Chương 120: B2 Chapter 39

The mana bolts didn't do nearly as much damage as Hakon had hoped for, but that was fine. [Edge of Awareness] tinged him, and he moved to the side as a war axe came crashing down. The Asquires began to move, and they headed toward the closest target. Hakon expected as much, and he let his perceptive Skills loose before pinpointing several weak spots with [Weakness Detection]. He [Bash]ed into the axe-wielder, stunning him momentarily, but didn't get an attack in as a longsword came for his neck.

Triggering [Swiftstep] allowed him to disengage at the last moment. Then, at last, Astrid arrived with lithe strides. A faint hue of Blood Fury coated her as her daggers flashed forth, cutting into the axe-wielder's lower arm, ripping its pristine skin wide open. [Bleeding], or rather Astrid's Ancient Power Skill, [River of Blood], triggered, and a fountain of violet blood spilled forth. Blood Fury absorbed some of the blood, enhancing Astrid's physical traits slightly with every new injury inflicted.

She tried to cut the axe-wielder again, but a ball of fire the size of her fist shot toward her. Astrid stopped her attack midway and leaped to the side, though the attack would never have hit her as two mana shields flared to life, blocking the ball of fire. Only one of the shields was Hakon's. Is she ready? Can she fight?

Not knowing if Ava was ready to go all out and kill the enemies that would have no problem tearing her apart frustrated him endlessly, but at least she had regained some sense of control over herself.

"Defend us if you don't want to kill," Hakon roared before releasing [Arcane Manifestation]. His mana shield fizzled out, and if he had any say in it, the shield wouldn't come up again either. He no longer had to pay any heed to defending. His face split into a toothy smile at that, and he used [Accelerate] on his lower body. One moment, Hakon stood there, and in the next, sand flew everywhere. He closed the distance to the axe-wielder in a moment, his handaxe and sword infused with mana.

The Asquire was ready for him. It burst into action and struck with surprising speed, not caring about the rivers of blood flowing down its injured arm. The war axe descended upon Hakon, but he did not care. Flowbreaker's Runeskin flared to life, empowered with the Will of Momentum, slowing the Asquire considerably. Without the Will, the Runeskin only disrupted the mana around Hakon. But with the Will of Momentum specifically? Flowbreaker transformed into something much greater at the expense of the Will.

He could use it on himself to change his trajectory or come to a sudden halt by absorbing his own momentum. Or he could do the same to the foes in his range. And that was exactly what Hakon did. The Asquire resisted the pull, so it didn't freeze the axe-wielder in place, but Flowbreaker slowed the Asquire enough for Hakon to hit it before he could be hit. Hakon left a deep gash on the Asquire's chest with his sword before burying the handaxe in the same wound, [Bleeding] active, of course.

More violet blood spurted through the Grand Coliseum's arena, but Hakon wasn't done yet. His mind was working on fumes, just like his body was; hence his attention was never on merely one task at a time. He knew exactly where the other Asquire stood, how close the war axe was to hitting him, and how much time he had left to kill the axe-wielder. A fortified mana bolt came to be, and a second followed. With [Accelerate] applied, Hakon released them to hit the Asquire's face first and wrist a heartbeat later.

The Asquire, as it turned out, was most interested in protecting its mask. It twisted out of the way, but the mana bolt grazed it nonetheless, leaving a bad scratch on the mask. A moment later, the wrist was hit as well, and the Asquire lost its grip. Still not enough? Hakon grunted. There was no need to worry, though, because Astrid was ready. Her daggers flashed to her side, burning with crimson light as she rammed them into the Asquire's neck.

It collapsed to the ground, a violet fountain spurting everywhere, and disintegrated after only a few heartbeats. The other Asquires were not affected by their brethren's death. The sword-wielder appeared behind Astrid, looking like it had waited for her to finish off the axe-wielder, and it brandished its sword. Something was wrong. It was hard to tell, but Hakon could not let Astrid be hit.

He kicked the ground and propelled himself forward, infusing his Will into [Swiftstep] and [Accelerate] while also pushing [Circulation] to its limit to close the distance. It was enough to move between Astrid and the Asquire. He was faster than Astrid and had sensed something wrong, yet he was still not fast enough to respond to the attack coming for him. A burst of energy unlike before rippled from the Asquire Swordsman, and that, if nothing else, could be explained by the Asquire Mage.

It did something, [Mana Sense] told him as much, but the extent of its actions was unclear. Not for long though. The danger coming from the Asquire Swordsman increased drastically. It accelerated suddenly and moved even faster than before, its sword flashing through the air several times, raking across Hakon's chest and leaving a handful of deep gashes.

The first attack came raw and unbidden, so did the second, and it was only when the third strike came at him that several mana shields materialized where the attack would have landed. And yet, the shields failed to do the very task they were created to perform. The Swordsman's weapon vibrated as more of the Mage's mana filled the air, cutting clean through the shields. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

The Swordsman was not done after the third strike, but neither was Hakon. He hissed in pain, gritted his teeth, and shot forward in the minute gap between the third and the fourth strike. Ava may have been too late to protect him properly, but she did do her bit to slow the disturbingly fast, empowered Swordsman. And that was enough. Flowbreaker lit up again, disrupting whatever spells had been cast on the Swordsman. Or so it should have been.

The Mage resisted the disruption, forcing Hakon to pay more attention to the Runeskin while also maintaining it. His Core was slowly being drained, and the Will's energy was being consumed in a steady stream as well. It wasn't like he could use his Runeskins forever either. Still, no matter how taxing it all was, it worked well enough to catch up to the Asquire Swordsman and headbutt him before his fourth strike landed.

A resounding crack reached Hakon's ears, but it felt more like his head was breaking when his forehead smashed into the Asquire's mask. Still, small spiderweb cracks formed, which was enough. The Swordsman struck out again, but this time several shields materialized in time. Two of them were cut through and fizzled out at once, but the third blocked the strike. [Weakness Detection] tinged him as he used [Bash], charging into the Swordsman and stunning the Asquire for a heartbeat.

[Accelerate] was still active as he slashed his foe's neck, but a mana shield blocked the attack. So instead of beheading the Swordsman, he ended up kicking it in the groin. That… did nothing. The Asquire didn't react nearly as much as it should have, and it initiated yet another strike instead. [Swiftstep] triggered in time, and he pushed to the side, distracting the Swordsman long enough for Astrid to react.

She struck the target twice before shields coalesced around the Swordsman, protecting him from the dance of blood and death unfurling around them. The Swordsman reacted fast and engaged with Astrid, but it failed to account for one thing; Astrid was not alone. Hakon closed the distance, reactivated Flowbreaker to disrupt the mana shields, and attacked. Both Barbarian warriors initiated a flurry of attacks that wore down the Asquire until it disintegrated into blue mist just like its brethren.

Mana bolts had been flying at Astrid and Hakon for a while, but neither of them was particularly affected by them. The ball of fire had been far more dangerous, but it didn't look like the Asquire Mage could conjure one of the fiery balls while raising mana shields at the same time. And now, alone against superior fighters, it couldn't do anything. Before Hakon could charge the last foe, however, a lightning bolt zapped through the air, hitting the Asquire Mage in the side of the head.

It failed to protect itself and collapsed to the ground, where it writhed like a bird with an injured wing. Astrid didn't know any mercy and shot toward the injured Asquire, one dagger slicing across its neck while another plunged into its chest. The last foe stood no chance and disintegrated after a moment as well. [1st Wave successfully completed.] [Start 2nd Wave?] Nobody thought about starting the 2nd Wave right away. They had used up too much energy to keep going like that. No… I used too much energy.

Judging from the way Astrid and Ava moved around, they were mostly fine. Ava's eyes were wide and teary as she stared at the bloody gashes on Hakon's chest, but she was physically fine and hadn't used too much mana in the fight either. Astrid didn't look particularly tired either.

"If the 2nd Wave had started right away…" He grimaced, realizing his mistake. Even if the Asquire had been labeled as High Threats, he could have dealt with them differently. His Core was only half-full at this moment, Flowbreaker was already strained and had to recover a little as well, and that did not even include him abusing the Will of Momentum. Exhaustion was already slowly creeping up to him, especially after he'd lectured his own people's fighting style earlier. What a fool.

Hakon cursed himself, eyes drifting to the last Scripture. [Scripture of Improvement Pack Coordination Lv. 11 → Lv. 12 Bash Lv. 9 → Lv. 10 Bleeding Lv. 15 → Lv. 16 Accelerate Lv. 6 → Lv. 7 Circulation Lv. 21 → Lv. 22 Sensory Expansion Lv. 19 → Lv. 20] [Arcane Manifestation] did not improve, but he could tell that he was getting close to it. On the other hand, [Sensory Expansion] reached its maximum Level, which did change quite a bit.

There was a small cluster of weaves of which [Sensory Expansion] was a part, and it felt like it would soon reach maturity. If one could call it that, in the first place. Hakon wasn't too sure about the right term. However, maturing didn't sound entirely wrong. Just a little.

"You're hurt!" Ava exclaimed, the tears in her eyes now streaking down her face.

"I'm fine." Hakon waved her off, glancing down at his body as [Vitality Stream] worked its wonders. The gashes didn't heal nearly as fast as they should, though that was likely the Mage's fault. He did something to the Swordsman's weapon, enhancing it, likely applying something akin to [Bleeding]. Regardless, [Adaptive Resilience] and [Vitality Stream] worked in tandem to push against whatever effect slowed his recovery, and that was all he needed.

"It's my fault." Ava squeal-sobbed.

"I am so–..." Astrid flicked Ava's forehead before staring down at her like the little human was nothing more than prey.

"Stop apologizing. If you really are sorry, fight. Or stop messing up." Hakon's mate snapped. Her hard expression softened up after a moment.

"Just make sure you don't mess up again. If you are too pa–... too weak-willed to fight, help in another way."

"That [Arc] of yours was pretty good," Hakon grunted, looking at where the Asquire Mage had writhed on the ground.

"But the Mage was strong. Not a threat on its own, but it did something."

"Body Enhancement Magic and Weapon Enhancement Magic." Ava wiped the tears from her face.

"No, don't look at me like that. I can tell that you want to learn Enhancement Magic, but I can't teach you that. I…I don't know anything about Enhancement Magic. Even if I were a Mage, I wouldn't have studied either of them." That was unfortunate. Body and Weapon Enhancement Magic sounded like they were perfect for someone like him. For any Barbarian, really. Even his father – especially his father – would benefit greatly from such magic.

"You have to tell me more about the different types of magic you and your people can learn." Hakon smiled at Ava, his mind drifting to the endless possibilities.

"And about the Alliance. Tell me all about it." The more he learned, the better. It would surely come in handy at some point in the future.