Chapter 101—Sea

Chapter 101: 101—Sea The stopped, preparing to fight, gathering the carriages in a circle and leaving the Buckmounts to the grooms. Lucen’s eyes snapped over the splitting grass. The sound of clicking surrounded them. They chose a wide portion of the Blacktail Road to settle. All the Squires and Knights came out in full armor. Lucen still wore his linen clothes, standing on top of the carriage to snipe more Red Snappers before they could get too close. Feet cracked against the stone road as people rushed to their positions. Set’s voice overshadowed the many little voices running between them. "Arielle, move forward! Keep the fight away from the carriages and the civilians. Lucen, send your friend inside!" Lucen glanced at Liam and then back at Set, waving his hand dismissively. Set glared but went back to organizing the group. The civilians they brought on the journey had volunteered to follow them—or acquiesced after being asked a couple of times. Cooks, servants, grooms, pages, one chronicler who was also a physician. Helie glared at Lucen, yelling. "Get down here! We’re about to fight." "I’ll fight from here," Lucen said. "I’ll keep the carriage safe and watch your backs." Helie looked a bit angry at this, but immediately went back to organizing her team. The two Low-tier Knights assigned to their team stood aside talking. One of them was a gloomy, black-haired boy, hunched over and whimpering. His eyes flicked about nervously, they were a startling grey, like storm clouds. The other Knight was platinum-blonde, his hair running down his shoulders. He had a very haughty look on his face when Helie tried talking to him. He shrugged her off and marched forward. The gloomy boy followed him. They both drew their swords simultaneously. "Don’t slow me down, Tenibri," the blonde boy warned. "I won’t coddle weakness." Tenibri’s sword shook in his hands, he nodded weakly. "Of course, Lot." They both took off instantly, mana flaring in their bodies, and shot towards the grass. A Red Snapper broke through the thick grasses, its terrible mandibles clicking like gears in a machine. Its four crab-like legs tapped against the stone as it rushed forward. Red and purple carapace glinted in the light. Its absurdly long arms snapped and stretched towards prey, hungry to clamp down and crush bone. It had four eyes, two up front and two behind. They were angry red glowing orbs. The Red Snapper’s greatest weapon. Lot was the first to arrive, his long hair whipping around him. The snapper eyeballs’ pointed at the Knights, glowing menacing, and released a beam of red light at him. Lot jumped over the scorching beam as it tore over the earth. Tenibri bounded aside in a violent change of direction, then stretched out a hand. A fireball shot from the gloomy boy’s hand, glowing red flames streaking towards the snapper. The impact caused an explosion that sent it careening through the air. Lot kicked off the ground, tearing through the smoke and fire dauntlessly as he went skyward. His sword glowed with golden light, then cut a beautiful arc through the air as it sliced through the snapper. The monster fell to the ground in two separate pieces. Lot landed weightlessly and brushed his blonde hair back. Lucen whistled. "They’re pretty good." "I hate that Lot guy," Liam grumbled. "Let me guess. It’s about a girl?" "Fuck you. Don’t talk to me, I need to focus." Lucen chuckled. "Focusing on missing?" Liam ignored him, so Lucen went back to looking for what to kill. More monsters were storming towards their group—four snappers, to be exact. A bit too much for them to handle. Lucen pointed his spear at one, lowered his knees, and turned his waist. He imbued the silver spear with mana, its intricate lines and strangely shaped head flowing softly. He willed his mana to spin inside the spear to create a growing rotational force around. Rearing back and then threw the spear hard. [Starfall] flared to life, the spear shot forward and impaled a snapper. But it didn’t stop there. The bolt of light was oscillating like a drill. It blasted through the shell but got caught deep inside. Lucen cursed internally, waiting until another snapper was crawling over the body of the one he just killed. He flexed his wrist and the spear returned. It tore through the dead snapper and slammed into the one crawling over it. Its underbelly was weak, so Lucen hoped to instantly kill it, but all he did was send it flying. Hither sent a fireball flying at the airborne snapper, and a brilliant explosion lit the wild battleground. Lucen’s eyes found Arielle as his spear returned. A snapper bore down on the lithe girl, her form overshadowed by the beast, but her green eyes glinted with excitement and her sword burned red-hot. She bolted sideways as a claw snapped at her, body blurring as she zig-zagged. The claw came for her head again, but it was too slow. She shot past it and slashed upward. The red hue of her sword cleaved into the snapper’s joint like butter. The ugly creature let out an ear-splitting screech and dove towards her, mandibles widening like a meat grinder. Arielle leapt over the jaws of death, flipping through the air elegantly. She landed right on top of the snapper’s head and stabbed her sword through its soft spot, piercing its brain. He nodded, smiling reluctantly, and focused back on what was in front of him Helie tripped another of the monsters with her metal whip, and Lucen prepared to help her finish it off. Then her whip began glowing red, sizzling as it burnt through carapace. She pulled back hard and the snapper’s leg was cleanly cut off. It raised its eyes to use the beam attack, but Helie’s whip was faster. The superheated metal drew a line of red through the air, and all four of the snapper’s eyes fell to the earth. Helie turned back briefly to smirk at Lucen. He shooed her and went back to focusing on sniping the beasts. "Liam, those two coming. Get the one on the left, I’ll kill the one on the right." Liam grimaced; he had missed all his shots. He technically hit the snappers, but was too weak to kill them without aiming for the soft spot in the middle of their heads. He stretched out his hand, and the arrow he had just shot flew off the ground and back into his hand. Lucen marveled at the skill for a moment, then faced the coming beasts. He was sure he could hit them from this far. The silver spear flowed with his mana, making it more accurate. Lucen was worried about their beam attacks though. The snappers’ beam attack couldn’t travel long distances without losing power, so they only used it in mid-range fights. They wouldn’t shoot at him, but they could try to shoot the spear out of the air. Some had even successfully deflected his spear. He needed the rotating mana to help his spear cut through the beams and still pierce the target. His breath slowed and he felt the mana turning like it was in his chest. He switched from trying to create rotational force with his mana to imagining it more as tightening a spinner. When he threw the spear it would be like releasing a cord—it would spin faster the longer it traveled. He reared his spear back, shouting to Liam through the chaos of the battle. "It’s now or never!" "I know that," Liam muttered. Liam let out a steadying breath. Then they both let their shots fly.