Chapter 84: The Knights Vs. Hald

When Azrael declares that he can defeat that overpowered man, Alicia gives him a full scan. From the looks of her face, Azrael can tell that she is not going to believe him, but he cannot blame her considering the situation he is in.

"How certain is that you can win?"

"Trust me. I was holding back the whole time when I fought him earlier. I actually tanked that massive explosion, if you want to know. Anyways, the only thing stopping me is this goddamn chain."

"Wait, you survived that explosion? Anyways, can you not break the chain apart by force?"

"I can't. I just greatly underestimated this chain. I doubt that I cannot even force myself to break it with my full strength."

What Azrael means by his full strength is his raw strength without the multipliers. He has been trying to struggle to break free but to no avail.

If he were to actually use his full power, he might be able to break a single link. However, he does not dare to try it in order not to blow up his cover. He cannot ascertain it would actually work, as Azrael has no idea how powerful an ancient relic could be.

There are other ways to get rid of this chain. One of those ways is to use his eyes to shoot out an inch-thick, concentrated dragon blast, like a laser beam, to destroy the Binding Chains. If the chains can hold things, it means that it has tangible properties. He could also use it to try melting the golden chain.

The other way is to use the laser beam to blast and incapacitate Hald, forcing him to cancel the spell. And lastly, he can just use one of the awakened abilities he got from one of Claire's assassins before and disabled Hald's magic.

Obviously, Azrael cannot use those methods because there are onlookers nearby. It is not normal for a human to shoot a beam of super hot plasma from their eyes. People would immediately find it unnatural, and they would even put their suspicions on him.

He is trying to be careful.

"..."

Alicia looks around and sees that they are fighting in a losing game. Leaving no options, she ultimately decides to put her trust in this unknown man.

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to stop that man over there."

Azrael turns his head in the direction where Hald is fighting the knights, where he is fighting the knights and adventurers who just arrived. Even though they are fighting one opponent, they are having a hard time as the man is rapidly firing spells after spells.

"Do everything you can to distract him so that he will focus on these golden chains that sealed the chains around me."

"If that's all we need to do, then we'll try what we can."

After resting her body, Alicia gets back on her feet and joins the knight in fighting Hald.

◆◇◆

A knight is thrown to the ground before he stands up a few seconds later with cuts and bruises all over his body. He is wounded and exhausted, but he is not giving up yet.

"Haa... How is he this powerful?!"

As he grips his longsword tight with his hands, Luke, Alicia's vice captain, realizes that they are fighting a tough opponent. Even though he is alone, he can overwhelm them with his relentless barrage of magical attacks.

"Luke!"

"Captain!"

Luke then hears Alicia's voice from behind before she stands beside him, pointing her rapier at the opponent.

"How's the situation here?" she asks.

"To be honest, it is not getting good. He is just too powerful for us to handle. A number of knights and adventurers have been fatally injured and rendered unable to fight. This man is a monster."

"He is one of the party leaders of Mors's clan, so there is no doubt that he is a powerful adventurer. But the power he is currently showing is more than any adventurer could exert."

"Watch out, captain!"

Boom.

Suddenly, a gigantic ball of blue flames interrupted their conversation. Alicia and Luke are able to quickly leap off their spot before Hald's Giga Fireball, a high-tier spell, hits the ground beneath them and explodes.

When they look around, they find that Hald has defeated the others. Both Alicia and Luke grit their teeth upon seeing their companions lying helplessly on the ground.

"You got the audacity to talk during a fight," Hald says. "Now that everyone has gathered here, let me end this with a single spell."

After Hald raises his staff upwards, a large magic circle manifests on the surface, covering the radius of more than a hundred meters. Whatever he will cast, the knights and adventurers who are still conscious on the ground are feeling that it would not be good for them.

"This is bad," Luke says. "He is going to destroy this area at this rate. By this scripture, this is Hellscape, a supreme-tier spell that burns everything within its range."

"A supreme-tier spell?! We won't let you do that!"

As Hald is casting the spell, Alicia and Luke burst forth at a great speed. However, they are not aware that he can do multicasting.

"As if I would let you. Icicle Lance."

Hald just aims his free palm at them and casually casts a spell at her. A long pike of solid ice then fires out of his hand at an incredible speed.

Instead of avoiding it, Alicia just increases her running speed before she thrusts her rapier forward to take the ice spear head on. Her blade meets the ice, and the Icicle Lance actually shatters into pieces.

Crack!

"!!"

But what she does not expect is that it is followed by two more lances. This time, Luke hastens his pace to intercept the lances.

"Let me handle these."

With the layers of enhancements Luke and Alicia received earlier, he is physically and mentally capable enough to deflect the attacks. Luke slashes his sword twice, and he manages to deflect the attacks.

Crash. Crash.

After intercepting the lances of solid ice, Alicia aims the point of her rapier at its target again. But when she is less than a dozen meters from Hald, a tall wall of ice suddenly rises from the ground and blocks her way.

"Keep going, captain! I'll give you a way!"

With quick thinking, Luke moves faster as he channels mana into his blade. After applying enhancements into it like Greater Armor Pierce and Multiply Mass, Luke swings his blade as powerfully as he can at the solid wall.

Shatter!

Hald's Ice Wall, which is an advanced-tier spell, breaks into smaller chunks of ice by Luke's blade. With that, Alicia can just pass through falling pieces of ice. Hald is in her sight, busy finishing his grand spell.

Without wasting any millisecond, Alicia accelerates her speed any further to reach him as soon as possible. She is moving so fast that Hald barely notices her approach. However, he is not physically fast enough to react.

Splat!

The rapier pieces through the mage's chest, and a few inches of the blade emerge from his back. The blade impales his heart, just as Alicia intended. Deep red stains slowly soak his clothes wet, and blood begins to flow out at the corner of his mouth.

"Guhh!"

Hald coughs up blood; a few drops land on Alicia's armor. He cannot cast healing magic on himself as long as the blade is still embedded in him. Even if he wanted to shove the female knight away, he has no strength to budge her, and he is slowly dying.

"For...give me, milord."

Once Hald takes out his last breath, the giant magic circle in the area vanishes alongside his life. But unbeknownst to her, the moment he dies, his life force ejects from his body before it soars to the sky.

"Hah...!"

Alicia drops her butt to the ground out of exhaustion after using a large portion of her mana to drastically boost up speed just now. Luke, who is also worn out, staggers to walk to her side.

"One down, one to go. But this guy Mors is way stronger than this one," Luke comments. "What now, captain? Reinforcements from other districts are about to arrive, but I don't think it isn't enough to deal with him."

"Well, I made a gamble, so he better fulfill his promise."

"Who?"

"I greatly appreciate your efforts to defeat this guy for me."

Upon hearing Azrael's reassuring voice from behind, Luke and Alicia turn their heads around. Before them is a young man near their age, walking at them with a coil of chain in his hand. After Hald's death, the Binding Chains that pinned the chain to the ground vanish, and Azrael just escapes from the golden artifact's tight bind.

"And who is this guy?"

"Apparently, he is the one they are fighting. He claimed that he would defeat Mors once he got rid of that chain."

"And you believe him just like that? That's bullshit. There's no way this guy is as strong as he claims—?! Ahh!"

"Luke!"

Luke agonizes in pain as the reoccurring pain of the injuries he sustained earlier worsens. He falls to his knee as he is wrapping his arms around his torso.

"It seems like you are not in the condition to fight, Sir Knight. Let me handle the rest."