Syl

Chapter 188: Anti-Mages

Despite the dramatic explosion, the dwarf was still barely alive. I had expected a kill notification, but it appeared that [Taunt] reduced my damage a lot more than I realized.

Which means I need to defeat the mirror knight first.

"Kastramri! Why didn’t you reflect the spell!?" The fortress knight screamed in anger.

"That wasn’t a spell!" He defended himself.

Internally, I rapidly created four explosive needles and withdrew them between the fingers of my clenched fist. At the same time, I kept up internal production so that I would have a good supply of needles.

"Looks like she might have some assassin training!" The mirror knight shouted before he smirked. "Not that it will do much against a tank. I’ve got you countered pointy-ears!"

Although I made a throwing gesture with my hands, I was actually utilizing [Slime Shot], which was far faster and more accurate than anything I could try to replicate. The mirror knight brought up his shield, but the reflective glimmer did nothing since it was not a spell.

To my surprise, the needles went straight through the shield and pierced into his armor and flesh. The dwarf uttered an angry and shocked yell moments before I triggered the detonation. Four simultaneous explosions reverberated throughout the tunnel, startling everyone present.

The marksman seemed to have lost her cool, but the geomancer was now trying to skewer me with spires of rock and earth. I dodged the first few before reapplying my [Arcane Shield] and throwing out [Manaburn] to hopefully siphon her resources.

However, that wasn’t enough for me, and I also fired more needles at the geomancer and marksman. I needed to try to deal with them before that damn spellbreaker got back into my face. The marksman took a direct hit, but to my astonishment, my projectiles aimed at the geomancer were intercepted by what looked like floating basalt rocks.

That’s an interesting way to defend yourself. I wonder if it’s a custom spell or something at later levels.

"I can smell the metal in those needles; you won’t trick me!" The geomancer spat right as I detonated all the needles.

Interesting...

I wished I had more time to think and examine what was happening, but I had the mirror knight and spellbreaker engaging me in melee. Seeing the fortress knight still trying to recover the sniper, I knew I needed to take him out.

With two sturdy dwarven bodies blocking me, both designed to counter direct magic, I was forced to reveal one of my secrets. I began casting [Chain Lightning], and both immediately readied themselves to stop me.

I guess their classes allow them to sense Mana or when a spell is being cast. It’s too bad for you; I’m not casting the spell directly.

I fired the spell after moving the anchor point directly above the fortress knight, who was administering a potion. The bolt of surging lightning Mana struck him directly and then began to bounce back and forth between him and his patient.

The two magical counters looked baffled momentarily before becoming furious. The spellbreaker rushed to strike me with his hammer to disrupt my casting.

<Dwarf LV 25; Sniper LV 12 defeated. Experience gained.>

But he was too late.

To everyone’s surprise, once the sniper was slain, the spell then ricocheted towards the mirror knight after bouncing to the fortress knight one last time. I must have underestimated how much I juiced the spell, as it seemed to still have plenty of Mana for some additional bouncing.

I had no idea the spell would stop targeting something once it was dead. Is that because [Conductive] fell off once he died?

Despite being effectively caught blindsided, once the spell hit the mirror knight and dealt some

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damage, it unraveled entirely and dispersed. To me, that felt unfair, but I suppose it was some antimagic skill from his class.

The spellbreaker’s mace once again crashed against my [Arcane Amor], instantly shattering it. He wasted no time throwing follow-ups against me. I dodged the first blow and tried throwing a [Aegis] to block a second, but it might as well have been wet paper, and his weapon crashed into my arm as a result.

My arm splattered into a misshapen form from the powerful blow; I couldn’t believe it overcame my defenses so easily. I had [Mana Reinforcement] on constantly; it made no sense!

Even though it hadn’t hurt and wasn’t genuine damage despite Alpha faking an absolutely bloody mangled mess, I used [Thunder Step] to get out of direct contact with the spellbreaker and mirror knight.

As if expecting that the spellbreaker heckled at me. "Bloody coward! Get back here and fight! Or are you so scared after your Mana failed you?"

Can I really not use any Mana against those two? Crazy that there are classes like this. There better not be a class or skill that disables traits, or I’d be absolutely screwed.

I pretended to "heal" my arm by chugging from an empty canteen. Causing the dwarves to glare in outrage when it "recovered."

"What a rich bitch, affording potions that good," The mirror knight spat in disgust.

"Don’t worry; we can split her loot once she’s down," The spellbreaker replied. "Plus, this way, she gets to suffer a bit more before we put her down."

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The mirror knight nodded, then shouted. "Broudaen! Swap with me!"

"Okay!" The fortress knight shouted back.

<Failed to resist [Taunt].>

<[Taunt] has been replaced.>

Interesting... I guess he’s worried about me shoving more explosive needles at him if he gets close and wants the damage reduction. Makes sense if the fortress knight is going to stand back.

If I wasn’t concerned that they might have some communication methods with their employer, I’d just go full slime monster on them. I was fine with them knowing I’d killed them, but revealing absolutely everything felt foolish, even if I really wanted to.

Well... If I’m a rich bitch, I might as well pull out some fancy toys to go with it. I chuckled to myself.

I equipped myself with a shield and spear made from satisfying [Metal Slime]. The dwarves approaching me again seemed minorly annoyed at me, making their job more difficult. To make matters worse for them, I hastily cast [Fireball] directly downwards on the poor marksman, leaving the poor dwarf practically on the death’s door.

"How does she keep casting spells like that!?" The mirror knight demanded an answer.

"No idea. Must be some elf bullshit!" The spellbreaker spat out. "Either way, you and me don’t need to worry about that. She can cast all the tricksy spells she wants, and we’ll be just fine."

"Damn you, Nuzzun!" The fortress knight cursed, "Care about your coworkers, you greedy shit!"

"I don’t get paid to care. That costs extra!" He said smugly.

Even I was slightly taken aback by such an attitude. But while the fortress knight looked pissed, the mirror knight was even nodding in agreement.

Wow... I guess when you lie with mutts, don’t be surprised when you get fleas.

"Stop wasting time and kill her!" The geomancer shouted. "She cast something that’s draining my Mana, so hurry up!"

Both anti-mages looked annoyed at that revelation and began charging at me. The geomancer immediately began supporting them; shrapnel was exploding out from the nearby rocks while stone walls began trying to box me in further.

I flung my primed spear at the mirror knight. I expected him to block it, which I hoped for, but he dodged to the side instead, so I was forced to detonate the weapon, to his surprise.

While pulling out a second spear, I blocked the incoming blow of the spellbreaker with my shield. Thankfully, the shield blocked his blow this time, but it still negatively affected me. Each blow, even though I was blocking it, seemed to be eating away at my Mana.

Seriously, does his class let him burn Mana with attacks? I’m blocking him, dammit!

I wasn’t going to let him slowly eat away at my health, so spikes erupted from my shield, completely catching him off guard and stabbing him into his arm.

"Agh! You bitch!" He yelled in anger.

As he pulled back, I swiftly stabbed forward with my spear, digging cleanly through his armor and into his side. He looked about to curse in horror when he must have seen my grin and realized this spear was the same as my previous one.

"No! Don’t!" He screamed out immediately as I detonated the spearhead.

I didn’t want to be unarmed, so I pulled out another spear before the smoke cleared. When it did, it revealed the spellbreaker lying on the ground, bleeding heavily but still alive.

I’m not used to opponents not going down so quickly. Dwarves really are something else. Although I am still taunted.

I glanced toward the fortress knight, who, surprisingly, still hadn’t joined the frenzy. Instead, he was looking over the geomancer, who was looking rough, on her knees, panting heavily. Her Mana was looking like dregs. When he caught my gaze toward him, something unexpected happened.

<[Taunt] has been removed.>

I hummed curiously as I wondered what his angle was. Is he asking me to spare him and the geomancer?

My curiosity was interrupted when a lightning bolt struck me out of nowhere; I turned to the source and saw the mirror knight looking incensed. Even with [Voltaic Slime] siphoning off a large amount of the spell into my storage capacity, it still hurt as I was not entirely lightningproof yet.

Seeing my pained face caused him to glee in delight, and then he unleashed a fireball at me. Then, another fireball, and he kept going.

He’s not a spellcaster. Where the hell did he get these spells from? He’s certainly not casting them. That lightning bolt was especially powerful; was that mine?

Unbeknownst to the mirror knight, the fireballs he was unloading on me were doing almost nothing. Unless he had some blue fire secretly stored away—he just wasn’t hot enough. It gave me the perfect opportunity to think.

I guess it’s a good thing he doesn’t have more lightning spells... Is that how he dispersed my [Chain Lightning]? Does he store the spell inside himself to use later? Then he must be emptying his collection to try to kill me.

Even with all the fiery smoke and explosions, I could still make him out clearly. He must have run out of [Fireball] spells, as he was now resorting to [Fire Arrow]. Mindlessly firing at the singular spot, he last saw me.

Before the smoke and flame cleared, I ordered all [Sub-Cores] to create a batch of needles, and once I had a sufficient stockpile, they all fired out in a spray. It oddly reminded me of Jet’s [Splinterstorm], seeing that many go out at once.

The dwarf became a living pincushion as he spat out blood. He seemed about to say something when there was a soft click followed by multiple detonations.

<Dwarf LV 26; Mirror Knight LV 14 defeated. Experience gained.>

When the explosion’s echoes finally started quieting down, I could hear someone cursing at himself.

"Bloody hells... Bloody beards... Gods..."

I looked and saw the fortress knight shaking his head.

"What the hell did they sign us up for? An easy target? Bloody fools!" The dwarf continued to rant.

He looked terrified when he saw me looking pretty much unharmed from the fire spell barrage. He dropped his shield and weapon and held up his hands.

"I surrender! I’ll do whatever you want!"

Well, now I’m extra glad I didn’t go slime monster on them. It would have been quite a blow to my conscience to kill someone who’s actively surrendering like that. Even if he probably still deserves it.

"Fine. But I won’t hold back if I see your face again," I warned.

He visibly shuddered. "Hold back? That was you holdingback? Bloody crazy elves..." He must not have wanted to say the last part out loud as he immediately shut his mouth and looked about to soil himself.

I pointed to the exit and just glared at him. "Go! Before I change my mind."

He nodded, grabbed the unconscious geomancer, and started running, even leaving his weapon and shield behind. Then he awkwardly halted as he reached the rock wall I had thrown up, which was currently blocking his hasty escape.

I sighed and began casting a spell. Using [Shatterquake], I made the wall explode outwards away from them and unsealed the passageway. I didn’t have [Sand Pit] yet, so an explosion was the only way out unless I melted it with acid.

Seeing the entire wall explode like that into rocky shrapnel made the dwarf nearly drop his unconscious companion. He briefly bowed his head and then ran.

I don’t think letting him live will come back to bite me... Worst case, they send more dwarves to attack me, and I still have my ultimate trump card.

I didn’t expect him to try to save the mirror knight after he had abandoned his camaraderie, but I was surprised he left the marksman behind. Then I saw she was dead; I had just missed the notification.

The spellbreaker had long passed out from his wounds. Even if I gave him a potion, it was unlikely he’d survive, not that I had any intention of saving someone with such a troublesome class.

Seriously. Damaging my lifeforce directly through Mana burn is not fun. I don’t think I could ever become immune to that form of damage.

I twirled my spear before stabbing down to finish the job.

<Dwarf LV 27; Spellbreaker LV 16 defeated. Experience gained.>