Chương 89: Different

The ground around Nicholas quaked, far stronger than any natural earthquake. He stumbled as it caught him unprepared, but quickly recovered. The ground beneath him split apart as a massive crater started taking shape. Nicholas moved to the side and enveloped his body with aura. Rocks and dirt rained from the ceiling, crashing into the ground around him, yet nothing came close to his body. He took a few steps back, avoiding a massive boulder that struck the ground moments later.

The crater kept expanding, slowly creeping toward him. He retreated a few more steps until his back touched the collapsing wall of the room. In just a few seconds, it stopped. From above, where the ceiling had once been, daylight spilled into the room… or what remained of it. The room had been split in half by the crater, while every wall had collapsed except for the small section his back had been pressed against. The smell of ozone invaded his senses as huge explosions rang out from the battles outside.

He didn't move. He couldn't move. His mission had been interrupted, and… he wasn't sure what he should do. Everything in his head told him to leave the room and deal with the Count's enemies, but there was a small part of him that told him to stay. Moving would interrupt the Count's and Eduard's plans, and that wasn't something he should do. He knew that whatever plans they had prepared for him had ended the moment the mage exposed his location to their enemies, but still…

There was also a small part of him telling him that something was wrong with the orders… or with the way he was following them. He'd tried to ignore it, but it just kept getting louder. He focused on his gift. It had never failed him before, yet somehow, this was the first time he had remembered to rely on it since entering the room. The gift never gave him a straight answer, but somehow he always knew what it meant, and now… it was telling him he was lying to himself.

He could spend the next few minutes figuring out what the lie was, but that didn't seem productive. Instead, the best thing he could do was get out of the room… ruin, and kill his enemies. Nicholas jumped and landed outside the deep crater, taking in the view around him. The supply house, the one the underground bunker had been located beneath, was in ruins. The building had collapsed all around the crater. Dozens of soldiers were floating down all around him, while the rest had retreated from the supply house.

Everyone stared at him, but Nicholas ignored them and focused on the fight just a few meters away. Adolin was blinking all around the area, but staying close to the floating men. Every time he blinked, he turned toward them, and one of the men slowly touched the ground, then another. The enemy archmages were chanting, while the warrior defended them as they completed the chant. That did make things easier for him.

The archmages were new, and they still hadn't had the time to learn how to cast archmage-tier spells without chanting. There was no reason to delay any longer. Nicholas took his halberd out of his inventory, took a step, and used a movement skill. He appeared in front of the warrior, who was in the process of destroying the constructs targeting the mages. Nicholas brought the axe head of his halberd down on the warrior. The man dove to the side as his artifact barrier came to life.

The halberd went straight through the barrier, but missed the warrior by a hair's breadth. The warrior used a movement skill and ran as soon as he regained his footing. Nicholas let him go; there was no point in chasing him, at least not now. There were two archmages he could deal with. He raised his weapon and swung it toward the archmage whose whole body was covered. He combined the concepts of Sharpness and Cleave, and a pure white arc shot from the axe head of his halberd.

The archmage stopped his chant and cast a barrier around himself. The arc struck the barrier and destroyed it. Nicholas launched three more toward him, but before any of them hit, the archmage was gone. Nicholas took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as he focused deeply on his senses. The covered archmage had appeared a hundred meters away from him, while Adolin was dealing with the last archmage, so he decided to focus on the warrior and the covered archmage.

He used a movement skill and rushed toward the archmage. The covered archmage started flying away, trying to escape, but within moments Nicholas was already below him. The archmage was high in the air, but not high enough. Nicholas launched another arc toward him and jumped. The arc destroyed the archmage's barrier, and before the man could cast another spell, Nicholas was upon him, thrusting with the spearhead of his halberd while using the concept of Piercing.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The spear broke through the barrier that came to life from the artifact, then the barrier the archmage cast at the last moment, before piercing his shoulder without resistance. The archmage let out a painful screech. Just before the archmage disappeared, Nicholas caught a glimpse of the pale grey skin beneath the hole he had made in the man's shoulder. Corrupted one.

Just as he was about to descend to where the corrupted had gone, he heard Adolin's voice cut through the chaos of the spells.

"Keep him alive if you can." Nicholas didn't say anything. He used a movement skill to catch up with the corrupted while watching Adolin's fight through his senses. The boy was an anomaly. The rate at which he cast movement spells was not normal. Just before the warrior even got close to him, he was already gone. The boy just kept moving from place to place, unleashing an enormous number of constructs against his enemies before disappearing again.

Seeing it through the artifact wasn't nearly as impressive as watching it through his senses. He was just thankful the boy wasn't an enemy. If he were, Nicholas didn't think he could do anything against him. Sure, if the boy stood still, he would be an easy target, but in a fight like this one, Nicholas could never catch up to him. He would just get hit from a distance until he couldn't keep going any longer.

Since he looked like he was doing well against the two enemies, Nicholas decided to focus on taking them out one by one, starting with the corrupted. Just looking at it made his blood boil. The corrupted was standing in the air, already chanting. Just as Nicholas got close to him, hundreds of black tendrils erupted from the ground, every single one of them rushing toward him. Some were already high in the air, preparing to strike, while the others slithered across the ground.

An archmage-tier spell, Nicholas thought. The best way to deal with it was to cut through the tendrils, and for that he would need to enhance his axe head. He focused on the edge of the blade and formed a thin line of Cleave. He could have added Sharpness as well, but it wasn't needed. As he ran across the ground, countless black tendrils descended on him. Some rose from the ground, trying to wrap themselves around him, while countless more fell from the air, aiming to pierce him.

He launched a few arcs ahead, then dodged to the side as his halberd descended on every tendril that came close. Dozens were cut apart within moments, and he continued carving through everything in his path as he closed the distance to the corrupted. The corrupted shot wave after wave of black spears, their tips reeking of corruption. It was the first time the being had released any kind of corruption since invading the estate.

It seemed that now that its identity was already exposed, it wouldn't hold back any longer. Nicholas just smiled as he shot arcs toward the creature and unleashed his Killing Intent at full blast. The tendrils slowed, allowing him to move even faster as he cut through them. He focused on the mana surrounding the corrupted and waited.

As soon as he felt the mana around it move, Nicholas followed it with his senses and used Cleave on the location the mana was moving toward—or at least where he guessed the corrupted would appear. From his axe head, a massive blade of light shot toward the location. Cleave was a skill he had created himself. It was similar to the arcs he used, but much stronger and larger. It had the power to cleave through anything. The corrupted appeared a moment later, just a step away from where he'd guessed.

The blade of light passed through its arm just below the shoulder, and a moment later, the severed limb fell to the ground. Black blood spurted from the wound as the corrupted took out a bottle of green liquid with a hint of red and swallowed it whole. He vanished again a moment later, and Nicholas used another Cleave. This time, instead of launching it toward where he guessed the corrupted would appear, he launched it a few steps ahead of that. As soon as the corrupted appeared, his other hand fell to the ground.

From his experience, corrupted mages were dangerous, but they also had much weaker bodies. At long range, they might be able to do something against him, but at close range they were easy pickings. Warriors were a bigger issue. Even Cleave might not have been enough if he'd faced a corrupted warrior of the same tier. Mages usually used their hands to cast spells. That didn't mean they couldn't cast anymore; it just meant that if they tried, it would be much slower and far less effective.

So, with the corrupted losing both of his hands, Nicholas started walking toward him and glanced at Adolin through his senses. The boy was still fighting both of them. It looked like he'd been hit again, but there were no wounds on his body, just another patch of clothing missing. Dealing with two more archmage-tier enemies would be tricky, but if he joined forces with the boy, they could get it done with ease. Now, he needed to hurry and restrain the corrupted, as Adolin had asked him to keep him alive.

Nicholas stopped before the corrupted. The creature stared at him. A slight chuckle escaped from behind the mask as it turned toward where Adolin was.

"The boy," it said in a heavy accent that Nicholas barely managed to understand.

"Much stronger than they told." It took a breath, then after a moment's pause, muttered, "His soul... different."

"Different?" Nicholas asked as he took another step and raised his weapon.

"Like us," the corrupted said as it glanced back at Nicholas and laughed.

"The Lord will hear this." Nicholas felt its mana move toward its hip. His halberd shot forward, but before it could reach the creature, it was gone. The words echoed in his mind.

"Like us."