I'm very grateful that Avalon is a conceptual power and ability cause if it wasn't then I would be a glorified punching bag for Milim.
It was hard to fight her. Very hard. But it gave me a lot of valuable experience. I had to use everything I had. I was using Torrent of Light continuously and even with being able to foresee attacks and a bit of the future, she would still land a couple of punches on me.
They didn't hurt, but I could feel the power behind them. They did no damage to me, but when she used magic, it did have an effect on me. Not a lot, cause of my resistance, but it still did something. It was quickly healed up with Avalon. As long as I'm in here, I won't die from any damage unless there's another conceptual power that could overpower Avalon.
Enough about that, right now I'm running and dodging multiple blasts of magic from Milim. She's in the air literally raining down a few drago-busters. I felt a little bad about the land around us being destroyed like this, but I knew it could recover easily.
I would try to go up in the air but that would make me easier to hit. I could use Torrent of Light to force myself in one direction, but I'm not risking anything. I'll take the speed and mobility of being on the ground.
Hold on, I have an idea. This might be a bit farfetched, but it could work. It would certainly help with being able to counterattack against all the beams she's shooting at me.
I summon Excalibur and use Torrent of Light. Magicules started surrounding the sword and when I was ready I stopped and planted myself. I looked at an incoming drago-buster and grasped my sword with two hands.
I'm hoping more for the fact that since Excalibur is a divine construct it will be able to do what I want it to do. Those drago-busters should have some stardust, and magicules don't really match up to them, but that shouldn't matter when Excalibur was made by super OP god-like fairies and has some inscriptions on it.
Though it is only legend grade, I can literally "feel" it absorb the surrounding magicules.
As the drago-buster got closer to me, I took Excalibur and swung at the beam. There was a flash of blue and yellow light, but my idea turned out to be right.
The beam was reflected and I must be a natural at baseball because the beam was exactly aimed at her. The beam traveled much faster than it came at me and it made impact with her. There was a large explosion that surrounded her in smoke, but she came out like nothing happened.
I know she could have dodged it, but I'm pretty sure she wanted to experience it herself or something.
"Woah! So that's what my attack feels like!". She got more excited and then proceeded to launch even more drago-busters. I ran around and knocked as many away as I could. Some missed and some hit, but it was doing no damage. The same thing could be said about myself.
This has turned into a glorified baseball game at this point. A very destructive game of baseball, but if it means getting more magicules for my weapons then I'll do what I have to do.
Milim was laughing the whole time. She's probably having a lot of fun fighting someone who can somewhat keep up with her.
"How about this!", Milim said as she changed into her battle form. Her jet-black armor and the horn coming from her forehead only confirmed it.
She started charging up a blue-purple ball and I could feel the pressure and intensity of the magicules. No, that should be stardust.
'Oh come on! Why?! This shouldn't be that serious!'.
I stopped running and decided to try to confront this head-on. If I have to face this attack then I might as well make the most of it.
I got myself ready. I gripped the hilt of Excalibur with two hands in front of me. This will be my first time doing this and I'll have to do this manually. At least there's a massive abundance of magic to help me in this. I have to get it right or else I'm screwed.
I start gathering as much magicules as possible as fast as possible. Magic Manipulation is doing a lot of heavy lifting for me on this. Very quickly a large amount of magicules start surrounding me and my sword. A crater formed underneath me and the grass and flowers around me were being blown as if a hurricane was in the area.
Funnily enough, I had to use more magicules than necessary cause Excalibur was also absorbing some of it. Ok, maybe that's not funny given the situation.
As Milim's ball was getting bigger, the sword beam I was trying to replicate was taking shape as well. This doesn't have all that conceptual stuff, but it should still be good enough…ish.
Yeah no. I must be delusional to think this will work, but at least it's something. The chance for Excalibur to absorb stardust directly can not be missed. This carries a lot of risk, but the reward will be well worth it.
I saw Milim finish charging her ball and she released a massive purple-blue beam towards me.
"Drago-Nova!".
I saw that I would need a lot more magicules, so with a last-ditch effort, I gathered even more magicules not only from the environment but also from myself. I was using more than I could regenerate, but my efforts came to fruition.
A large yellow beam of magicules appeared and with a horizontal swing, I hit the Drago-Nova head-on.
/\\//\\//\
(Outside Avalon)
Rimuru had given up trying to analyze whatever barrier Artoria had set up. Great Sage was giving him no results and the only thing he could come up with was that whatever this barrier was went beyond just magicules and magic.
He was just standing around the cave pacing back and forth. He was anxious about what was happening, but he couldn't really do much. He regrets not being part of the fight to at least witness it, but what's done is done. All he can do now is wait and see what happens.
'This is going to take forever. I can only imagine the destruction they are causing.'
/\\//\\//\
(Meanwhile in Avalon)
It was a desolate sight. The plains that were filled with greenery were now gone. It was now just upturned dirt akin to a wasteland. There was a massive crater that seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. On the bright side, the landscape was slowly recovering, going back to its former glory.
Milim was just sitting down in the crater with a surprised look on her face. Some might call it a bit of shock. She was a bit dirty, but there was no damage done to her.
Artoria on the other hand was lying down in the crater. She looked fine, but the healing from Avalon was the only reason she looked like that. Despite the very grievous wounds she experienced from the attack, which were now healed, she had a giant smile on her face.
She let out a little laugh. The risk paid off. She could hear the Voice of the World talking to her.
{Confirmed. Ultimate Skill: Excalibur, Sword of Promised Victory had been obtained.]
'Another conceptual power to add to my arsenal. I just need to know what it's subskills are. Not like the subskills will be the only things that defines what the skill can do.', Artoria thought to herself.
Artoria looked around the place. She ignored the destruction but instead focused on the surroundings. More specifically, to see if there was a certain fairy or perhaps a certain mage.
'It's safe to say that the Lady of the Lake doesnt exist here. Neither Merlin or his tower maybe. If they did, one of them would have shown up at any point to meet me or to address all this destruction. Well, now that Excalibur has evolved all that's left is Rhongomyniad, but that's for another day. I want to get out of here and drink some sweet tea and eat some food.'.
Artoria got up and was ready to leave, but Milim quickly went up to her.
"Wait! Is it over so soon? I want to keep fighting! I haven't had so much fun before! Can we please play some more?".
I looked around once more. Her definition of "play" is certainly unique.
"Milim, there are more ways to have fun than just fighting. In fact, our town has many things to enjoy. I think you'll find find it very different than where you're from.".
"What! Really!? Show me show me!".
"Calm down a little first. You still need to get familiar with the town and after that, you can enjoy what there is.".
Artoria proceeded to disable the barrier and they reappeared at the cave where they were.
Rimuru was relieved when Artoria seemed to come out in one piece and that Milim seemed to be satisfied with their fight.
"Rimuru, I'll leave her to you. Give her a tour of the town and show her some of the fun stuff. Give her the honey if you want, but I need a drink and a little break.".
/\\//\\//\
Finally. There's nothing like coming home after fighting the daughter of what is basically the god of this world. It was a normal house I was living in until the cathedral was finished. I say "normal", but this is still something more lavish than what is around. I managed to talk them down from building something more grand since I'll just move to another place later.
Anyway, I got nice and comfortable. I let my hair down and changed into some comfy clothes for being at home. I'll let Rimuru handle Milim. I trust he won't do something dumb that will end up with me getting involved in whatever mess he creates.
I went to the kitchen and started serving myself some sweet tea and plate of pastries and sweet bread. Oh actually, I should check on the brisket I have. It's been about 18 hours, so it should be ready. Can't believe I forgot about that.
I'm salivating just thinking about it. Sweet tea, brisket, and pastries? Sign me up. This is probably the best day I've had so far. I got a new ultimate skill from a fight and now I'm ready to eat my 20-pound brisket with some barbecue sauce. This day could not get any better.
After getting my brisket from the grill and unwrapping it, I was in the kitchen ready to chop it up. It looked so out of place 'cause of its size, but it's whatever. It looks so tender and the black char on the outside just looks perfect. I gave it a slap and it wiggled as if it was gelatin. This a pure masterpiece.
I started chopping it all up. I'm going to make some chopped brisket sandwiches with all this and eat it. I chopped it up and made my sandwich some hamburger buns. I put a bit of barbecue sauce on it and ate it.
"Oh yeah, this just how I remember it if not, even better.".
While I was in the kitchen, I heard the door open. I didn't pay any mind to it. I knew it was Shuna who entered since she was the only one who could enter as she pleased. A bit weird saying it like that but that's how it was.
I saw her come into the kitchen and she looked at me and all the food that was laid out on the table.
"Hey, Shuna. You came just in time. Join me.". I told her while I was still eating. I made a bunch of sandwiches while I was at it.
"It seems you're missing something from all this food on the table.".
I looked at the table. Multiple plates of brisket sandwiches, a lot of sweet tea, and some bread and pastries. I don't see anything wrong here.
"I don't see what's missing Shuna. The only thing that is missing is you by my side at this table. Come and eat with me. You'll love this food.".
Shuna sat by my side and started eating with me. I could tell by the way her eyes lit up that she loved the food. Unfortunately, she seemed to call it quits after 4 sandwiches. Of course, I ate the rest. The whole thing. The 20 pounds were gone and all the bread and sweets as well.
After finishing everything, I sat back lazily in my chair. I looked over at Shuna, and thit time she seemed to look at me differently.
"What is it, Shuna?".
"Do you feel fine?".
"I feel perfectly fine. What about you? What happened on your side? I know Shion and Benimaru were probably trying to force their way to fight.".
"That is true. It was fine, though they were the hardest to convince. Souei almost snuck past me, but I caught him just in time. Hakurou was moree understadning. He said that he trusted your skill with the sword. Benimaru and Shion were a little more difficult to hold back, but I got it done. I just told them to have some faith in you.".
"Thank you for that, Shuna. I'm going to take a nap. Feel free to stay and make yourself at home.".
I got up from my chair and went to my bed. I hopped into the bed and covered myself with the blankets. I don't what this bed is made from but it has to be the comfiest I've ever slept on. It would be hard to make this more comfortable.
Just as I was going to nap a little bit, I felt someone get on the bed. I looked over and saw Shuna.
Well, it seems that it could get more comfortable. I turned and hugged Shuna before taking a nap.
I trust Rimuru won't end up doing something dumb that will force me to get involved.
/\\//\\//\
Rimuru was showing Milim around the town after announcing her arrival and how she would be staying for a while. The townsfolk of course praised Rimuru and Artoria for being able to befriend the "Destroyer" even though Artoria wasn't there.
'Where is she? Does taking a drink usually take this long? Or is it taking a long time cause she's chugging a couple of liters of sweet tea? Knowing her, it's probably the latter.".
Rimuru thought to himself while giving Milim a tour of the town. He just finished showing her the training fields where she "played around" with some of the kijin and goblin riders. Needless to say, they got some very thorough training. Hakurou just stood to the side watching all of it unfold with a smile on his face.
Rimuru was going to call it an end but Milim got his attention.
"What is that?", Milim said while pointing to the shooting range Artoria had asked to be built.
"Oh, that's the shooting range. It's a new thing that was built. I haven't used it yet, but it's a place to have fun and unwind a little. Want to check it out?".
"Is it fun?".
"Yeah, it can be. Try it out, maybe you'll find a new hobby or something.".
Rimuru and Milim went to the shooting range and they were a little lucky when they found some loaded revolvers that were left from when Artoria and Shuna had to leave in a hurry.
Rimuru didn't know much about actually shooting one, but he gave it his best. He fired some shots at a target and missed almost all of them. The one he did hit was horribly inaccurate.
'Maybe I should practice a little.'.
[Notice. You can use my assistance to help.]
'I want to do this on my own though. This is more like a hobby, nothing meant for combat.'
He looked over at Milim who was messing around with the revolver a bit. She was being a little clumsy since she hadn't handled a weapon like this before.
Rimuru went over to help and once she got a bit of the basics or as much as Rimuru knew. She also took some shots and the result was about the same as Rimuru. Maybe a little bit worse. Despite having missed a lot of shots, Milim had an excited look on her face.
"Rimuru, what kind of things could you do with these…what are they called?".
"They're called guns and well, you can practice with those targets and you can also…", Rimuru was a little stuck but then he remembered what he saw in movies and TV shows. "You can also duel someone with these.".
'How do you duel with these things?".
"You go up to someone and challenge them to a duel. You can duel for whatever reason you want. Wether it's money, honor, or maybe someone looked at you a little funny. Point is, you can duel someone for anything.".
Milim's face lit up with an opportunistic smile. "Rimuru, I challenge you to a duel! If I win, I want more of that honey!".
Rimuru immediately regretted what he said. "Wait, Milim. You don't even know how it works! How can you duel without knowing the rules?". He tried to get out of it, but he left out one tiny detail.
"You didn't refuse my challenge so that means it's on! You just have to teach me and then we duel!".
'Oh no, what did I do? I'll just go on with it. I don't think she can win anyway. Well. not like I can say anything. I've never done anything like this.'.
"Ok, Milim, but if we do this we have to dress the part.".
Rimuru went ahead and taught Milim about how dueling works in the Wild West style, from the stance to how to quick draw a gun. He even went as far as to ask Great Sage to make a pink cowboy hat with a little dragon logo on the front of the hat. Milim fell in love with it instantly. He went ahead and encouraged it further with some pink cowboy boots as well. It eventually got to the point where her outfit was a cowboy version of what she wore.
Rimuru did the same to himself. He was a little excited. The opportunity to live out a tiny dream or fantasy was at his hands.
"Alright, let's duel now, Rimuru!".
"Fine. But if I win, I want you to tell me who else is going to visit this town.".
Milim was a little taken aback, but when she remembered that she issued the duel and how the rules worked, she got herself together. Besides, she was besties now with Rimuru and Artoria, even if she wasn't there for it, and it would ruin how they thought of her.
They were both at a training field away from anyone else. They stood 20 paces away ready to pull their revolvers. Rimuru wiggled his fingers near his holster. He figured that he might as well copy what he saw on TV. It was the best reference he could get experience from. That and Great Sage was helping him a lot.
Milim stood as still as a rock, hyper-focused on Rimuru. Her hand is also close to her holster. She might have been a newbie, but when she had an opportunity to get more honey, she seemed to turn into someone who looked like she had been in countless duels with years of experience.
The wind blew softly between the two, their hair swaying with the wind. The trees also swayed in the wind, with some of the leaves being blown away.
One lone leaf made its way to the middle of where Rimuru and Milim were standing. It swayed and made a couple of loops before finally making an impact with the ground directly in the middle of Rimuru and Milim.
As soon as it made an impact, with a tacit understanding between them, they both drew their guns and fired. It was a little sloppy from both sides, but they were as equally experienced. Which is not a lot.
Two loud and simultaneous gunshots echoed throughout the area.
Milim's hair swayed a little bit with some strands of her pink hair falling out. A tiny split in one of her pigtails showed where Rimuru's shot had landed. Behind her, a bullet was stuck in a tree.
Rimuru missed.
Rimuru looked down and he saw a bullet land square on his chest. It didn't penetrate, but it was sliding down along with a bit of slime.
Milim hit her shot.
Immediately, Milim started jumping up and down. She was like a kid on Christmas morning. Her serious face was gone in an instant. She had won more honey. Truly a day worth celebrating.
'My gun was faulty. Something was probably wrong with the barrel.', Rimuru thought to himself.
RImuru owned up to his part of the deal and gave Milim some more honey, which she immediately started gobbling with her hands as if she were a bear.
Rimuru, feeling a little bitter about his loss decided that he wanted a bit of revenge. He looked back at the targets in the shooting range and noticed how many bullseyes and perfect shots there were.
If there was one person he knew could do something like that, it was Artoria.
Rimuru went up to Milim, who was still eating her honey, and told her, "Hey, Milim, how was your fight with Artoria? Did you lose?".
"No, I didn't lose. I wo-", Milim was going to say she won, but when she remembered that Artoria survived a Drago-Nova and walked away from it seemingly unharmed she gave it another thought. "A draw! We had a draw.", Milim told Rimuru.
"Well, if you want a win against her, why not challenge her to a duel?".
Milim stopped eating her honey and looked as if the greatest idea in the world struck her like lighting.
"Rimuru, you're a genius! I'll go find her right now!".
"Wait, Milim! Make sure you don't destroy anything!", Rimuru shouted as Milim started flying away.
'I hope Artoria isn't busy or anything right now cause she's going to be in for a surprise.'.