NOVEL NEXT Chapter 111: Two Plus Two Is Too Much For You
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"Apply the Blessing of Teamwork to Nya and Sekki!"
A conduit of light snapped into existence between her two classmates, mixing Nya's purple aura with Sekki's inky black. System messages populated her vision.
[APPLYING PERFECT RAINBOW BLESSING OF {TEAMWORK} TO TWO INDIVIDUALS. ERROR: QUALIFICATIONS INSUFFICIENT.]
[ATARAXIAN OVERRIDE ENGAGED (FAILSAFE).]
[HOTFIX COMPLETED.]
[YOUR CURRENT FAITH POINT TOTAL IS: 2,699.]
[CORES DETECTED. SYNERGY DETECTED. CONDITIONS SATISFIED TO INITIATE PANTHEON PROTOCOL.]
A second pillar of light further demolished the roof, forming a swirling yin-yang from Nya's purple aura and Sekki's inky black. Panes of Mana exploded outwards, swelling into form-fitting armour that mixed green and navy blue together. Blades wrapped around its feet, and a secondary pair of arms carried Sekki's bow, with a quiver strapped to its shoulder. Moonlight Rose's demonic mask peered out from underneath Marauder's conical hat.
The two combined Armour Cores glanced at each other. "Well, that worked," Mikayla grinned.
"Spectacular! Now, to battle!" Nocturnus yelled, casting around for the Dahu.
"We'll be right with you," Nya and Sekki's merged Armour - Moonlight Masquerade, Mikayla supposed - turned back to the pirates, brandishing its kusarigama menacingly.
There were several flares of light as the pirates deployed and upsized their own Armour Cores, a miscellaneous hodgepodge of equipment that was half Ambers and the rest mostly Ruby. Moonlight Masquerade's combined Level was around 60 - Mikayla didn't know off the top of her head what Sekki's level was, but Nya had recently hit 29 - and a few quick Identifies didn't point out anyone above Level 40. They wouldn't be too hard for her classmates to send packing.
But then the Dahu burst out of the maze of cages in a spray of gore, throwing itself into the air in a storm of misshapen limbs and crashing into the pirates like dominoes. They collapsed, falling against each other and dragging one another down, Armours shattering one by one. Screams rang out and were cut off just as quickly, the Dahu finding the meaty morsels within and crushing them.
It let out a triumphant roar, and Mikayla Identified it again.
[SKYCRUSHING DAHU - TIER 13]
"It was Tier 12 before. Starring hell,"
"Irrelevant!" Nocturnus brutalised his controls, and the Black Knight Duplex brought its sword down on the deformed monster's back. It twisted, somehow having spotted them, and cocked its head, catching the blade of their sword on its horns.
Moonlight Masquerade was advancing, but struggling, and they could hear distant sounds of confusion from Nya and Sekki. "How do we - stop pushing and let me control - do you know how to shoot a bow?"
The Dahu jerked its head, and its horns spontaneously doubled in size, knocking the Black Knight Duplex backwards. Its eyes flicked back and forth, and it sensed weakness. It twisted and charged at Moonlight Masquerade, now large enough to pose a genuine threat to the Armour Core regardless of its supernatural strength.
"Heel Propulsion!" Mikayla tried to close the distance, but even that wasn't fast enough.
"Just let me - no, we should -" Nya and Sekki's squabbles catastrophically backfired, leaving them unable to defend against the strike that sent them stumbling and crashing into another wharf.
"Lass. They don't know about the mind meshing issue," Nocturnus warned, his brow furrowed.
"Shit," Mikayla had gotten so good at preventing that, she'd forgotten it was a problem. "Nya! Sekki! Focus on staying separate!" she broadcast. "Have one of you control the legs and the other control the arms!"
Her shout drew the Dahu's attention, and it seemed content to turn its focus on the Black Knight Duplex.
Moonlight Masquerade straightened up and Sekki's voice emerged. "Right. We can do that,"
While Mikayla was focusing on their classmates, the Dahu advanced, slowly at first but picking up speed, every strike of its hooves against the ground leaving craters and causing flares of energy to run up along its body and coalesce. "A self-amplification skill, and it knows how to use it. Be on guard!" Nocturnus warned.
"I got it," Keldryn confirmed, making their Armour crouch, raising their shield.
The Dahu continued to advance, the light gathering around its body flaring slightly brighter with every step it took. All at once, it burst forward - and with a perfectly timed Heel Propulsion, the Black Knight Duplex leapt out of the way.
The Dahu kept charging, crashing through several buildings before slowing to a halt. "Oops," Mikayla winced.
"Capitalise!" Nocturnus commanded, bringing their sword up, and Keldryn agreed, charging through the rubble after it.
It struggled to its feet, its chest blowing outwards like a balloon. The Dahu was still growing. It tried to dodge, but its newly outsize torso delayed it for long enough that Nocturnus drove their sword right into its rear end.
The Dahu bleated in pain, bucking upwards and tugging their sword with it. Nocturnus, in a fluid motion, pulled it out, but then the goat-thing bucked with both legs. Its rear hooves caught them in the groin and drove the Black Knight Duplex to the ground.
Nocturnus groaned, clutching at the space beteeen his legs. Mikayla winced sympathetically.
"Get up, get up!" Keldryn wrestled with the controls, lifting their head and bringing up a view of the Dahu rounding and prancing towards them.
A massive arrow took it in the temple, shattering against its forehead and knocking it backwards. "We figured it out!" Sekki broadcast to them, and Mikayla caught a glimpse of Moonlight Masquerade nocking another arrow.
"Great, any chance you could give us some enhancements?" Keldryn retorted as the Black Knight belatedly straightened up.
"We need to mix things up a bit. Keldie, step back and brace. Nocty, mind your sword, I'm opening fire," Mikayla commanded, pumping their Mana into the Cannon and Blunderbuss on their shoulders. Keldryn had only barely swung a leg behind them before the two glowing weapons fired, spitting out a single massive cannonball and a spray of pellets.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
But in the moment before the Dahu took the hit, it
changed
. Its flesh seemed to warp and distort, becoming almost rubbery. The projectiles impacted its flesh and carved deep canyons into it, but then it bounced back into place, expelling them. The cannonball of energy, glowing with volatility, flew back towards the Black Knight Duplex, and a frantic swing from Nocturnus batted it away and into the sky, where it exploded harmlessly.
Mikayla spluttered. "What the hell kind of anime bullshit was that?!"
"Identify it!" Nocturnus barked, their Sword and Shield coming up as the Dahu started building up energy again, stomping towards them with crackles of light that pooled and swelled in its body.
Mikayla snapped a photo.
[RUBBERCRUSHING DAHU - TIER 14]
Nocturnus cursed. "As I expected,"
"It has some kind of anti-projectile defence now!" Keldryn warned Moonlight Masquerade.
Another arrow shot past them, this one glowing with enhancement magic. It landed in the Dahu's flank and lodged firm, arresting its charge as its suddenly-crippled leg stumbled. "Keep it busy and hold it still! I'll charge up a good shot!" Sekki commanded.
"No, we need to cleanly decapitate it," Nya argued, oblivious to the voice projection.
"We'll handle that, just keep wearing it down!" Mikayla argued, and Nocturnus - remaining silent - took the cue, bashing their shield against the Dahu's head and then bringing their sword towards its back. Its skull twisted, the accumulated energy in its horns meeting the blade and knocking it backwards.
The Black Knight Duplex staggered, and Nocturnus instead drove the pommel of the blade into its face. With a mighty heave, he shoved the Dahu away, taking three quick steps back to put distance between them.
The Dahu pranced on its hooves, then - in a motion that made the earth shake and several crashes come from the houses around them - it launched itself high into the air.
The Black Knight Duplex hunkered down, Keldryn and Nocturnus bracing to take the hit. As the monster fell towards them, its still-growing hooves outstretched, Mikayla peppered it with blasts of buckshot from her Blunderbuss.
But the Dahu had tricked them. Instead of landing directly, it hit the ground next to them.
A shockwave billowed outward, making buildings all around them collapse and boats in the nearby waterfront capsize. The Black Knight Duplex was blown away, off-balance, sent collapsing into a pile of rubble.
There was a shriek. "The Reborn Rose must claim victory! Waning Moon Style: Puncture!" Moonlight Masquerade, in a spectacular feat of agility, leapt into the air and released waves of knives that bounced in every direction, ricocheting off buildings and roads and embedding themselves into the joints of the Dahu.
Mikayla winced at the destruction, but didn't bother rebuking her friend. Everything was already wrecked, what was a bit more damage? The Dahu bleated in panic, struggling and beating its hooves against the ground as though it were dancing.
"It is immobilised! We must seize this opportunity!" Moonlight Masquerade landed and sped forwards.
Mikayla, watching the Dahu, saw its body suddenly experience another growth spurt, its chest ballooning outwards. "No, wait!"
"Waxing Moon Style: Execution!" The kusarigama lashed outwards, twisting and weaving of its own accord, its chain looping around the Dahu's legs and head, then being pulled tight against its four knees as though to hog-tie it. But its hooves were firmly planted in the ground, and its head remained unbowed.
"It has too much Strength. She cannot overpower it," Nocturnus grimaced.
Moonlight Masquerade appeared in front of it, blade in hand, and drove the tip of the kusarigama's blade into the monster's forehead.
The flesh did not part, the fatal wound was not inflicted. Impossibly, cartoonishly, the Dahu's head was squashed back into its torso like a balloon animal, its neck and chest squashed underneath it. It seemed to savagely grin, and then its head slammed back into place like a released rubber band, striking Moonlight Masquerade in the guts with horns that had once again increased in size.
The other combined Armour was smashed away, flying through a half-wrecked building and into the adjoining street, where a roof collapsed onto Sekki's wide-brimmed hat.
The Dahu steadied itself and then started to advance on Moonlight Masquerade, murder in its eyes - and its flank exposed to the Black Knight Duplex.
"Nocty, now! Thrust towards it!" Mikayla seized the opportunity.
"We're too far away," her mentor protested, but he hadn't even finished speaking when he saw the rainbow light of Faith Points gathering in her arms. "Ah,"
"We'll do a sword beam!" Mikayla confirmed.
"A what?"
"It's a, uh, thing from my world that only true martial masters can do. I've always wanted to try it," Pierce had done something similar in the vision they'd had. Surely it was possible?
"Ho! A challenge? Very well!" With impeccable aim, Nocturnus retracted their blade even as he charged, and thrust.
A grimace twisted Mikayla's face as she expelled the divine energy, feeling her vital channels burn. "When Many Hands Wield One Blade!"
[YOUR CURRENT FAITH POINT TOTAL IS: 2,649.]
A pillar of polychromatic light erupted from the tip of their sword, crossing the distance in a flash.
"Ah! A sword beam! I see! Incredible!"
The wave of four-coloured light struck the Dahu, flaying its flesh and co-opting its veins. A series of tiny explosions occurred as the Faith Points reacted violently with the Dahu's vital energies, ripping its body apart from the inside out.
It bleated in pained defiance, collapsing to the ground. Its muscles spasmed, expanding and contracting, the energy of {TEAMWORK} coming into contact with the Kaiju's Clutch and reacting violently. One horn imploded, crushing itself into a crumpled mess. Its eyes bulged out, shudders wracking its body, until it finally went still.
[YOU HAVE EARNED XP POINTS FOR KILLING A DAHU!]
[LEVEL UP! CONGRATULATIONS, YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 30!]
Mikayla breathed a sigh of relief. "There. I'm so glad that worked. Faith Points are bullshit," she murmured.
"And now we do a victory pose," Nocturnus asserted, slamming the tip of their sword into the ground and looming over it, staring out over the city of Leicheng like an imposing sentinel.
The Black Knight Duplex held that pose for all of two seconds before Mikayla pulled the sword away again. "Or we could not stand around like a smug idiot. Look at all the damage the Dahu caused. There are going to be people trapped and hurt. We should be going to help them, not playing statue,"
Nocturnus sighed. "Fine, fine . ."