nearly overflowing. A month of monsoon rain had filled the underground water reserves.

"Hup!" Karath swung the ogre femur and smashed apart the low stone wall surrounding the well. Then he removed the object he had carried from the beginning of the hunt. A jewel smaller than his palm shimmered with countless colours. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. According to the journal left by Renstein, the laboratory's former owner, it was called a mana stone.

Such stones occasionally formed in regions with unusually dense concentrations of mana. When mana became too concentrated to flow naturally, it condensed into physical form. The stone contained far more mana than Karath had accumulated throughout the previous month. Using it would allow him to cast an enormous spell. The problem was that his current control remained insufficient for constructing formulas as complicated as Fourth or Fifth Circle magic.

That was why he had spent his time developing spells based upon the simple patterns of the First and Second Circles. He needed an attack that used only a small number of patterns while compensating for its simplicity through an overwhelming quantity of mana. The mana stone was also a consumable resource. Once emptied, it would become useless. Karath intended to use it only when he possessed a method that could kill the drake with certainty. He had continued debating whether to use it throughout the earlier battle.

What if he filled the entire pit with Fire? The thought had occurred to him, but he could not believe it would definitely kill the creature. The Fireballs detonated against the drake's backside and lower jaw had left only faint scorch marks upon its scales. A monster capable of breathing fire might possess exceptional resistance to heat. Other spells presented the same problem. Adding more mana to a First or Second Circle spell generally increased its size or range.

It did not dramatically change the fundamental power of the effect. Such magic could slaughter groups of humans or orcs, but it would probably fail to penetrate the drake's scales and bones. After countless hours of thought, Karath found one possibility. He needed to concentrate extreme force upon a very small point. Unfortunately, the method required both the mana stone and the village well. Failure could devastate the settlement.

However, every other weapon and spell had already proven incapable of inflicting a fatal injury. There was no longer any reason to hesitate. Hummmmm. Karath manipulated the mana flowing inside his body and stimulated the mana stone. Violent waves of energy poured from it. The volume exceeded everything within Karath's own body, and a painful sensation like electricity surged through the hand gripping the stone.

"Haa." Karath ignored the pain and sat where the stone wall had stood. He seized the mana streaming from the jewel and began forming magical patterns. Whoooom. Following the structures he created, portions of the air began circling his hands. Karath forced the air to remain still, then plunged both hands into the well. He manipulated one layer of air around the surface of the water. The rest descended toward the bottom.

When it reached the base of the well, he stopped its movement and formed an enclosed oval space filled entirely with water.

"Hup!" Karath began pulling the lower air layer upward. It was similar to pressing the plunger of a water-filled syringe. By combining the First Circle elemental manipulation of air with the compression pattern, Karath began forcing the water into a smaller space. The difference was that this cylinder, constructed from mana and air, had no outlet. Hummmmm. When the pressure reached a certain level, a tremendous opposing force struck Karath.

"Ghh." He drew in even more air and layered additional compression patterns upon the structure. The more tightly the water was compressed, the stronger its resistance became. Blood began flowing from Karath's nose. His entire body trembled like an ancient computer trapped within an endless loop. He paid no attention to his physical condition. Thought had already disappeared. Like a damaged machine, he simply repeated the calculations he needed to complete.

No matter how violently his body shook, Karath continued gathering air and layering the compression process again and again. The calculations involved only two combined patterns, placing the spell at the theoretical level of the Second Circle. However, the amount of mana he controlled had already surpassed anything a Second Circle spell should require. Karath had practiced the process on a smaller scale. He had also estimated the necessary mana. Reality exceeded every calculation.

Only his previous preparation allowed him to endure at all. Hummmmm. Enormous quantities of energy continued pouring from the mana stone in his right hand. The overload spreading through Karath's body felt like an innovative method of suicide. Contradictorily, he remained grateful. This attempt was possible only because the well already existed and was filled with water. Had Karath needed to create the water as well, the number of calculations and the difficulty of control would have multiplied.

He would not have been capable of beginning. Thud. Thud. The heavy vibrations penetrated Karath's fading awareness and pulled him back toward reality. He raised his head. Krog was running through the village gate toward the well. Crash! Behind him, the drake smashed its tail through the stone wall surrounding the settlement and charged inside. The entire scene appeared to move in slow motion. Krog opened his mouth and shouted something while approaching.

"Kaaaaraaaath!" Both the sound and his movements were so distorted that Karath could not understand him. He could only trust Krog and continue compressing the water. Tap. Tap. Tap. Within the slowed world, Krog gradually reached him and ran past. Boom. Boom. Boom. The drake followed. It opened its enormous jaws and exposed rows of sharp teeth, intending to swallow Karath whole.

"Haaaa." The moment he saw it, Karath added one final process to the compression he had repeated endlessly. Creating a tiny opening in the air layer above the water would produce something similar to a waterjet cutter. That alone was not enough. A waterjet lost strength as it travelled because the stream spread outward with distance. It would still possess enough force to pulverise the bones of an ordinary human or animal, but it might fail against the drake.

Karath formed another wall of air above the layer sealing the water's surface. This one took the shape of a cone. Its narrow end pointed directly into the drake's open mouth and toward the roof of its jaws. The sudden additional calculation pushed Karath's overloaded body beyond its limit. Something surged upward from within him. He clenched his teeth and forced his throat shut. Blood still spilled from his mouth. It had come from somewhere inside his body. Even then, the mana manipulation did not stop.

The cone-shaped layer of air completed itself. At its tip, Karath opened a hole no larger than a point. Then he erased the air layer restraining the surface of the well and drove the magical piston upward with all his remaining strength. Hiss! A thread of water erupted from the tiny opening. It looked weak, no thicker than a narrow stream. Slice. That seemingly fragile blade possessed enough force to cut modern steel like soft tofu. It passed effortlessly through the roof of the drake's mouth.

The stream carved through bone and entered its brain.