Chapter 117. Anomaly (2)
Sirocco’s eyes widened.
A searing shock swept through her body from head to toe. Her vision wavered as she stumbled, looking up at the sky.
There, black-armored flying beasts circled silently on the ceiling, like crows awaiting a corpse.
More flying beasts Ixion had hidden in the sector’s dark ceiling. A deadly ambush, launching them as harpoons.
Blood poured from Sirocco’s waist. The wound was likely far worse than it seemed.
“—!!”
My shout rang in her ears. Gritting her teeth, she glared at the enemy.
The shock and pain of being pierced staggered her, but she pushed off the ground, leaping meters into the air.
Falling toward the enemy, she spun twice horizontally, aiming a supersonic strike to crush everything.
Whoosh!
Ixion swung one arm sideways. The small disc in his hand, an artifact, glowed with engraved runes.
Instantly, one of the waiting beasts shot forward, intercepting her.
Sirocco’s critical strike only shattered the beast meant for defense.
She spun, glaring coldly at the enemy.
Holding her breath with sheer willpower, she unleashed relentless kicks, each carrying destructive force, targeting the enemy.
“No chance!”
Ixion extended a hand to the surrounding beasts, unleashing a barrage of them.
But Sirocco shattered them with a brief retreat, then slid across the ground, closing in.
Whirl!
Red light swirled around her slender ankles, sustaining her relentless assault.
Despite her injury, the beast-kin girl seemed to overwhelm Ixion with her charge.
Shweeeeek!!
But her onslaught was nullified when Ixion flipped his hand, scattering dark red mana in all directions.
From her blind spots, more flying beasts charged at blinding speed.
Sirocco, mid-assault, redirected her kick from Ixion to knock them away.
But in that moment, responding to the beasts left a gap, and her eyes met Ixion’s.
He sneered lowly behind his mask.
“Beast-kin or not, wounds are the same, huh?”
Despite her counterattacks, having taken a critical hit, she instinctively used simple, direct attacks to end the fight quickly.
Her body-enhancing magic’s greatest strength—freedom and unpredictability—was lost in those basic moves, fully read by Ixion before she even charged.
Realizing this a beat too late, Sirocco turned, only to find Ixion aiming an arm at her from the darkness.
In that instant, the black mask muttered.
“Let’s see you dodge this.”
A metallic clank sounded, and a beast transformed into a massive spear, launching from his arm.
Sirocco twisted to dodge.
But dozens of beasts in the darkness glowed with red rings.
Countless airborne beasts molded like clay into harpoons, firing at her from all directions as her stance faltered.
“Ugh—!”
She stumbled, kicking off the ground to retreat. A rain of harpoons grazed her bare feet and sides, embedding densely.
Leaping back into the air to escape, she saw Ixion raise his right arm, aiming at her.
He snapped his fingers.
Wiiiiiing!!
The harpoons around her glowed dark red and exploded.
Caught in the unexpected blasts, Sirocco couldn’t react, her stance collapsing as she was flung sideways.
Where she fell, more harpoons from earlier were embedded, their dark red mana flickering, signaling another explosion.
She’d die.
“Sirocco!”
I reached her, sprinting across the sector, just in time.
Another explosion was too dangerous. Catching her midair, I spun half a turn.
Without time to think, I twisted toward a harpoon-free spot, shielding her with my back.
“You misjudged, Enoch!”
Ixion cackled, snapping his fingers.
The harpoons exploded, the shockwave sweeping the underground, slamming into my back.
My clothes whipped violently, and the impact felt like it’d tear me apart, ringing in my head.
But Ixion was the one who misjudged. Behind his mask, he muttered in confusion.
“…What? Unscathed?”
Despite being caught in the explosion magic, I staggered but kept running, holding Sirocco.
Ixion tilted his mask.
Though he’d prioritized speed for the ambush, reducing the explosion’s power, it shouldn’t have left me unharmed without a defensive spell.
Meanwhile, I reached a pillar for cover, dropping to one knee to check Sirocco in my arms.
“Ah…”
Her eyes, slightly unfocused, looked up at me. Her long hair splayed, her face contorted in pain as she panted.
“Sorry, I messed up… the attack…”
Instead of answering, I turned my blue-black eyes to glare coldly at Ixion standing tall.
How many would understand that he’d woven explosion magic into the beasts’ transformations for a chained attack?
Sirocco, a beast-kin with little magical knowledge, wouldn’t have anticipated it.
Even if I’d known, there was no time to intervene or warn her, and he’d methodically driven her to incapacitation.
This judgment was only possible with my original story knowledge of Ixion.
Sensing the terrifyingly meticulous and cold combat calculations hidden behind that anachronistic mask, I checked Sirocco’s condition.
My hands, holding her, were slick with blood.
The bleeding was severe. I held her tightly to minimize movement. I felt her red eyes gazing at me.
The fear of death, felt in the outer districts, gripped my mind.
Would she die here?
Then, Ixion’s voice rang out.
“Most summoning mages are too focused on maintaining their creations’ forms to move.”
He stomped through the pooled blood, Sirocco’s blood splashing his ankles.
“But for a Rank 9 like me, it’s only natural for a summoner to fight directly, even in close combat.”
He extended an arm, deploying a dark red magic circle.
Gathering nearby flying beasts, he fused them into the chimera, instantly repairing its broken horn.
The chimera, previously collapsed, rose like a reactivated machine, roaring skyward.
“Well, it’s working again, but the sword wound from earlier didn’t heal. Short on materials?”
Ixion shrugged indifferently and walked toward my cover.
“Sirocco, was it? At that age, a Rank 10 mage must’ve been treated like a king among beast-kin.”
He slipped a hand into his tailcoat pocket.
“How’s it feel to face the wider world?”
He raised the floating disc in his other hand, flaunting his ease.
A beast loyally approached, and he stroked it lightly.
“Beasts are quite useful to me. Most have negligible intelligence, but their physical abilities surpass even beast-kin. Makes things like this possible.”
He thrust the disc forward.
Its engravings glowed, ordering the beasts to charge.
Beasts, faster than sound, surged through the darkness toward me, holding Sirocco behind the pillar.
I stared and whispered.
“Lien.”
The next moment defied physics.
My vision seemed to split, and with a crisp ping, pale silver lines crisscrossed the underground chamber.
Beasts crossing the deployed wires were sliced apart with a crack, exploding and crumbling to the ground, dissipating.
Click.
Amid the wires, a silver-haired girl in a maid dress stepped forward.
Only then did Ixion realize she’d been completely out of sight.
‘Was she deploying wires to dominate the battlefield?’
Her initial wires couldn’t restrain the chimera, but Ixion could guess what judgment she’d made for victory.
Seeing the space filled with silver lines, Ixion laughed maniacally.
“The maid! I wondered where you went—planning this—”
Without a word, Lien pulled her slender arm to her eye level, and the wires tightened around Ixion.
Simultaneously, he ordered the chimera to advance, charging like a tank, absorbing the wires.
In a single breath, the chimera smashed through pillars and debris, its horn flashing dozens of times.
Its red-glowing eyes frantically tracked Lien’s movements as she darted between the sector’s massive pillars.
In the cold, dark underground, the chimera shattered walls and pillars, scattering dust and debris. The wires’ sharp silver glints assaulted vision from all directions.
Flying beasts took Lien’s blind spots, firing from all angles.
At the same time, Ixion himself charged to pressure her.
I moved, holding Sirocco, to escape the battlefield.
Spotting me, Ixion extended an arm, deploying mana, and shouted.
“Direct descendant! Where— Urgh!”
But he noticed a wire arcing to decapitate him.
He grabbed a beast, transforming it into a shield.
The makeshift shield was sliced by the wire, and the mana exploded.
Ixion skidded back, clutching his mask, muttering.
“Countered? My unique magic using beasts?”
I watched the scene.
Lien, battling the chimera, held the wires taut with both hands, glaring coldly at Ixion.
“…”
The maid stared at the enemy emotionlessly, guarding me in the darkness. Ixion froze under her gaze.
“Not just an escort? This maid, what…”
No, that wasn’t the point. He realized she wasn’t targeting the chimera.
Feeling a chill, Ixion extended a hand, deploying a dark red ring.
Beasts clung to his arm, melting into a gauntlet.
The next moment, sharp silver wires wrapped his arm, tightening instantly.
“Grrk!”
A grinding sound rang as the beast-carapace gauntlet shattered.
Beyond the scattering gauntlet fragments, the silver-haired maid charged.
Ixion tossed the disc, raising mana to shift to close combat.
A palm strike, wreathed in dark red rings, targeted Lien.
She dodged lightly, the strike hitting a nearby beast.
Ixion’s unique magic, twisting life, crushed the beast into clay. His teeth gritted.
“Go!”
With a frenzied shout, the loyal chimera charged.
But Lien deployed wires at close range, responding swiftly.
The wires wrapped the chimera’s head and waist as she leaped atop it.
Pulling her arm, the entangled wires, like a precise pulley, flung the chimera into the wall.
Boom! Dust exploded as the chimera crashed, and Ixion closed the distance to Lien through the haze.
On the dark underground floor.
Two unique magic users, unafraid of close combat, clashed with mana.
Confirming this, I ran to the side.
Sirocco’s breathing in my arms had grown shallow. To check her condition, I left the battlefield, heading to the sector’s corner.
Deep in the darkness to avoid the battle’s fallout, a soft electronic chime sounded, and faint lighting activated.
I’d reached the equipment transport elevator in the mine.
The entrance, marked with yellow-and-black diagonal safety stripes, slowly closed. In that moment, Lien’s azure eyes glanced at me.
I’d bought some time.
I breathed slowly.
Sirocco’s slender body felt soft in my arms. The realization hit that such a small frame had endured pain to fight so recklessly.
Worry for her swirled, my chest burning like a furnace.
I couldn’t forgive myself for this situation.
I’d sworn before. Not just to survive, but to protect what mattered and shape the future I wanted.
And this was the result?
What went wrong, and where?
No. I shook my head. Reflection and regret could wait. Now wasn’t the time. I had to overcome this anomaly first.
Clank.
The elevator door closed with a mechanical sound.
As if the battle’s aftermath cut the power, the elevator’s lights went out, and darkness enveloped us.
In the dark, the warmth of Sirocco’s soft hand, gripping me tightly, reached me. My blue-black eyes sank coldly.
‘Stay calm.’
Focus only on what must be done now.
I removed my cloak, wrapping it around Sirocco’s wound to stop the bleeding, and reached a conclusion.
It wasn’t too late. The city had the Saintess and healers. I had to return to the city and get Sirocco treated before it was too late.
But to do that, I first had to defeat Ixion standing in the way.
Lien was holding him off, but whether she could defeat him alone was uncertain.
And the chimera, with its tough hide that even her wires couldn’t guarantee victory against, was a problem.
Even if we could win, every second counted, so I had to join and carve a path.
Regaining composure, I accelerated my thoughts.
From my experience against Faust’s elemental stone mage, I knew.
Neither [Fire Wheel] nor [Explosive Sword] would work. An opponent immune to sword slashes. An enemy my swordsmanship couldn’t touch.
I needed another attack method.
With the goal set, there was no need to ponder the means.
As always, the answer was clear.
I laid Sirocco, bandaged, on the floor, steadying my breathing and closing my eyes.
Focusing, a familiar, strange sensation shifted the world behind my eyelids.
The next moment,
I opened my eyes in the Inner World.
There was no time to linger.
Stepping toward the horizon under the vast night sky, I raised my arms slowly.
Shadows gathered, materializing a two-handed sword in my grip. I stared ahead.
The preparation for a counterattack would be forged here.