Chapter 250 : Not Bad

Sorrow quickly prepared his magic.

The preparation time, which usually took at least 3 minutes, had been reduced to 1 minute, so he couldn't guarantee its stability.

To compensate for this, Sorrow used his improvisation skills.

He drew the line of defense to block the magical beasts diagonally.

In other words, in the shape of a funnel with a gradually narrowing entrance.

This would not only disperse the impact but also have the effect of naturally gathering the enemies in the center.

If he paid a little more attention to the center, the stability would be higher even if the other parts were not as sturdy. He would be able to buy a few more seconds.

It would be even better if he could land a blow on the gathered magical beasts and then run behind the barrier.

In any case, the amount of mana used was the same, so it was definitely more economical than simply building a straight wall.

Sorrow handed the catalysts to Dofang and Schmidt and instructed them to sprinkle them in a V-shape. The two, who had worked together for a long time, understood Sorrow's explanation perfectly without any further explanation and sprinkled the catalysts as Sorrow had envisioned in his head and returned.

In the meantime, Sorrow closed his eyes and prepared his magic.

To be precise, only he closed his eyes.

Hartz's yellow eyes were watching the approaching wave of magical beasts and calculating the distance.

"Not yet."

Rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble, rumble!

Hartz watched the wave rushing in, and at the most appropriate moment, he shouted.

"Now!"

At that, the closed half-eye snapped open.

A large-scale ice magic was activated, emitting a chillingly blue light.

KWAGAGAGAGAK!!

Sorrow's brow furrowed.

Given the situation, he had hastily prepared the magic by skipping several steps, so he wasn't entirely confident in its stability.

As expected, the magic was not fully activated.

Magic was originally the art of preparation.

The basics of magic warfare were to lure the opponent into a battlefield you had prepared.

The basics of magic were to calmly take your time to calculate the formula, check for errors, and activate the prepared magic at the appropriate moment.

It was Sorrow, who could skip complex calculations with his innate brain and intuition, who was abnormal.

Of course, if other mages had seen him activate such a large-scale magic in less than a minute, they would have been speechless.

In any case, Sorrow was not pleased.

Because at this rate, he wouldn't be able to hold them off for even a second, let alone five.

There was nothing more inefficient than a magic that failed to achieve its intended purpose. A waste in itself.

"Hup!"

Just then, he heard a battle cry from behind, and something with a high concentration of cold energy rushed toward the magic circle like a flood.

It was a strange energy.

It was faint, as if it couldn't be grasped, but at the same time, he could feel an immense power concentrated in it.

Like a river whose surface was calm, but whose current was flowing uncontrollably and fiercely underneath.

It was a huge river flowing into a lake, a flood.

"Huh?"

It flowed along the path of mana he had drawn at an incredible speed...

KUWAGWAGWAGWAK!!

The color changed, and it was reinforced into ice thorns twice as large.

No, had only the size increased? The strength was incomparable to before.

The magical beasts charged at the reinforced ice thorn wall.

A huge collision sound was heard.

As a result, the hastily woven ice barricade was not breached.

Schmidt turned around with a dazed face.

The madman who had boasted that he would assist, even though he was not a mage, was smiling.

"It's been more than 10 seconds now, right?"

"..."

The madman, who had miraculously returned to life with an unknown power after falling from the Mist Cliff, did not stop there.

"Alright."

He grinned like a boy who was up to some mischief and once again poured a high concentration of energy into his magic circle.

"...!"

This time, it was a fierce energy like a conflagration.

It was definitely not mana, but that unknown thing that had spread at a frightening speed through the amplifying magic circle instantly reached the barricade made of ice.

Fwoosh!

It burned blue.

"..."

The ice was burning.

Sorrow stared blankly at the incomprehensible sight with his mouth half-open.

* * *

As a result, the second wave was suppressed.

Considering its severity, it was a rather successful result.

I cautiously but at the same time proudly express my opinion that it was because the initial response was good.

The V-shaped ice thorn wall, a joint work of Sorrow and me, succeeded in holding off the wave for about a minute.

Of course, it wasn't just my and Sorrow's contribution.

Not only was the ice thorn wall sturdy, but while the magical beasts were pierced by the thorns and hesitated, a large number of them were weakened or killed by the Linda-brand magical beast poison that was sprayed, creating a thick secondary wall.

And in the meantime, my blue flame had spread like a spark falling on dry firewood.

Since they were already crowded together, the fire spread so well that it was a heartwarming sight.

The ones who were running at the very front met the most miserable end.

They were pierced by the ice thorn wall, drank Linda's poison, and then became a sacrifice for my blue flame.

Penetration death, poison death, and immolation.

They had achieved the triple crown of death.

It was only natural that during the minute or so that the wave was blocked by the reef, the barrage of cannonballs that flew relentlessly and the hand of the duke's grim reaper descending from the green-dyed sky did not rest.

Still, there was nothing to be done about the overwhelming volume, so in the end, the ice thorn wall broke as if it had burst.

The first to break was the end of the V, where the enemies were most concentrated and the force was most focused.

Just then, Adrian's grotesque creatures stood there as if to block the place with their bodies and began to smash the enemies' heads.

In particular, Bernheim, the dual-core bone-masked creature that Adrian had boasted about, even showed the prowess of smashing the head of an A-rank magical beast that had been weakened by Linda's poison.

No matter how weakened it was, an A-rank was an A-rank. It was nothing short of amazing.

As if stimulated by Bernheim's performance, the rest of the Sherwood members did not stand still either.

They selectively picked out the A-rank magical beasts that were dazed by Linda's poison and finished them off.

Dofang would occasionally cut them down with a flashing thread, Schmidt would create a golden spear and throw it, and then beat them up excitedly, and Linda would spread her poison mist even wider and wander around.

Hartz even went inside the wave and swung his sword like a madman. As if to prove he was a beast.

I joined the momentum and moved around on top of their heads with the Black Immortal Steps, dealing mainly with the high-rank magical beasts.

Thanks to Linda's poison spreading, it was much easier.

After showing off our skills as much as possible, I ordered a retreat at an appropriate time.

Because it was obvious that we would be submerged by the wave of magical beasts if we continued.

"Retreat!"

Of course, there was a guy who didn't listen well, so I had to hit him on the back of the head and bring him back.

Hartz was a prime example.

Thwack!

"You madman, I said retreat."

Before the wave of magical beasts could reach the wall, I grabbed the scruff of Adrian's neck, who was crying out "Bernheim!" in a mournful voice, and retreated beyond the barrier.

Anyone would think he was parting with his family.

After that, it was smooth sailing.

After evacuating behind the barrier through the magic passage of the ancient magic-inscribed wall, we caught our breath and waited until the soldiers on the wall had somewhat cleared the enemies with their crossbows and various weapons, and then we joined the duke, who was leading the knights out beyond the barrier, to finish up.

To be honest, we did everything we had to do.

No, we did more than necessary.

"Ugh, I'm beat."

My arms and legs were sore from the continuous battles.

But since I had beaten the magical beasts to my heart's content, my heart was refreshed.

The battle was over, and the soldiers came out and began to clean up.

Since there were many corpses of magical beasts, that was also a job.

As I was quietly watching the scene, I saw the duke approaching from a distance.

I couldn't not know, since he was so big.

I looked at the master of the Turquoise Sword, who was striding toward me, covered in blood.

He looked very tired, perhaps because he had used the Turquoise Sword, Aurora, a lot.

"..."

Duke Elsbears came right up to me and stared at me for a moment.

Since he was a man who rarely showed any change in expression, I couldn't guess what he was thinking.

At some point, the surroundings became quiet.

The knights and soldiers had stopped what they were doing and were looking this way.

A short but long silence passed.

The guardian of the northern wall, the eternal watcher of winter, the absolute ruler of the north, also known as the nightmare of the magical beasts.

The master of the Turquoise Sword, Aurora, among the Eight-Bladed Masters, the Gray Lion, Duke Giyer Elsbears, opened his mouth.

"Ashuban Sherwood."

"Yes."

The Gray Lion, who seemed like he would never smile in his life, smiled.

"You're better than Guston."

"...!"

From a distance, I could hear Dofang and Hartz muttering in a dazed voice.

"Little brother, did you see that? I've lived to see that old man smile."

"More than that, did you hear that? He said he's better than the captain."

"Wasn't our captain the only man the duke acknowledged?"

"So it seems. Has Ashuban been acknowledged now too?"

"My goodness... a rare sight in many ways."

"Wow... he smiles well. I thought he had forgotten how to smile."

"Hah... a man who wouldn't bleed even if you stabbed him..."

Regardless, Duke Elsbears, still smiling, lightly patted my shoulder and said.

"You've worked hard. Let's go in and have a drink."

The duke also gave a glance to the reconnaissance team and the early wave suppression team, who had also worked hard.

"You guys too."

"A drink?"

At the word "drink," Sorrow, who was striding over with his blue eyes flashing, was followed by Dofang, who was shaking his head, and the grumbling Sir Monde.

Sir Monde had also gone through a lot of trouble.

Escorting was a much more difficult and nerve-wracking mission than just fighting.

But thanks to his experience as the princess's guardian knight, Sir Monde had completed the mission safely.

Whatever.

Linda, who didn't even listen to the duke's words, was busy collecting the blood of the magical beasts, and her reconnaissance partner, Schmidt, was helping her next to her.

What a bunch of unruly guys.

I stopped the duke, who was about to turn around, with my words.

"Your Grace. Have you forgotten anything?"

The duke looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Forgotten something?"

I called Adrian, who was mournfully fiddling with Bernheim's bone mask from a distance.

As I looked at Adrian, who was approaching with a bewildered face, I said.

"Haven't we shown enough results?"

In this battle, Adrian's contribution was by no means small.

The performance of his grotesque creature army was definitely outstanding.

And this was without even utilizing the A-rank magic stone yet.

I was afraid to see what he would show if he received support.

"Did you call?"

The duke looked at Adrian, who was holding the bone mask, for a moment, then immediately called his adjutant and gave an order.

"Give Adrian priority over the corpses."

"Yes, sir."

Then, he said to Adrian, who was looking at him with wide eyes.

"If there's anything else you need, just say the word at any time."

"...Yes!"

Adrian answered with a moved face.

In fact, it was only natural, given his performance.

Because the duke was a plain man.

The duke looked at me with a 'Is that all?' expression, and I nodded in satisfaction.

"Then let's go."

The duke strode ahead.

"Ah, Sir Ashuban...!"

Adrian's eyes welled up.

Perhaps it was because it was the first time he had shown a decent result since coming here, and it was also the moment he was acknowledged for it.

"That's good."

I just smiled at Adrian, who was at a loss for words, and then followed the duke.

Clap, clap, clap.

As we followed the duke, the knights and soldiers of the north began to applaud us one by one, and it soon became a huge stream.

Clap, clap, clap, clap...

The blunt men of the north lined up on both sides and gave us a generous round of applause.

Their applause was by no means light.

It felt like being a hero.

The Heavenly Demon laughed lowly and said.

[How do you feel?]

I smiled faintly.

"...Not bad."

The Heavenly Demon is imprinted in my mind, Chapter 251

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