Gamer Chapter 26 - Battle Prelude Pt.2

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With that single sentence from the butler, I could feel a grin crawling over my face even as Lily's face tightened, her lips growing taut as she drew in a sharp breath. Of course everyone noticed it, how could they not? As she slowly brought her emotions under control Sjen politely offered me a b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin.

I mean really, a b.u.t.tered m.u.f.fin?

Even Halin was asking his wife if she wanted to top up her half empty cup of tea, which of course she gracefully accepted. Kane meanwhile had a sad little smile on his face as he looked at Lily, helpless as Lily sat there looking forlorn.

Personally though, I'm glad about it. I mean its a early victory! I wonder if the quest will be over the moment I win, or if we need to have a coronation first? I hope the former, suspect the latter. So I could be moving on in 12 hours, or in a month. I should probably ask about this, but ehh. Not the best time.

As the silence began to spread, I grew uncomfortable with the tension in the air. It wasn't directed at anyone but n.o.body wanted to break it. Personally, just between us I blame Lily. She made this awkward.

"So how come n.o.body can use magic around here?" I spoke up.

My question seemed to fall a little flat, but Seline took the opportunity to begin talking.

"Until you showed up, we didn't think magic can be controlled by a human, there are stories about it of course. But given that they are children's stories.. But again, when you use it.." she paused thoughtfully.

"There is one thing I can think of" she slowly spoke, "the children's story about Gisa. Have you heard of it?"

QuestTralin's MagesDescriptionFind out what happened to the magic users of TralinRewards6000 EXP

This reminds me of a few games I've played, they talk about vague rumors and when you ask about that 'rumor' suddenly you receive a side-quest out of the blue. For now however, its probably worth checking it out, I'll probably have lots of time to waste after this fight.

"Nope" I shook my head, "I'm not from this area. If you don't mind, I'd love to hear the story" I encouraged her with a blinding smile.

Her smiling face seemed to falter as I flashed a grin at her, and to my right I caught Kane make an expression of distaste as he seemed to groan. Did I seem that fake?

She recovered and nodded "Keep in mind that this is a children's tale."

Clearing her throat, she began. "There once was a girl called Gisa"

As the story flowed I could feel myself being drawn in, words describing a world like this one. The story of a girl who lived with her parents, doing her ch.o.r.es and helping her mother set the table for supper.

This was the first time I've heard a story in this manner, and it could only draw me in as her very voice summoned an entire world about her words.

But given my lazy nature, and that her tale has little relevance to me. You are going to settle with a summarization.

Living with her parents, little Gisa was happy. Doing work about home and stuff. One day while collecting firewood with her father she got lost in the forest, unable to find her way out. She heard wolves howling at night and ran herself ragged, desperate to escape the horrors and come home to her parents.

Running into cobwebs, she fell to the ground crying. Then she heard a tender voice speak to her, talk to her. Telling her the path to take. She obeyed the voice and was lead through the forest and to a sunny glade where a small house sat.

Three sisters inside the house welcomed her warmly and comforted her, making her feel at home. Gisa lived happily with them for a year, but eventually began to yearn for home. The sisters didn't want her to leave, but eventually Gisa's yearning grew so great they had to let her go, but not without three gifts.

The first sister gave her a long feather, saying it would bring good luck. The second sister gave her a golden pearl, promising it would bring light in darkness. The third sister loved the girl the most, and she kissed Gisa on the cheek, asking Gisa to be friends with the wind.

Bla bla, Gisa had lots of adventures as she left the forest, the pearl saved her in a cave of bats. The feather caught the attention of a woodcutter when she was surrounded by wolves.

As she moved through the forest, she heard whispers that grew stronger and stronger until slowly she could make out the words, hearing the wind. She made friends with it, and in return it led her out of the forest, leading her directly to her home where her loving parents welcomed her.

A great story, chockful of rich detail and a adventure I could feel jealous of.. But ultimately.. My quest didn't update itself. Nor did it sound like real magic. I did get a few levelups from it however.

The skill Storytelling has reached level 13Your stories attract attention and are engaging

..........

The skill Storytelling has reached level 19Your stories attract more attention and are engaging

Seven free levels. Still, entertaining as it was..

"I loved the story, but.." I spoke

"It wasn't what you were looking for" Seline nodded knowingly

No one said anything for a few moments, then Halin began to talk. About tactics. Again.

At least this time he changed things up, now he was talking about the plan on how to counter Ilan's army, I've made my disinterest in tactics clear already, and I really don't like this line of conversation. So I broke in.

"Lily, instead of walking to the battlefield I was thinking that we could fly" I spoke in a low voice, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Kane choked on his drink and looked at me in shock "You can fly?"

"Yeah, learned it last night" I glanced towards him idly, silently drinking in the shocked expressions on their faces.

"Is it safe?" Lily finally asked curiously, I nodded "Yep, I have total control of everything" I spoke proudly.

"So we are helpless to your whims in the air?" Kane asked with a slight grimace.

"Its not that big a deal" I brushed him off, hope he doesn't remember the guard this morning.

I quickly added before he could say anymore "And one other thing" I began to smile, "You know that huge boulder we sat on as we watched the first fights?"

Lily nodded warily and slowly her face began to comprehend as I talked "Well, I can fly that over to the battlefield" I finished with a wry grin.

Suddenly catching on, Sjen choked on his m.u.f.fin and wheezed as Halin began to laugh, Kane staring at me in disbelief. "You can do that?" he demanded, insistent to know.

"Sure" I grinned at him, "I finally mastered one aspect of magic last night which vastly reduces the strain it will take on me" I shrugged, "It shouldn't be too hard"

Kane breathed out in awe, quietly muttering "If you can do that.."

Halin managed to gasp out between guffaws "Ilan is going to throw a fit!"

Sjen had recovered by now, he just shook his head as he looked at me with a funny little smile on his face, m.u.f.fin lying forgotten in his hand.

At this point I began to wonder, it felt as if they had accepted me. That I wasn't feared. I knew I would always be feared to some extent, but honestly. I had missed this feeling, of belonging. Being accepted.

The past month has been somewhat depressing, forced to follow Lily around, accompanying her on a trip not of my own choice or making. I'm made to fight on her behalf for a dream I don't share only to be taken away when I finish my task.

The G.o.d isn't going to reward me is he. No. He looked at me with disdain in his eyes, didn't even evaluate me but instead moved me on at his whim. Why would he lower himself to me. I see a ant on the ground, I either ignore it or I squash it. sometimes I play with it.

Lets not talk about the magnifying gla.s.s. In his aspect it would be something like throwing me into a escalating pit of monsters, wondering how far I'll get.

Slowly my expressions darkened, my mood growing horrible as I began to curse him.

Can I do anything to get out of this, make a rift back home? But he'll find me won't he. Becoming another G.o.d, ha. Maybe. Definitely not going to happen anytime soon. Killing him, h.e.l.l no. Definitely won't be happening. Impossible. Escaping from him, no. He's a b.l.o.o.d.y G.o.d. If I want to leave, I have to ask him. But he won't listen to me will he. Of course not.

I scowled heavily, hating the G.o.d more and more as I thought about it.

As I came to the sickening resolution that it all came down to what he wants, I couldn't help but curse him in my heart. Scowling darkly I ignored the others, lost in my own thoughts.

"Jon?" Halin spoke, catching my attention. "Hmm?" I looked at him distractingly, expression dark. "ah sorry, I was thinking" I apologised, relaxing my face and wiping my thoughts.

"No worries" he weakly smiled, "So, you can fly all objects smaller than the boulder through the air?" he asked.

I nodded "Yes, though I'll need to touch them first"

Motioning towards a vase, Sjen spoke "Could you show us?". "Sure" I shrugged, quickly getting up to tap the vase before sitting back down.

Everyone's focus was on the vase as slowly I manipulated the spell, lifting it up with the vase rising into the air as if attached to strings.

The entire room watched the show in awe, glancing towards me as if they could see the trick in action, but my hands were still as my eyes silently followed the floating vase, ensuring it wouldn't come to a shattering finish.

Summoning up a few Torchlights, I flew them alongside the vase as they flickered through colors, giving them a airshow as I effortlessly controlled them to the delight of the crowd.

Both Sjen and Halin made no effort to hide their excitement as they commented on the skill displayed, exclaiming over my prowess at the magic I could use.

Kane though, he was a real downer. He looked a little irritated as he glanced at me, occasionally looking at Lily who eyed the lights with undisguised interest.

He happened to meet my eye as I suddenly grinned, a thought reaching my mind. Does he think I'm a love rival? He scowled in return, seemingly reading my mind.

He could just be overprotective, but its true isn't it. My grin stretched wider, my attention distracted as his face grew more irritated. He looked away immediately, ignoring me. Suddenly I heard the shattering of the vase, I had completely forgotten about it.

HP -6

A sudden surge of pain suddenly spiked into my mind, forcing me to grimace even as I released that the spell on the vase had been forcibly destroyed. Magic backlash? Seriously, that hurt.

Glancing towards the pile of shards on the ground and the dent in the wall, I apologised to Sjen, but he waved it off "Don't worry about it, it was a great show!" he enthused excitedly

"Not very safe it seems" Kane interrupted.

"A minor mistake" I spoke offhandedly.

With the vase destroyed, Lily had a small frown on her face as she looked at the shards before looking at me, hurriedly glancing away when she saw I had noticed.

She's not having second thoughts is she?

Soon the talk turned back towards Ilan's army, tactics on countering his tactics and this time. I was completely unable to do anything but listen.

Not too big a deal though, I mean. Its just one more battle, after this I'll have as much free time until I'm dragged away by the G.o.d. Oh..

The d.a.m.ned G.o.d.

I began to scowl as I thought of him, but was quickly distracted by Halin with a question.

Finally the talks were over as the battle approached, Sjen and Halin left with Kane to the battlefield, it was settled somewhat reluctantly that both Lily and I would be flying there. Lily was not very keen on it, but didn't dare outright say so. I certainly made sure to enthuse how much I looked forwards to it.

Moving to the courtyard, I quickly placed enchantments on the pieces of her armor, reducing their ma.s.s to a state where she could easily dress without a.s.sistance. She still needed help, but it was made much easier with the lessened weight as she could move herself around.

Dressed in iron armor, with my encouragement she clanked about the courtyard stumbling around as I praised her loudly. It was kind of cute I mused as I watched her move about, more so when you considered how small she was. She humored my request as she moved, well aware we had time to waste.

"Terrifying sight" I teased her, hearing a small snort of laughter from inside the armor, she knew how ridiculous she looked. Finally we just sat there, taking a rest as we waited.

All too soon, I judged it was time to go.

I had placed a enchantment on Lily earlier, 'b.u.mping' into her by accident. So it was more than simple to reduce her ma.s.s to the extent where she felt light, then reverse the gravity of her armor to rise into the air. Sidestepping the nausea issue.

Unrelated note, enchanting underwear was a terrible idea. Pants kind of worked, made me look like a pervert.

I followed her into the air, my own stomach complaining about the sensation as the butler stared after us in wonder. He was the sole occupant permitted in the courtyard as we waited around. He'd seen the vase earlier, but it still couldn't compare to actual flying.

Squeaking at her first sensation of movement, I wondered if the sudden silence that fell could be related to nausea. Shouldn't be, she should be feeling quite light instead.

As we rose high into the sky, it was effortless to control our movements, the mansion slowly shrinking beneath us as we moved higher and higher. Gray walls and wooden houses shrank with distance, the entirety of the city filling our view.

It was the first time I had seen the place in all of its entirety.

To the left of the city was a giant forest, stretching out to the horizon with the right side of the city covered in fields, crops of plants in evenly s.p.a.ced plots. At the back of the city were hills and at the bottom of the hills was the battlefield.

The lack of gravity may feel perturbing, but the view brought a wide smile to my face as the crisp air hit my face.

"Not so high" Lily spoke faintly

Sighing, reluctantly I lowered our height as we flew to the hill over watching the battlefield, gra.s.s covered with spectators watching the battlegrounds with eager antic.i.p.ation.

Flying low as we approached the giant boulder, a few caught sight of us as we flew and exclaimed in surprise at the figures in the air. We began to attract attention as we moved and soon the entire crowd was fixated on our every movement. Figure of iron knight floating in the air, my own clothes of black robes frighteningly fluttering in what wind there was.

Really, at this point I no longer had any clothes from home. It was embarra.s.sing somewhat the first time when I had to ask Kane if I could borrow some money to purchase new clothes, my own clothes having grown holes. Luckily living at Sjen granted me a full set of clothes I could use, but for this fight I desired to dress in clothes of my own choosing.

Childish I believe, but I had gone shopping while 'disguised', purchased a full set of black cloth and returned only to ask the butler to have them made into a set of empowering robes. Frightened maid giving me measurements, I had new clothes in less than a day.

And boy did I like them, what kind of figure do I make? A dramatic one?

Anyways..

Looking around the crowds it was easy to spot the n.o.bles, especially the rich ones. They had guards surrounding them, pushing back the crowds to give them a free area in which they relaxed at their own pleasure. Glancing quickly over them I found Sjen's house easily, Sjen sitting under a shade with Halin and Kane seated beside him.

As I approached the boulder I did wonder what expression Kane had, but didn't stop to greet them. I'm not sure how much time we have.

Hovering over the giant gray rock, I looked down at the group of 20 blankly, eyeing the wooden ladder which had evidently been used to get up. Politely I called out towards them, uncaring of the answer. "I'm going to borrow this, can you get off?"

They probably recognised me, their movements were fast as they quickly packed up and lowered the ladder, scrambling to join the silent crowds on the ground who watched me in reverent or terrified awe..

Manipulating the enchants, I flew down low to the boulder and gently knelt as I used a single finger to poke the rough stone, applying a huge gravity cloak to the entire thing. Reinforcing the connection to the spell in a single instant. With a heavy sensation I could feel the mana drained from my body flowing down my finger, sensation like a geyser of water running through my finger covering the boulder as I started to feel drained.

600 mana used in a single instant, I was worried at first that the draining sensation meant that I had grown weaker, but my body recovered after less than a second, seemingly proving it was a indicator for the amount of mana I had consumed.

But really, I wonder how long this would have taken if I was manually casting it, using the gamer skill was done instantly, but it would be that easy normally?

Looking up from the boulder, I could feel the gazes of the crowd fixated on me as I moved, but I ignored them as I slowly floated up.

For dramatic purposes, I held my hand in the air over the rock. In a deep voice I began to intone as the crowds fell into silence

"The souls of the weak fill this rock, fill this earthly vessel with the forsaken blood of the fallen"

Taking a small knife I'd nicked from Sjen's house, I exposed my arm as I drew back the robes, dramatically drawing the knife over my skin. With a soft hiss I forcibly cut deep into my arm, allowing the blood to drip down on the boulder. I made sure to float close enough to the ground that everyone could see. The pain was negligible.

HP -53

"I have given you the blood of the cursed" I spat out

"I promise you thousands of souls"

"I pledge a rain of blood"

"Rise demon"

"Steamroll my enemies"

"Float to my will"

Then with deep breath and a roar, I bellowed "Rise you demon! The cursed G.o.d defiles you!"

I swear, I heard Lily groan.

Removing ma.s.s, reversing gravity, pouring mana down the thread towards the spell. With a single thought, my chuunibyou speech shook the world.

Shuddering, groaning, grinding against the soil. With a loud cracking noise as the ground trembled, it slowly and inspirationally rose into the air.

Hmm.

No charisma stat?

Shame.

As the boulder was lifted into the air and the gaping hole in the ground was revealed, I could feel the mana thread greedily sucking away mana, gulping it like a treat. A quick look at my mana reserves proved that this spell wasn't sustainable, simply too large.

Regeneration is unable to keep up with demand, so I should be able to maintain the spell for up to a minute and a half before I run out of mana. Hmm, I really should test it. What happens if you run out of mana? I know what happens if you don't have enough mana to cast one, but what if you have active spells demanding mana? Kind of busy atm, maybe later.

A low muttering began to start as the silenced crowd slowly began to talk, I ignored them as the ma.s.sive boulder lifted itself into the air like some earthly t.i.tan, tall as a three story house and rounded like a ball. As the earth crumbled off the sides I noted the rounded shape of the boulder with approval, this would work great.

Slowly moving away, we left the crowds and hole in the ground as we flew towards the battlefield, clods of earth regularly dropping off the boulder to cause grief in the crowds below.

Twice, I scored 80 XP from the pieces of dirt, probably knocking someone out or downright killing them. On one occasion I received 20 XP, don't really want to think about it.

But I had to move quickly as the boulder flew through the air, I can get it moving and reduce the cost of the spell by just keeping it afloat. But the mana demands were rapidly adding up. Basically, I don't have long before we drop out of the skies.

As we flew I could see Ilan's ma.s.sive army had been a.s.sembled already, crowding half the battlefield in colors of blue and red that clashed splendidly. The majority of the army wore shiny armor, a small group of men riding horses in the center and at the back was a small clearing with a group of men gathered about a table. I could already guess that Ilan would be at the commander's table or hiding among the soldiers. Wouldn't blame him either, he'd be stupid not to hide.

To those who are running, I'm sorry. But you should have run faster.