Chereads / Hardcore Fantasy / Chapter 14 - Hardcore Fantasy – Chapter 13: The Conference [IV]

Chapter 14 - Hardcore Fantasy – Chapter 13: The Conference [IV]

*Boom*

The black tide collided with Akihiko and crashed against the wall behind the curtain.

"…" – The being's eyes slowly turned to its shoulder, where more shurikens were embedded – "Annoying ant." – It then looked below the stage, where the tables were.

Akihiko was standing on a table, unscratched by the earlier attack.

'1 minute might be hard.' – He thought before jumping away – – He inquired through telepathy.

The table he was at a second earlier exploded out of nowhere as tentacles pierced it through the ground.

– Elizabeth replied.

Fortunately, convincing other mages was easier than she thought and, in the end, instead of 10 mages as she originally needed, she got twice as much.

– Her crimson glistened, worry flashing briefly in them before vanishing as she used a skill and calmed herself down – 'Focus on the task, Elizabeth.' – She reminded herself before nodding at the other mages.

Then, mana started to converge around her, making the mages around her gasp.

– Akihiko spoke to Lathz and the others.

"Huh?" – Right on time, the monster turned its head in Elizabeth's direction and saw the mana around them – "Futile struggle." – It commented before some of its tentacles flashed toward the mages.

– Lathz shouted.

– Olivia's gauntlets shone before she bumped both of her fists and made what looked like a lightning barrier.

The tentacles pierced through it like a hot knife going through butter, however, they briefly become paralyzed due to the lightning property of the barrier.

And that brief moment was more than enough. 

Darlan appeared with two swords set ablaze and cut half of the tentacles with his swords.

Lathz also appeared on the other side and heavily swung her axe down, cutting the tentacles and sending the ones that weren't cut to the ground.

Roxanne blew the remaining ones with her bullets and Diana pinned some on the ground with her arrows.

"Annoy-" – The monster murmured but a kunai hit its face before its whole head twisted and contorted abnormally as a small black hole the size of a golf ball appeared on its head.

"…" – Akihiko jumped away from where he was just in time as several black spear-like things pierced the ground and seemed to melt it into a pitch-black substance.

"Annoying, annoying, annoying, annoying!" – The thing yelled before the number of tentacles increased again – "Stop struggling, you goddamnit bugs!" – Its eyes trembled crazily as the tentacles flashed toward Akihiko.

Akihiko stood still as a pale blue aura enveloped his body.

The tentacles approached like a force of nature, smashing tables, and chairs aside, while almost pulverizing the bodies on the floor.

Akihiko remained calm and waited for it to arrive closer.

The tentacles doubled their speed and in an instant, they invaded his personal space.

'Now.' – Akihiko's figure blurred before fading away, leaving the tentacles to pierce the area where he was and raise a cloud of dust.

Akihiko appeared dozens of meters away from where he was, seemingly out of nowhere. However, he felt a pang of pain in his head, a sign of an incoming headache.

"A sinner with astro affinity…" – The monster calmed down again, further solidifying the guess that it had mood swings – "For such a filth to still exist…" – Its smile was now gone as its eyes changed to a red color.

It then grabbed several of its tentacles and ripped them off of its back before the tentacles combined and formed a long sword – "Be gone." – It slowly swung the sword in Akihiko's direction.

Akihiko's instincts screamed at him to dodge, however, he knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to completely avoid the attack.

Dragging both katanas to his chest, he performed an abnormal move where his upper body lowered further than 90°, making his look like he broke his spine or something close to it..

He then moved his boy slightly to the side and swung both katanas upward with all his strength.

*Clang*

*Boom*

He felt as if he tried to slash a mountain. His katanas managed to parry the first attack but they flew away from his hands while his arms were trembling from the sheer force behind the attack.

However, Akihiko didn't stop, and mustering strength, he threw his upper body back to its normal position while jumping and spinning in the air in an almost impossible manner.

*Swoosh*

The low sound of something passing by made its way to his ears, however, he paid it no mind and accelerated his spin before falling back on the ground and rolling on the blood.

*Swoosh*

Once again, the sound of something passing by was heard.

'This got out of hand.' – He rolled backward and used both arms to propel himself up as a deep gash appeared on the ground where he was an instant ago.

– Darlan called with a serious face.

– Lathz answered. She wanted to help but knew that it was suicide to go near, she couldn't even see the attacks, and the fact that the monster had swung its sword only once but several attacks were shot at Akihiko was a huge red flag to her as a leader.

Nyza, Roxanne, Diana, and Olivia clenched their fists hearing the conversation.

– Suddenly, Elizabeth's voice was heard in their heads, breaking even if slightly, the tense mood. 

Elizabeth's eyes glowed as her face had a serious expression on it.

– She warned before she along with the other mages activated the magic.

Streams of mana condensed around Elizabeth, visible to the naked eye, and a small orange sphere formed on the tip of her finger pointing at the creature.

The sphere which looked more like a dot, further compressed itself, diminishing in size before exploding into a beam, shooting toward the monster.

– Akihiko threw talismans in several directions before jumping away, avoiding yet another attack.

"…" – The monster stopped briefly and looked at the incoming beam – 'Annoying.' – Its mood swung again.

It raised one hand in the beam direction.

However, when the beam was about to hit its hand, the glow in Elizabeth's eyes shone even brighter and a small portal appeared before the beam, which entered it.

"!" – The monster quickly turned around just in time to see a magic circle appearing in the air and the beam passing through it before doubling in size and power.

The monster showed a contorted expression for a moment before its body twisted, creating a large hole in its own chest.

The beam passed through the hole, slightly burning the edges it touched, and went away.

The creature avoided the attack.

However, Elizabeth's expression didn't crumble like the others and she used another magic, further lowering her mana that was starting to run out.

The monster noticed another magic circle appearing near it. However, it felt something moving behind its back.

Akihiko appeared several meters away from the monster, in front of the beam that was still going on.

He raised his left arm and the two snakes in his tattoo moved as their eyes shone.

Akihiko swung his arm in an arc and a portal appeared before the beam. 

However, he went farther and swung his arm back, making the same magic circle Elizabeth made, appear before the portal.

The beam passed through the magic circle, increasing in size before entering the portal.

The monster felt a small sense of danger and turned to look back.

When it took its attention away, a portal appeared near the magic circle floating in the air.

The beam shot from it at incredible speed, hitting the circle and increasing in size and power yet again.

"Wha-" – The monster belatedly noticed it and turned back just for the beam to pierce its chest, ripping its whole upper body off before it could react.

*Boom*

The beam collided with the ground and exploded, raising a big curtain of dust in the hallway.

Everyone unconsciously held their breaths.

The people from the Cathedral took advantage of this moment and healed the mages since some of them were showing signs of mana depletion.

"Did we get it?" – Eric asked, just to be hit on the shoulder by Melissa.

"Stop raising flags." – She reprimanded him before turning to look back at the scene.

– Akihiko's answer, however, broke their small hope an confirmed what they already knew but didn't want to accept.

As if on cue, the cloud of dust dispersed, revealing the monster casually attaching its upper body back to the lower one.

'Goddamnit 7-star monster.' – Melody cursed in her mind before using her bio-system to try to contact her instructor.

"Enough playing around." – The monster's mood swung once again and it became calm.

It then turned to Akihiko who now had his left arm bleeding but still usable.

"You are a potential danger, so obediently die." – The monster's tentacles froze before disconnecting from its back and morphing into black javelins floating in the air.

The javelins then flew toward Akihiko like homing missiles.

Akihiko's figure blurred before fading away, letting several javelins hit nothing as he appeared meters away from where he was.

*Rip*

However, as soon as he appeared on the top of a table, he lost balance briefly.

His left leg was gone. A javelin tore it off as soon as he appeared.

'This is getting too difficult.' – He commented inwardly while forcing his muscles to stop the bleeding.

The javelins changed direction and flew toward him again at high speed.

However, suddenly everything stopped.

#%#$$¨%&%#&%*%$%¨%

!#@ W3're I34v1ng #¨%$&

!@#!$#%#$&¨*&%¨*¨&%#$

A strange voice that sounded more like a broken radio echoed through the hall, freezing everyone on the spot.

And a huge red eye opened on the ceiling.

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