Chương 18

Archer guy reacted first. His bow was drawn a half second into the charge, and when the full second ended his arrow was bright with Pure mana. He fired. But an instant before the Templar warrior raised his shield, which also lit up with Pure mana. A projection of the shield, a few feet wider than the shield itself, appeared a foot above the shield's surface. The warrior turned the shield sideways like he'd been expecting exactly this, and the Pure mana arrow ping'd away, showering sparks.

It's less wild than it looks, Alex realized. And—is he freaking skating? The Templar warrior was surprisingly nimble on the ice. He was falling forward, but he didn't seem out of balance. The Templar archer was the same way, as was their healer, who seemed almost relaxed. Their mage and the final Templar, a swordsman, were stumbling, but their warrior seemed aware of it. The warrior's trajectory put himself and his shield between the two more vulnerable Templars, and Alex's side's archer-guy and mage-girl.

By this time it felt clear to Alex this was all a coordinated assault. In two seconds, the Templars halved the distance. Archer-guy also tried shooting the Templar healer, but the Templar archer switched to her bow and fired a line of light straight at archer-guy's head, while she was still skating; the line came within three feet of hitting him, making him flinch—his own shot went wild." Raingirl!" he said, teeth clenched." On it!" She cried. Raingirl stabbed her staff deeper into the ice, white-knuckled.

The gemstone at the tip of the staff shone crystal blue. The ice reared up in front of Alex and crew—a wall of icy spikes a few feet tall. The spikes gleamed, as though daring the Templars to run into them. A vision flashed in Alex's mind; it was like he could see what was about to happen. There isn't a chance that Templar warrior isn't taking that dare.

The Templar warrior would ram straight in, shattering the icicles—maybe even blinding Alex's side with the debris of the shattering ice—and the rest of the Templars would smash them right off their feet. There's no choice, he was realizing. I have to— He imagined. He'd noticed the farther away he was, the harder it was to control or even summon mana—which made this not just risky, but possibly impossible for him. But again it felt like he had no choice, and he saw in his mind's eye exactly what he wanted to do.

As the Templars were possibly one second from impact— Mana spears. Two. One on either side, since he wasn't certain one would be enough; he had to grit his teeth at the willpower expenditure— The Templar archer noticed instantly, but by that time Alex had already applied his Force mana. The Mana spears spiraled at the Templars in a pincer. A few unexpected things happened in quick succession. First, the Templar archer raised her bow in a split second.

Her arm was a blur of motion, and one of his mana spears shattered like glass, a few feet from impact. Alex's only reaction was— what the fuck. The second mana spear spiraled in—he'd meant to strike the Templar warrior, but it accidentally struck their healer, sending the guy spiraling himself. But his spear also had its intended effect. The Templar warrior must've seen the movement in his peripheral vision—the giant, spiky object blasting straight for him. He glanced right, and his shield angled away.

CRUNCH-CRASH! The Templar warrior struck the wall of icicles, turned slightly sideways, and stumbled a step. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The spiraling Templar healer grabbed onto Templar mage. The two of them struck the icicles square-on; there were cries— And then steel was on steel, and mana bolts were flying, and he was having to shake himself out of his focus to avoid a dagger straight for his neck. Chaos.

The Templar archer was right in front of him, twin daggers glinting, swinging again, and he blocked with his sword by pure reflex. CLANG! FUCK. He stumbled back three full steps and almost fell on his ass. His hands instantly felt numb; he'd almost dropped the sword. How is it possible she's a single Level higher than me? Or maybe—how is it possible I'm this physically weak? He hadn't had time to apply his swordforce, which hadn't helped.

He was spared from a follow-up because the Templar archer had refocused on her teammates. Lux was trying to cut down a bewildered-looking Templar mage, who if the bleeding was any indication, seemed to have been hit pretty hard by the icicles. The Templar archer moved to intercept him, shouting at the Templar mage as she did.

"Man mark!" she called. Alex didn't have time to think more on it; he saw a glint, and realized a second sword was stabbing for him—this time, for his chest. He parried it, bracing. This time he used swordforce and the impact wasn't nearly as severe. He seemed to be facing a fine-featured Templar swordsman in a white silk shirt, black pants, like a fencer— it's my equivalent on their side, he realized. It's their secondary DPS guy. Coincidentally, this guy was also using swordforce.

An exchange, then another, steel clashing against steel, left Alex even more confused. The other guy seemed surprised as well. I'm actually stronger than him? This swordsman was... fine. Better than b0b or lugia, maybe, but he wasn't anywhere close to the Templar archer in skill. Alex could see the red veins in his wide eyes; the tightness of his body did remind Alex of lugia. He knew instantly— this guy's very new to fighting. He's kind of like me? He might be talented, but he's new. Alex went at him again.

Steel struck steel, but this time he wasn't in defensive posture—he was pressing; another exchange, and the Templar swordsman stepped back, and he was certain. This guy can't hold me off, and it's because of the swordforce. Mine's just stronger than his—my swordforce proficiency has to be higher. His mind was racing as he kept pressing, forcing the Templar swordsman to cry out and circle away. He expected to take me down fast, Alex realized. Why are some of the Templars so much better than others?

Blood sprayed out of the corner of his eye, and he heard a grunt; almost at the same time, to his left, mage-girl cried out. With the Templar swordsman stumbling back, he had the luxury of a half-second to glance left and right. What he saw drew a curse out of him. His side seemed to have been engaged in five 1v1 fights. Archer-guy was bleeding in several places down his torso; the blood Alex had just seen wasn't the least of it.

Mage-girl was frantically dodging bursts of fire, and his warrior was scrambling back to his feet as the Templar warrior advanced. Thirty seconds of this, and I'll be alone. It was very clear he had to do something, now. It was also very clear he was the only one who could. An idea sprung to mind, the only way he could think to help.

Except it felt arrogant—and utterly batshit—to think he could manage it, while also trying to fend off the Templar swordsman, who was currently approaching cautiously, sword between them, looking uncertain. And there was also the fact that— I'm supposed to be sparing my willpower for the rift? And then the Templar swordsman lunged, and Alex didn't have time to make a decision, and he was forced to simply decide.

His sword flew up, and he willed Force mana to the blade, and stopped it—he had to parry a lot more than he could dodge, since the strip of friction'd ice was so narrow. Parrying wasn't all he did. A mana spear appeared above his head; he slicked it with force and sent it flying left, straight at the Templar Warrior's back. A second appeared mana spear appeared— CLANG!, as he parried another sword-slash—and the mana spear spiraled down, whipping for the Templar archer.

A half-second passed and a Mana Shield burst up, right in front of the Templar mage's face, stifling a burst of fire. Mage-girl froze for a second in surprise, before she cried out and managed to get her own Mana Bolt off for the first time. And as new spears appeared overhead, and as he lunged forward, almost forcing the Templar swordsman onto the ice, all he could think was, heart beating— How the fuck am I doing this?

Kennedy Devereaux whirled around, and it was too late to fire an arrow, and she had no space to dodge; she was forced to bend almost all the way backwards to avoid the chunk of pure mana spiraling toward her back—" What?" A flash of a knife and she could only roll awkwardly out of the way; pain flared up her side and she knew she'd been cut, but she ignored it. She forced the archer back with two slashes, whirled around, and narrowly avoided a second one of those icebergs of pure mana, eyes wide.

She saw the Mana Shield which forced their mage to a halt, as a Mana Bolt hit their healer in the stomach, sending him skidding across the ice. She saw the spear as it drew blood on Adam—slicing into the chink in the armor on the small of Adam's back. It was that swordsman again. She prided herself on her ability to adapt in a duel, but this was such a quick turnaround it gave her whiplash. He's fighting all of us at once. And he's winning?

"Adam!" she called, catching their warrior's attention. They made eye contact. Outworlder, she mouthed. And with this level of Mana Manipulation, it was clear this wasn't your typical Outworlder. Get serious. With the level of Mana Manipulation she was seeing, she would've believed she was fighting a mage at least a few class Levels above her. She whirled back, blocked the opposing archer's attempt at a slash, forced him away, and kicked him hard in the chest.

At least—she would've kicked him hard in the chest, sending him skidding across the ice, if a Mana Shield hadn't popped up out of nowhere, stopping her kick short. She blinked in disbelief, pausing for all of a half second, and then she slashed twice violently, shattered the Mana Shield, and spun into a heel kick which clattered the archer's head off the ice. Try shielding this.

And then she turned back to the rest of the fight, and regarded the man who had turned what should've been a relaxed, 'get-to-know-you' practice duel with her new Templar orientation squad into a proper life-or-death duel. She followed her own advice, and became serious.