HP: Sacred Gear Chat Group (2) - Chapter 50 (Patreon)

Chapter 50 - Why so tense?

For a moment, there was silence. Nobody moved.

Then Ghislaine's muscles tensed, her eyes narrowed, and her ears sharpened as her body sprang into practiced action.

A red glow surrounded her body. I could sense her using the Stone Flesh spell to strengthen it, her Aura surging in the same instant and her presence intensifying. With the speed of light, Ghislaine closed the distance between herself and the first Skeletal Dragon.

Its bony head landed on the cold stone floor of the chamber. The Sword of Light, the signature move of the Sword God Style, had taken care of the first of the three Skeletal Dragons.

Even an undead creature would have a hard time surviving such damage, especially since the head was usually where the spirit was bound to the undead body.

However, she could only take care of the first one so quickly because she had enough space to fight. The second one was right behind the first, immediately engaging Ghislaine. Her sharp beastman senses allowed her to react fast enough to dodge a swipe from its sharp bone claws.

Unfortunately, close combat meant she didn't have enough time to focus on another Sword of Light. Even if it was just a single second, that second in real combat could mean the difference between life and death.

And there was another Dragon right behind the second one, too.

But she wasn't alone. I wasn't just standing there watching, either. Having focused my attention, I had enough time to construct my own spell.

I was ready to support her.

Something appeared in the vision of my Foresight Eye.

"Oh, you don't!" Alfe stood there with a confident grin, her hand outstretched toward me.

Thanks to the additional reaction window my Eye gave me, I managed to dodge just in time as a huge boulder crashed into the spot where I had stood a second ago.

Damn, was I glad I'd kept up my workouts with Ghislaine and later with Agnar while we were traveling together! My fitness had turned out to be a lifesaver here.

"Not bad," Alfe admitted, her red eyes fixed solely on me. "Don't get distracted. You're playing with me~"

Where had that boulder come from? It wasn't an Earth spell. I would have seen the magic in the ground.

A conjuration spell? Right, her portals!

While my mind analyzed her abilities, the Staff of Magnus in my hand was already pointing at the boulder in front of me. I channeled Earth Magic into it, causing the boulder to reshape itself into stone spikes that shot toward Alfe at incredible speed.

I poured a shit ton of magic into them, making them shoot off faster than anything I'd ever managed before.

It had no effect. Instead of getting riddled with holes, Alfe simply raised her hand as a portal formed in front of her. The spikes heading straight toward her disappeared into it. A few others missed her by several meters, thanks to my hastily cast spell.

She could create them pretty much instantly, but...

"Decent mastery of the Earth Element. I've never seen that style of Earth Magic before. Is it your own, or has it been practiced wherever you came from?" Alfe analyzed me just as much as I analyzed her. "But you used the Staff of Magnus to supercharge the spell and enhance its power, drawing on the magic stored inside it. You won't be able to keep that up forever, and I won't let you absorb my magic."

"Oh, don't worry about my magic."

At that, I couldn't help giving her a cheeky grin as I pointed the Staff at the Eye of Magnus, absorbing some of its magic to recharge its internal reserves before they overflowed and began feeding me again.

"Impressive. You've mastered the Staff's magic surprisingly well for how long you've had it." She nodded in approval.

Well, I'd already had it for a few days and had spent most of my free time studying it, since I knew I'd need it for the Eye of Magnus.

"But do you think I'll just wait here for you to recharge the Staff each time?" Her voice turned menacing as another Portal opened above my head, and an even bigger boulder came crashing down toward me.

But I'd already expected that. Having seen it with my Eye, I had my Staff ready in position to cast my next spell directly at the falling boulder.

Through my Earth Magic, the boulder visibly reshaped itself. Instead of crushing me, it shifted around me, forming a protective fortress of thick stone that fused with the floor.

Thanks to my Magic Power Eye having already adjusted to the intense concentration of Magicka released by the Eye of Magnus, I could clearly see Alfe through the thick stone.

While she wasn't nearly as intense as the Eye of Magnus, she was still a beacon of Magicka compared to everything else in the chamber, even me.

"How disappointing! How will hiding in your shell like a worthless Mudcrab help you? Do you really think some stone will protect you from me?" Alfe's voice traveled muffled through the thick stone, but it was still clear enough for me to understand her.

In the next instant, I felt things heating up.

But of course, I hadn't just stood still like a turtle in its shell.

My magic power traveled through the ground and up above me. I heard a surprised shriek before I created another opening in the tunnel I'd made to travel beneath her, through which I jumped out.

"You crafty little rat!"

I could see that Alfe had dodged the spikes I'd created beneath her feet, but they had created enough of an opening for me to close the distance between us.

The Staff of Magnus flashed through the air toward her head. The fancy thing about the Staff was that it wasn't just a powerful enchanted focus; it was also incredibly durable.

It could even be used as a melee weapon.

But Alfe wasn't just an ordinary magic user. She was a Spell Sword. The fancy Daedric sword hanging from her belt wasn't just for show.

With practiced ease, she intercepted my Staff, blocking it with her sword while wearing a bored expression.

"Do you really believe a close-combat encounter with me is the smart choice? I can tell you're a beginner. At most, you have less than a year of experience in close combat." A hint of disappointment crept into her voice.

"My experience with magic isn't much longer," I replied with a laugh, as a Fireball appeared at the tip of the Staff of Magnus, right in front of her face.

"Crafty little bastard! Do you think you'll accomplish anything with your little tricks?" she snarled confidently, another Portal appearing between her and the Fireball, which I continued channeling magic into.

"I think so!" I replied, as the summoning spell I'd cast with my other hand finally took effect. The remaining stone spikes I'd previously sent toward her, which hadn't been swallowed up by a Portal, crashed into her back.

As expected, her body was enhanced by an Alteration spell, probably Ebonyflesh or Dragonhide, mitigating most of the damage. But I still managed to hurt her.

"Crafty rat! So you figured it out!?" Alfe's eyes narrowed at me. We were really close now, as the impact had sent her crashing toward me.

The fight somehow came to a halt.

"Of course! You're only able to open one of your Portals close to yourself." I nodded.

At first, I'd thought she could create them like Doctor Strange, even multiple ones at the same time. But throughout the entire fight, she'd only ever had one open in her immediate vicinity.

The other end of each Portal was always somewhere far away, hidden from view.

When I sent a barrage of Stone Spikes at her, I'd honestly expected her to send them right back into my face through another Portal, or even straight into my back.

But it never happened. She simply made them disappear instead of sending them back.

Neither did she use her Portals to cut off my escape routes. All her portal-based attacks came from a single direction.

Of course, it was still powerful magic, but far more manageable than it would have been if she could use multiple Portals at once.

"Not bad. At least you have a head on your shoulders and know how to use it to analyze your opponents. You're already better than 90% of the riffraff who call themselves Mages these days." Alfe gave me an approving nod.

"Thanks."

"Don't get overconfident." She scoffed. "You still made several critical mistakes."

My eyes widened as she opened several Portals simultaneously, surrounding me from all sides. Conjured Chains burst out of them, grabbing my limbs. As one of the Chains struck my palm, the Staff of Magnus slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground.

"First, you failed to account for the possibility that I was simply showing you what I wanted you to see. Instead, you took everything you saw during this fight for granted." She pointed out, punching me through one of her Portals and hitting me in the back. "That's for hitting me with your Spikes. Also, I haven't used any other type of magic. Only Conjuration so far. I hope you didn't expect me to be just a Conjuration User?"

I hung suspended in the air, bound by her Chains, as she calmly stood in front of me. She held up a single finger before raising a second one.

"Secondly, you forgot about an opponent."

Another Portal opened beside me, slightly outside my field of vision. A sharp dagger appeared against my throat as Brelyna snuggled up against my cheek.

"Hey~ I'm here, too! Did you forget about me?"

I did... What an amateur mistake. But I'd had my hands full with Alfe, and Brelyna hadn't done anything throughout the entire fight. She'd simply slipped my mind.

That was a mistake on my part.

But if they thought I'd just give up, then they didn't know me very well. With a burst of concentration, I warped the space around me, feeling myself being pulled backward, away from the sharp edge of the dagger. In the next instant, I felt myself being squeezed through something resembling a tight tube.

With a loud plop, I reappeared a few meters away from them. Thanks to my Summoning Charm, the Staff of Magnus flew back into my hand, and an even bigger Fireball appeared at its tip. I began absorbing the magic released by the Eye of Magnus into my surroundings and channeling it into my spell.

"Do you think you're the only one who can manipulate space?" I faced the two Dark Elf women defiantly.

"Impressive. Effective, albeit quite a crude method. You forced your way through space purely with your magic. Essentially, you punched a short-lived wormhole into the fabric of space before squeezing yourself through it. There are more elegant ways to accomplish that." Alfe's voice remained unbothered, as if she were commenting on the weather.

"If it works, it works!"

"Sure. You escaped my Chains." She shrugged, glancing at the steadily growing Fireball at the tip of my Staff. "Are you sure you want to fire that thing at us?"

"Why not?"

A grin appeared on Alfe's face as she snapped her fingers, while Brelyna stood unbothered beside her, having complete confidence in her teacher.

Another Portal formed between me and the two Dark Elven women.

My head snapped around as I searched the chamber for a moment. It was empty.

Instead, inside the Portal, I could see not only Agnar but also Ghislaine. Both of them were hanging helplessly in a barrage of conjured Chains, desperately struggling against them, just as I had moments ago.

Unlike me, they didn't have Apparition to free themselves.

"Who knows where your Fireball or any of your other spells might land?" Alfe chuckled, making the threat perfectly clear. "All I know is that it won't hit me or my cute student."

She hadn't just been fighting me. While facing me and keeping me occupied, she'd also taken care of Ghislaine and Agnar. And Brelyna hadn't even joined the fight.

"But if you want, I could take you seriously. Like I said, I haven't even used my main type of magic yet. Perhaps I should show off a little of my specialization?"

With those words, another massive Portal opened behind her. And what I saw inside sent a chill down my spine.

We were completely outclassed here.

Shit, what was I supposed to do?

Inside the Portal was an entire army. Skeletons, Draugr, Zombies, Skeletal Dragons, Ghosts, Wights, flesh Golems, bone Golems, Zombie Giants, and whatever other undead abominations she knew how to create that I couldn't even name.

She wasn't just an incredibly skilled Conjurer, but a genuine Necromancer. While those two branches of magic weren't the same, they were closely intertwined and went hand in hand.

For now, I canceled the Fireball spell, which had grown to an impressive size, dispersing its magic into the air around us.

I could see that I was completely outclassed here.

What should I do? Try to grab Agnar and Ghislaine and simply run for it? Return to Mom and the others, use the Portkey to escape, and hide until the cooldown was completely over?

Abandon this world and give up on the Eye of Magnus?

With Apparition, I should be able to close the distance between myself and the two trapped inside the Portal.

The problem was that I had no idea where the Portal led.

If she closed it behind me and it turned out to be some realm of Oblivion or something similar, I'd be screwed. I didn't think Apparition or Portkeys would work in there.

Perhaps I could use my Sacred Gear, Dimension Lost, to travel between dimensions. But since it was a subtype, its functions had changed considerably from the original. I don't have access to Dimension Lost's usual applications.

I could probably figure it out eventually, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. And I don't think it's so simple.

And even if I somehow managed to figure out how to escape another dimension, Alfe would already have gotten her hands on Mom, Tracey, Daphne, and Astoria by then. In every possible future, she'd have more than enough time.

Not that she'd even need it. She could simply deal with me directly and go after them afterward.

I didn't want to abandon Ghislaine and Agnar, either. I wasn't some scummy asshole. Ghislaine was my Knight!

I was really screwed here. She had me completely in her grasp.

Alfe's smooth voice reached my ears, almost sounding mocking.

"Why so nervous? There's no need to be so tense~"

[-- End of Chapter --]