Read Novel Full Chapter 178: Ray
Chapter 178: Ray
Thump.
The sound that my feet made when gently touching the ground was of no significance on its own, yet it held great meaning for me in particular. Because by landing on the stable ground right now, the boring part of my journey finally came to an end.
"Show-off!" Landing without even a hint of grace, the winged girl's legs stuck several centimeters into the soft ground before her momentum was finally gone.
Ever since I managed to pull that mana phasing off, our relationship changed. While just the first day was enough for both of us to get rid of the mutual hostility, it was that moment of achieving what didn't appear to be plausible that finally pushed the two of us over the initial awkwardness.
"Xenteria, you can call me Teria." As if nailing the phasing was some sort of huge, social achievement, it was right after that moment when the girl came up to me and properly introduced herself. Back then, some sparks of suspicion and wariness still brimmed in her eyes, but over the course of the last few hours that we took to reach the north, all of that was replaced just by shock mixed with awe.
"Still, I can't believe that you can hold on to the phasing for so long. Half a second is what most of my brethren are capable of!" Shaking her head in disbelief, Teria refused to accept the reality right in front of her eyes. But whether it was her common sense or just her pride that made it troubling for her, ultimately she would still have no other choice but to conform with the reality.
"Does it matter? We are here already, meaning, there is no more for me to phase. While for you, this might seem like some grand skill, outside of traveling vast distances, it's nearly worthless." Putting the girl's anticipation down, I refused to explain what I believed to be the reason behind this unexpected difference of skill.
Because ultimately, no matter how hard Teria would want to prove that phasing meant shifting underneath the flow of mana in the world, it was actually creating a rift in space, allowing one to move without the restrictions imposed by the medium he was in.
And as annoying as it was, I still had to lie about the practical use of this ability as well. Whether Teria really couldn't notice its usefulness in a fight or whether she attempted to be ignorant about it, I didn't know. But in both cases, revealing that I grew aware of it as well, would only make her stand on her toes whenever interacting with me.
"Either way, we have more important matters on our plate right now." Looking up at the fortifications surrounding a nearby city, I squinted my eyes. While it did little if anything to improve my already great vision, this tensing of my eyelids was actually caused by what I saw.
And just as one could expect from a city near which two powerful beings suddenly landed out of nowhere, it already deployed a force tasked with investigating and most likely killing the intruders.
"Them? Don't tell me that you are scared of some small fries like that!" As if the mix of my words and gesture that brough Teria's attention to the city's party was even more shocking than my ability to pull off the phasing, she looked at me with her eyes wide open as if she was looking at some kind of irrational madman.
"You don't know if they are small fries." While to a huge degree I could agree with the girl that the group currently closing on our position didn't appear to be any threat at all, I couldn't get rid of a single memory that instantly pushed me right to my edge.
'Danger to the system, huh?' So far, it was this basement system of mine, or so I grew to call it due to its location, that turned me from useless and powerless trash into the powerhouse I was right now. Without access to different worlds, I would never find out about the apocalyptic technology, I would never learn witchcraft or any other magic than cultivation, at never encountering Ayda in my life-ending.
And the fact that in this world, there were powers capable of damaging what I never considered to be my vital spot, made it hard for me to relax no matter how weak the opponents would appear to be.
"In a sense, it was easier to fight on the front." Suddenly revealing my innermost thoughts, I failed to stop them from escaping before they slid past my lips. Turning her head to the side, Teria gazed at my face for a moment before turning back towards the approaching party.
"Because back there, everyone was aware and prepared for a harsh fight." Finishing my own words, the girl nodded her head before releasing a deep sigh. "That might be true. We can't be careless. In the end, those revolutionaries that took over the place managed to defeat an ancient kingdom that existed here since forever."
Shaking her head in silent disbelief, Teria finally rose up to her feet, not bothering to hide behind a boulder any longer. With how quickly the other party was approaching, they were bound to notice us already either way.
"Tell me, why is your tribe fighting with humans in the first place?" Moving a few paces forward to showcase to the approaching party that I had no intention of hiding at all, I turned my head to the girl beside me.
"Humans? And what am I if not a human?" Suddenly flaring up due to my slip of a tongue, Teria sent me a cold look. "I will take it for your lack of common sense rather than intentional insult." After staring at my face for a few moments, the girl finally gave up on her sudden hostility and relaxed her shoulders.
"As for the war, would you believe if I were to tell you I have no slightest idea?" Muttering under her nose as she turned her head away from my sight, the girl moved from one leg to another. "While I know the official version that the chieftains are obliged to preach…"
The two of us didn't know each other for long. In fact, our entire relationship was just a few days old. Even despite how turbulent its start was and how much chaos was necessary for it to turn from a random meeting into a proper acquaintanceship, right now, we were pretty synchronized.
"Only the creator of that fake story would know, at this point, what is a lie and what is a truth in the legend he created. Right?" It wasn't that hard to figure it out. Just like on earth, if one were to learn about any given topic from two opposing sides, then any attempt at actually digesting all the knowledge learned without filtering the obviously fake parts would only make one mentally ill.
"History is written by the victors with the blood of the fallen." Suddenly, a quote came to my lips, right as the approaching party of seven finally reached the distance at which we could shout to each other and have some small hopes the other group would hear the words.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" While there was no hostility in the voice, just the sheer discipline in it appeared to form a strange, innate form of magic.
Given how many kinds of mana usage I already saw, it came with little to no surprise. Ultimately, as much as I could say from my own observation, how magic operated in a given world was only decided by what was the first idea of the magic that drove its initial development.
And according to the spare information we got before departing for the north, once the revolution turned the natural order of the kingdom that formerly existed on those lands on its head, the old magic was abandoned.
That meant, attempting to learn the magic I saw wingless humans shoot back on the battlefield, would be completely and absolutely pointless. In fact, it could be the kind of social mishap that could seriously strain my relationship with anyone who I would meet in this place.
And on another note, this potential origin of all the magic systems could be the reason for the revolutionary nation in the north, developing their own magic system through some kind of highly valued quirk their government would put at the pedestal after throwing coup d'etat.
"We are here to deal with our own matters. We didn't come here to kill, we didn't come here to fight." Shouting those words over the plain that separated our position from the other group, I expected to turn the initial battle that would serve as a greeting, into a more civilized form of getting to know each other.
"Wait, is that…" Those words, I didn't hear. I only projected the sensation of hearing those words, when I saw the lips of the man who spoke previously tremble in agitation before uttering them to his comrades.
Pam.
And then, without any prior warning, a thin ray of light burst forward out of the group, putting a huge, gaping hole right in Taria's stomach!
*//ALERT*
My vision exploded in red as the already familiar message started to flash right in the middle of my sight, effectively hiding the position of the other party.
*A force capable of damaging the system appeared*
*Please take caution*
"Those bastards…" Unbeknownst to my sudden anguish, Taria clenched her teeth. But rather than exploding in rage, rather than wallowing in pain, she simply looked towards the other group before spreading her wings. "I will kill them!"