“Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIIIIT!”

Holy fucking shit! I should have properly thought this through! I didn’t think Ichaival would go nuts if I poured in my mana along with its own!

Dad told me it was theoretically possible to harmonize the mana with an external source, but he also said it was inefficient and unlikely since Ichaival’s mana core produced pure mana that outclassed even those produced by Grand Archmages, the highest known mage related job! This meant that only mana as pure or as great in amount would be able to synchronize with Ichaival and produce a magnified effect. I only thought to supplement the speed of the charge-up using my mana, but how the hell was I supposed to know that my mana was fucking compatible with it!?

This is supposed to be a good thing, but not in a delicate situation like this! If I shoot it too close to the town, the result would be a grand disaster of nuclear proportions! I tried controlling the surge of power from my mana, but it grew too fast for me to completely rein in! Gaaah! I should have just manipulated its own mana like I always did!

“Ugh! I need to fire this now or it’ll grow too big and end up rearranging the damn topography, or worse!”

‘Like blowing up here taking everything out including me’

That last thing I kept in my thoughts since it was a scenario I seriously didn’t want to happen.

I looked at the enemies below and judged they were too close to the town already even if it would still take them 10 minutes to arrive. Looks like I have no choice…

I looked towards the small mountain range in the distance and decided to fire the mana bomb to a location behind it. It’s a location far from any village or road and the mountain should serve to mitigate some of the blast.

… It’s now or never. I can only hope and pray nobody aside from the monsters gets caught up in it.

I aim Ichaival towards my target and as I held my breath… I released it.

With a ‘fwoosh’ I saw it fly at an arc as it headed straight for where I aimed. Looking at it from a distance, I thought it looked like a close-up blue sun. It also somewhat looks similar to a certain alien martial artists’ final move in a popular anime series I used to watch(*)… only, it’s surrounded in what looks to be solar flares… or rather, mana flares? Either way, its descent was pretty slow compared to what I expected.

I decided to take a look at the giant and saw it was standing as if in a trance along with its monster army. The same can be said with the people atop the wall surrounding the town.

Hmm… maybe I should head on over there just in case the blast does reach the town. I’m not sure I could do much if it does come to it, but I do have some energy absorbing items that might help. As I was thinking this and flew over, the ‘sun’ finally descended in the distance.

*BOOOOOOOM*

The unmistakable sound of a powerful blast and shockwave washed over the entire area. Powerful wind blew as the shockwave passed and a shining wall of light rapidly headed towards our direction bringing with it a tidal wave of dust and debris.

“Groooowr!?”

“Graaaaaah!”

“T-This cannot be!? Aaaaaaargh!!”

The monsters, including the giant, became panicked and started running from the wall of light, but like a vacuum it seemed to suck everything close to it and saw many of monsters start to float and fall upon the wall of light never to be seen again.

The light wall doesn’t seem to be stopping, so I decided to aim Ichaival once more towards it, charging it up as quickly as I could by dropping only a tiny sliver of my mana unlike before. This is so I could control the rate it tried to absorb my energy. I also converted the mana to possess a repulsing nature so it won’t end up getting absorbed by the blast, further increasing it.

I aimed true and held my breath once more as I let the energy bolt fly towards the wall of light. The bolt pierced the wall and with its repelling effect, dispersed some of the energy as evidenced by the wall of light slowing down and starting to diminish like a balloon losing air. I sigh in relief but… Holy crap! Who knew I currently have with me a weapon of mass destruction!? I knew that among my weapons it has the greatest destructive abilities, but damn!

Well, to be fair, it only gained such abilities when it harmonized with my mana. The last time I charged it all the way using its own energy, it only had enough power to level an area the size of an Olympic stadium. Still pretty big, but definitely nothing compared to that nuclear blast level power just now.

As the dust was clearing, things became somewhat still, but I don’t wanna celebrate just yet. I checked on Ellen and the rest, and seeing them safe I decided to fly towards the calamity zone. That giant was sucked in, but I can’t be sure if it was really annihilated until I see its corpse or any evidence of it having been eliminated. One can’t be too careful especially with an enemy that can regenerate… that and I seriously don’t want to leave loose ends, so without a second thought, I flew towards the area I last saw it.

…

On a hill overlooking the vast wastes, a large group of armed individuals set up camp. In the center of the campsite, several men were in a discussion as their leader had a solemn look on his face.

“Things are looking bad, boss… according to Hare, we lost half the men at the base. That blue bastard got as good…”

“Whoulda fucking thought that guy’s been keeping pet Mizera… our camp’s been overrun and they’re keepin’ hostages… how damned ironic…”

“What do we do now, boss? We’ve got no place to go…”

The people around the camp looked towards their leader, Bolgruk, for answers.

“Hmm…”

Bolgruk, for the first time, felt unsure. For a long time, his brother always heard his actions and choices first before he would make them. Doruk was his voice of reason and wisdom, so with his brother’s support he never made too rash a choice.

In fact, most of the time, Bolgruk simply acted as a symbol of power and fear among the bandits, and although he couldn’t be called a fool, he wasn’t what one could call an outstanding leader. But with Doruk at his side, he was always able to move forward with confidence. However, with his brother gone, the weight of his choices felt much greater. This was why he was easily led around by Merik recenty.

“… We must reclaim what is ours.”

“But boss, we just lost half the men in the hold and the rest are held prisoner. They’ve not only taken over the base, but the’re over a thousand of them!”

“Right… we’re barely a hundred men… what can we do against over a thousand Mizera who have our base of most of our supplies…”

Bolgruk grew upset when he heard his men’s response, but before he could lash out an unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke.

“Perhaps I could offer a bit of help… “

Bolgruk and his men jumped in surprise and readied themselves, but they were soon surprised with their guest.

“You… why are you here?”

“… to offer some help… I suppose.”

“And why would you help us?”

“Because in return… there is something you have that I want.”

“I see… and how can you alone be of any help to me?”

The youth Bolgruk spoke to brought down his hood as he glared at him.

“I have my ways… after all, I was trained by the one you so desperately seek.”

Glenn, with fiery eyes, looked towards Bolgruk without fear as he prepared himself for the task ahead.

…

*Sssssssssss*

Yeesh… everywhere I look, all I see is baked earth and sand. I can still hear sizzling in some places and I even see some areas that somehow turned to something like glass. Just how hot was that mana bomb?

More importantly, I’ve already been flying around for almost 5 minutes and I still see no sign of that damn giant. I tried using my enhanced senses, but the mana in the air is so thick that other than regular vision and hearing, it was hard to use my other senses. Did it really just get offed just like that? I seriously doubt it… my dragon senses are nagging at me… ok, I made that up, but something still tells me that it’s not over.

Just as I was pondering what to do next, I hear something break below me and I saw a massive shadow heading towards. I immediately tried to fly higher but it was too fast and I soon felt a strong tightening sensation all around me as if I’m being held by a vice. When I looked in front of me, I saw that thing’s ugly mug.

“Hahahahaha! Finally! Had that mass of energy stayed for a few seconds longer, even I wasn’t sure I’d get out of it alive, but it seems luck is on my side!”

Tch. Damn, I could feel his grip tightening. So this is what a stress toy feels like. I should have been more careful with my flying distance, but I never expected his regeneration to be so fast.

“Now that I have you, you can guess what I’m going to do next!”

I see one his extra arms heading towards my back. I don’t like where this is going, and I start to struggle harder slowly pushing away his fingers.

“Tch. Looks like you’re more powerful than I expected, but that’s still not enough! Enjoy agonizing pain, lizard!”

He started to hold me in place using two hands as one of his extra arms continued its descent towards my back. Fuck, fuck, FUCK! This is gonna hurt!

Soon, I felt something tight grip one of wings and the last thing I could remember was tearing sound along with intensely hot and searing pain as if all the hairs on my head were pulled out at once.

“GRAAAAAAAAAH!!”

“Hahahaha! Yes! Scream some more! Now that one of your wings is clipped, you’ll no longer be able to pester me in the sky! But, just to be sure…”

*Riiiiiip*

“GRAAAAAAAAAARGH!!”

“Now both your wings are gone! But that’s not all… I’ll keep tearing you piece by piece, but once I’ve torn off your arms and legs, next will be your friends! I’ll especially savor that half-giant bitch of yours! Hahahaha!”

I could barely hear him anymore as my vision started to go dark… damnit… you're laughing now, but you'll soon realize that you're the one that's caught... I have many ways to get out of this, but only one sure way to completely annihilate this bastard… I just need some time...

“Camuuuus!”

Huh?... Ellen?... how… come I can hear her? Oh no...

I tried to turn my head despite the pain and as I feared… she was there…

“Oho! Looks like I’ll get to enjoy your suffering sooner than I expected! Watch as I’ll devour her and later step on your friends! Hahahaha!”

No… Ellen… you must run… otherwise…

I…

might...

kill you too…