Chapter 241: Keep Calm(1/2)

Chapter 241: Keep Calm(1/2)

In terms of power, speed, and range, a spell can be in 2 circles, but not all 3.

A powerful spell will be slow, but it may have a giant range, or it might be quick, but with a small range.

A fast spell can be either strong and short-ranged, or weak and long-ranged.

But a spell cannot be long-range, powerful, and fast.

With very few exceptions.

One of those exceptions are spells cast through a bloodline. If the conditions are right, a mage with the right bloodline, and the right spell, can have an attack that is powerful, has a long-range, and is so fast that its nearly impossible to avoid.

Another exception is holy magic.

Sometimes.

When a god nudges their priests magic to be stronger or faster than it has any right to be, the spell might end up being extremely powerful, extremely fast, and with an extremely long range.

The fact that Sylver didnt feel any sort of weakness at the moment, meant the barrier trapping him inside wasnt boosting Sophias abilities. It was meant to contain him, nothing more.

Sylver estimated that the barrier had a 200-meter diameter, give or take 10 meters, going by the curve of the wall he was currently pressed up against.

Considering the sheer mass of silver Sophia was manipulating, her range was likely in the 30-meter area, further than that the feathers were likely to move significantly slower. At least, that was the hope, because if plan A didnt work, the entirety of plan B to Z involved being impaled by undead destroying silver and playing dead.

Sylver tensed 4 different muscles in his body and allowed the aptly named rip cord loose. The cord did as the name suggested, and the mass of strings Sylver had sitting inside blood vessels, meant to suture his wounds, and heal him, did the opposite and ripped several portions of his insides into shreds.

It had taken him 3 attempts before he found the right combinations of internal organs, muscles, and spinal discs that needed to be harmed, for the system to lower his health below 200HP, without outright killing him.

As [Hares Great Escape] activated, Sylver lowered his head, and like a cockroach, scurried underneath the wave of silver blades, directly towards Sophia. Where a bunch of useful organs used to be, there were now loose chunks of crystals floating in an extremely dense liquid that could be considered blood, if it were inside of a living creature.

The decoy Sylver left behind disappeared the moment the first silver-tipped blade touched it, and because Sophia wasnt an idiot, she immediately realized what Sylver had done.

Luckily for Sylver, she was expecting an attack from behind, or from above, because most magically capable opponents could instantly move from one spot to another and didnt need to crawl on the ground like some kind of insect.

If this were anyone else, Sylver would have been worried about killing the woman, but he knew Sophia quite well and knew from firsthand experience that she was a lot tougher and sturdier than she may appear at first glance.

Sylvers goal was to talk and make sure this was a genuine case of mistaken identity. Its been 5 years since she had last seen him, it wasnt impossible that Sophia had forgotten what Sylvers shades looked like.

Just as Sylver prepared his legs to lunge at the woman, to set off an explosive against her stomach, to knock the wind out of her, he was blinded by a sphere of holy light.

Not blinded in the sense his eyes exploded in their sockets, although that happened too, but blinded in the sense that the air around him was charged with so much holy magic, that he couldnt perceive anything further than what he felt with his skin.

Sylver reacted fast enough that most of the damage was limited to his forearms, which in this case meant all that remained was the bones, while what used to be his skin and flesh was now useless ash floating through the air.

Sophias spell bought Sylver half a second of breathing room. After the half second had passed, Sophias blades changed direction and were once again flying straight at him.

Sylver was at a disadvantage against her.

For starters, their range was vastly different, but what made it worse, was that Sylver couldnt get close to her. So, his only option was to fight her from far away, which he wasnt capable of doing. Any arrows his shades fired disintegrated before they even reached Sophia, throwing rocks, while amusing, wouldnt do much against her, which only left sacrificing a bow or a crossbow and having a shade fire a real arrow at her.

Except then Sylver ran the risk of accidentally killing her. She had excellent defenses against blunt and explosive damage, but an arrow through the neck would be the end of her.

And Sylver liked Sophia and preferred not to kill her, if at all possible.

As he very narrowly managed to dodge out of the way of the silver feathers, and by dodge he meant they only sliced against his body, as opposed to impaling him, he realized that there was a chance Sophia might actually cripple him in this fight.

His needle was neatly wrapped up in indestructible metal, but if someone were to continuously blast him with holy energy, it wasnt impossible that the magic might reach the needle.

With that in mind, Sylver waited until half the silver feathers flew past him, and then in a single motion, snapped one of his ribs. The mass of [Necrotic Mutilation] liquid exploded out of him, and at Sylvers command, forced itself onto the mass of flying silver, while simultaneously sending Sylver flying towards Sophia.

She reacted quicker than he expected, and before Sylver even finished raising his hand to summon the first bomb, he was once again pushed away by a massive sphere of holy light. Sylver tried to fight through the pain, but even if his knees hadnt buckled, he doubted he would have had enough strength to pass through the holy light.

Whatever other plans or ideas Sylver may have had before he was flung backward, went straight out the window, as Sophia disappeared.

It seemed wrong that she could teleport out of the barrier.

But what was worse was that she could still manipulate her feathers.

They were slow, much slower than they had been a moment ago, but that was only because Sylver was perceiving the world the way a man with 550 dexterity would. And by his count in less than 90 seconds, those seemingly snail-paced feathers would go back to being too fast for him to track with his eyes.

If he had eyes, that is.

Sylver dodged out of the way, and then dodged again, each time he tried to trap as many feathers into the dirt as he could, but the thing about a handleless blade thats sharp from all sides is that its hard to stop it from slicing its way out.

If he wanted to catch them, he would need to apply pressure from the sides. Which, while theoretically doable, couldnt be done using loose dirt, doubly so when multiple blades needed to be caught, and triply so when Sylvers magic is being fucked with by the presence of silver.

The only positive was that these were proper blades and hadnt left tiny pieces of silver inside of Sylvers flesh when they sliced him.

At the 68-second mark, Sylver heard the comforting noise of muted crackling.

The sound was followed by a giant blade crashing through the barrier. It landed right in front of Sylvers face and was close enough that he could feel the hot air coming off of it.

Dont kill anyone! Sylver shouted, as much as he could without the piece of crystal that allowed him to speak without resorting to auditory illusions.

The sword stretched out sideways and very quickly formed itself into a small protective sphere around Sylver. The metal barely made a sound as the silver feathers collided with it and shattered against the immovable object.

Maybe a minute passed, possibly two.

The metal sphere turned back into a sword, and Sylver was set alight with a brown-colored flame. Once his eyes grew back, he saw 7 priests, 7 heavily armored paladins, and Sophia, laying on the ground, with a giant gash on the top right part of her temple.

The priests had an identical gash in the same place, and the paladins wearing armor had a tear in their chainmail in the same spot.

Wheres Faust? Sylver asked.

His voice was distorted and quieter than he intended.

Im here, Faust answered.

Sylver had to physically turn his head to look at him and saw that apart from a soot stain on his shirt, he was fine.

Do you still have that ring I gave you? Sylver asked.

Faust leaned down, reached into his boot, and produced the ring Sophia had given Sylver to contact her in case of emergencies. The band of gold metal didnt look all that memorable, but the magic trapped inside it was unmistakably Sophias.

Sylver gestured for Faust to give the ring to Edmund.

Sophia in turn froze in place.

She didnt move, didnt breathe, Sylver was fairly certain even her heart stopped beating for those 5 or so seconds.

The Moon Demon, Sylver repeated.

The words stuck to his teeth like dry ash.

It was all so tiresome.

It didnt matter where he went, or what he did, every single step he took was right onto a rake that bashed his front teeth out.

Sophia, Sylver said.

She resumed whispering at the bleeding priest, while she held the woman's head between her hands.

Sophia, Sylver said a bit louder.

When she didnt respond, Edmund snapped his fingers, and a wall of fire surrounded the unconscious bodies for less than a second. The wounds on their head fizzled and fell off as if they were a large scab and didnt leave so much as a trace of their existence.

Sylver tried to stand up but couldnt put enough strength into his legs. He had to prop himself up using [Deadly Darkness] and his robe. As if he was some sort of limp doll missing its strings.

Sophia, Sylver said. He didnt shout, but the woman turned around as if he had. I am not your enemy, Sylver said.

Prove it, Sophia said as she scrambled to stand up.

Given that Chrys had seemingly nearly killed her friends, Sophias distrust was more than understandable.

But in Chrys defense, she was paranoid about anything concerning her safety and most likely assumed Edmund would be capable of healing any damage she might cause.

The reality was that Chrys just didnt care. Or rather, she cared significantly more about herself, than the lives of a couple of unnamed priests.

Prove what? Sylver asked.

Prove youre on our side, Sophia said, as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Sylver just looked at her.

If it was just the general distrust, he could understand it.

If Sophia wanted proof because she was afraid of him, he could understand that too.

If she was doing this because of a sense of personal betrayal, Sylver wouldnt even argue with her.

But the way she said it struck a raw nerve.

Who are you talking to? Sylver asked.

The night had been cold, but Sylvers voice made it feel as if their only source of warmth had just been snuffed out. A tree fell over and scattered their campfire into a mess of sparks and quickly cooling coals.

Sophia was the only one in her group who didnt take a step back.

I am asking-

Asking who? Sylver asked.

This portion of the forest hadnt been particularly loud, but as of this moment, even the rustling leaves ceased their noise-making.

Sophia uncrossed her arms, but she kept them near her torso as if she was trying to protect it from an impending attack.

I only-

You want proof you can trust me? All the proof you need is standing right here! Sylver said with a bony hand pointing at Edmund. Prove Im on your side? Your side? Sylver repeated.

You should-

Every single fucking time I have to bend over backward just so people will talk to me. You want proof? Sylver lifted his hand up to his face, dug a piece of silver out of his cheekbone, and flicked it away.

Just as he was about to say something he couldnt take back; Edmund placed his hand on Sylvers shoulder.

He didnt even need to say it, the look in his eyes was enough. Sophias silver and magic were poison, eating through Sylvers body, grinding against his soul, and its very difficult to remain calm and rational when you can feel yourself slowly slipping away.

Edmund had kickstarted the healing process, but Sylvers body still needed to filter all the harmful mana out of him, and the only way to do that, was to wait.

Alright Good luck with it, Sylver said, as he sunk into the ground.

Edmund adjusted the collar of his shirt, while he waited for Sophia to stop staring at the spot of dark soil Sylver had disappeared through.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am called Edmund, Edmund said, as Sophia lifted her head and fixed her gaze on the young-looking human boy.

Sophia Rala, Sophia said.

The tension that had been present while Sylver was speaking had lessened to the point it was almost gone.

Almost.

We are not your enemy, Edmund said calmly.

Then why did he lie to me about Nautis? About the cave? His bird almost killed Briana. And how does the bird know that Sobek is a turtle? Sophia asked.

Edmund waited a moment to see if Sophia would add any other questions.

He lied because hes paranoid and was certain you were trying to find the turtle to do something horrible to it. He didnt want to risk it. And in his own words, he didnt want to have to kill you over it. As for the bird, her name is Chrys. Why did you almost kill Briana Chrys? Edmund asked as he turned towards the raven with the glowing eye.

Something bad would have happened if I let things continue as they were, the raven said.

So you were in a rush, and werent as careful as you should have been, Edmund clarified. The pause was just long enough that everyone noticed it.

Yes.

Edmund nodded at the bird and turned to Sophia.

A clairvoyant is controlling the bird, in case that wasnt clear. As for her knowing that Sobek is a turtle, she knows that Sobek is a turtle, because we told her, Edmund explained.

In the same way Edmund was capable of riling people up, get them excited at the idea of fighting to the death, he was also capable of calming them down. It was one of those things that seemed to be magic but was merely a byproduct of Edmund being the way he was.