Chapter 192: I Found the Weak Point in a Champion’s Barrier

The first test was mediocre.

The heavier projectile struck a steel plate Raven had propped against a stone wall.

BOOM.

The plate flew backward.

The projectile deformed too much.

Raven walked over to the impact point, with Roland appearing behind him a moment later.

"Good?"

"No."

"It went through the steel."

"The tip collapsed."

"I still think we have different definitions of failure."

Valeria approached.

"What were you expecting?"

"For it to retain more of its structure."

Raven picked up the fragment with a pair of tongs.

FORGE responded.

[Projectile Deformation Excessive.]

[Penetration Retention Below Desired Threshold.]

"It needs internal reinforcement."

Valeria looked at him.

"Can you do that?"

"Probably."

"There’s that word again."

Raven returned to the table.

The second test was worse.

The fragmentation round opened too early.

Pieces of metal struck the wall, the ground, and one of the wooden beams.

Roland froze.

A small fragment had just buried itself in the wood a few centimeters from his head.

He looked at Raven.

"I’m moving."

"Good idea."

"Thanks for warning me beforehand."

"I didn’t know it would fragment that early."

"That does not help."

Valeria was laughing.

Roland pointed at her.

"You were standing here too."

"But I wasn’t next to the wall."

"Because you’re a coward."

"Because I have common sense."

Raven opened the deformed casing.

"Too thin."

Roland moved behind another wall.

"I’ll observe from here."

"That wall isn’t particularly thick either."

Roland stared at him, then took another three steps away.

"Now I’ll observe from here."

The third test used Black Mithril.

Very little.

Only an internal insert.

Raven couldn’t afford to waste valuable material by firing full Black Mithril projectiles into walls.

The idea was simple.

Steel exterior.

Partial Black Mithril core.

Preserve structure.

Concentrate force.

FORGE had accepted the design as viable.

Not perfect.

Viable.

Raven loaded the round.

Valeria remained behind him.

Roland stood considerably farther away than before.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yes."

"That was for Roland."

From the distance came a shout.

"No!"

Raven fired.

BOOM.

The plate took the impact.

A hole appeared almost directly through the center.

The stone behind it fractured.

Raven waited.

Nothing exploded.

Roland slowly returned.

"I like this one better."

Raven found the projectile embedded inside the wall.

It was deformed.

But still intact.

FORGE responded.

[Penetration Retention Improved.]

[Structural Integrity: 61%.]

[Black Mithril Utilization Efficiency: LOW.]

Raven frowned.

Valeria couldn’t read the system window, but she could read his expression.

"Better, but expensive."

"Too expensive."

"How much material do you have?"

Raven told her.

Valeria calculated mentally.

"You can’t afford many wasted tests."

"No."

Roland leaned his bow against the wall.

"Then we need to know what exactly we’re trying to penetrate."

Raven looked up.

That was correct.

"A sacred barrier isn’t steel."

"Thank you for the revelation."

"When I hit Elise’s barrier, the mana seemed to concentrate around the impact point."

Valeria nodded.

"I saw that."

"Can a barrier redirect more mana toward one section?"

She looked at him.

"Depends on how it’s constructed."

"Hers."

"I only saw it for a few seconds."

"Your impression."

Valeria thought about it.

This time, Raven waited.

She understood magic better than he did.

"It wasn’t a uniform wall," she said eventually. "When you fired, the surrounding mana moved toward the impact. Like a liquid surface hardening wherever pressure is applied."

Raven remembered the crack.

"Then I don’t need to overpower the entire barrier."

Valeria understood immediately.

"You only need to overload one section before it can redistribute enough mana."

"Yes."

Roland looked between them.

"Does that mean we have a plan?"

Raven shook his head.

"It means we have a better question."

"I’ll take that."

They worked until the light began to fade.

Raven discarded two projectile shapes and kept one. The fragmentation design needed more work, while Black Mithril had proven effective but too expensive to waste carelessly.

He recorded every result.

Weight.

Charge.

Deformation.

Damage.

Every test consumed material, and Raven couldn’t afford to rely on intuition.

Valeria had stopped teasing him some time ago. Now she sat beside him, examining one of the projectiles.

"Would Penance Sanctuary help?"

Raven set down his tool.

"I can’t activate it."

"I know. I’m asking whether it would change anything if it activated."

Raven considered that.

"It would mean something had already gone very wrong."

"That isn’t an answer."

"Yes. It would help."

"Six seconds."

"Yes."

"Completely immobile."

"Yes."

Valeria grimaced.

"It looks terrible on you."

Raven looked at her.

"What?"

"The ability."

Roland started laughing from the entrance.

Valeria continued.

"Your entire fighting style depends on moving, changing angles, and doing stupid things before the enemy understands what you’re doing."

"Not all of them are stupid."

"You let an Elite bite you."

"It worked."

"That remains a terrible argument."

Raven returned his attention to the projectile.

Valeria didn’t let the subject go.

"If Sanctuary activates, you’re trapped for six seconds. Anyone who knows how it works simply stops attacking you."

"Elise knows."

"I’m aware."

"So against her, you can’t expect her to throw ten attacks into it and destroy herself afterward."

"I wasn’t expecting that."

"Good."

Valeria rested one elbow on the table.

"Then what is it actually useful for?"

Raven took a moment before answering.

"Making sure something that should kill me doesn’t do it immediately."

Her smile disappeared.

"I don’t like the way you said that."

"It’s what the Trait does."

"I know."

Raven looked toward the rifle.

"It isn’t part of the plan."

"It’s the plan for when the plan fails."

"More or less."

Roland spoke from the doorway.

"That could be the motto for the two of you."

Valeria looked at him.

"The two of us?"

"Raven makes the plan. You stop him from dying when the plan catches fire."

Raven shook his head.

"Not always."

Valeria smiled.

"Don’t correct him. I like his version better."

Later, they ate beside a small fire behind the structure.

Nothing elaborate.

Dried meat.

Bread.

Something Roland insisted was cheese.

Valeria had questioned that claim.

Raven was still thinking about Elise.

Not the crack in her barrier.

The speed with which she had raised it.

Halt.

His unresponsive arm.

The fact that she had never drawn Mercy.

Valeria watched him for a while.

"You’re still fighting her in your head."

"Yes."

"Are you winning?"

"No."

Roland nearly choked.

Valeria smiled.

"At least you’re honest."

Raven tore off a piece of bread.

"There isn’t much to analyze in a direct confrontation."

"Because you’d lose?"

"Yes."

Valeria rested her arms across her knees.

"That doesn’t seem to bother you."

"Should it?"

"Most people feel at least slightly uncomfortable after discovering someone can crush them."

"I already knew stronger people existed."

"That’s different from having one stand in front of you and politely explain that she wants to purify you."

Raven ate another bite.

"That part was irritating."

Roland pointed at him with the cheese.

"There it is. An emotion."

Raven ignored him.

Valeria returned to the subject.

"Then tell me something."

"What?"

"How are you planning to beat her?"

Raven looked up.

Valeria was serious.

Not how do you survive.

Not how do you escape.

Beat her.

Raven watched the fire for a moment, then looked toward the Mk.I resting against the wall.

"I don’t need to be stronger than she is."

Valeria waited.

"I need a situation where she can’t use everything that makes her stronger."

Roland stopped eating.

Valeria narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Terrain."

"Part of it."

"Preparation."

"Yes."

"Specialized ammunition."

"Yes."

"Force her to spend mana."

"That too."

Valeria smiled slowly.

"You already started."

"When I saw the barrier."

"No."

She shook her head.

"You started when you realized she didn’t follow us out of Bellcross."

Raven looked at her.

She was right.

Civilians.

Control.

Elise could have pursued them.

She had chosen not to.

Not because she couldn’t.

Because of limits she accepted voluntarily.

Principles.

Priorities.

Restrictions.

All of it was information.

Raven finished the bread.

"I need more."

Roland sighed.

"Here we go again."

"About her," Raven continued. "Her techniques. How she fights. How long it takes her to reconstruct a defense. What she does when she has allies nearby. What she isn’t willing to do."

Valeria studied him.

"That last one sounds dangerous."

"Every enemy has things they won’t do."

"And you want to find Elise’s."

"Yes."

Roland looked toward the forest.

"So I suppose we’re not running anymore."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"We were never running."

Roland laughed.

Valeria joined him.

Raven looked between them.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said. "I just want to remember this conversation when we’ve spent three days traveling in the opposite direction from the Champion."

Raven looked back toward the Mk.I.

The next time Elise raised a barrier, it would be stronger.

She would be prepared for the rifle.

Probably for Valeria too.

Maybe even Roland.

That was fine.

Raven had no intention of showing up with the same thing either.

Their first confrontation had proven he couldn’t match a Champion.

The second would have to prove something else.

That matching her had never been the objective.