Chapter 53: Skirmish
On a morning shrouded in hot clouds, I quietly walked along the path leading to the Castle Gate. Throughout the journey, I encountered no ambushes. It seemed that even in the heart of the Noble District, they couldn’t dare to attack us.
“Still, it’s surprisingly empty today,” I remarked.
Looking ahead, there was no one on the bridge leading to the Castle Gate. In fact, it appeared that no one was lined up in front of the gate either.
“But it seems like they’re lying in wait,” Rio pointed out.
According to my Presence Detection Skill, I sensed multiple presences within the castle walls. Considering there hadn’t been any last time, it was likely they were here to welcome us. From that vantage point, they could easily target us on the bridge, which had no obstructions and offered a clear line of sight.
“If something obvious comes flying at us, we can prepare a counter,” I said.
“Let’s just move for now,” Rio suggested.
As we continued walking across the bridge toward the Castle Gate, arrows suddenly flew from the castle walls. At the same time, several knights and members of the Mage Division emerged from the gate.
“Wind Wall!”
Rio scattered the incoming arrows with a gust of wind. None of them reached us, but if one had struck, it could have caused serious injury—or worse.
A flashback of the scene from yesterday, where Rio was nearly killed by an arrow, surged through my mind.
“We need to eliminate any threats,” I muttered.
“Shuu…?” Rio looked at me with concern, but I couldn’t afford to be distracted.
Concentrating my Magic Power in my palm, I conjured flames and wind. Compressing them into a smaller form, I then enveloped them with Gravity Magic for further compression. This was the same spell that had created a crater during yesterday’s experiment. While magical compression is a common technique, combining it with Gravity Magic resulted in an overwhelming force. I needed to be careful not to overdo it.
“Wait, are you really going to do this all of a sudden?”
Rio pointed anxiously toward the end of the bridge.
“I don’t know where you plan to shoot, but make sure it doesn’t block the bridge,” I replied.
“Oh, right,” I realized. I had intended to fire directly at the wall where arrows were concentrated, but if debris fell, it would complicate things.
I then coated the surrounding area with Earth Magic, shaping it into a cone. I reinforced the base to ensure that if it struck the wall, it would explode inside. Well, there’s only one way to find out.
I adjusted my aim slightly to the upper right of the wall, ensuring that even if debris fell, the bridge would remain passable.
“Alright, fire!”
With a dry crack, the spell was unleashed, piercing the wall and resulting in a thunderous explosion. The wall on our side looked relatively unchanged despite the noise. Surely, the other side was being destroyed.
“Looks like that worked out well,” I said, shielding my forehead with my hand as I observed the wall. I noticed that the arrows flying from the castle walls had ceased. If the once-safe wall was now a danger, it was only natural for them to retreat.
“This makes it a bit easier to walk,” Rio noted.
“Yeah, for now, the obstacles are gone.”
“Should we break down a bit more of the wall just to be safe?”
With that, I conjured three more spells of the same kind, launching two to the left and one to the right. Once again, a loud explosion echoed through the air. The knights and mages stationed in front of the Castle Gate seemed to be in a panic.
“W-What are you doing?!”
As we crossed the bridge and reached the Castle Gate, a knight clad in slightly more ornate armor than the others shouted in anger.
“You will be charged with treason! Don’t think you can leave here alive!”
“What are you talking about? You were planning to kill us from the start, weren’t you?”
“What nonsense is this?! There was a capture order, but we’ll switch to suppression!”
They had shot arrows at us and now wanted to capture us? If we were hit in the wrong spot, we’d be dead. Was this what they called Otherworld quality?
“You sent assassins to sneak up on us and now you want to capture us? That makes no sense!”
“Flame Javelin!!”
From behind the knights, the Mage Division chanted in unison, unleashing a barrage of fiery spears. While I could dodge, that wouldn’t be entertaining. They had come to break us, after all.
Channeling my Magic Power throughout my body, I charged forward and swung my left fist horizontally at the incoming Flame Javelins. My master had often swatted away our spells with his bare hands.
The Crimson Dragon Gauntlet glowed, absorbing part of the enemy’s magic and causing the spears to disintegrate.
“Whoa, this gauntlet is amazing!”
“What?!”
I felt no resistance, nor any heat. Did it not absorb the magic at all? As I marveled at it, I sensed Rio’s Magic Power surging behind me.
“Flame Javelin!”
In retaliation, Rio unleashed the same spell, targeting each of the knights and mages. With twenty foes in total, that meant twenty simultaneous spells.
“What?!”
The knights raised their shields, while the mages hurriedly began chanting defensive spells.
“Earth Wall!”
As expected of the Mage Division, some had clearly been preparing their spells in advance. A massive wall of rock emerged, blocking Rio’s magic.
“Then let’s do it again,” I declared.
“Okay,” Rio agreed.
With her affirmative response, Rio’s Magic Power swelled once more. I charged forward, readying my right fist, and slammed it into the enemy’s Earth Wall.
“Flame Javelin!”
The Radiant Dragon Gauntlet shone brightly, unleashing a gust of wind. The shattered rock fragments hurtled toward the enemy, followed closely by Rio’s magic piercing through.