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#184. Old City (2)
Kwaaaaang──!
A blue window pierced the tower.
Amid the deafening roar, people could see a huge hole in the tower.
Damper muttered in a bewildered voice.
“Hey, did you get it done? Uh, um…? Miss, why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, no. I feel like I shouldn’t say that─.”
Then Ray’s voice was heard.
“Stay alive.”
“Hey… Kid, the enemy is still alive after being hit by that magic you used?”
“It didn’t hit. I just barely avoided it.”
As if to prove Ray’s words, something flew fiercely from the tower.
It was a fist-sized black bead that fell to the ground in a parabolic arc.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep──!
Everyone covered their ears at the sharp alarm that rang out from the marbles at that moment.
As Ray stretched out his arm, the orb that had stopped making noise was thrown far away by a strong force covered in strengthening magic.
“Wow, what the heck was that just now….”
Ray’s voice, sensing what was about to happen, overlapped Jang’s panicked voice.
“Jang, Damper, Veronica, get on the bus.”
Then, Damper checked the radar and cursed without realizing it.
“This is crazy…!”
Countless red dots at the end of the radar were swarming towards us like a swarm of ants.
Pushii─
The doors closed as non-combatants evacuated, and soon a large white shield formed around the bus.
Ray asked Greene, who was still sitting next to him.
“How possible is combat?”
“I don’t think it won’t help.”
Ray nodded and looked ahead while raising the mana of the ring.
Behind me were buses and ditches, and in front of me were buildings in geometric shapes.
Footsteps could be heard between the buildings.
Creak. Creak.
At first, the sound was intermittent, occurring in pairs of one or two.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
At some point, it swelled to a massive size and surged forward like a tidal wave.
Crunch!
And the moment the first entity that appeared between the buildings was reflected in the white eyes.
‘Wooden doll?’
The boy thought of something he knew.
It was a wooden doll, without a doubt, with joints in its limbs and a bare face.
However, its body was not made of wood, but of silver metal that mirrored the surrounding scenery.
Also, its size was as large as that of an average adult male.
Kwaang─!
Ray’s fireball hit the doll.
He hesitated for a moment, but soon recovered, and the flames also quickly died down.
Damn!
I tried freezing it, but the body gave off such a huge amount of heat that it melted in an instant.
Dismissed!
Lightning also only stopped the enemy’s movements for a moment.
“It looks like natural magic isn’t working at all.”
Ray nodded and stopped using magic for the time being.
The dolls that appeared around us had already swelled to hundreds.
The battle will never be short.
It was impossible to just pour out mana without understanding the enemy’s characteristics.
The dolls, who had been approaching briskly, stopped when they bumped into the guardrail.
And he placed his palm on the protective surface as if checking the object in front of his eyes.
“It doesn’t attack the defense. It seems like it’s clearly aware of it.”
At that moment, the mana flowing through the dolls’ bodies suddenly began to draw complex patterns.
And the next moment.
Creak! Creak!
The dolls came rushing through the barrier as if they were breaking through a curtain of water.
He quickly closed the distance and transformed his hand into the shape of a long, sharp sword.
‘I’m trying to engage in close combat.’
An entity that is impervious to natural magic, the wizard’s strongest weapon, and at the same time renders defense useless.
And it’s a sword, too.
I felt strongly convinced.
‘There is a high probability that this is a weapon specially made to deal with wizards.’
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At that moment, I heard Grinne’s indignant mutterings from the side.
“That seems a little rude. It’s the protection that Veronica worked so hard to prepare.”
Ray asked, looking at her bowl, which still showed no sign of fear.
“Isn’t it scary?”
“It’s scary. To trample on the efforts of others so mercilessly. It’s so scary that it makes my teeth chatter.”
“No, not that. This is a situation where you could lose your life.”
“Oh, that was a question about death.”
Although the enemy was closing in on him by the second, Greene remained calm as if it was someone else’s business.
And he answered as if it was a given.
“Elfs do not fear death.”
“Why?”
“Do you remember what we said yesterday?”
“What words?”
“Elfs are not greedy.”
Ray, who remembered the jerky kidnapping incident, flared up for a moment, but waited for the next words.
“To be exact, we don’t have any greed as individuals. Instead, we have a very strong greed as a group. You could call it a task as a species.”
“The task, are you talking about finding a new place to plant the World Tree?”
“That’s right. It’s a common belief that I would be willing to give up my life for that.”
Grinne smiled gently.
“When we die, we will return to nature, and someone will do the work anyway. A sense of belonging, or a sense of community. How about that? Does this answer the question of why elves are indifferent to death?”
“… … .”
Ray nodded slightly, indicating that he understood, but the shock he received was considerable.
That life as a group is much more important than one’s own life.
It was something unimaginable from a boy’s perspective.
But at the same time, I realized.
What other emotions are associated with the green mana that always fills Greene’s bowl, other than curiosity?
‘A sense of belonging.’
It was a feeling I had felt before.
Sector 50, when we sat around with the Guldari kids and divided up the day’s earnings.
In Sector 46, when fighting while surrounded by members of Nisho’s organization.
When I had a meal with Sector 37, Veronica, Ayla, and Ain.
Everyone felt a piece of emotion that tickled their hearts, and they looked up the definition in the dictionary and gave it the outline of a sense of bond and intimacy.
And now.
Through Greene’s case, we were able to once again reflect on the meaning of belonging.
‘Curiosity wasn’t the answer.’
The boy recalled the moments when he was surrounded by people and the emotions he felt at that time.
Intimacy, bonding, sense of mission, etc.
A variety of emotions bloom and mix.
A moment that, while not perfect, has a pretty decent semblance of belonging.
Woof!
The green jewel’s mana resonated.
It was a completely different feeling than when I fell into the hole.
If before, it felt like controlling green mana using force.
Now, I feel like I’ve been accepted as a member of the group by the elements within Mana.
and.
Shh …
The battle began with the dolls rushing in, closing the distance.
The two chameleons that had been on Grinne’s shoulders as spirits inflated their bodies and materialized, landing on the ground.
Kuung!
A dull landing sound.
The two spirits carrying Grinet moved among the dolls like a chariot.
Push with your body.
Swing it with your tail.
And sometimes you can throw it by wrapping it around your tongue.
I threw the dolls off the cliff.
Ray, who saw the sight, spoke to Lakhria, who was resting inside the yellow jewel due to the aftereffects of the battle with the Sandworm.
Johnny?
There was no answer.
He seemed to be sleeping.
Chae-Ang!
He created a stone sword with gray mana and struck down all the flying swords.
The boy, living and breathing, danced furiously amidst the endless stream of inanimate dolls.
Although he had never studied swordsmanship separately and had never fought against such overwhelming numbers of enemies, his countless battle experiences served as an excellent teacher for the boy.
visor!
Boiling blood.
Chaeng! Chaeng!
A fluctuating pulse.
Chae-Ang!
And, enemy patterns that you get used to.
The boy took advantage of the momentary freedom and rolled his feet.
thud!
The green mana of the jewel that had been running through his entire body spread to the ground through the boy’s feet.
The next moment.
Kkwaddeuk──!
Thousands of vines sprouted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the dolls’ limbs like snakes.
Every time the boy’s sharp sword drew a line in the air, the dolls’ heads rolled to the ground.
But that was only for a moment.
Soon I could see the neck floating up and sticking to my body like a magnet.
It was then that Damper’s shout was heard on the bus.
“That’s right! Nuclear! The Keeper must aim for the nuke somewhere in the body! Otherwise, he will be resurrected endlessly!”
The boy was just beginning to realize that fact.
Because the doll’s power source was mana sucked from the atmosphere, just like the golem.
And the place where the core that plays the role of absorbing mana is located.
‘Chest, exactly where the heart is.’
But there are too many enemies to pierce their hearts one by one.
Before the half is removed, the dolls will shake off the vines, and if the war of attrition resumes, it will be inevitable that this side, with its limited mana, will lose.
It has to be finished in one blow.
The boy, having made his decision, stopped in his tracks and dropped the stone sword.
And then I placed both fists on the left side of my waist and moved them up and down.
It was as if he was holding a sword handle floating in the air.
“What are you trying to do now…?”
Greene, who had been expressing his doubts, soon realized what Ray was trying to do.
This was because the gray crystals blooming in the air were sticking together in long lines to form a sword blade.
That would be at least ten meters long.
Creak! Creak!
As the dolls writhed, the vines fell to the ground, but the boy did not move an inch.
I was just concentrating on my work.
Knock knock! Knock knock!
The tangled and stuck gray crystals were compressed, keeping the blade infinitely thin while increasing its sharpness and strength.
And so the sword is completed.
The moment when the dolls released from the vines rush towards the boy.
“Greene, summon the spirit and lie down on the ground.”
He swung his sword with a short instruction.
──────.
Because of the extreme cutting force, there was no sense of cutting anything.
The gray greatsword drew a huge semicircle across the battlefield, and at first it seemed as if nothing had happened.
But the next moment.
Boom! Kwung! Boom! Kwung!
Hundreds of severed doll bodies fell like corn.
Some of them had intact nukes, but they were all in a state where they couldn’t move because some part of their body was cut off.
Thanks to that, it wasn’t difficult to go around and kill the remaining guys.
Ray opened the bus door only after he was completely sure it was safe.
Veronica came down and examined Ray’s eyes, nose, mouth, neck, arms, and legs and said in admiration.
“Wow! This time there are no injuries!”
Damper then looked around at the surrounding scenery and said with a hollow laugh.
“At this point, I wonder if Sandworm didn’t need to ask for the spirit’s help yesterday.”
Ray, who had swept away his enemies with one blow, also felt the same sense of bewilderment.
This was the first time I had given my all after reaching the 3rd circle.
‘The quality of mana stored in the ring has been improved dramatically. It has also become much easier to handle.’
Even just the 3rd circle is like this.
How strong is the 4th circle?
‘Wow, Curiosa.’
I thought that since I was more capable, I should give him more difficult and fun tasks when we met sooner.
The bus, which had been serviced, picked up the group and headed toward the center of the historic site.
“Layya, it’s so quiet around here.”
“It seems like the battle just now has all the keepers of the ruins gathered. Damper, how’s the radar?”
“It seems right. Not a single dot is showing up.”
Thanks to that, the bus was able to arrive in front of the tower in no time.
As I got off the bus and stood in front of the huge iron gate, a thunderous voice, as if amplified by magic, rang out.
[I am the king of this place. You who have recklessly invaded my territory. If you do not step down immediately, you will be punished by heaven. If you value your lives, I hope you will leave this place quickly while I show mercy.]
Veronica frowned.
“What are you talking about now?”
“It means welcome, so come in.”
Ray pulled the doorknob with a happy heart.