The Beginning After The End Chapter 188

Chapter 188

Chapter 188: Dragon Steps

“You gotta do better than that, young general,” Buhnd grinned, wagging his finger.

Infusing fire into the mini gales of wind I had in my palms, I prepared to try and hit the dwarven elder once more when a barrage of wind orbs hailed down from above.

With a click of my tongue, I ignored Buhnd’s provocation and focused my attention on Camus’s assault. I easily dodged the orbs of wind until the ground beneath my feet rose and stiffened around my leg, rendering immobile.

One of the wind orbs nicked in the shoulder, but it felt like I had been hit by a cannonball.

I held back the need to curse and just gritted my teeth through the pain.

That’s how you want to play.

My initial reaction was to raise up a wall of earth or ice in hopes to block Camus’ barrage, but through these past few days, I’ve been constantly trying to think of better ways to combat certain situations.

This oftentis ant running variou scenarios and trying to think of multiple ways around it while taking into account cost of mana and physical stamina.

The orbs of wind felt almost solid, but it was actually a whirlwind packed into a sphere. Tossing out my usual response of erecting a solid wall in hopes to deter the wind spell, I enveloped my arms in condensed gales of wind.

Rather than trying to block the attack, I used my wind gauntlets to redirect the wind orbs. As I expected, the clash of winds propelled Camus’ spheres in different directions.

“You both are going to have to do better than that,” I smirked, aiming the wind gauntlets down. With another thought, I shot my gauntlets at the stone cast trapping my legs to the ground.

“Interesting concept,” Camus said approvingly as he remained floating above in a swirl of wind.

“That cockiness will be the death of you,” Buhnd added with an eager smile.

The old dwarf began running toward as chunks of the ground began congregating around him, forming an armor of stone mid-charge. anwhile, Camus kept his distance and prepared another spell.

I expected another barrage of wind from the elf but instead, a gale ford right behind the dwarf, abruptly accelerating his charge so that his stone fist was in range before I could blink.

Buhnd was fast but I still had ti to react—or so I thought.

When I tried to raise my arm to block his augnted fist, I was t with resistance. Again, the familiar sensation of my body being subrged in a viscous liquid washed over .

Camus, while accelerating Buhnd’s movent, was also increasing the air pressure around to slow down.

Before I could break out of his spell, my face was t with the loving touch of Buhnd’s giant stone fist.

My vision flashed black for a split second and I found myself on the ground with Buhnd’s stone-clad form just a few feet away.

Ignoring the high-pitched ringing in my ear, I forced myself to focus. The gears in my mind whirred into overdrive and I found myself thinking about the crevices that ford in the ground whenever Buhnd sparred. Every ti he was t with a physical attack, a crater ford beneath his feet as if a teor had collided.

At first, I thought it was the force of the spells that caused the ground to cave below Buhnd but I knew it wasn’t as simple as that.

“Try to block this!” Buhnd exclaid, raising a rock arm in the air. The stone that made up the thick armored fist shifted and convulsed as if it was coming to life. Buhnd’s stone-clad arm soon changed shape into that of a giant hamr twice his size.

A rush of wind coated the hamr as it was about to drive down into .

If that hits , I’m done for sure.

The mories of the craters Buhnd had ford continued to flash in my mind when it suddenly clicked.

Still laying on the ground, I raised a hand directly in the path of the giant hamr. I augnted my body but not in the protective way I normally did. Instead, I envisioned a tunnel-like path of earthen mana both inside and outside of my body.

I spotted a trace of hesitation on Buhnd’s face but there was no way for him to stop his attack now that it was just inches away from .

If this doesn’t work, I’m going to be in a lot of pain, I thought.

The hamr struck my palm like a nail and I could feel my whole body protest. Normally, if I attempted to block that strong of an attack with just a hand, my arm would’ve shattered, but instead, the ground below took the force.

I found myself in the epicenter of a crater the size of my room with my hand still stretched out. My arm, shoulder, ribs and back felt sore, but I had succeeded.

Buhnd, still wearing his armor of stone, looked down at in disbelief until a smile crept up on his bearded face. “You’re a bit scary, General.”

I stifled a laugh, attempting to get up off my back when a surge of pain rushed up.

I lied. It wasn’t just my a few parts of my body that felt sore, it was every fiber of my body.

“O-Oww,” I croaked, finally succeeding in sitting up.

Buhnd dispersed his earthen armor and stuck out a burly hand. “It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Extrely,” I admitted. “You made it look like nothing.”

“Well, I have better control over that technique than you do, and I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and divert the force of an attack that strong in the first place,” the dwarf replied. He tried to straddle my arm over his shoulder, except, my legs were awkwardly dragging on the ground due to our differences in height.

“Here, let help,” Camus said as he floated down to the ground. An updraft lifted up to my feet as Camus dipped his head below my other arm.

“I was just about to carry the boy like the princess he is.” Buhnd gave a wink.

Rolling my eyes, I leaned on Camus. “Leave with so dignity.”

“You took a risk, but I’m guessing it was worth it?” Camus scoffed, his eyes still covered behind his bangs.

“For now, yes, but we’ll see how my body feels about this tomorrow morning,” I groaned, limping alongside the elf.

My sister ca running to , her gaze laced with concern. “Are you okay? I an, I know you’re strong and all but that was a big crater you just made.”

Emily, who was following behind my sister, adjusted her glasses as she peered out at the sparring zone. “Luckily the crater didn’t reach the disks underground.”

“Thanks for your concern, Ellie,” I smiled wearily before turning my gaze to my assistant close behind. “I should be fine, ... right, Alanis?”

Her eyes shifted into its multicolored hue for a second before turning back to its original colors. “The shock disrupted your mana flow, which is the cause of your internal pains. I suggest you get so rest, General Arthur.”

“Good idea,” Buhnd agreed. “I rember my first attempts in trying the force diversion spell. You’re lucky to have gotten away with just so soreness.”

“Or skilled,” my sister pointed out smugly.

Buhnd laughed. “Or skilled.”

“Hester and Princess Kathyln are away visiting Prince Curtis at Lanceler Academy anyway,” Camus ntioned, carefully setting down.

“Ooh, I can just imagine the eyes of those would-be knights glistening with sweat when they see the princess,” Emily sighed. “I should’ve gone with her.”

My sister nodded wistfully. “ too. I heard from my friend that a lot of the guys there are good looking... and toned.”

“Eleanor! You’re only twelve!” I sputtered.

“Don’t ‘Eleanor’ ! I’m a curious lady isolated from the world because of my distinguished upbringing of being the cherished sister of this continent’s youngest lance!” she lanted, wiping away a nonexistent tear.

Emily fell into a fit of laughter while even Alanis looked amused as I stared at my sister.

“Don’t be so overprotective! I had my first wife when I was your sister’s age,” Buhnd snorted.

“Well humans and dwarves have different societal standards for these kinds of things,” I protested.

“Ooh, you’re being racist, Brother.” My sister shook her head disapprovingly as Buhnd clutched at his heart in mock despair. anwhile, Camus and Alanis had a look of amusent but neither seed to have any intentions of backing up.

I clicked my tongue. “Well, Lady Eleanor, I’m sure the boys will be flocking toward you knowing that your brother can choose to wipe them off the face of the continent with a flick of his finger.”

Ellie’s face paled as she gasped. “You wouldn’t.”

Satisfied with her reaction, I simply shrugged, letting her imagination take over before making my way to the edge of the training room.

I took a seat against the cold wall, taking a breath as I watched Emily and my sister pack so of the training equipnt while Buhnd was talking to Alanis.

Camus sat beside . “Your sister is quite the character.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled.

The old elf let out a sigh. “You must be worried about her with the war going on.”

“She and my parents are a big part of why I’m a part of this war,” I answered staring blithely at the sight of my sister and Emily laughing amidst their conversations.

“Understandable,” Camus replied. “Protecting your loved ones is the biggest motivator for soldiers out in battle, but it’s also the loss of the one you want to protect that causes soldiers to stray away.”

“It sounds like speak from experience,” I said seriously, turning my gaze to him.

“An old story for another ti, but yes. It’s the reason why I remained in seclusion for so long.”

I blinked. “But Virion ntioned you’re the head of a unit now?”

“An empty title. After I lost my wife and my vision during the last war, I had no intention of ever fighting again,” he muttered. “Before this, I just gave my inputs to the acting head.”

“Wait. Your vision?” I repeated, my brows furrowed in confusion.

Camus lifted his silver-blonde bangs to reveal two closed eyes with a jagged scar running through both lids.

“Hold on. You’re telling you weren’t able to see this entire ti?” I blurted, unable to take my gaze off of him.

“Surprised?” the elf smirked, letting his bangs fall back over his face.

“Of course I’m surprised. We’ve been training for a few weeks together and not once did I suspect anything. I an aside from your combat prowess, your mannerisms and behavior don’t give away the fact that you can’t see.”

“I can still see,” he corrected. “Seeing with your eyes is such a plebian practice when your control over wind allows you to sense even the smallest change around you.”

I let out a sharp breath, amazed. After a mont of silence, I asked, “Is that what you’ve been practicing after retiring?”

“It definitely took a large part of my ti,” he scoffed.

“I-I bet,” I nodded, wondering if he could tell what I was doing.

“At my level, sensing the movent in air from you nodding is easy,” he said as if reading my mind. “But I can’t see the details of expressions, which is why I’ve been told I can co off as rude or crass.”

“I see—no pun intended,” I quickly corrected.

“Don’t be so mindful. I’ve co to terms with it fairly quickly,” he dismissed.

I hesitated. “Do you... ever miss it?” Of course he’d miss it, you dolt. Who wouldn’t miss having one of their senses.

“At tis,” he said mildly. “But at the sa ti, the fact that the last thing I saw with my eyes was my wife allows to keep her intact inside .”

Do not cry, Arthur. Do not cry.

“That’s sad but... sweet,” I mustered, struggling to keep my voice from trembling. “I’d love to hear your story soti.”

“You’re young, General Arthur. Nothing good cos out of hearing tragic stories when there’s a whole war ahead of you,” Camus replied, clearing his throat. “Now off you go. Get so rest and co back tomorrow with a fresh mind.”

I carefully got up to my feet. “Okay... I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Camus waved directly at , no signs that his vision was impaired. “And if I get a whiff of you even thinking about going easy on , now that you know, I will knock you down so hard...”

“Don’t worry,” I said shaking my head. “I’m actually a little more scared of you now.”

The elf’s lips curved into a content smile. “Good.”

My sister and her bond followed Alanis and Emily to the artificer’s work station at the castle after ntioning that her bow needed so repairs and fine tuning. My training assistant had been gathering extensive notes on a daily basis during the training but had refused to share them with .

Alanis said that the training was going the way she had designed and any more information shared with might deter my training at this point. She promised to reveal her findings on my mana flow growth next week, after more data from Emily’s artifacts has been gathered.

Walking down the empty hall during the dead of night these days have been a ti for my own thoughts to wander. I thought a lot about the mories of my past life that have been resurfacing which made think deeper about the even bigger question of what I was doing in this world.

My skeptical self refused to believe that all of this was a coincidence but I had nowhere near enough information to find out how I ca to this world or dinsion.

I knew that the asuras, mainly Lord Indrath, knew more about than he had shared, but I’d get any sort of answers from him without sothing in return. I had so hope that if Dicathen ca out of this war victorious, Lord Indrath would be more inclined to share so insights about , but that was only a hope. A more sure way to get so answers, and also the reason why I refused to accept the artifact given to lances, was by surpassing the white core stage to unlock more of the ssage that Sylvia had left after we had parted ways.

Hopefully, extracting the mana out of Uto’s horn will lead to my breakthrough into the white core stage, I thought, doubtful. Sylvie had been in a near comatose state as she hungrily extracted the mana out of her horn. I had been worried at first, but I could feel the relaxed state of her mind through ntal transmission.

Unlocking and opening the door to my room, however, I found myself questioning my earlier line of thought.

Sylvie, or rather her silhouette, was glowing in an obsidian light. What shocked , though, was that her form was shifting erratically. Her wings grew and shrunk suddenly while her tail convulsed before contracting. Sylvie’s small vulpine limbs elongated while her paws stretched out into sothing that vaguely resembled a... hand.

“S-Sylvie?” I muttered, unsure whether to try and hold her or keep so distance.

After what seed like an hour, the erratic changes in my bond’s body slowed down before gradually shifting back to her vulpine form.

Holding my breath, I waited for Sylvie to do sothing—anything.

Just then, her eyes shot open to reveal two clear orbs of topaz. Letting out a deep breath, Sylvie tilted her head. “Arthur? What’s wrong?”

“With ?” I asked. “Nothing... Are you okay?”

“What do you an?” she replied, obviously confused.

“You—your body was changing.” I motioned with my hands, unable to form an accurate depiction of what I witnessed.

“I’m fine,” she dismissed. “I actually feel really good! The mana in this horn is really potent.”

I scratched my head. “Well at least you’re making so progress. I’ve been having a hard ti absorbing the mana.”

“Really? The mana has been flowing inside naturally—almost like it was my own mana.”

I was perplexed by the difference between Sylvie’s progress and mine, but my fatigue overpowered any notion of investigating deeper into it. “All right, well try and get so rest.”

My bond shook her little head. “No need. I can get by with fewer hours of sleep than lessers, more so while absorbing this mana actually.”

I fell flat on my bed. “Well this lesser needs his sleep. I suspect I won’t even be able to co back up tomy room over the next few weeks for training so I need to relish the feeling of this bed while I can.”

“I can feel that your training is going well,” my bond said. “I can feel the level of your strength rising steadily.”

“Mhmm. With my training progressing how it is, I should be able to hit white core soon if I can extract the mana from Uto’s horn,” I mumbled drowsily.

“That’s great,” Sylvie replied, her clear voice lulling into sleep. “Get so rest.”

“You... too,” I managed to say before drifting off to sleep.