Rise of the Godking - Chapter 161

Chapter 161 - Battle

Daneel managed to throw himself aside at the last moment, feeling cold sweat spring up on his brow as he watched the two howling balls of flame that had been conjured around the mage's fists fly through the spot exactly where his intestines would have been, one second away from having them laid bare by the surging heat that he felt even though he was a few feet away from the man by now.

Whirling around, with rage writ across his face and deep within his eyes, the Ushanbo mage thrust both his hands forward, as if pushing at something invisible in front of him, and the two balls of flame flew in his direction, intending to finish the job they had been conjured for.

Awkwardly changing position again, Daneel rolled across the ground and got to his feet, cringing inwardly at how wrong this fight was turning out. In the brief moment he had earned due to both his own skills in hand-to-hand combat, or rather, mage to mage combat that had been honed by years of fighting and the system, which had been constantly giving him tips as to how he could move to best escape the threat, he tried contacting the Will again, and cursed this time when the same thing happened.

The quintessence of the land was ready to aid him, but the moment he even imagined going up against the three who stood ready to kill him, it flickered and faded away, like the flame of a candle in a gust of wind. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why the Will would back out from opposing these three from whom it must surely be able to detect the signs of cruelty that had been wrought upon others who were much like its children. In his helplessness, he even cursed at it, wondering whether he had unfortunately happened to come upon a cowardly Will.

As soon as this happened, he realized that he was floundering and fought to control his mind. He was still frantically escaping every attack of the mage, who was getting more and more infuriated with each second that passed. Daneel even got the idle thought that if the Ushanbo was even a fraction as powerful as those of real power he had gone up against in his life in Angaria, the man would already have started conjuring a large-scale spell that would leave him nowhere to go, razing the ground all around and making it unlivable for decades. Of course, this mage was nothing compared to those individuals, so all that the man could do was try to find the perfect combination of strength and speed that could finally pin down the opponent they had run so far to tussle with.

On the side, the other two were watching intently, waiting while also gathering energy from sources hidden all over their body to conjure the foundations of spells that they hoped would end the battle in one go. This was all clear to Daneel in just a glance, but from the way they were fighting to keep their faces nonchalant, he understood that they wanted it to be a surprise that would kill him before he found even the slightest hint of it.

After taking this time to calm down completely, he saw what was wrong. The Will of an island of this scale could not have a distinct personality. There was no way that he had found an exception, so that just left one possibility: there was something going on here that he hadn't detected, at all.

Narrowing his eyebrows slightly, he wondered what it could be. While flying through the air, bending his body in impossible ways that made his bones creak and feel as if they would pop out of their joints at any second and rolling across the ground like a child playing a game, he maintained this speculative face but found no answer that made sense. Taking another glance at the other two Ushanbos and seeing that they were ready to attack at a moment's notice, he finally let go of his curiosity and decided that he would first end this fight with his own skills before thinking about the reason behind the Will's curious actions.

"System. Engage extreme combat mode. Optimize for maximum effect with minimum power usage. No limit on energy usage. Additional directive: non-lethal force usage."

[Affirmative. Mapping best path to goal completion. Implementing best path. Will host be carrying out the scenario, or will host relinquish control of host's body to system?]

"Don't bother. I'll do it myself."

Unless there was really something pressing that he needed to do, Daneel usually never gave up such opportunities. After all, who would want to miss out on a chance to trample all over enemies who believed that the fight was theirs to win?

With the system's suggestions at hand, all he needed to do was carry them out in whatever way he wished. As he blinked, his vision changed to show a list of moves he could make to reach the conclusion he had set.

There were all sorts of overlays waiting at the corner of his vision, ready to jump in and help if needed. There were arrows to show in which direction his hands and legs should move, wiggly lines that indicated which way he should step and even flashing lights that told him in which direction he was supposed to look.

He didn't need many of these as he wasn't a novice, in any way. Everything he had gone through gave him enough confidence to be able to handle even 30 of those at the skill level of the three he was going up against, so without an ounce of worry or hesitation, he stepped forward for the first time with a clear brow and a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

The Ushanbo he had been fighting till now lost the final scrap of composure he had been clinging onto when he saw this. His face going as red as the land of Larefa, he growled, deep in his throat, like an animal cheated out of its prey for far too long.

Fire flickered into being all over his body, burning his clothes to nothing, turning him into a human inferno. He ran forward, his legs and hands outstretched, intending to embrace Daneel and give him the gift of death.

Daneel chuckled. Ever a fan of showmanship, he raised a corner of the dark cloak he had dorned after burning the Ushanbo cloak following their exodus from Marillein. Gesturing with a flourish as if inviting a mad bull, he smiled even more when he heard an even louder growl from the mage and only grew a bit serious when the man reached close enough that he would have been able to touch him if he stretched out his hand.

With a slight motion of his leg that was, by itself, so complex that a student of combat would spend a day trying to learn the exact way in which he had done it, a patch of earth was kicked up and made to fly straight in the direction of the mage's eyes, where the fire was almost absent. It happened so quickly that nobody present could react. The sudden dirt in his eyes made the man blink and falter, and this was enough for him to lose the fight.

Daneel's hand, flat as a sword, flew to the side of the man's neck. His other hand tightened into a fist before ducking behind him and obtaining a layer of protection in the form of the cloak that it pulled with it when it went to meet the man's stomach.

The latter connected first. All the air flew out of his mouth in a puff, and when the blow fell on his neck, he crumpled to the ground, the fire winking out, leaving behind no signs of its presence except for the acrid scent of hair burning that wafted in the air.

Daneel had turned around even before the man's body hit the ground. Massaging the the side of his arm which strung slightly, he started to walk in the direction of the other two who stood frozen, their spells forgotten.

They roused themselves after he took two steps. Dropping all pretenses, they rushed forward, too, the leader among them conjuring two sharp shards of ice that floated above his palm, and the other tearing up the earth around him before commanding it to converge on his hands, creating two hammers that looked strong enough to be used in a forge.

Rather than the earth, itself, it was the strength of the spell that lent such strength to his fists. Just one blow from them would be enough to put him in bed for a week, but still, Daneel didn't even bother slow down his pace.

He even yawned, so to anyone watching nearby, it would seem as if he was about to fall asleep from boredom. This spurred on the two Ushanbos even more, making them howl wordless screams while they closed in on Daneel. He only moved when they were as close as the other mage had been before. He merely made three small gestures, and the fight was over.

First, he ducked low, causing all four attacks of the two mages to miss. Second, he rose so quickly that he turned into a blur. His right hand curled around the corded arm muscles of the mage who had conjured the hammer. With a simple tug, it changed direction just as the man was at the end of his attack, having relinquished control of his body until a new command was sent by his mind. With a sick 'thud', the hammer struck his partner's abdomen.

Third, Daneel's other hand struck the palm of the leader of the Ushanbos with lightning speed. The palm also changed its trajectory, moving to the right instead of straight through. The blunt half of the ice shard shattered on the head of his subordinate, causing his eyes to roll into the back of his head.

When the two crumpled to the ground, their spells disappearing in the same manner as the fire before, Daneel let out that first breath he had taken at the very beginning of the fight. Before he patted himself on his back for a job well done, he decided to turn around and check whether the other mage was still unconscious.

The moment his eyes fell on the man's naked body, all such thoughts raced out his mind and he looked as dazed as the other two mages before.

The first mage's naked body was covered with the injuries of a slave miner, and his palms showed the tell-tale signs of one who had used a hammer to dig out crystals for a major portion of his life.