Noelle pointed at my triple clones. "Hey Agnis, any chance you can teach this to Giana? These clones are extremely useful! Look at the wariness on our enemies' faces! They certainly aren't wary of me!"
"Nobody cares about you!"
"Oho, so you are still alive, what are you? A red-headed cockroach? Hmm that's rude, I apologize to all the cockroaches on the planet." Noelle started her verbal warfare again. I wonder if this is how 7t crystal wolves fight, they don't have great offensive abilities, so they fight with words.
"Ok, sorry I’m back, let’s get rid of these curses!"
I listened to the insults Noelle flung at the opposition while keeping them in check with my triple clones. "Hey Agnis! I thought you said these clones explode!"
Yeah, that is why these guys are wary of them, they will explode under certain conditions, and they are trying to avoid meeting those.
"What are they, if I may ask?"
They will explode when they get hit enough, it doesn't matter what type of hit. I can also force them to explode but I don’t have the energy to do so currently.
"So, if I hit them, they will also explode?"
It doesn't matter who hits them.
Noelle smirked. The stalkers caught on to her plan and started backing off. Noelle started to attack indiscriminately and used a triple clone to body-block a laser aimed at her and punched the clone, causing it to explode. The blast launched everything around her.
*cough, cough* "Whoa that packs a nasty punch, why did the clone disappear though?"
Uhm… things that explode disappear, isn't that logical?
"Hey, is it ok if I stabilize them when they explode so that they reform?”
Go for it.
Noelle palmed her fist. "Hehe, time for [Unlimited Explosion works]!"
I think Noelle should watch less tv…
Noelle continued the verbal offense and caused the clones to explode, stabilized them causing them to reform and kept repeating this. Every explosion did a little bit of damage to her, but she didn't seem to mind. At this point, the thing that was doing the most damage to her were the explosions she was setting off herself. She was also laughing maniacally while doing so. Why does everyone from Hourai have a screw loose?
"I think you created a monster…" Giana said while staring at the rampaging Noelle.
I bear no responsibility for her behavior! But we shouldn't let our guard down, those 3 elders there have been cooking up something the whole fight. You see that guy there? If we kill him, we can teleport away.
More insults and explosions got flung around. She was flinging my clones, using them as clubs, using them as meat shields and more.
She's abusing my poor clones…
"These curses are hard to dispel, where did you pick them up?"
Uhh, some are from escaping our first town, may or may not have touched some cursed items, most because I got cursed by a god once or twice. I probably missed some.
"How can you be so reckless… I will have to admit I'm quite reckless myself… Both of us need to be more careful."
I managed to get up after Giana’s aid.
You might not believe me but this is the result of me being careful. The line between careful and reckless is thin for me but when I act 'reckless' I rack up less damage overall because I don't care for the consequences.
I thought about when I got caught by the fairies. I got caught because I was ‘careful’ but I escaped because I was ready to die and acted ‘careless’.
"Is that so? So, telling you to be careful is counterintuitive? In that case, be reckless!"
Yeah, not gonna happen, I know you mean well but I have to be careful because I need you 2 to survive. And I have the feeling those suspicious elders have been focused on the objective: capturing and killing you. For the most part, I've made them lose sight of their objective. This means that if I could keep that up you 2 would get out alive.
"But what about yourself then?"
This was doomed to fail from my point of view. If I have to keep you 2 safe, I will get into a situation like this. If they managed to kill you, they would kill me too. Getting all of us out safely was unrealistic the moment we got in that triple encirclement. Next best situation is that I get you 2 out and try to get out afterward.
"I didn't realize that this was the situation…"
It's fine, it's an occupational hazard. And don't feel sorry, this group is a huge problem. This needs to be reported to the AA. I'm sure the country is aware of them but don't have anything they can act on. Attacking an international idol is a good excuse to act.
"Hey, what would you say if I wanted to stop being an idol and help you guys to get our home back?" Giana made a huge water barrier because some jerk was shooting lasers again.
I would appreciate it, but it's better if you don't, you are causing the world to be more accepting towards us which is very important, it indirectly makes things easier for us to move around.
"But there is no point in helping you guys like this if you die! Judging from your experiences and how you handled this fight, it's not a matter of 'if' but more 'when' you 3 will die… I don't want to sound arrogant but you need us, and we need you!"
I agree but situations like this are common for us and I don't wish them on to you. Also, if we fall, there's still you 3 to carry on. If all 6 of us get killed off because Raishin and I pissed off a god or 2, then it's game over. We created the problems, so we are going to solve them.
"I understand. In that case, I will show you my resolve, be selfish and make you accept us in your team.” Giana’s mana flared, and she started to leak charm mana. “Noelle, we are going to show our resolve, be selfish and force Agnis to take us into his team. Dearest fans, I appreciate that you love me so much that it brought you to do these actions, but I cannot condone them. I will fight back with all my power!"
Noelle’s mana flared too. "Yes! That's more like it! Let's put these stalkers in the dirt!"
Ugh, and I told them that running away was the best option…
I created frost pillars to get more mana and focused on the suspicious elders. I noticed that 1 of the 3 had put up an illusion, which was bad, I should have noticed earlier. I broke the 6 layered illusion and the sky turned dark red. The 3 elders seemed to have been casting the whole time.
We need to get out of here! They are casting collaboration magic!
I sent 2 triple clones at them, grabbed the chicks with my wires and tried to escape, but I got invisi grabbed again.
Shit, I forgot about that! I should've killed that guy.
The collaboration magic was almost finished. The fire golem elder charged and fired a laser. It hit me but did 0 damage which confused him and me too.
"Ugh, making someone invincible takes a lot out of me…" Noelle dropped to one knee.
"Yes! Kneel for me bitch!" The cockroach chick seemed to enjoy it.
The verbal assault recommenced. Giana was doing her best trying to get Noelle back up, protect us against attacks and getting me out of the grip. Target Gripguy was getting support from others, strengthening his grip.
Hey, girls, now would be a good time to run away.
"Run where? We're slow, remember?"
"We're not going anywhere. "
Tattoo elder’s mana dropped, suggesting that something big was coming. "It is done! Take this! [Ultimate Collaboration magic: Apocalyptic Triad]!"
The sky darkened, and 3 enormous shadows appeared above the bloodred clouds. I tried to shadow meld, but the grip wouldn't let me. Teleport failed. Wait, why didn't the shadow meld fail? I didn't have much time, so I gambled.
I connected my shadow to Giana and Noelle. The sky flashed in 3 colors; red, blue and green.
The RGB lasers rained down, hitting everything in the targeted area. These guys really pinned down my weakness. I forced Noelle and Giana to [Shadow meld] into their own shadows and move them where the light wouldn’t extinguish their shadows. Risky yes, but I know what I’m doing. This is the first time I succeeded in [Shadow Melding] others.
I covered myself in frost in an attempt to protect myself. The red lasers were fire-based, so those weren't an issue, the green wind-based and the blue water-based were the issue. It was spirit magic like all other skills these guys used, so my frost only limited the damage. I survived the attack and the grip disappeared.
I collapsed to the floor and tried to maintain consciousness by circulating nature energy while all my triple clones exploded. The chicks popped out of their shadows and, of course, had a lot to say. Fortunately for me, I couldn't hear their complaints because it felt like my heart was beating in my head. I received healing, but it didn't seem to do much.
Ugh, what a headache, are you 2 ok?
"Of course not! You look like you can die any minute! None of my healing seems to be effective…" Oh, I can hear again. I assume this was one of these attacks' properties, thinking about it, it makes sense to use damage that's hard to heal or impossible to heal when dealing with a strong healer. I confirmed that I had [Spite] on me. This was probably the first time that my squishy nature reared its ugly head.
There is a reason I rarely get hit, as I can’t take them well. It went well for a long time, but all good things come to an end.
"Noelle, I'm going to do it! Protect me!"
"I understand, but now isn't a good moment!"
Giana pointed at me. "Any later and he might die!"
"If you do this, you might die!"
Uhh I don’t know what you’re going to do but I have enough lives so don’t worry about me.
"Shush Agnis! Noelle, he will die if I don't do anything, but I might die if I do this, one is a certainty, so let's avoid that!"
I got shushed…
"Uhh, he's not gonna like what you're going to do."
"That's fine, that makes us even for the fact he planned on dying alone."
There was so much I wanted to react to but didn't have the energy for.
Giana started to glow light blue and Noelle gave her some cool crystal armor. I got some too.
Hey, I can't move with this amount of armor.
"Yeah, so? That's the whole point, just sit there safe and let Giana do her magic."
Can I protest?
"Sure, it won't change anything, though.” She got hit by a [Triple Flare]. “Oh my god cockroach fuck off!" Noelle's verbal energy didn't match the physical state she was in, and mana was draining out of her.
"Hey, Agnis, even though I didn't like how you go about protecting us, I appreciate that you put so much effort in it. I might not like it, but it seems to be the more efficient method and I apologize for being difficult, but you see, I can't help it. Maybe, one day, you will understand the mysteries inside my heart. I will do my best to make sure you will, and even if this goes wrong, I'm sure you will figure things out." Giana’s glow increased and I got a terrible feeling.
Hey! This isn't funny! Noelle, how many lives does Giana have?
Noelle looked away. Giana shone brightly and a golden halo with 3 blue gems in them appeared behind her.
I had read about this skill; I was afraid that she would use this. It's [Grand Sacrifice]. It basically puts allies in peak condition. Not just a full heal, it pushes anything responsible for survival up. Stamina, physical condition and mana get fully restored and defense, magical defense, elemental resistances as well as speed get a slight increase, permanently. This skill is absolutely busted, but not many Golden Angels know it, as it’s also extremely risky.
It cures almost everything at the cost of all of Giana’s mana and physical condition and her defensive stats get cut to almost 0 for 30 minutes, she would also be unable to use healing skills for that duration.
In gaming terms, she got put on 1 HP and 1 MP. 1 hit would be enough to kill her. The 3 blue gems indicated how many layers of barrier she has left. The base skill gives her 3, and they work like [Frozen skin].
Giana collapsed to the ground. I swapped her with an ice cube and got her out of harm's way, and I grabbed Noelle with wires. I felt amazing physically, but not mentally and emotionally. I appreciate what she did, but this was a terrible idea.
We're getting out of here!
Noelle still had a fight in her, but she agreed this was for the best. The elders that used the collaboration magic came at us hard.
"Giana is mine!" Noelle threw a rock at Cockroach's face .
I'll put you safely in my dimensional pocket.
Giana grabbed my arm. "Please, no…"
One of the collaboration magic elders created a huge tornado. I gave Giana a [Frost Cloak] and it instantly sent Giana and me flying.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Jeez, these lightweights…" Noelle stomped on the ground.
I felt myself and Giana getting heavier, and we landed on the floor. She stomped again, and we returned to our normal weight, but still did not fly off. Small crystals started to grow in her hair and around her. We were stuck in the eye of the storm, but the sky suddenly started turning bloodred again.
So that collaboration was called [Something something triad], do you think the triad refers to it being cast by 3 people, it has 3 attributes, or that it will activate 3 times?
Noelle looked at me with a ‘how should I know’ face.
[Shadow meld] it is!
Aand one of the collaboration magic elders ruined it by creating a bright flash.
“I got this!” One blue gem disappeared from Giana’s halo, and a very sturdy barrier surrounded me.
… Don't hand away your only safety line out like candy!
“This one is different, it will surely protect you from this attack, I will give you another one when it fires off again.”
How can she be this selfless…
After we get out of this, I’m gonna teach you how to be more selfish…
Now that I was safe, I needed to find a way to farm this ultimate skill for energy .
Are you going to be fine Noelle?
I looked at her and she was wearing some super cool, super bulky crystal armor.
… can… can I try out that armor out too sometime?
“It’s cool eh? Sure!”
I covered the floor in frost as the [something something triad] skill rained lasers on us. The triad elders were surprised that we were unharmed and one used [Flood].
“Noo! Don’t flood the place! That guy gets super annoying when there is a lot of water!” Redhead yelled.
Too bad, it's time for [Tsunami]!
The water triad guy tried to fix his fuckup, but my [Tsunami] made all his attempts futile. Light and earth-based defensive skills got put up. Too bad for them. [Tsunami] shattered them like it was porcelain because it instantly breaks light and earth defensive skills.
I heard several stomps from Noelle. She had been stomping during every fight, but it didn’t always do anything. A closer inspection revealed that it made most earth based magic useless. How overpowered…
I used [Azure chain] on the triad elders and then used all the mana I got from absorbing their ultimate skill to drop a boosted [Flare] on them. This created an enormous steam explosion and the air got filled with water vapor.
“Taking a page out of Yuna’s book eh?” Giana said with a tired yet happy look on her face. I might sound like Raishin here, but damn, she’s hot. But that might change if I don’t get her out of here as I’m not into corpses.
I’m getting tired of you stalkers; I hope you will enjoy this skill that hasn't been seen in over 2 millennia. Enjoy this [Azure Mist].
I forgot exactly what exactly the rules were, but Azu said that unless I do something stupid, I shouldn't lose after using this. Unfortunately, I specialize in doing stupid shit, and she wasn't specific in what kind of stupid. There seemed to be a problem with the azure mist though. It didn't seem to do what it's supposed to do effectively.
Hmm, Noelle, Giana, I acknowledge that you 2 have more common sense than I have, if someone directly teaches you a skill like mana transfer learning it and you use that skill is that skill regarded as your skill or as the skill of the person that taught it with mana transfer?
“Of course not! You didn't learn it yourself so it's operating on the understanding of the teacher.” Noelle said as some of the elders broke out of it.
So, if I, who normally can hit spirits would use a technique like that, would I be able to hit spirits?
“Uhh, probably not, maybe it would have some effect, but I wouldn't expect you to in this scenario.” Noelle said as she stomped and crumbled an earth-based golem.
Giana poked me. “Agnis, what did you do?”
Possibly something stupid.
While I had a good idea of how [Tsunami] and [Azure chains] worked, I never really figured out how [Azure mist] worked. And my hypothesis is that this is causing this [Azure Mist] to be relatively ineffective. Note to self: Find out how [Azure Mist] works.
Right, let’s run! Also, Noelle I think your red-haired BFF needs some attention.
“She is not my BFF!” She stomped and dropped the red-haired cockroach into a chasm that opened up.
“How long till I can heal again, Agnis?”
25 minutes.
The sky turned red again.
Wait! Don’t give me your barrier! I want to try Noelle’s cool armo… ehhm strong protection skills.
“Uhh, I wouldn't recommend tanking this with my armor, this armor scales with the defense of the wearer and your defense is uhh…
Ok, how about I…
Giana put another barrier on me.
Why…
Her halo had 1 more blue gem and we needed to be careful for 25 more minutes.
“Ok tell me, what’s going to happen if you mess up and that attack kills you?”
Uhh, I have 6 more lives after that but you revive me?
“I’m a healer, not a goddess…”
“What she means is that if you die, it’s likely that we will die shortly after because we can't win this fight nor run away.”
Ok, fair point but there must be another way to get out of this.
“Like?”
I’m working on it.
I think I dodged an invisible grip and I started to get sick of this guy. I attempted to torch Target Gripguy but a huge transparent hand appeared and acted as a wall. I made multiple mirrors out of frost magic. The [something something triad] dropped on us and I attempted to reflect some of it to Target Gripguy. I didn't reflect much, but what I did gave Target Gripguy a run for his money.
Giana was getting weaker and was fighting against drowsiness. I tried to put her in my dimensional pocket again but her charm magic flared, so I had to deal with that. “Hey! Don’t put me in your dimensional pocket!”
Meh no luck.
It was subtle, but I think she [Charmed] me so that I would take her out of my dimensional pocket if I manage to succeed and suck her in. I have noticed that I’m unable to tell if I’m [Charmed] or not.
“I’m not heavy, am I?”
Why do you chicks like to ask questions that sound like traps. And of course not, our race doesn't seem to be getting heavy.
This was instantly demonstrated because the wind triad elder blew us away. I grabbed Noelle with my wires and took a glider out of my dimensional pocket.
“Jicnef, don't help them escape!” Tattoo Elder said to Wind Elder.
Hasta la vista noobs!
Things went fine but we suddenly stopped going forward. I looked back, and the wire seemed to be struggling to pull Noelle.
“Uhm, Noelle gets heavier the more serious she gets, please don’t mention it to her, it’s a sensitive topic.”
So, uhh what do we do now?
I folded the glider and covered us in a frost shell because an enormous hawk made of wind spirit energy tried to snatch us. It grabbed the frozen ball and tried to kidnap us, but because we were anchored to Noelle, we weren't going anywhere.
“What is going on!” It seems that the hawk’s physical strength was tied to Jicnef’s physical strength, as he was sweating buckets trying to abduct us.
“Jicnef, they are anchored to her over there!” Water elder said as he pointed at Noelle.
“She must be either very strong or very heavy.” Noelle reacted and got upset.
So how screwed is that guy?
“Very… Can I just take a short nap?” I opened my dimensional pocket and the charm magic flew out again. “Hey! Stop trying to ditch me in your dimensional pocket!”
You’re going into my dimensional pocket if you fall asleep!
Giana created a big [ice ball] which Noelle kicked at the wind triad guy and the crystal like heptagons on her indicated that she used [Polygoonic Armament]. “Agnis, hit me with your best shot!”
I put Giana down, pulled mana from Nilah and hit Noelle with a [Flare].
“Owowow! I didn't expect it to be this strong! But this is perfect! Time to turn your bird into fried chicken!” She stomped, cracked the ground and used a [Volcano stomp] after that. The hawk didn't turn into fried chicken because it was made out of energy and wind but she did severely damage the wind triad elder and trapped him into the crystallized fire.
“This will be so satisfying!” 3 more wolf tails made out of crystal appeared, she punched the crystal and some weird energy flowed into the crystal. It shattered into crystal dust and the wind elder was nowhere to be seen. That was very impressive, but I had beef with Target Gripguy who tried to kidnap Giana. He then shifted focus to me and gripped me.
Uh oh.
“I’ll protect you!”
Nono! That is exactly what they want!
But it was too late. All the elders jumped at Giana the moment she gave me her last barrier, these annoying opportunists. I kicked a pebble away from me and swapped Giana with it, then tried to suck Giana into my dimensional pocket, but it got forcibly closed by someone that wasn’t Giana.
For fucks sake, this is annoying, not unexpected but annoying.
I used [Eternal Winter] but these elders were resilient. I still had my barrier because they stopped bothering with me after Giana lost her last barrier. I kicked another pebble toward Giana and swapped myself with it. I was still gripped, but the barrier ended up body blocking whatever they were throwing at her.
“Hey don’t kill Giana! I was supposed to get her spirit, remember!” Redhead said as she crawled out of a chasm. She was extra red because of the blood covering her body.
“Wait you were still alive? I should have closed the chasm after I dropped you in it!” Noelle used [Venomous Tongue], it’s not a real skill but quite consistent.
“Then stop wasting time and come here Jenna. It is already hard enough to deal with these 2 and keep her alive in this state.” Tattoo elder grabbed Giana and dragged her away from me. I used [Frozen ground], made him slip and froze his pants on the floor. I heard a scream and Noelle was covered in yellow sticky goo and couldn’t move.
“Do it before one of them breaks out of their restraints.”
Is there nothing I can do at this point? I spat at the floor and swapped Giana with my spit, causing the elders hand to get dirty with spit. I created a multi-layered frost shell around Giana and me.
The last ring of the encirclement was closing in. even if we escaped this, we would have to deal with one more wave of these assholes.
“This asshole!” the grip started to squeeze hard on me. I froze the exterior of my body to mitigate this, but because of the shift in my focus, they ended up breaking the shell.
“Jenna, now!”
Cockroach walked over to Giana and I chain slipped her and froze her pants to the ground. I turned the floor into a ramp causing Giana to slide toward me as everyone else had their pants frozen to the floor and I created more [Frost Walls] around her. Tattoo elder flared up and melted the frost with his spirit magic based fire.
The ramp melted, as did my walls. He stormed over to Giana, grabbed her by her hair and dragged her toward Redhead.
Redhead held a fist at Giana’s forehead and the other at her chest and punched both fists simultaneously. This ended up killing Giana, but I could see her pulling Giana’s spirit inside of her. Her body started to heal and fill up the mismatched outfit she was wearing. Her hair became lighter and turned light orange. She looked quite similar to Giana.
Her injuries healed, and she admired her chest, which went from 0 to 100.
My nightmare flashed by. This was exactly the scene I had seen many times before. I was aware of this situation, but I still let it happen. Giana’s spirit tethers got pulled into cockroach’s body and slowly changed color.
“Giana!” Noelle released all of her crystal tails, started trashing and broke out of her restraints.
“Hahahaha! I did it! I finally became Giana! But oh Agnis! She really loves you alot!” Redhead approached me. “How about you become my man?”
I broke out and an elder pulled the cockroach away to make her dodge my sword strike. I dashed at Giana’s spiritless body and put her inside my dimensional pocket.
Stay calm, Agnis, she only seems dead. As long as her body stays intact, this is salvageable as neither her spirit, body nor mind have been destroyed.
Studying spirits was coming clutch here, otherwise I would have had no idea what to do here.
“We did it! We acquired a nine-tailed spirit fox! It wasn't easy but we did it!” Redhead… she wasn’t a redhead anymore… I will just call her Cockroach, like Noelle does. Cockroach was rejoicing. I hope that she realizes that she had successfully pissed me off and that things are starting now.
“Yes, yes, Jenna, can you heal us or are you not fully assimilated with her?” The elders started to let their guard down as they requested healing.
“I need a lot of time; she is still fighting back, but oddly I can’t use any of her skills.” I took a deep breath and approached them.
That is because you don’t understand Giana at all. I’m not claiming that I do, but I sure do better than you lot.
“Oh well then enlighten us, Agnis was your name?” The temperature started to climb as I was converting the little mana in my system into fire mana.
Cockroach seemed to undress me with her eyes. “Hey, grandpa, can you not kill him, if possible, I really got into him when I absorbed Giana and I don’t think this will go away as I fully absorb her.”
Tattoo elder got put on edge. “I can’t promise anything.”
I put my sword away.
Well congratulations, you’ve made it to the short list on people that pissed me off, the only ones on that list, that are alive are gods. I hope that you guys are ready as I will be getting Giana back after vaporizing you all.
“Ha getting her back is impossible! Right, grandpa?”
Tattoo elder looked around and looked at the spirits that got released as a result of us killing off the stalkers. “Normally I would say yes but something is off here, you surely do know a lot of spirits young lad, are you a spirit mage too?”
I think today is your guy's lucky day. You were looking for a nine-tailed spirit fox? Well, congratulations, you get 2 for the price of one.
I got out all my tails, had Nilah flood my system with pure mana and released my true form. Everyone backed off. Because of Giana’s [Grand Sacrifice], I felt stronger than before while doing this. Space started to warp and time seemed like it started to glitch. An enormous burst of mana blasted everyone away and my Elgards eyes activated.
“It’s... it’s a male nine-tailed spirit fox! Run!”
Not a chance!
My eyes, tails, and hair turned silver, and the sky started to cycle through day and night.
“What is this?! This isn't supposed to happen! Get Jenna back to the village immediately!”
Noelle also released her seven-tailed crystal wolf form, and the surrounding area started showing off grids and polygons.
You poked the beehive, and now the bees are angry. You messed with tailed beasts. I hope you are ready for a natural disaster or 2.