Chapter 313: Why Can People Fly? (Patreon)

"Hah!"

Weightlessness washed over him. By the time the nameless soldier came to his senses, he was already high in the air.

Why was he flying?

Then he remembered. That Demon. That Demon had smashed the earth and sent them all flying!

Flash Sky Strike: Revised!

Wenbei watched, somewhat stunned. Within a ten-meter-radius semicircle in front of Linie's axe, the ground split into several fissures, and the upthrust chunks of stone blasted the crowd into the sky!

In an instant, the front of the great army fell into enormous chaos. The shield soldiers they had set out at the start were completely useless.

"Phew…"

Linie let out a breath. That was her all-out strike. The more she trained, the better she understood just how strong the beings she imitated really were.

"Why is this Demon so strong?!"

The mustached Viscount's face was frozen in horror. If he hadn't retreated so quickly, he would probably be sightseeing among the heavens right now.

"Be careful, my lord Viscount!"

Two Second-Class Mages raised Defensive Magic in front of the Viscount together. The crescent-shaped wind blade of green Mana trailed the Defensive Magic by only a beat. The azure barrier shuddered violently under the blade's impact, but in the end it barely held, wearing the blade down bit by bit.

"What terrifying Mana."

Once the Defensive Magic faded, the two elderly Second-Class Mages gasped for breath at the same time. That brief clash had cost them a good deal of Mana.

Linie pulled her axe out of the broken ground, her expression calm.

"Linie, taking the lead."

Without wasting more words, Linie hefted her axe, stepped over the rubble, and charged straight into the crowd.

The mass of airborne men came down one after another. Amid the violent crashes and wails, there was no telling how many would survive.

"Tch."

Seeing the decapitation plan fail, Wenbei's cold expression showed anger for the first time. She followed right behind, her tachi already drawn.

The bearded Viscount's eyes went wide. "The Demon Race really is ferocious. Quick! Don't be afraid, all together now! We have thirty thousand men!"

Light-armored cavalry closed around the Viscount, while the heavy infantry at the outermost ring, armored and armed to the teeth, surged toward the two Demons like a tide.

Linie's first strike had indeed shaken many of them, but these were soldiers who had pledged their loyalty to the kingdom. Besides, there were only two Demons in front of them.

"Cut!"

Light flashed along the tachi, and the green Mana coiled around it split off another crescent wave of wind. Wenbei's slash was faster than Linie's. She passed Linie almost shoulder to shoulder and cut the throat of the soldier blocking Linie's way before Linie could.

Linie didn't mind her teammate stealing kills.

Her calves, wrapped in black satin ribbons and black stockings, tensed. Her heels came down on the bodies of the two soldiers, and she leapt high into the air.

Her slender hands gripped the huge axe through wide white sleeves. Her brown-and-white skirt fluttered, and her pink twin tails, faintly stained crimson, streamed upward in the wind. She looked like a butterfly spreading its wings.

Flash Sky Strike: Revised!

In an instant Linie became a steamroller. Once again, every soldier within ten meters was sent flying into the sky.

The Mages hidden in the army had been waiting for Linie to land. The moment she did, they fired attack spells at her.

In the corner of her eye, the great axe in Linie's hands dissolved and reformed as a large black shield. It held against the spells only briefly before being pierced.

For a warrior, a fraction of a second is enough to change stance, to turn defense into offense and offense into defense.

Linie swayed from side to side, then dropped low and dashed forward. With her supple body, she dodged every last spell.

This martial technique drained her stamina, so she couldn't use it too often.

This time the human soldiers screwed up their courage and stepped onto the shattered ground themselves, spear after spear thrusting at Linie.

Wenbei, who had been trailing behind, quickly overtook her just as the Mages singled Linie out.

Swinging her tachi, Wenbei carved a new path with blade after blade of wind.

Demons are arrogant by nature. Even when fighting together in an army, they often fought alone, and strong Demons in particular rarely coordinated.

Wenbei wasn't familiar with Linie. She only wanted to kill the army's commander, earn the highest merit, and have Lady Nanoda give her a rank among the Apostles.

"Hyaah!"

Ten human warriors closed in on her. Without slowing, Wenbei swept her tachi across, and the green Mana wrapped around it suddenly swelled. A small hurricane spread along the blade, and as Wenbei's tachi came down, the tremendous repulsive force blew every soldier in front of her away!

Watching the two Demons rampage like tigers among sheep, the Viscount began to sweat at the temples.

Were the Demons of Gaderia this strong?

It wasn't as if he had never seen Demons before. Most of them were cold, even blank-faced, and always spoke words that muddled the mind before dealing a fatal blow to careless travelers.

Those Demons hadn't been weak, either. They were rather strong, in fact. An elite knight squad without elite Mages could kill a single Demon only by risking losses.

But these two were stronger than anything he could have imagined.

At this pace, several hundred men must have been cut down in just a few minutes!

Shielded by the Mages and his personal knights, the bearded Viscount kept falling back toward the rear of the formation. The corners of his mouth curled slightly, and his little mustache twitched along with them.

"How many troops do you think we'd have to throw away before those two Demons run out of Mana?"

"The one using wind has spent a little under half of her Mana. The one with the axe has more endurance. I'd estimate about an hour."

The old Mage narrowed his eyes.

Heedless of her Mana consumption, Wenbei forced a straight path through the army of ten thousand. But the Viscount was clearly retreating faster, and the deeper she went, the harder it was for her to press inward.

Her wind blades couldn't kill heavily armored enemies outright, but the Mana-imbued tachi could slice through armor with ease at close range. Her nimble, swift swordsmanship looked like a samurai's.

"She's fast, but…"

The axe in Linie's hands turned into a hammer again, and with a twist of her body she smashed the enemies around her aside.

Too deep.

Wenbei clearly preferred lightning warfare. Against dozens or hundreds of enemies, she went all out and killed them as quickly as she could. To put it less kindly, Wenbei would surely be a master at razing villages.

Setting aside the soldiers' individual strength, there were simply too many of them.

Linie thought Wenbei's decapitation plan would most likely fail. The Mages and knights surrounding the bearded man would not be easy to deal with.

"Wenbei, we need to retreat!"

Linie shouted toward the front.

"Why? I can still fight!"

Sidestepping an Ordinary Offensive Magic, then dodging a thrusting spear, Wenbei pulled her slanted tachi upward. A line of blood sprayed, and yet another soldier fell dead.

"We've done enough. What matters most now is telling Lady Nanoda that war is about to break out!"

At the mention of Nanoda, Wenbei, who had been charging ahead, stopped short. A violent tornado erupted around her, centered on where she stood.

Linie sighed.

This companion was a bit of a handful.