Chapter 7
[Math Dungeon: 125 Years after the age of Milletians.]
A short explosion of combat was soon met with an anticlimactic thud as the last of the kobolds fell to the ground in an ambush created by Semont and Kenero. Kenero did do most of the work as she had greater reach and power with her alchemy but even Semont had an easy time facing these fomors. It was strange; it seemed that the kobolds didn’t have much will to fight back. Their jerky and hesitant movements showed their reluctance to engage in conflict and displayed signs of wanting to escape.
Semont saw the fear in their eyes; but what where they afraid of? Was there something else more fearful in Math Dungeon?
[Abb Neagh Camp: Unknown date]
Plumes of dark smoke and a rank stench of flesh and blood filled the air with a sickening smell of death.
He didn’t care how the conditions were; this was all that he wanted and everything was going according to plan. The Robed Killer was here for one thing and one thing only; one way or anyother, the extermination of alchemists no matter who it was or regardless of the cost. Gripping a bleeding sword in his one arm, he made one instantaneous motion to the left and effortlessly dispatched one of the trainees. The next one adjacent to the Killer, unable to comprehend what was happening at a training camp, was completely stricken with fear; met with no resistance, she didn’t last very long as well.
That made fifteen out of the twenty that were originally in the camp.
They didn’t get it, they just didn’t get it; they were hearing reports of a rampant one-armed bandit going around and killing alchemists but they just assumed that with numbers they could have easily taken him on. Underestimation: that was their hubris and their pride as the reigning alchemists of Erinn although they were only trainees.
Underestimation of his robe which had a very child-like color and design.
Underestimation of one man with a single arm.
Underestimation of the archaic use of sword and magic; and all of this led to their defeat.
The Killer was also displaying feats of magic control that none of these alchemists would have ever dreamed of seeing; he was using mana up like it was water and with this extensive use of it, any normal person would have succumbed to a coma within seconds. Channeling mana into his sword as if it were a wand, three orbs of charged lightning instantly formed around it and promptly exploded in all directions, each striking a separate target.
“Listen to me, get out of here! You’re only going to lose your life if you stay here! ..As cliché as this sounds; I’ll stay here and distract him, you’ll have to escape while you can.”
“Bu-but what about you?!”
“…I..” she shook her head, “No. I’ll stay here and hold him off. Don’t forget that I can’t go invisible like you can.” Before turning to face the monster in the guise of a man, she gave her friend an confident smile “Don’t worry, a royal alchemist won’t go down this easily.”
As the Killer slowly advanced towards the two, both of them got a good look at his features; twin horns protruded from the sides of his head and formed into gnarled spirals which curved upwards to penetrate the air. Ragged and dirtied bandages were tightly wrapped around his head and his one remaining arm in a binding embrace. Judging from the extensive layering of the bandages, they appeared to cover his entire body as well.
Without wasting any further time, the royal alchemist quickly loaded ten water crystals; five into her twin cylinders, each strapped to an arm. The killer quickly reacted by casting tree and then two icebolts into a total of five. Shouting at her friend to escape immediately, she gave her cover fire in a burst of three crystals. Hesitating at first, the elf slowly backed off and then turned around int a full sprint before disappearing nowhere to be seen. Seeing her get away, the killer raised his sword to fire but not before a twin burst of water knocked him off his feat. The royal alchemist stared at him, “Don’t forget about me; it’s just us two now.”
The bandages on his face formed into a scowl, “Don’t think you’re so competent. All you know is how to shoot rocks out of a machine on your arm.”
She didn’t how to respond to such a comment, “Ugh.. W-why are you doing such a thing?!”
Taking advantage of the opening, the killer quickly created a lightning bolt and struck the alchemist dead centre. “Hmph, is that all you’ve go-“ But before he could finish, the alchemist retaliated with three water cannon shots; none of them landed their mark but it bought time nonetheless. The previous lightning bolt was miraculously blocked by a weak mana shield but cylinder on her left arm shattered upon impact.
“Don’t… hah.. Look down on me; I can use a little magic as well.”
That last attack completely knocked the wind out of her but she remained unscathed; her expendable mana however, was entirely depleted. She was feeling exhausted but her drive to protect her friend continued to motivate her to keep up the fight.
“I just can’t give up!”
With strengthened resolve, the royal alchemist hastily errectified a circular tower of entwining vine-like stakes and prepared herself for an all-out attack.
“I can still fight! I can still fight! I can still fight! I can still fight!”
Building a wall was a good plan to strategize but time was quickly running out as the exterior was already being destroyed; the Killer was burning it at an extraordinary pace.
“This is it!!”
Detonating several fire crystals to blow open a side of the wall, the alchemist cleared out the smoke with a wind crystal and then quickly leaped out into the opening. Just before the alchemist aimed at the killer, the cylinder’s auto-loader immediately kicked in and placed all her remaining crystals into the loading chamber and expelled it with a force greater than anyone was meant to handle.
“TAKE THIS!!”
Anything and everything was fired out of the cylinder in that brief moment; dozens of water, wind, and flame crystals were combined and expelled from the cylinder forming into a ridiculous eruption of tri-elemental destruction. The uncontrolled blast came out in a humongous stream of power, cutting the earth in twain and obliterating the tower previously built. A large crater resulted from the impact of the horrifying assault and sized several meters in diameter. The remaining water crystals were accelerated by the rest of the wind crystals improving both their speed and power but at the cost of accuracy. These were aimed into the general direction of the attacker and numerous holes were strewn into the existing crater each ranging from one meter to several in length. This looked impressive, but most of the shots never hit their intended target at all. Finally, a raging inferno exploded out from the end of cylinder and then was instantly followed by an even more powerful torrent of hellfire that smothered all the far corners of the crater. The violent force knocked the royal alchemist hapless out of the air and threw her around like a ragdoll before she dropped straight into the ground; she miraculously landed out of the crater and out of harm’s way. This attack completely destroyed her cylinder and shattered her right arm. As she slowly propped herself up watched the flames and smoke dissipate.
Her eyes widened with fear and shock; she couldn’t believe it.
A slowly extinguishing azure fireball in the shape of a human silhouette quietly approached the bewildered alchemist.
“H- *cough* how!?”
A grimace formed on the tattered bandages that seemed to make up his face, “I’ve had enough of this.”
With no indication of attacking and in a split second devoid of reaction, the killer rushed towards the alchemist and delivered a bone crushing hard strike.
“Urk!” She stumbled backwards, slowly yet frantically searching for a knife that she kept with her.
“That was a real mana shield. Your pathetic imitation disgusts me.” He looked at her with an annoyed look on his face as he saw her pull out a knife. “Still haven’t given up? Why don’t you just die.”
An icebolt formed in midair and without warning, smashed itself into the exhausted alchemist, throwing her into the ground.
“No… no more… P-please..” Her voice became tiny and soft like a whisper.
“You alchemists are nothing but fakes; mimicking magic with stolen fomor arts, assuming authority by taking advantage of the weak.”
The killer drew his sword and on unsheathing, a gleaming blue layer of ice formed on the blade’s surface creating an edge sharper than any steel.
“Why am I doing this? The answer is simple.”
Finally rushing forwards, the killer effortlessly plunged his sword straight into her. The royal alchemist let out a sharp sigh as tears streamed out of her eyes. Her blood sprayed onto her attacker and it matched the same crimson pink that stained his robe.
“You alchemists give nothing but false hope.”
From a distance, the elf looked onwards in shock. Unable to handle the situation, she cried out for her friend’s name in silence.
“K-… Ke-“
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