Chapter 174: Gift (4)
Bang-!
The ball of lightning that Russell had gathered in his left hand was launched, and Rictus’s right hand struck the ball of lightning away. However, the direction it flew in was towards the villagers who were hiding in their houses and watching the situation unfold.
Even Russell was unable to catch the ball of lightning again, and it suddenly exploded after being blocked by something. After the blinding flash and thunderous sound subsided, what was blocking the house was a swirling shield of crimson blood.
Rictus’s gaze turned to find the one who had cast the spell. In the protective barrier of the red field that was blocking the rain, three thugs, who had lost consciousness, a tavern owner who was shivering, and three men and women were visible.
A man who seemed to be a mercenary with a scabbard and a belt at his waist was shaking his head and getting up, and a girl with white hair was holding her head and groaning.
His gaze shifted, and a red-haired woman with a white hand extended to the side came in. Rictus chuckled as he noticed the faint glow of red light at the tip of her finger.
“A human using blood magic. It’s not a magic that mere mortals should use.”
“Are you curious about that?”
The voice was heard nearby. Rictus’s head turned quickly, and Russell’s greatsword fell on his head at the same time.
Kwaang!
The greatsword struck the poor ground, creating a large crater. Rictus, who had stepped back with amazing reflexes and agility, only had a very short gap.
As the giant’s cauldron-sized hand tilted, the magic he had laid on the ground earlier gathered. As the frost-like chill began to flow through his fingers, the rain that was still pouring down instantly condensed into a white mist.
Jjeok-Jjeok-Jeojeok!
A blinding white light made it impossible to open his eyes. A sharp chill, enough to make the body tremble once again, swept over them, despite the coolness of the rain.
Unknowingly, a cold wave strong enough to make his teeth chatter swept in, and as the raindrops above his head met the cold wave that filled the space, they turned into hail and fell.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud. . .
“Huh. . .!”
“No way.”
The hard hailstones bounced off their heads and the scarred armor, but the knights had no time to even notice them.
The sight of the entire area being completely frozen came into their eyes.
The man, still in the posture of lifting the greatsword he had swung down, froze in mid-motion. His billowing coat and hair were frozen in place, and his eyes were locked on the void, frozen wide open.
The area where the red barrier was surrounding them, which was quite a distance away, was also frozen as if a snowstorm had hit it.
Tenon and Keldon looked at Rictus.
In fact, the two knights didn’t know exactly what this wizard was doing. He was just a large man with great strength who was stronger than most knights, used unique words from time to time, and was proficient in various types of magic.
The three knights who had died earlier were also just aspiring knights who were not even properly knighted, but were just brats.
Currently, the west and central parts of the continent were being swept away by the whirlwind of war, and Ateulio, Tenon, and Keldon were staying on the outskirts of the whirlwind, gathering news and information.
In order to be properly knighted, one had to perform great deeds, and there was nothing better than the chaotic war to achieve great deeds. Currently, Count Jayviden was in a state of chaos due to a sudden invasion of a nearby territory.
They were staying in a nearby village, thinking that they would join the war when both sides were exhausted, and that they would be able to become knights in exchange for a large sum of money.
They didn’t know if this large wizard would come to their aid when Ateulio’s orders forced them to run.
Rictus turned his head.
“So, what the hell is all this commotion? I told you not to call me unless it was absolutely necessary.”
“No, nothing. . .”
“You could have just continued playing around with the village girls like you’ve been doing. The fact that you’ve made such a big deal out of this means that it has something to do with that group over there. Did you pick a fight with them?”
“Ugh. . .”
Unable to continue speaking, the two knights bowed their heads at Rictus’s words, which had deduced what had happened before.
Rictus, who had his head bowed, looked down at Ateulio, who was lying down, and gestured in the air. Then, Ateulio’s severed arms, which had been buried in the rubble of the building, flew up and were caught in his hands.
Rictus raised an eyebrow as he checked the cross-section of the arm.
“It was cut cleanly. It’s not too much to reattach it.”
“W, Will you save him?”
Instead of answering Keldon’s question, Rictus stared at him and threw the arm he was holding. The arm, which had been thrown like a toy, landed exactly on Ateulio’s shoulder, which was still trembling, and gradually healed.
“I gave you an elixir, so your vitality and magic power should have increased. I don’t know if you’ll be able to find a balance beyond that. Well, the chances of you becoming a demon are higher, but━”
Rictus, who had been speaking, suddenly turned his head. The two knights, Tenon and Keldon, who had been standing close to him, were about to ask what was wrong when they saw the ice that had begun to shatter in Rictus’s eyes.
Jjeok. . .!
Rictus’s eyes could see the ice beginning to shatter.
“How is that already possible?”
A murmur filled with questions and astonishment flowed out, and Rictus’s hand rose. In an instant, magic power was combined and arranged, turning into a single spell.
Jjeok-Jjeok-Jeojeok. . .!
As the cold wave that had been sweeping through the space converged into one point, the temperature rose in the opposite direction.
Tenon and Keldon, who were suffocating from the sudden heat and hot air, hurriedly gathered their magic power to protect their bodies, while the massive concentration of cold energy struck Russell, who was trying to break through the ice’s restraints.
The swiftness, accuracy, and powerful firepower were clearly the strongest of the spells that Rictus had manifested.
It was not just a matter of freezing the surrounding moisture by simply emitting cold air, but a technique that gathered all the moisture within the radius.
All around Russell, who had just been standing as an ice statue, the raindrops from the sky and the moisture that had already soaked the ground rapidly stuck to him and began to create a huge iceberg.
However, the cracks in the ice did not stop. Rictus’s expression hardened.
“Control over magic power. . .?”
Paaaaah!
The iceberg, which had been growing larger as it absorbed water, exploded with a white flash, and a large circular ring burst out.
“It’s my first time being trapped in ice. It was a refreshing experience.”
As he spoke, Russell’s hand held not the black greatsword Nahilnir, but an axe with a white blade and handle.
Behind him were Calia, who was still maintaining the red barrier, Aellasis, who seemed to have regained consciousness and was looking around, and Weizen, who had drawn his sword.
With the single-edged axe, which was comparable in size to an executioner’s axe, as the center, a massive amount of cold air swirled and was absorbed. Russell, who held the axe that had accumulated an infinite amount of cold air, swung his arm.
Kwaaaang!!
As soon as the axe, which had been raised high, struck the ground, a massive wave of ice centered on that point swept over Rictus.
“With the lightning attribute and a relic-grade magical tool. This is ridiculous.”
Rictus’s eyes, which were filled with the sight of the wave of cold air approaching, were filled with disbelief, but an undisguised greed could be seen in them.
“Too good to be in the hands of a mere swordsman.”
Rictus had already lost control of the cold air to Russell. In this situation, it was more efficient to choose a different method rather than trying to forcibly regain the transformed magic power.
It was when he was about to use the fact that the surrounding temperature had risen sharply due to the extreme cold that had gathered around Russell.
Blood, which had gathered from somewhere, suddenly surged up and formed a rectangular cube that imprisoned Rictus. And then, countless thorns were created and shot towards Rictus inside.
“Ugh!”
A reptilian eye, horrifyingly alien, flashed from within the gap of the red thorns.
Kwa-chang-!
In an instant, the cube of blood and the thorns shattered as the magic power exploded, and Rictus, who had an alien appearance, gathered his palms inside.
A sphere of flame bloomed from between his palms, based on the enormous magic power.
Six whirlwinds of hot air formed around Rictus’s feet, marking their positions, and the hot air spiraled up like a flame and gathered above his head. And to the spiral of flames, he added the sphere of flame that he had created between his palms.
Soon, what appeared was a sphere of flame larger than a house.
The moment Russell’s wave of cold air and the sphere of flame that Rictus had dropped with a gesture collided.
Puh-hwaaaah!
Cold and heat danced in all directions, and the phenomenon of moisture rapidly condensing or vaporizing occurred everywhere.
The thick fog created by this covered the surroundings and enveloped the street and the village.
And then.
Kwaang-!
A louder noise than any that had been heard before burst out, scattering the thick fog outside at once.
In the center were Russell, who had thrown a punch, and Rictus, who had blocked the punch with his arms crossed.
Thud, thud, thud. There was the sound of something falling.
It was the sound of pieces of magic power that had been imitating human skin falling off Rictus’s arms.
“. . .I didn’t know that a human would see my true form. How amusing!”
From the position where Rictus’s arms were crossed in an X-shape, blocking Russell’s fist, Russell’s other hand moved. In his hand was the axe from before, Final Frost, which was scattering a cold air and magic power wave.
The slash that swept up from the bottom struck Rictus’s body directly, and the giant’s body fell backwards.
Kwa-dad-deuk!
The frozen ground was torn up by Rictus’s fingers. Rictus, who had used the brakes to dissipate his strength, got up.
His completely torn clothes revealed a gaping wound in his chest. Broken ribs, a heart pulsating through the gap, and severed organs were exposed without any cover.
“Is that fun for you?”
“. . . . . .”
Russell said as he planted the axe in the ground. Rictus, who had been looking down at his wound with his head bowed, raised his head.
“How dare you, a mere insignificant creature.”
With a low murmur, Rictus’s body began to change.
The muscles hidden inside the giant’s body expanded even more, and the large wound healed rapidly, leaving no scar.
The human head twisted and distorted in various ways, and it became a lizard-like head.
In less than a second, Rictus had regained his true form. The horns that grew on the back of his head, the brown scales. The complete form of a dragonkin, with its rugged body covered in muscles and its relatively thin tail, was revealed.
“What the hell is that?”
At that moment, Weizen, who had hurried over after shaking off half of the aftereffects of the drug, stood next to Russell.
“Ugh, my head hurts. This isn’t because of the alcohol, is it?”
Aellasis, who was still holding her head, and Calia, who had approached while maintaining the barrier, looked at Rictus.
“It’s a dragonkin.”
“A drakan?”
Russell looked at the second dragonkin he had met, recalling the first dragonkin he had met.
It was a drakan named Karugon, who had come to the city of Calisden to find traces of a dragon.
[Can the other side tell that Aella is a dragon?]
To Russell’s question, Calia also immediately transmitted her voice with magic power.
[Even the most powerful wizards find it difficult to discern a dragon’s ability to shapeshift. I’m not sure about the level of magic that dragonkin use, but I don’t think they’d be able to recognize the magic of their ancestors, the dragons.]
Weizen, who had two longswords in each hand, scratched his forehead with the hilt of his sword and said.
“What kind of dragonkin is that? Does anyone know?”
“It looks like a draconic lizardman. But it’s bigger than I’ve heard.”
At the word dragonkin, Aellasis’s eyes flashed for a moment and her head turned.
As a confrontation was forming between Russell’s group and Rictus, Rictus nodded to himself and muttered.
“Not enough numbers.”
Snap!
His fingers, which had sharp claws, snapped, making a clear sound. The magic power contained in the sound spread.
“Wh-what? What the hell? No, why this- Ugh, krrr!”
“What, what is this- Ahhhh!”
Tenon and Kelden suddenly reached into their chests, taking out glass bottles the same size as the ones Ateulio had drunk from. Inside, a red liquid swirled.
After gulping down the entire bottle in one breath, they tilted their heads back and let out a strange groan. The groan, which had been filled with pain, soon turned into the growling of monsters.
Black smoke billowed out of the knights’ bodies, and black veins appeared on their skin, discolored. The smoke that rose from their skin wrapped around their armor, turning into plate armor with jagged blades and thorns.
Even Ateulio, who had been lying on the ground, got up, supporting himself with his regenerated arm, and three monstrous beings with strange horned armor and long, flicking tongues appeared.
“. . .This is a pain in the ass.”
Russell, seeing them, held Final Frost in one hand and Nahilnir in the other. Despite the fact that Ateulio’s limbs had been severed and he had been knocked unconscious, Russell was well aware of the effects of the potion.
To that, Rictus’s magic had been added, and now he looked like a demon that had crawled out of hell.
“Don’t worry. I’m here, aren’t I?”
Calia said with a chuckle. As she gestured, the corpses of the three knights who had already died and fallen to the ground in Russell’s hand twitched and began to bleed. The corpses instantly became like mummies, shriveled up.
Weizen’s face turned pale at once and he moved away from Calia.
“W, What? Miss, you’re a warlock?!”
“No, it’s blood magic.”
Lightly denying Calia, a wave of red blood approached her and covered her, soon becoming a red cloak and armor.
“Dragonkin are tricky to deal with. Their regenerative ability and their vast magic power. Are you gonna be okay?”
“No problem.”
Russell said, wielding the two weapons. His eyes were filled with anticipation towards the second dragonkin he had seen.
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