Chapter 218 Excalibur?

As Shaman took a step inside the room, the vines came off the sword taking on a new form just behind it. Having no noteworthy features, the figure simply looked like a normal-sized male adult. And yet, that was still worrying enough for the group who were not expecting a being to come out of a sword.

"I need to get closer, so everyone, we will stick to the same formation as last time and slowly move forward." Shaman wanted to use inspect, but she wasn't quite in range.

Elysia walked off to the side with her bow in hand while preparing a thin yet condensed arrow, focusing on precision rather than massive explosions.

Clara walked right behind Shaman, waiting for her to find out more information about the sword in front of them.

'Inspect! inspect! inspect!'

[Out of range]

[Out of range]

[Out of range]

Shaman kept using her skill until she was finally in range and an information sheet came up telling her what it is.

[Elfcalibur]

[A sentient sword that wields itself and is the protector of the Elfheim royal palace.]

"Excalibur? Wait no it's slightly different." Shaman assumed it was the legendary sword since the name closely resembled that of Excalibur, but this time it's elf themed.

'Rea is this a real thing or do you have nothing better to name this enemy?' Finding it hard to believe that this was a real thing, Shaman thought this was something that Rea put together at the last minute and is the real reason why she couldn't use inspect.

[...]

Seeing a bunch of dots appear in front of her face, Shaman didn't know if she should be mad or amused.

'Okay, whatever.' In the end, Shaman didn't care. She has already found several parallels to her old world and at this point it no longer surprised her.

The wooden being formed a hand and grabbed the hilt of the sword that was stuck in the ground. It gave one big pull, yet the sword barely even budged, remaining deeply planted in the concrete floor. The being tilted its head confused why the sword didn't come out, but it tugged one more time and this time it worked.

This got a chuckle out of everyone as they let down their guard, no longer seeing the being as intimidating asbefore. This, however, was their first mistake as the being immediately appeared in front of Shaman.

No one even saw the being move from its spot, as if its movements hadn't even registered in their heads.

The being slashed down with its sword and forced [Lover's call] to activate. Shaman vanished on the spot and teleported right next to Elysia.

Shaman blinked for a moment, noticing she was much further away now from the room's centre, and took a moment to piece together what had just happened. A wave of fear ran through her body as the realisation hit her that she would be dead if it wasn't for her free getaway.

Clara, who was still by the wooden being jumped back to put some distance between them. She also spotted Shaman off to the side which calmed her down. After all, a moment ago she thought Shaman had just evaporated.

Elysia felt her mental state shake as sadness and anger invaded her mind when she saw the sword slash down. And yet once Shaman appeared next to her, relief washed over Elysia.

Her heart still beat like crazy, but she narrowly avoided losing her mind from the thought of losing Shaman.

Shaman simply shook her head, snapping out of her daze.

Seeing Clara alone with the strange being, Shaman rushed forward knowing there was no chance Clara could fight it head-on. Meanwhile, Elysia prepared to fire her arrow, waiting for a good opportunity to hit the being.

The being stood up straight wondering what happened with the fox girl that disappeared and pondering whether she died. However, the demon girl took the chance to attack, aiming for their head.

Clara swung with full force expecting to hit something, but nothing caught onto her whips. She saw them go right through the being's head, but it was as if there was nothing there. Continuing the momentum of her whips, she spun around and striked once more, only this time she paid more attention to her opponent's movement.

Just before her whips made contact, the wood that made the head detached, leaving enough of a gap for her whips to pass through. Clara was able to react in time and discharged her whips, releasing a lightning strike inside the being's head.

After the brief flash, Clara saw the result of her attack. However, to her surprise, nothing actually happened. The only thing that changed was the wood releasing some smoke, but that was it.

Clara stared in shock and confusion as she didn't think her attack would do this little damage.

"Clara!" Shaman came rushing in, calling her name as the being was going for an attack and Clara has yet to move.

Clara tried to step back, but she stumbled a little, just barely avoiding the blade that suddenly appeared next to her.

'What the hell is going on, I've never been this distracted.' Clara felt odd, as if her mind was always foggy whenever she looked at the being. This slowed her decision-making and at times even prevented her from seeing what was happening.

Shaman activated her sword domain and coated her sword in flames while swinging Kotestu at the being. Similar to Clara, Shaman's mind got distracted as soon as she saw the sword and her strike completely missed the being.

Shaman instantly picked up on this and tried to use her fox blessing, but nothing came of it.

'What the hell?' Shaman was confused as she thought it was some mind magic, but if her blessing wasn't working then it was something different entirely.

The being took a few steps back and stood there as if it was observing Clara and Shaman. Although it was hostile, it also seemed like it was treating the group like test subjects, trying to see how they would react to certain things.

While the being stared at Clara and Shaman, Elysia lined up her shot and fired her arrow. The arrow went as fast as a bullet and was about to hit the being, but suddenly the arrow stopped in mid-air.

The being had grabbed Elysia's arrow bringing it to a complete halt. This shocked her as it was one of her more powerful arrows. If she herself tried doing that, her arm would be completely gone.

However, the properties of Elysia's fire started doing damage to the being. The wooden hand that held the arrow started to wither away as the flame worked its way up. Without hesitating it chopped its own arm off to stop the fire from spreading to its body.

It then tried to regrow its arm, but the roots that were coming out of its shoulder couldn't form anything. This made it focus its attention on Elysia, who was across the room preparing another arrow.

Shaman and Clara took this opportunity to figure out what was causing them to be so absent-minded when they went to attack. Their first clue was the fact that when they looked at the being within a certain range, their heads would feel foggy, making them unable to make decisions quickly.

Shaman closed her eyes and, to her surprise, it worked! The effects immediately disappeared and she could think straight again. Opening them back up, the fogginess returned, its effects quite noticeably.

"Clara, something on that thing is causing this effect when we look at it." Shaman explained her findings and this gave Clara an idea as to what could be the reason.

"It's the sword!" Caught up in the fight, they have almost forgotten that the being only exists thanks to the sword in the first place. It must mean that the sword has some sort of passive effect causing all the brain fog.

Shaman nodded and now knew what to aim for, but the only issue remaining was that the sword was fused with the being's hand. So without being able to concentrate, getting rid of the sword is going to be an impossible task.

There is also the factor that the being came from the sword itself, which implied that it has infinite regeneration as long as the sword remained unbroken. However, Elysia's fire might be able to counter this ability as it prevented recovery of any form.

The being had finished its observation and vanished on the spot. In a similar fashion to how it started the fight, it appeared in front of Elysia, but this time it didn't immediately strike.

Elysia took a preemptive measure and covered herself in her fire as she realised her flames were its weakness.

The blank face of the being just stared at Elysia. Even though it had no eyes, Elysia still felt like being stared down by a predator.

For a moment she thought she was going to die, but suddenly a massive door began to open at the other end of the room. A small figure that seemed to belong to a male elf stood there holding a sword.

"Seems like the guests have arrived and haven't died to our security measures yet, how impressive."