Well, it seemed like the universe decided to say ‘fuck you’ this morning, as my danger senses blasted into overdrive. Ling stopped and began to charge something massive. Really fucking massive. I felt an electric tingle, then a taste of iron in my mouth, just briefly.
That was when I realized it. Ling wielded blood lightning. In fact, she likely taught it… or force-fed it to the Black Knight. Her version would be significantly stronger, a mastered form of it that I couldn’t deflect.
To think the crazy girl planned to drown everything in lightning just to kill spiders. Shoot. So much for being high and mighty.
I mean, I wasn’t the biggest fan of spiders either, but I wouldn’t burn down the damned world to get rid of them.
Time seemed to slow as I took out potions of blood lightning. First, I made the pets consume theirs, then drank one myself. Titus seemed to be putting up a barrier, but even I could tell that wouldn’t work. I quickly donned my Raider outfit.
I could easily let them die. A headache gone. The person to blame would be Princess Ling, right? Unfortunately, we Earth folk were too soft. Well, mostly assholes, but if we held the ability to help someone, most would.
And I wouldn’t be having these deaths on my conscience. Two teenagers, kids, and a headmaster. Normally, I’d be suspicious of this being a trap, but since we were the ones responsible for this scenario, well, that excuse wouldn’t fly.
“Beakwing, drop me off and go back into the sky,” I said. “The potion of masking should help. We want to give away as little as possible, okay buddy?”
Beakwing grunted his response, though I could tell he didn’t like the idea of leaving me along with three unknowns. He’d watch. One dangerous move from them would probably send the griffin into a murder frenzy.
He dove. When we were close enough to the ground, I leapt off. Titus and the others seemed to pale upon seeing me.
“Take these potions now or you’re dead,” I said, handing them a vial. Normally I’d make them pay for it, but that was a Nate thing. I couldn’t give out too much, though they’d likely still find out my identity. Eventually. “Hurry up, the blood lightning’s coming. The potion of blood lightning will give you short immunity to it. I got them from an avian contact.”
I made that last part up as misdirection since they’d undoubtedly stop at the potion shop.
A popping sound erupted in the air just a breath after all three of them finished drinking. Luckily for the trio, the unnatural quality of my potions made them activate instantly.
The lightning came down with a fury but dissipated just as quickly. The spiders were gone as if they were illusions.
“You!”
I looked up to see a furious Ling glaring down at me. She wiped tears from her eyes. “You went too far. Now die!”
[Enemy Analysis.]
Princess Ling Truestorm, Youngest Daughter of the Lord Ruler. Race: Human. Aggressively Hostile. Magician rank: 9th realm of the Saint. Spell book: D. Dao: Visionary.
[Boss fight, begin!]
“Wait, that—”
Interrupting my attempt at de-escalation, she pointed a wand at me. “Silent Gnashing!”
Waves of black magic rushed toward us, her killing intent maxed. I thought I was fucked, that Titus and his brats would be buried as well. I prepared to block using the heavenly bracers, despite knowing they’d overload and break.
It turned out, I had worried for nothing. My pets weren’t keen on the idea of letting me get evaporated to dust.
Wolverine, Beakwing, and Cheetara’s magic smashed into the wave with the force of an airplane crash, knocking Ling’s spell off course. It ended up missing us entirely, eventually dissipating harmlessly into the ether.
Fuck, seven realms above me, I thought as I reexamined my opponent. She probably trained furiously for years, pushing her body beyond its limits. On the other hand, a powerless guy from Earth who just wanted to live peacefully reached Saint without breaking a sweat. Fallen angel and Black Knight nearly killing me aside. Then again, she’d never know that information thanks to my bracers.
“Take your students and run,” I said. “She’s only after me.”
I ducked under a punch, but the shockwave still blasted me backward. Titus thankfully had sense and urged his students onto the lightning horses. They went toward Kyushu.
Thankfully I was right, and Ling lurched toward me, abandoning any defenses, rage maxed. I blurred around her, moving westward.
“Milia, I’m kind of fucked,” I told her through the ring. “But not hopeless. Can you send more spiders?”
“Are you…?” Milia seemed to force away her worried question and instead said, “Here they come. Please be careful. I’m in the Cheat Force cloak. I’d like to teleport there with you.”
“No,” I said. “She’s a ninth realm Saint. Far stronger than me, but I have the pocket watch.”
“Okay,” she said. “Please be careful.”
“I will,” I replied. “Oh, one more thing. Send the hero’s party a warning with the messenger birds. About Titus and the students.”
“Sure thing,” Milia replied.
[Wanda’s Lost Heavenly Spirit Pocket Watch. Item rank: S. Item quality: Extraordinary. Possessing this increases your chances of finding spirit coins and also increases the number of heavenly spirit coins you receive from any source. You may also activate its once-a-day ability: Spirit Boost. Select a target. For five minutes, their strength, speed, vitality, and even luck will be increased by 50% and then multiplied by 2. Never underestimate the value of an S-ranked item.]
I activated the watch, feeling the incredible strength engulf me like a fucking tidal wave. A light blue aura surrounded me.
For five minutes, I’d be able to fight on at least equal footing with this crazy princess of death. For only a half moment, I wondered if the watch increased the number of spirit coins I received since acquiring it.
I set that thought aside, stopped running, turned, and faced Ling.
“So you aren’t a coward, Raider,” Ling said, her voice still filled with enough fury to melt a fully loaded van. Honestly, I couldn’t blame her for wanting to splatter me across the wall. While I didn’t dump spiders on her, I still was indirectly responsible for it.
She vanished, then reappeared in front of me. I batted aside her first strike, marveling at my enhanced abilities, but also how the princess pulled a dagger out of nowhere. It made me feel bad for the hero she chased, attempting to force a marriage. I also felt just a little guilty for being glad to not be him.
I wasn’t sure how long it’d take Milia to tell the earth to send us more critters or hyper-realistic illusions, but I hoped she’d hurry.
Every strike I blocked had weight. A lot of weight.
Sighing, I pressed a palm into her belly, releasing a Dragon Magic Burst without pulling any punches. I met her on the other side, palms charged.
I found out the hard way why one shouldn’t do that with powerful opponents. She had a glowing ball of magic of her own waiting for me, grinning wildly.
“You fool!”
The force of the blast slapped me dozens of yards backward. I found myself in a crater, bones protesting. She appeared on the side, above, peeking down at me curiously.
“What? How are you not dead?”
[You are unaffected by the Dao of Visionary.]
I shrugged, wiping blood off the side of my lip. Everything hurt. Hurt badly. But I wasn’t the only one who took heavy damage.
The princess had some blood on her as well. Although… her robe was fine, showing its magical protections. It made me regret not having on the suit Milia made for me.
“If you think I’d go down that easy, princess, then you know nothing about me,” I said, knowing damn well now wasn’t the time to play the role of Raider. She licked her lips. Judging by her casual demeanor, I knew she stopped taking the fight seriously. She believed she’d win. But why?
I looked up further and spotted it. She laughed.
A growing building-sized ball of dark orange magic hung meters above her, reminding me of something an anime villain would create. And I knew I was fucked, spirit watch or not. Nobody could possibly survive the ridiculousness of this spell. It grew and grew and even if I ran, took to the sky, I knew it’d just follow.
“You should’ve just told me where my hero is,” she said. “Or offer to take his place. I will create the ultimate family one way or another. Now…”
Suddenly, the ball of energy vanished as a look of horror dawned on her face. That was when I saw them. Hundreds of spiders, moving toward Ling. She screamed, took off into the air, and didn’t turn around.
“No need to be that rude to the spiders,” I said as I leapt out of the hole. So yeah, arachnophobia in a nutshell. An irrational fear toward spiders.
I waited a little longer, but she continued flying incredibly fast without turning around. It was time to get the hell out of here while I could, especially since the pocket watch’s effects wore off. The summoning potion, my last resort, was meant for killing opponents, something I’d like to keep avoiding. I had no intention of letting this world, the heavens, or its system turn me into a bloodthirsty, mindless murderhobo.
I could sense the trio consisting of Titus, Luna, and Simon ahead of us, moving toward the town at an unhurried pace. They were waiting to see who’d catch up to them, Raider or Ling.
Beakwing swooped from the air. I hopped onto his back, and we blasted above the clouds, moving significantly faster than the lightning horses. Griffins were the kings and queens of the skies, rivals of the dragons and sky serpents, perhaps even angels.
I checked for any prompts or notifications.
[Ling fled, ending the battle!]
[You’ve faced the current holder of the Lord Ruler throne and a competitor and lived to tell the tale. Two claps. One. Two. Would you like a pat on the back? You received 1,000 spirit coins and 1 heavenly spirit coin. Current number of spirit coins: 113,880. Heavenly spirit coins: 9.]
System, you really should stop trying to drag me into this shit, I thought.
Minutes later, we landed by the tower, meeting up with Milia. The tension in her drained and she nearly collapsed into me.
“Terrified of spiders and is a bit of a… crybaby,” I said. “Am I missing something?”
“She was always like that,” Milia said. “I’ve met her before. You’ll find out the circumstances soon.” She still didn’t let me go. “Perhaps we should come up with plans that don’t involve flying out into danger.”
I laughed. “Let’s hurry and get inside before the headmaster and his brats see us out here. Oh, did you send the messenger birds to the hero’s party?”
“Yes,” Milia said. “It’s up to them to hide well until the guests leave. They should be able to come up with valid excuses to give their employers.”
Cheetara hopped onto my shoulder and Wolverine followed at my side. We locked the place and went back to bed.
Though there was a little light-hearted bedside conversation and talk of Cheetara’s potion making potential. The adorable kitten purred as Milia caressed her head.
As I drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed at being outmatched twice in a row.
I needed to do something about that.
Ling snapped back to reality upon reaching more than halfway to Wingston and nearly screamed her frustration into the air. Sweat from raw fear still dripped down her face. She wiped away the tears.
She never denied being a crybaby and often ran to her father for extreme situations that spun out of her control. Ling did not like it when things spun out of her control. The lack of being able to grasp things forced her into an uncomfortable vulnerability.
She wanted to murder that Raider. Yes, she knew the spiders weren’t his fault, and he probably didn’t want to fight. He tried to calm the situation, but the princess had enough of doing things his way. She was royalty! Attacking her with his silly pranks meant a death sentence, right?
This conquest of creating the ultimate family began to weigh on her. Her Dao turned men into cowards, except Raider. But Raider being already married… Now that she thought about it, he could just be some old guy.
No, magicians had long, very long life spans. If he was actually old, he’d be significantly stronger than her father. Raider fought without any killing intent, essentially holding back.
Ling huffed.
She couldn’t scan him, likely due to some treasure; a necklace, or bracelet, or ring. However, that wasn’t all. He had no presence whatsoever. As far as Ling knew, an item capable of producing such an effect didn’t exist, at least not in the kingdom. She’d never heard of the Astral Empire employing such tactics. No one wanted to be labeled as a coward by the other.
So what was Raider? Could he be… a spirit? No… even spirits had presences, most of them far stronger than even magicians.
Ling concluded he used a trick or ability but hadn’t published details on it. Perhaps an invented spell? It made her want this. Too bad she blew any chance of befriending the insufferable twit.
The thought of the spiders threatened to reignite her illness again. A fear that not even the best healers could cure.
Most mortals weren’t fond of the little demons. But her fear was caused by a trauma she couldn’t remember. Something closed off within the depths of her mind. A childhood she didn’t care for.
Ling glanced in the direction of the now E-ranked town. Her mind played tricks on her, revealing that the darkness in that direction was all spiders. Trembling, she decided to give up on the pursuit of Raider.
Look at me, the cowardly girl, afraid of spiders. Letting that man get away. Giving up on the plan of creating the ultimate family. Her thoughts continued to ridicule her.
Ling shook herself. If she could advance to the King realm, her body would reforge itself. It’d cure all current illnesses and defects, creating the first step toward immortality. A perfect body.
The spiders… they truly injected fear into the young woman, made her combat ability sloppy. From not summoning her tiger to not summoning her spell book. Not that she took the fight that seriously. She just wanted to bring that infuriating man down a peg for daring to attack their horses.
However, her little display was beyond embarrassing. Even if she hunted him down, killed the man, someone probably saw or knew. It was probably spreading secretly in that backwater. She could never show her face there.
Not that going to a backwater was on the to-do list of a princess, anyway.
Ling sped toward Wingston, vowing vengeance against Raider at a later date.
