Chapter 307 - Attack on the Bastion (Patreon)

The Bastion in front of us feels different from before, and I only need to activate my eyes for a split second to notice that.

“These assholes,” the Duplicaniel next to me complains.

I agree.

The field around the city is different now and feels much more threatening. Still, I decide to give them a chance, and, gesturing to the copy of the handsome young man next to me, we teleport to the gate.

Getting closer, the detection catches us and sends a signal and a barrier around the city activates. The guards quickly take positions on the walls.

So, for a while, we stand there, waiting for someone to appear.

The Butler with his majestic mustache is the one that does appear, “I would like to apologize, Mister Gwyn... Gwyns... but you are no longer welcome here,” he says suavely from up there.

“The reason?” I ask, noticing him looking at my still not fully restored arm.

He also keeps glancing between me and… me. The Butler doesn’t let his surprise show because it would probably kill him, being so inelegant.

“We have received more information from the Sanctuary and from the city nearby. After going through it all, we have decided to restrict your access here. I hope you will understand and behave accordingly.”

That’s when Clonthaniel shoots a mana javelin right towards the Butler. It doesn’t hit as a small hexagonal segment of the barrier activates.

Even then the Butler doesn’t seem bothered, “This time I will let it pass, but I would…”

This time I shoot a mana javelin, and it activates another segment.

Damn, am I easy to be influenced by other people? That surely must be it.

“Butler, as I said before, I have no reason to hurt anyone in the city. There are just some things I need and want to ask about,” I tell him.

“I apologize, the decision is final.” Then, to keep his dignity, he leaves, and three more javelins from Clonthaniel light up the barrier.

“What are you, a kid?” I ask him.

He turns his eyes to me and shrugs, “I'm on a time limit here, and that guy isn’t even real, so I'm going into the city. Are you staying behind?” he asks, even though he knows my answer.

Then over the city, a ball of mana concentrates, and from it, an attack shoots. Something akin to a highly concentrated shockwave.

We jump away, and the stones where we stood crumble.

A few quick attacks from the defense of the city follow in quick succession until we both teleport to anchors we left further away.

“Damn, they are not even taking us seriously, using such a weak-ass attack,” Duplicaniel is already forming an orb of black mana over his shoulder, and then he forces it to stretch into the shape of a javelin. “I attack and defend, you get us in.”

“Yes, yes,” I sigh, a hundred simple mana javelins forming behind me, and I use [Infusion] to fill each one of them with thermal energy from the Vortex core.

The duplicate attacks, and with curiosity, both of us watch the black mana javelin heading towards the barrier, our trait activated. It crashes against one segment and immediately devours it, and then a dozen more as they pop up one after another.

The black mana devours it all and then stops, hovering over the city. While the guards panic, the automatic defenses activate more segments close by, trying to stop it, yet they feed it even more mana. Flashes of mana absorbed by black mana can be seen even from as far as we are.

It's amusing to watch.

Then I move a hundred javelins behind me, and all of them shoot in the span of a few seconds. Like tracer ammunition shot from a minigun.

My attack crashes against the weakened barrier, all of them hitting the same segment and pushing through slowly. They reach further and further inside the city until one of them passes through the barrier and flies right over the buildings, the last few following.

The anchor on the last shot javelin activates, and I put a hand on my duplicate, both of us appearing in the air over the buildings.

Uglier me immediately forms an orb made of black mana and pushes it into the air, where it absorbs a dozen or so attacks that hit our position.

Sending my [Mana Domain] as far ahead as I can, I again put my hand on the duplicate, and we teleport again and then again. After each teleport, we leave a black orb in our wake where it devours attacks made of mana that were directed at us.

Appearing in front of the gate that leads to where we had dinner with the Housekeeper and Butler, I touch the door and disrupt the mana in it. When we get inside, I even close the door behind us, and we start walking towards the buildings.

“So far, so good,” the duplicate says while both of us use [Regalia] and tank a few more attacks heading our way.

“Did you notice the places where [Perception] can't enter?” I ask.

He nods, “Wanna bet they have another guy down there with boxes full of cut-off limbs?”

“I'm saying no. They mentioned Gardener before, so maybe they are all vegans.”

“Oh.. that's true,” the uglier me agrees.

“Mister Gwyn… Gwyns. Was it really needed?” the Butler appears from a rift in the air.

He is still wearing fancy clothes, but there are a few brilliant mana stones on his body. One in the middle of his chest, one on his back, another on each of his shoulders, a bit over his knees. My duplicate and I activate our eyes at the same time, examining it all.

“Some sort of armor and strengthening,” I wonder.

“Quite good mana batteries too, one of them maybe upper epic grade,” the duplicate adds.

“See, Butler, that man isn't even taking it seriously,” the Housekeeper exits the house. She is wearing a simple pale blue dress still, her black wavy hair falling over her shoulders. The only addition is a thin and deadly-looking blade in her hand.

The metal of that blade is something I recognize very well. Voidsteel, the same metal the blades of the Veil Guardian were made of.

“Housekeeper, just kill one of them, and we will take one for questioning. Armourer will deal with those annoying black orbs.” The man then turns to me, “Let's kill this one.”

Wow, that's rude. The more annoying thing is that I can almost see how much fun the Duplicate is having.

“They know their stuff,” he teases me. “The useless one will be killed.” Not saying more, he disappears, teleporting close to the Butler, who disappears with my duplicate following him while dodging beam-like attacks that the butler starts shooting at him.

That leaves me alone with the Housekeeper, who takes a battle stance, ignoring the clothes she is wearing. There are no tattoos on her skin, no mana radiating from her body, no armor or other equipment than the rapier in her hand.

Unable to avoid her at my normal speed, I teleport just in time to watch her attack pierce through where I stood.

Before she can charge me again, an anchor I left there explodes in golden flames that get blocked by purple mana that seeps over her skin.

The Housekeeper charges me again, and the moment I teleport, she changes her way and avoids anchors left behind.

Curious, I don't dodge another attack and instead stack barriers in front of me.

The black-haired woman destroys them easily with the weapon in her hand, and swinging it three more times, she splits apart three javelins I shoot at her.

Observing her nimble movements, I float in the air and start shooting projectile after projectile at her. Mana javelins, mana orbs, projectiles infused with thermal or kinetic energy.

Surprisingly, it doesn't bother her at all; the rapier in her hand cuts through most of the attacks, and the moment it does, the attack loses its effect. Most likely a skill at work here, as my attack should deal some damage even after being cut apart.

“I had hoped you would be a bit… more fun to fight. Instead, you just fight like every other boring mage,” she shakes her head.

She then even cuts apart a few anchors I was sneakily putting around, something that surprised me a bit.

Does she think her teasing would work and make me fight her more up close?

I land on the ground.

Well, she is right.

She is an opponent I believe I can deal with, even in her preferred type of combat, and it's always fun to crush people like that.

Housekeeper charges at me, only to be met with a flamethrower-like stream of golden flames infused with [Resonance].

She cuts against them, but the constant flames ignore the weird skill of hers, and she starts dodging, purple mana flickering on her skin to deal with the heat. As she jumps around while rushing towards me, my flames heat and melt the buildings, trees, sidewalk, all kinds of stuff, leaving flickering air in their wake.

While the woman gets closer and closer, I narrow the flame, in the end turning it into something akin to a laser as thick as a finger. She, being as extremely athletic as she is, dodges it all and reaches me, where I send a burst of kinetic energy against her.

Purple mana flickers on her skin again, and she pushes through, her muscles contracting under her skin.

Her rapier slashes against my neck, only to be met with a Voidsteel slicer, barely so. I redirect more mana to strengthening my body and block a few of her attacks while being pushed back. The armor forms around my body, and I make it grow bigger until it's twice my height.

Attacks slash against transparent limbs made of mana, yet now that it is connected to me and under my domain, it doesn't get affected by her skill, and it's her who starts avoiding them.

For the first time, I also use kinetic energy stored in my Vortex Core to power the movement of the mecha-like armor. It speeds up my movement and makes manipulating it easier while giving more force to the attacks.

Doing a backflip and then jumping a few times backward, she stops, looking up to me surrounded by all my mana.

“Are we going to take it a bit more seriously?” I ask.

The woman in front of me is stronger than she lets on, stronger than the Butler, and both of us are somewhat holding back.

“Why not,” she smiles, and her eyes become a darker shade of purple.

Housekeeper charges me, appearing in front of me, her weapon aimed at my chest.

In a split second, the armor around me shrinks and becomes skin-tight, all that mana extremely compressed and surrounding my body.

The rapier stabs my chest, unable to pierce further. Collecting all the energy of her attack, I barely hold it and quickly release it at her.

She dodges, but a huge chunk of the area behind her explodes, the kinetic energy tearing the building and the garden apart.

Once again, she attacks, each of her steps cracking the ground under her feet, her black hair behind her.

Two more attacks crash against my armor, and I absorb each one of them, immediately shooting absorbed kinetic energy at her that she dodges. Then she stabs again, and this time it's different; the weird skill of hers doesn't allow me to collect kinetic energy, and instead part of my armor loses its mana, disappearing into particles.

Another attack hits the blade I put in front of the missing part of the armor, a clang sounding as two blades made of voidsteel clash.

The entire exchange is observed with my Mana Wavelength eyes, yet I'm still unable to find out what her skill does. With a sigh, I stop trying to and stop holding back.

Mana and kinetic energy seep into my body, and my speed dramatically increases. The armor around me disappears, and the same as the woman with no mana leaking from my body and only a blade in my hand, I face her.

Our slashes tear off the ground and damage the buildings. The vibration sent into the surroundings when two blades of voidsteel meet reverberates the air and turns the closest objects to dust.

And I keep speeding up.

The Housekeeper gets a harder and harder time facing me, and I start placing anchors around, using the fact that she has no time to destroy them to attack her from behind her back.

My technique is worse. No matter how much I trained on earth, I can't compare to someone with over 100 years of experience. But what I'm lacking, I replace with my higher speed, boosted by mana and kinetic energy.

Done with this test as well, I stop and, to her surprise, shoot kinetic energy at her. Instead of getting sent flying through the wall she perfectly deflects the attack, a purple mana blocking most of the impact.

That's when my duplicate lands on the ground next to me and throws the butler on the ground. Still alive and breathing, but with a wound on his head.

“Stop playing with your food,” he complains.

“There is a lot to learn; she is really good at strengthening her body, and I like her skills,” I answer.

The Housekeeper fixes her dress, not wounded at all and seemingly neither worried. Then she notices the Butler on the ground and, looking at his face, her surprise increases even more.

“You didn't,” she says, almost in shock.

I look where she is looking and notice that the left half of the majestic mustache is missing. Gone, reduced to atoms.

Both of us look at my duplicate, who shrugs his shoulders, “I did not,” he says.

A confusion appears on the Housekeeper's face.

“I found him like that,” the duplicate lies shamelessly.

***

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