Ch.69 Luo Nan, You Can Do It
"Starfall Sword Art, Fifth Form: Falling Star!"
‘Falling Star?’
Luo Nan's mind snapped back to the technique na Anya had called out. It was one of the sword forms belonging to the Chosen Hero Anya Sivans in The Shining Myriad Trails — the Starfall Sword Art comprised seven forms and one ultimate finishing move, a growth-type sword technique that accompanied the Chosen Hero throughout the entire main storyline from beginning to end.
And the Fifth Form: Falling Star fell under the category of ‘finishing strike’ techniques, its power determined by the difference in elevation between the wielder and the target at the mont of impact.
"So this is that legendary sword art that strikes down from the heavens?"
Knowing full well the force of this technique, Luo Nan imdiately leapt backward, leaving only Jeraf Goldenhamr — who had already transford into a black cocoon — behind.
Boom!!!
The crimson sword radiance drove straight into the black cocoon, and the girl channeled her sword energy outward, triggering a shockwave in the shape of a teor crater with the cocoon at its center.
The force of the blast tousled the girl's sideburns and high ponytail, her resolute golden eyes and graceful, heroic brows framing one another perfectly.
"Say what you will about this fellow's intelligence — as the true heroine of The Shining Myriad Trails, her looks are simply beyond reproach. Especially that kind of beauty, full of steadfast resolve."
Luo Nan offered this brief internal critique.
Crack, crack……
Although the black cocoon had proactively hardened its outer defenses upon taking Anya's sword strike, faced with the true protagonist's assault, hairline fractures still began to spread across its surface.
"Is it about to……" Luo Nan redirected his power into his five senses, carefully observing the cocoon's movents.
"Not good — Anya, get clear, whatever is inside is going to break out ahead of schedule!"
Hearing Luo Nan's warning, Anya flowed with the cue, drew her sword back, twisted sideways and leapt away, clearing the danger zone in the instant before the black cocoon shattered.
Crack……
The black cocoon split apart, and the 'thing' within revealed its true form.
'It' was pitch black from head to toe, possessing only an upper torso, yet bearing six arms. 'It' shook the viscous black fluid from its body and raised that jet-black, featureless face — absent of all five senses — in the direction of Luo Nan and Anya.
"!!!"
An alien, grating howl poured forth from the blood-gold fissure that split open across its face.
Luo Nan felt his mind lurch, as though his very soul were on the verge of being torn to shreds.
"What the hell — did this thing crawl up out of the Abyss itself?!"
"This is what a Secondary Priest of 'Nature' summons by sacrificing himself completely? That level of power…… it must be equivalent to Tier Three, right?"
Without another mont's hesitation, Luo Nan reached into his coat and pulled out a large fistful of Purifying Light crystals. Giving not a single thought to the fact that these crystals could purchase several properties in the Upper District, he activated the entire handful simultaneously and hurled them all outward.
Blinding radiance instantly drove back the dense Black Mist and completely engulfed 'it' where it crawled along the ground.
However, the situation did not unfold as Luo Nan had anticipated. In less than a mont, the Black Mist that had been repelled surged back to cover the entire battlefield. When the light faded, 'it' was covered in golden radiant fractures — but the black fluid welling up from within was slowly nding its wounds.
"Such…… desecration!"
At that mont, the voice of the holy knight — no, the Sacred Knight Tanya — ca rushing in from a distance and closing fast. The knight's entire body was now etched with Sacred Spirit Inscriptions, radiance blazing from her in a roaring surge. She held a shield wrought entirely of holy light in her left hand, a warhamr streaming with brilliant light in her right, and brought it crashing straight down onto 'its' head.
The warhamr plunged into 'its' skull without any resistance, and black viscous fluid splattered in all directions.
'It' stalled for just a fraction of a mont.
"It's not enough — Miss Tanya, your attack isn't working!"
Through his Magic-Sight, Luo Nan could observe that the Abyssal energy surrounding 'it' was still flowing, and beginning to slowly coil its way toward Tanya.
"My turn!"
Anya once again ca charging in with her sword, the silver sword light arcing like the moon, cleaving through the jet-black torrent.
The two ladies coordinated with each other, locked in close-quarters combat with 'it,' and for a mont neither side could gain the upper hand.
"Strange…… this Abyssal creature is surprisingly weak — can it really be challenged above one's tier? Or is Anya's protagonist's halo suppressing it?"
"No — it's just toying with the two of them!"
Luo Nan observed that although 'its' current state appeared dire, through his Magic-Sight the Abyssal energy on its body had not weakened in the slightest — on the contrary, it was gradually coiling itself completely around both won.
"No, that isn't toying with them…… it's a kind of caution, like a cat with a mouse. And even……"
Luo Nan's pupils contracted sharply. "Fear? Is that a sliver of fear? It's afraid — could it be afraid of the Chosen Hero's fortune that rests upon Anya?!"
Sothing was wrong.
"Anya, Miss Tanya — pull back imdiately, the Abyssal energy on this thing is eroding you both!"
With that, Luo Nan once again produced a fistful of Purifying Light crystals and threw them toward the center of the battlefield.
"What Abyssal energy?"
Anya didn't fully understand what Luo Nan ant in that instant, but she still instinctively followed his instruction and began falling back.
The Sacred Knight Tanya, however, was not so fortunate. As the bearer of the holy light power that 'it' despised above all else, Tanya had been the primary target of 'its' assault from the start. Even upon hearing Luo Nan's warning, she could not extract herself from the encirclent of 'its' six arms.
Thud —!!!
In an unguarded mont, Tanya took a direct heavy strike from 'it' — the jet-black arm drove straight into the Sacred Knight's midsection, and vast tendrils of darkness spread across her body in its wake.
Tanya's expression contorted, all strength draining from her body in an instant. She could not stop herself from dropping to one knee, and from there 'its' massive palm seized hold of her, hurled her with full force, and her entire body crashed into the Black Mist far away — unconscious.
"Miss Tanya!"
Luo Nan bit down hard. 'Its' offensive had just erupted with sudden ferocity, as though an infant had beco an adult in a single heartbeat. Neither Luo Nan nor Anya had managed to react in ti before the Sacred Knight had been beaten out of the fight.
Having dealt with the 'light-aligned pest' it found so detestable, that featureless face turned toward the only remaining threat on the field — the 'sinner' who had just dealt it severe wounds with her sword technique.
As for the other one, the fellow who clearly had no real power — it intended to save him for last.
Besides, it had already sealed this entire area. Nothing here could escape.
Having made its decision, it opened the blood-gold fissure once more — stretching from its crown all the way down to its jaw — and pitch-black desecration began to condense within.
"!!!!"
Eerie ripples radiated outward, enveloping Anya in an instant.
"What……" Anya felt her movents beco sluggish and heavy, like wading through tar. She let out a fierce cry, pushing her Tier Two Battle Aura to its absolute limit, attempting to break free of the binding.
But the eerie ripples were like a maggot burrowed into bone — they crushed her power down with unyielding force, leaving her unable to move a single inch.
Within Anya's resolute golden eyes, for the very first ti, there appeared clearly reflected: shock, a flash of helpless, wrongfooted panic, and the deep, bone-level sense of powerlessness that ca from a body frozen in place by an invisible force.
That sight……
Luo Nan's heart lurched violently.
Anya's expression in this mont — desperate yet unyielding — slowly overlapped with a scene from the deepest recesses of his mory.
The sa powerlessness. The sa desperate corner, crushed under a force far beyond all reckoning.
"Again…… again. Watching helplessly, and unable to do a single thing……"
The deepest wound and regret he had always tried to bury beneath the outer shell of a 'degenerate noble' — it was torn open raw and bleeding in this mont.
'Is it because of ……' The thought surfaced unbidden.
'If I hadn't insisted on getting involved in this matter, Anya should have been growing stronger along a safe trajectory, shouldn't she? And Tanya wouldn't be lying here gravely injured. I'm the one who dragged them into this quagmire that has far exceeded all expectations.'
"Cheat Device Miss?"
[Critical Fate Node detected. Please choose with care.]
"Another Critical Fate Node?" Luo Nan's voice was slightly dry. "The last one concerned
directly — that was one thing. But this ti…… what can I even do?"
[Luo Nan, you can do it.]
"What? Cheat Device Miss, what did you say?" That voice was like a single thread of light appearing suddenly in the dark.
[Follow your heart, and make your choice.]
"Follow my heart……"
Luo Nan looked at Anya, bound and immobile. The unyielding expression on that face overlapped with the final, gentle warmth in his mother's face from mory — and then shattered.
He shook his head, his voice carrying a touch of self-deprecating hoarseness.
"I trust that the 'Chosen Hero' won't fall so easily. But…… when all is said and done, it was I who brought her into this place of danger. What if? If that one-in-ten-thousand probability falls on her, it's one hundred percent destruction. I can't…… go through that again."
"Cheat Device Miss…… do you really think I can do it?"
[Luo Nan, you can do it.]
The Cheat Device Miss's voice was clear and resolute, without a single tremor — yet it carried a force that brooked no doubt.
"I can? On what basis? On this laughable supernatural power of mine that I've only just barely stepped into?"
[Luo Nan, you can do it.]
A third ti.
Three tis in a row.
Like three strikes of a heavy hamr, it shattered the very last trace of retreat and hesitation within his heart.
That's right. Even if only to ensure he never repeated the sa mistake,
Even if only to live up to those words — "you can do it,"
Even if only for the sake of that despairing world without its 'Hero' — the one he never, ever wanted to see.
He had to try.
"Is that so…… Well, if even the Cheat Device Miss says so, then naturally I have to give it a go. Who knows — maybe afterwards it'll be easier to attach myself to Anya's coattails."
Luo Nan forced out a grin — a little wild, tinged with sothing like release.
"After all, she's the Chosen Hero. She can't fall here. The world is still waiting for her to save it!"
"If she dies, whether it's this world, or the Cheat Device Miss — it would be quite a problem, wouldn't it?"
[……]
With that spoken, a fla that was almost tangible ignited in Luo Nan's eyes. Battle Aura was wrung from every cell in his body with ferocious intensity — compressed, surging outward in a torrent — and it was as though the faint rumble of a thunderstorm echoed through the air.
"Thunderflash Step — activate!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)