Chapter 30: 126
If Incus couldn’t defeat them with ExcaliBurn, there was no reason for
to waste my mana expenditure against these shadows.
Deflecting a thrust from a spear, Alleus quickly slashed upward at the shadow. However, the attack did nothing. Where a giant wound should have been, there was instead just darkness.
"Don’t try to kill them, just push them back!"
"W-what about us?" Vertere shakily held his wand.
Deflecting a blade out of the way and countering with a back kick, I grit my teeth.
"Use spells that block attacks when I tell you to cast. Lieur, be our eyes and tell us if anything alarming happens."
I was just a little bit stronger than these shadows. It seed that they not only copied appearances and weapons but stats as well.
However, it appeared that the shadows would rge whenever there was soone stronger than them.
Pushing a shadow away by kicking it when Alleus deflected its attack, I licked my dry lips.
"There’s just no end to these guys."
"Captain, Incus is battling about ten copies of herself!"
Damn it. This might be a plot point where the kingdom of Jansoara falls. Was Incus telling the king about killing the kingdom and moving to a different one foreshadowing?
If so, then our battle here really was pointless.
Being overwheld, our army was being slaughtered left and right. The shadows were using guerrilla hit-and-run tactics. It seed they were gaining intelligence. Looking through the shadows, I saw one commanding the others.
It was .
The one commanding the army of shadows was a copy of . No wonder the tactics they were using felt familiar. They were all battle tactics that I had read.
As I was looking at, well, myself, he grabbed a shadow, and another version of
was being conjured.
Making eye contact, the newly made
lunged forward through the crowd.
Blocking an overhead sword strike from , my muscles groaned.
I really should be more proud of myself. My strength was impressive. But there was no ti for self-gloating. I still had to face off against an advanced swordsman.
"Alleus, cover ."
"Hold on, isn’t that you—?"
Lunging forward, I ducked under a slash and countered with a horizontal slash to the shadow’s legs.
Jumping over my attack, it spun in the air and kicked toward my head.
Barely blocking it in ti with the flat face of my steel blade, I jumped back.
Walking toward my shadow, disregarding the chaos around
as Alleus fought off other shadows trying to intervene, she had taken off her eyepatch, so her effectiveness in assisting
was imnsely increased.
Letting out a cold breath, I slashed at myself.
Deflecting my attack, our swords slamd and scraped against each other.
Focus. I must focus more.
This wasn’t a battle of grit but a battle of wit. Because shadows didn’t seem to be accumulating any damage, I couldn’t rely on trying to outlast the battle. The wounds inflicted on
shed blood.
I must focus even more, even if my eyes get dry or sting from the sweat on my face. I didn’t dare to blink. Every single movent, step, and second mattered. Whoever chose the better attack to use within the mont would win.
"Go down, you handso thing!" My shadow mimicked the motion of my mouth.
Deflecting a slash to the side and slamming my sword into the ground, I thrust a kick toward its chest, pushing it back.
Broadening my vision, the number of people remaining in the kingdom’s army had heavily decreased.
"Damn it..."
In the not-so-far distance, Steinen was helping the front liners by slamming his giant hunk of steel against the shadows. Not even his sheer strength could defeat them. And Incus was flying through the air, trailed by clones of herself.
Glancing over at my party, Alleus was sweating from combat. Her eye was bleeding. She was also battling a copy of herself.
Dragging myself to her, I pushed Alleus into the vanguard and joined her.
"Pull back, Vertere. Put up a barrier."
Regaining my breath, I pulled out a recovery potion and gulped it down.
Slamming against the water do, soldiers from the kingdom’s army yelped.
"Please let
in!"
"Don’t be greedy, you son of a bitch!"
Gently stabbing them through the chest and pushing them off to the side, Alleus’ shadow copy as well as mine stood just outside, watching us.
"I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help, captain..."
Getting into a more comfortable position, I shook my head.
"No, it’s just a bad day."
"Vertere, how long can you hold up the barrier?"
Pausing for a mont, he gave
a serious look.
"I’ve reinforced the water with extra mana, so it should hold up pretty long—"
Slamming against the do of water, the shadows began climbing on top of each other.
Soon we were covered in darkness.
"Can you cast any spells that can make this place any brighter?" Alleus asked.
"...No, sorry. But I can try sothing."
The sounds of shadows banging grew louder.
"Frost do... Shatter."
The atmosphere then turned cold, and then the barrier shattered. The shadows fell on top of us.
"Why did you do that—?" I frowned.
"Water blast and tidal wave...!" An explosion and a giant wave of water pushed the shadows away.
Looking around, there was practically no one left. Except for Steinen, battling not only his shadow but an entire horde of them. Incus shot out multiple arcs of fire into the air as streaks of lightning painted the crimson sky.
"Partner, did the author write anything of note?"
Looking at the draft, I shook my head.
"No, nothing."
"Water jet tis ten! Stop dawdling, you fools. We need to find a way to stop these fiends." Jets of water then shot around us.
"Put up a barrier now. A shadow of Incus is heading toward us!"
Looking in the direction she was pointing, she was right.
"B-barrier!" A translucent wall made of mana erected in front of us.
However, it was easily broken.
"Water do—!" As water ford into a sphere, it prematurely t its end by Incus’ shadow, who simply punched it, eviscerating the water.
Hovering my hand over the Fire Hero’s Sword, I wanted to pull it out, but what would happen if my clone used it as well?
But this was Incus’ shadow. If we were to engage in combat against it, everything at our disposal must be used.
"Use all of your spells. Just get her away from us!"
Vertere pointed his wand at the shadow as we stood around it. The other shadows around us slowly approached.
"Hydro prison sphere!"
Water engulfed the shadow, keeping it in place. Swiping his wand, Vertere continued with his spells.
"Water jet! Water blast! Water disk! Spiked frost!"
Dropping his arm, he began breathing heavily.
Running toward him, I forced him to drink a mana potion.
"Steady now. How many spells can you do?"
He then lifted up two fingers.
Giving him a nod, I opened my palm.
"Kraken."
"Weee!"
Popping up into my hand, I threw the blob at Lieur.
"You know what to do."
"Yes, captain."
As I reached for another potion, Alleus scread in horror:
"Ring, behind you—!"
Turning my head, a sharp pain entered my lower back and exited through my stomach.
"Blurgh." Blood poured out of my mouth.
Behind
stood the shadow of Incus.
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