Chereads / The Sacred Frontier / Chapter 26 - Act I Chapter XXVI

Chapter 26 - Act I Chapter XXVI

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Ulvala, Gray Phoenix Tower, 50 Floors, Time: 11:40 AM

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Ludwig and Angel clashed with each other, "It's such a dirty thing for you to use someone else to fight for you."

Ludwig had better strength than her as he pushed her down and started to stomp on her armor, creating a crack.

Mianne felt a sharp pain in her chest as if her ribs were getting stomped on. 'I can't keep Angel in the field forever; my magic is linked to my soul. If she can't get out of this, then...'

Mianne's thoughts were cut off as she coughed out blood, holding her stomach in pain.

Ludwig continued to stomp on Angel, laughing like a maniac.

Angel opened her palm, and a lance magically appeared, thrusting into Ludwig's shoulder.

"Damn! Flyer fire!" Ludwig stumbled back, allowing Angel to get off the floor.

"Graar..." Swamp Purger decided to give James a final attack. It finished setting up its attack, and a giant pool of swamp water appeared below Swamp Purger, with a massive fluid sac rising.

"Holy shit..." James didn't know what to do in this situation. '

I could use Solar again, but it might consume a lot of my energy...' James thought to himself, seeing the fluid sac in its full size.

It was massive, the looming shadow covering the entire tower.

Swamp Purger transformed into a giant hand-like vine, ready to swing the sac at him.

"HOLY SHIT." Ludwig realized the looming shadow and quickly ran toward the railing to avoid getting soaked by the attack.

"Ah! Screw it! I'm using it!" James said as he prepared his halberd behind him. His halberd lit up with giant flames. The fluid sac came closer, and James readied himself for his ultimate move.

"Solar." James's eyes turned orange as the sun somehow appeared behind him. He swung his halberd diagonally, creating a massive slash.

The intense heat instantly burned the mud water.

"HAAAAGH!" James roared as he dashed to the sky, getting closer to Swamp Purger before swinging his orange halberd at it.

Swamp Purger looked James directly in the eye. It was the eye of a future ruler.

"Gr...aar..." Swamp Purger took the attack as James dropped down to the floor with a smile on his face.

"I did it..." James giggled, struggling to stand up after using his strongest attack. "Wait, Mianne!"

James looked toward her; she was struggling with Ludwig's attack as she dodged his cutlass.

"Mianne, I'm coming..." James smelled something burned as he turned around to see Swamp Purger standing in a charred state.

Swamp Purger reached toward James and started to turn transparent. "You...the new overlord..."

"I got no time to deal with you!" James said in anger as he prepared to swing at Swamp Purger.

The eldritch decided to jump into James, disappearing inside him. James was confused about what just happened.

"Did it just go inside me, or was I imagining things?" James's question stopped as he heard a voice in his head.

"What? Who are you?" James said to himself, unsure if he was going crazy. Perhaps he could ask Ezra about it.

"Use the rune in my hands?" James looked at his hand. The rune now resembled the eldritch creature and felt somewhat sticky.

James decided to follow the voice's commands and collided both the rune and his weapons together.

"SWAMP PURGER."

The rune resonated, announcing itself, as James could hear a symphony.

His right arm started to transform. Vines and thorns covered his halberd, tightening around it.

The halberd's color changed to dark green, with an apple-like charm dangling from the thorns.

His right arm became a mix of dark green and yellow amphibian armors, and the pauldron bore a swamp tree symbol.

"What..." James was in absolute awe at what had just happened. Did that thing give him a new power?

"Hey, if you are listening to this, thank you..." James muttered to himself, but nothing replied, making him seem crazy.

"Mianne! I'm coming!" James said as he rushed toward Ludwig, who probably went back to attack Mianne.

"W-Woah!" On his way, he accidentally summoned a bunch of vines, which captured Ludwig's left arm.

"What?!" Ludwig realized his arm was constricted by a vine. In his attempt to loosen the vine, Mianne hit him right in the face with her staff.

"It's either I am so confused, or I am having a bad case of fever." Mianne was now totally confused. First, an eldritch appeared, and now James somehow had its powers.

"What?! Impossible, you beat it?!" Ludwig yelled in anger as he was pulled toward James.

James prepared himself as Ludwig staggered a bit. "Come at me." James taunted, angering Ludwig.

"You are just a bunch of weeds! Vlam Reis!" Ludwig's cutlass turned into an orange-like flame and pointed at James, creating a barrage of orange lasers.

James decided to rush toward him and swung his halberd repeatedly. Ludwig's attacks weren't doing anything as James easily made them get soaked and dissolved in the air. As he got close enough, he swung at Ludwig.

"Marsh of Sink!" James swung his halberd in an X-shaped manner, flinging Ludwig away and covering him in a mud substance.

"I will make sure you will no longer threaten this world," James said with a serious expression on his face.

Ludwig's back broke the railing behind him as he slowly got up, "Okay...I should- Ah, goddammit, this is gross." Ludwig wiped the mud off his shoulder.

"Well, I finally got a challenge..." Ludwig decided to do something as he pulled his arm back; an energy started to form around both of his hands.

"Let's see if you can survive this! Vlammenwerper!" Ludwig released the energy on both of his hands as he created a fiery beam toward James.

"Wetland Defense!" James raised a bunch of vines around him, preparing to defend himself as the beam hit him head-on.

Mianne covered her eyes, distancing herself between both of them. "JAMES!" She yelled out in worry as the smoke engulfed her.

"Ha! You think that new power-up could even stand against me-" Ludwig's eyes bulged out of his skull as he looked at the aftermath.

The vine wall in front of James seemed to be only charred a bit as he lowered them back down to the ground.

"Woo, I'm beat. So you wanna try again?" James smirked confidently as Ludwig lunged at him with an angry expression.

Ludwig tried to attack with his cutlass, but he was slapped away by a vine.

"OW MY FUCKING NOSE!" Ludwig's nose now bore a scar line over it.

"Huh, guess I need to learn more about this..." James was amazed by his newly acquired power.

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