Chapter 68
Chapter 68
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Chen! The wind and the plants collided, but the loud sound rang out as if a sword and a shield were facing off.
“Ugh!” The wind was leaking through the gaps between the vines, scratching my skin.
With a sharp pain, the hot energy began to spread.
It wasn’t just the wind. It was more like an intangible blade.
My skin was cut by the wind and it bled. I hurried to make the trunk even thicker and tighter, trying to close every tiny crack.
“Ha, Your Majesty. Are you okay?”
But no matter how hard I tried, there were always small holes. The sharpness of the wind coming in through it cut our skin.
“I’m okay.”
Still, it was bearable. It was only a couple of scratches, not deep scrapes.
Marianne’s situation wasn’t too different from mine. She had scratches on her neck and cheeks and they bled.
‘If the plants hadn’t blocked it…….’
It was horrifying to even imagine.
It was only a slight exposure to the blade wind, but this was the extent of it. If we were attacked by Roman’s with our bare bodies, we might have been ripped to shreds.
Boom! Boom! The plant shield made a creepy noise against the wind. I wiped the blood roughly from my cheeks and concentrated on infusing the plants with magic.
‘If my energy runs out before the wind stops, I’m done.’
Magic wasn’t an infinite resource. If that was the case, wizards would have ruled everything throughout human history. Magic had its limits. It was natural because it borrowed from finite physical bodies to get out.
I could feel my strength wearing off as soon as I used magic, and I could even pass out if I kept pushing myself.
Chen! Chen!
I bit my lip as I listened to the ringing in my ears.
“Ugh, please…”
I mumbled and tried to endure it. The blade wind continued to regenerate the plants for the damage it had done.
When I was starting to feel dizzy, I felt the strength of the wind slowly decreasing. The noise that had been clashing with the plants gradually lessened. I tightened my trembling jaw. The blood flowed on my forehead trying to block my vision and I rubbed it roughly.
Soon the blade wind was completely removed. I couldn’t infuse any more magic into the plant either.
When I cut off the magic, all the plants that had been protecting me lost their strength and fell to the floor. I could see the tattered vines, dented here and there.
“Ha…ha…….”
I took a quick breath. Even though there was such a strong wind blowing, the surrounding area was fine. I only designated where I was and attacked intensively.
Roman, who was far away, approached closer and spoke.
“Did you endure all this?”
“You must have a hard time……. Is this the last of it?”
“You look like you’re about to fall right over, and the provocation.”
No matter how much money the Gullier had, this degree of scrolling was the value of several houses. He couldn’t have bought an unlimited amount of scrolls.
“Fight on your own, without relying on the scrolls.”
Roman glared at me quietly.
“Do you have any talent other than transforming into someone else’s body?”
None of the words I said were specifically meant to provoke Roman. It was just a recitation of the truth. Roman seemed to have learned the black magic, but he didn’t seem to be able to handle the other magic well.
“Sometimes you can only specialize in one area.”
Fortunately for me, that was the case.
Roman spoke, taunting me.
“Sounds like you can afford it.”
The fact remained that I had collapsed a while back. I just had to endure it with my mental strength any way I could. I was going out of my way to talk to Roman in order to buy myself a little time to catch my breath and recover my energy.
It was probably the same for Roman. It must have taken a lot of magic power to activate the scroll. It was a war of nerves as we stared at each other.
Then Roman started to take out another scroll again.
‘If it’s as powerful this time as it was earlier…..’
Just as I was about to feel hopeless, I heard the sound of clashing iron armor and several footsteps in the distance.
“Looks like we have uninvited guests.”
“Ah……”
The soldiers had heard the commotion and were coming this way.
I stared at Roman and at the back alternately. I saw a familiar face right behind me.
“Usphere…?”
It was Kwanach, staring at me with a shocked expression. I could feel his eyes shake even from a distance. He took a quick look at my battered form and tried to run quickly towards me.
“No!”
I hurriedly shouted out.
We were in a situation where Roman would use magic. If his magic spread, the soldiers could be killed..
Kwanach shouted loudly at my cry.
At my shout, Kwanach shouted to the so
“You, now…!”
“Jaxor! Catch Jaxor first!”
I cut off Kwanach’s words and shouted loudly, staring at Roman again.
“Arghhhh!”
I heard Jaxor’s scream coming from behind me. His identity had been discovered and he immediately jumped on Kwanach.
Chen! The sound of swords clashing violently against each other echoed. Jaxor was the second most powerful knight on the continent after Kwanach. It would take some time to completely incapacitate him. Still, there were a lot of soldiers and they were dealing with Jaxor.
The problem was Roman. I pulled myself together and looked at Roman, but my vision blurred for a moment. I felt dizzy and almost wobbly.
“Your Majesty.”
Next to me, Marianne supported me.
“I’m sorry. I just need a little help.”
Marianne’s eyes, which had always been calm, were red and damp. It could have been confusing because the magic that she had never seen before swirled around and the person she served was bleeding from wounds here and there.
Roman staggered as I did, tearing at the scroll. There might be more scrolls, but I was sure of this one.
‘I think this attack alone is the limit.’
Roman’s body wouldn’t be able to hold out if he used more magic. I was also feeling my limits soon.
The attack that Roman unleashed by gathering his energy contained a lot of fire.
“Ugh ……!”
It took some time for the magic to fully activate, but the air has already heated up.
‘Is it a fireball? Is it like a fire arrow?’
For a moment, my mind went blank. Even if the magic made the plant’s outer shell as hard as steel, its essence was an organism after all.
No existence was as vulnerable to a plant as fire. The method of preventing magic by creating a protective film with plants would not work.
‘Think. Think.’
My head throbbed with pain. The magic I was dealing with was limited to plants. As strong as it is, its limitations were also clear.
I could feel the air around me burning faster. I guessed that it was an unusual widespread magic.
‘If I can’t break the magic here…’
All sorts of thoughts popped into my head the moment I prepared my defenses. Marianne stuck close to me.
Then there were soldiers, and even Kwanach, Roman’s magic might injure them all, if I couldn’t prevent it.
In that tense moment, I didn’t have time to think and experiment. I didn’t have the strength left to do so. I had to make a decision within a few seconds.
‘But how do I prevent fire with plants? No, there must be a way…’
Whoosh!
Red flames began to rise around Roman. The area around him shook like a fire river. The living flames tried to stretch towards us in waves. The waves were high enough to swallow dozens of people.
‘How can I ….’
It was then.
“Usphere!”
Kwanach’s voice came from behind me. As I turned my head, Kwanach was running toward me with a desperate face full of fear.
He was startled by the flames that soared high in the air and seemed to be coming towards me to save me. His gaze wavered. The rims of his eyes were red.
I knew exactly what Kwanach was afraid of.
He was so scared that I might get hurt that he couldn’t think. All he seemed to be thinking about was getting closer to me and protecting me at all costs. Leaving Jaxor behind who had the sword at his back.
Several of the soldiers hurriedly blocked Jaxor, but Jaxor ran to Kwanach, beating the soldiers and stabbed Kwanach with his sword.
“A fool!”
Jaxor tried to thrust the tip of his sword deeper into Kwanach, who showed his back to him with a distorted face.
The sunlight reflected on the blade shone sharply. The sharpness of it was aimed precisely at Kwanach. I let out a scream as I felt my heart crumble.
“No!”
The flames of Roman flickered in front of me, and from behind me, Jaxor’s blade was closing on Kwanach’s back.
This moment felt like an eternity. My vision went black and my body lost all strength.