C151
“Rian, I'm going. Explain to Tess and Amy."
"Huh? Hey, Shirone!"
Before Rian could stop him, Shirone cast teleportation and vanished at incredible speed.
And after a while, Amy and Tess caught up with Ryan.
"Rian! Where did Shirone go?"
"He went ahead. Just a moment ago."
“What on earth is he thinking? What did he say?"
"He said he plans to trigger traps in advance using his Explosion skill. He thought you guys wouldn't allow it, so he went alone."
"Of course not! Who would allow such a reckless method! Moreover, since Explosion is a kinetic defensive shield, it can be dangerous if the timing is off!”
"Yeah, he probably went alone to avoid hearing that from you."
Amy was annoyed. Not because Shirone acted unilaterally, but because his chosen strategy was actually the most effective when judged by the outcome.
However, it was too risky. In a normal situation, even if the odds were low, there might be a chance of success; but in this case, no matter how high the odds, the risk of failure had to be considered."
"If he fails, he's going to die! That idiot!"
Shouting at the absent Shirone, Amy placed her hands on Rian and Tess' waists.
“I can’t do this. It's impossible to stop him, so let's assist him first. Everyone, stay alert. We'll follow at full speed."
Amy bent her upper body and cast teleportation. A brilliant flash of light shot through the creek water.
* * *
The upper stream of the valley, which was the only road to the hideout, was completely blocked by a 20-meter-high fortress wall.
Currently, about 10 men were positioned, and Falkoa's men, who were constructing the encirclement, began to arrive one after another.
"The enemies are coming! Prepare to activate the traps!"
"It's much faster than we expected? We don't have enough time to activate all of them."
The leader clicked his tongue. He doesn’t whose idea it was, but it was quite clever. As long as there is no way to bypass the trap, it was a strategy to run the shortest distance and try to circumvent the traps.
"It doesn't matter. These traps were designed to wipe out hundreds. Even if we only activate half, it'll be enough to bury four of them."
The leader did not lose his composure until the end and gave instructions to his subordinates.
But the sight of a boy rushing towards them alone from 200 meters away left him stunned.
"What? Why is he alone?"
“It looks like he ran first because he was in a hurry.”
The leader didn't think so. Of course, it was not out of the question, but the moment he realized that his enemy was alone, he had an unusual feeling acting on his mind.
He was starting to think that it would be a waste to activate the trap.
"It's psychological warfare. It would be a waste to use a wide-ranging trap to catch just one person.”
“Then what should we do? Shall we go out and fight?”
“"What do you mean 'what should we do'? Just activate the traps quickly. Are you stupid? That's exactly what he's thinking. He may be risking his life, but they looked down on us too much. Capturing even one of their two mages would turn the tide. Don't hold back."
"Understood. Hey, we're starting now! Everyone, get ready!"
Shirone stared at the wall blocking the valley. About ten enemies were drawing their bows, aiming at the sky.
'Arrow attack?'
Shirone was puzzled. It was nearly impossible for just ten archers to hit a person 100 meters away.
However, the enemies unleashed their arrows without hesitation, and Shirone stopped running to look up at the sky.
They looked like ordinary arrows, except each had a differently colored tip.
'It's Magic Projectile (마정탄)!'
Shirone, who cast teleportation, reflexively retreated. Had he not seen these Magic Projectile at the Kerugo ruins, he would have been caught off guard.
“Shirone!”
At that moment, Shirone stopped retreating at the sound of Amy's voice coming from behind.
From how much quicker she had arrived than expected, Shirone could sense how anxious Amy had been.
But Shirone did not change his mind. Caught in a situation where neither advance nor retreat was possible, the Magic Projectile plummeted to the ground.
A powerful explosion erupted, shaking the valley as a thick cloud of smoke enveloped Shirone.
Shirone realized their strategy. He planned to block their view and then finish them off with a trap.
“Amy! Don’t come!”
Even if Shirone hadn’t said anything, Amy couldn't come near. This is because in places where the smoke did not spread, huge vibrations taking place over the valley could be seen with the naked eye.
As expected, terrifying mechanical devices, resembling catapults, revealed themselves along the cliff. Although they had wheels, they were large enough that several people would have to charge at them to move them.
"Now's the time! Unleash everything!"
Following the leader's orders, Falkoa's subordinates activated the device. Massive boulders were hurled into the valley below with the help of levers.
The boulders were of an immense size, sufficient to fill the V-shaped cross-section of the valley and then some.
Judging by its power, it is not a trap created to block a small number of people. It was a secret weapon designed to annihilate enemies in a final battleground.
“Shirone!”
Amy cried out frantically, but it was already too late. The enormous boulders were plunging one by one into the cloud of smoke.
Amy heard a squeaking, crushing hallucination sound created by her imagination. But the next moment, a powerful explosion sound dispersed that hallucination.
The lingering smoke over the valley dispersed, revealing Shirone enveloped in a sphere of light.
'Photon Explosion!'
The light sphere sparkled brightly with Shirone at the center. The Spirit Zone, with a maximum diameter of 20 meters, was even more massive than the boulders.
As that immense light wildly rampaged at an insane speed, onlookers felt as if they were about to go blind.
The light, packed with mass, exerted all its force in an attempt to counteract the momentum. But the boulders also posed a formidable weight in opposition.
The rocks, shaking violently as they broke through the Photon Explosion, looked as if they would crush Shirone to death any moment.
But at the moment the rocks were halfway down, they shattered into dozens of pieces. And from there, Shirone's Photon Explosion began to overpower the rocks.
As the number of medium-sized rocks increased exponentially, a series of explosions occurred.
Smaller. Even smaller.
Shirone kept unleashing Photon Cannons until the rocks turned into dust.
By the time the object that used to be a rock reached Shirone, it was nothing but tiny particles. Even those were swept away by the cycle of light.
The rocks took only 2 seconds to crash to the ground, exactly the time it took to be disintegrated into dust.
Thousands of events compressed into human perception, creating an optical illusion as if a huge explosion had occurred.
The dust scattered in all directions and settled on the ground.
The eerie sound of the wind lingered in the valley.
Falkoa's henchmen couldn't comprehend what had just happened. A flash of light and the rocks had burst into dust. That's all they could see.
Shirone stepped through the dust-covered stream and glared at the fortress. He saw the henchmen who had triggered the trap quickly retreating.
The leader realized something had gone terribly wrong. He had been living on the battlefield for over 10 years, but he had never heard of such magic even through hearsay.
"Damn it! What is that kid?"
"Leader! What do we do?"
"Prepare the Magic Projectile! Fire away!"
As the henchmen quickly detached the arrowheads and attached Magic Projectiles, Shirone, who was glaring at them fiercely, concentrated his mental power in front of his eyes.
A sphere of photons was born with a 'pop,' absorbing light around it and vibrating powerfully.
"Leader! Over there! That's dangerous!"
Someone who had previously experienced Shiro's technique at the Royal Tavern shouted at the leader.
Indeed, what the leader saw was unnerving; light compressed into something larger than a human face.
"Hurry! Quickly assemble the Magic Projectiles!"
The subordinates' movements became faster, but the magic was quicker.
A line of light was drawn between Shirone and the fortress, as if a flash of light had suddenly appeared.
Kwaaaang!
As the Photon Cannon crashed straight into the iron gate, it produce an ear-piercing metallic sound.
The henchmen cringed and frowned as they were assembling Magic Projectiles. The impact was so powerful that even the wall vibrated. Even after the magic disappeared, the iron door was making a humming sound.
"Wha- What? Is it broken? Check it!"
The henchman went down the stairs connected to the ground and inspected the fortress gate. The thick metal plate was bent but not destroyed.
The subordinate shouted brightly, as if he felt that even this achievement was a victory.
“The gate is intact!”
"Good! Now it’s our turn to attack.”
Tess looked back at his friends and said as the Photon Cannon's attack came to nothing.
Magic can't break down the gate with magic. Rian, let’s climb up the wall.”
To win a siege, you must succeed in one of two things.
The first is to destroy the gate with siege weapons or magic and push in your troops.
But if you can't destroy the gate, climbing the wall and eliminating the enemies is another option. And that was the duty of sword warrior like Tess and Rian.
"Alright. It's better if we climb up."
Rian secured his straight sword to his back so that he could run easily. But just as the two were about to start, leaning their upper bodies forward, Amy stopped them.
"Wait, hold on."
“There is no time to waste. We need to attack before the enemies reorganize. Now is our chance."
Tess' judgment was right. Amy, who specialized in fire magic, was weak against impact, and Shirone's photon cannon was also ineffective against the thick iron gate.
But Amy knew that Shirone had one more weapon.
Also, it was the most effective magic in this situation.
"It's okay. Shirone will take care of it.”
Tess, who did not understand the situation, looked back at Shirone with a puzzled expression and suddenly opened her eyes wide.
A red light was spreading from Shirone's body.
"Wha- What? Isn't that dangerous?"
Humans become uneasy when they see the color red. It's because it reminds them of bleeding.
Even Tess was apprehensive to see the eerie red light, so one could only imagine how much more alarmed the enemies must have been.
“Leader, what the hell is that?"
Shirone fired a flash of red light forward. A beam of laser reached the iron gate so quickly that it could be called an instant, scorching its surface.
"Euak! What is that?"
The subordinates, who had already tasted the power of the Photon Cannon, took fearful steps back.
However, there was no expected shockwave or loud noise.
The leader who inspected the gate from under the fortress regained his confidence. The current magic was simply shining on the iron gate; it had no discernable potency.
"Good! Now's the time! Prepare the Magic Projectile!"
Including the subordinates who had returned from the trap, there were over 40 people. With this number, they could have devastated the area around Shirone with a bombardment of Magic Projectiles.
As soon as all the subordinates finished aiming, the leader lowered his hand and shouted.
"Fire the... Huh?"
Kukukukuku!
At that moment, the fortress wall began to vibrate roughly.
Not only the leader but also the subordinates who were about to release the bowstring looked at each other with surprised expressions.
A subordinate who had bent down to inspect the gate from outside the fortress wall spoke in a trembling voice.
“Le- Leader! That…!”
The iron gate shook wildly. Eventually, the vibration that started at the iron gate spread throughout the entire fortress wall, shaking the very foundation of the structure.
Faced with a sight they had never seen before, Falko's subordinates could only be horrified.
he iron at the spot where the laser touched began to boil and bubbles started to pop out as if they were air bubbles.
Then the fortress wall shook as if it would be uprooted, and finally, with an explosion, the iron gate burst open.
---
Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)
