"Breaking Point 3."

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

[Hrozun 24, 0100 A.R]
[Glacial Falls]

Current in-game time 12:03 PM

With a defiant screech, sparks erupted following a distinct pang that echoed through the large empty hall as for a brief moment, no longer than a blink, a flash of light can be glimpsed at the center. In the eyes of a certain Aquilan with hazel brown hair brandishing a thin light blade, the world moved in slow motion as she perceived her blade's tip get blocked before it could even land.

Using her arm to block the blade, the fiery-haired woman gazed down upon the girl who dared to pull a sneak attack upon her. But as the girl's face came into view, the woman, whose hair was like a flame, suddenly flinched as she recognized the girl. It happened in a brief moment, a millisecond of an opportunity, and it was more than enough for a particular female Beastclaw who was half-panda to appear and snatch away Rashia's burning body from the woman's grasp.

The red-headed woman, just realizing what had happened, swiftly turned her head to catch the Beastclaw only for her efforts to be in vain as the culprit, using a skill, vanished like a mirage into the shadows. And just like the Beastclaw, the Aquilan who had been standing in front of the woman, slipped away like the breeze before she could even react.

And just before the woman could process everything, something huge and heavy collided with her body, barely giving her any time to put up her guard as the white object violently slammed against her. Numerous fissures were created instantaneously where she had been standing as a minor shockwave burst followed by a loud bang that can be heard moments before she was sent flying straight into a wall meters away like she was a ragdoll.

The room shook with a faint tremor, like a loud heartbeat trapped inside a person's chest, as the woman had her body buried to the point that it looked like a bullet planting into the wall. Yuna saw it all, she witnessed it with her eyes, she felt the ground shake and her hair dance as the shockwave from the impact caused her ears to ring in a constant tune. She eyed the person responsible for such a quake, finding herself awestruck as she gazed at the hulk of a man carrying the large weapon so casually.

But just when Yuna was about to think it was already over, she once again was instantly dumbfounded as she laid eyes on the dozens upon dozens of faintly-lit rotating mandalas which had appeared without warning. Then, without warning, the magic circles started shooting short bursts of what looked like purple beams of concentrated magic energy towards the enemy, the first beam that hit the target would then explode as soon as it made an impact as if hitting the enemy with bolts of magic wasn't enough already.

Bright flashes produced by the miniature explosions lit the entire hallway as the intensity of each attack caused the wall to crack and break. In a matter of seconds, an entire portion of the wall became riddled with holes and small craters making the face of the moon look smooth. The bombardment continued for what felt like an eternity as the relentless assault made ten seconds feel like ten minutes of endless explosions until all of it suddenly came to a stop.

Yuna snapped out of her daze as she shook her head, thanks to the abrupt silence her ears finally caught a moment of rest as the explosions ended, but despite this, there was still a distinct ringing in her ears. The Aquilan, still stunned by what happened, turned to the mage standing a few feet from her as the young man fixed a serious gaze through the dust and smoke.

Following the explosions earlier, the room soon fell silent as 'Remindmelater...' said, "A bit of an overkill, don't you think?" He asked the mage behind him who remained focused on the smoke.

"Don't let your guard down, she was able to take down the Knight Captain along with Zhiang and Rashia," he warned his teammate, placing great emphasis on being vigilant as they have no idea about the abilities and what their enemy is capable of. Underestimating their enemy often leads to trouble and most of the time it doesn't bode well.

Meanwhile, Yuna and 'FuriouslyFluffy' tended to the injured Rashia and Zhiang who they placed right next to each other as they were unconscious. Zhiang's body had bruises and scratches but compared to Rashia, he was far more healthy as Rashia's body was covered in a black shade thanks to the terrible burns she received.

"Is she alive?" Worried for her friend, Yuna asked the Beastclaw who was checking for any pulse on Rashia. Fortunately for Yuna, 'FuriouslyFluffy' felt a heartbeat, albeit weak thanks to the beating she had just received. The Beastclaw smiled towards Yuna as she reassured the Aquilan, "She's still alive, but barely, I just need to heal her to stabilize her condition." Hearing this, Yuna let out a sigh of relief as her shoulders slumped down.

Thankfully they managed to pull her out in time as any more of those flames and it would've ended Rashia's life. The Beastclaw then proceeded to chant a sort of spell as she placed her hand on top of the Dragoncrown's body, a gentle blue light then wrapped around the woman's body as streaks of blue spread from the area of the Beastclaw's hands throughout Rashia's entirety.

Meanwhile, as this was happening, 4ster and 'Remindmelater...' both gripped their respective weapons tighter as they soon sensed the presence emanating from beyond the smoke. Yuna turned around and saw the two men warily gazing into the smoke as she too, felt the heavy presence, albeit weaker from what she used to remember.

Eventually, the smoke thinned and they were able to make out a figure behind it, but as they did so, 'Remindmelater...', as if sensing danger, stepped in front of 4ster as a flash of blue light exploded. An incredible amount of heat could be felt from the person's swing as 'Remindmelater...' blocked the attack head-on causing cracks to appear across his armor but thanks to his defensive Ki, he managed to stave off any form of serious damage.

The man's decision to block the attack proved to be the right choice as the ground they were standing on had a straight line following the attack. 'Remindmelater...' shot a glance at the smoke which had been cut in half with a precision that the smoke itself was smoking, but while that was something to behold, the man searched for a silhouette but he found nothing.

4ster also joined in on the search as he glanced about to see where the person was, yet there was nothing. However, while they were still searching for the enemy, 'Remindmelater...' felt a chill run down his spine as he turned around to find their opponent already in the middle of a swing as their hand was covered in a bright hot blue flame about to decapitate 4ster. The tank had barely enough time to even react as he couldn't even draw his hammer in for a swing to save his comrade, meanwhile, 4ster himself could only stare at the bright blue flame heading his way as his chants weren't fast enough.

BOOM!

Yuna and 'FuriouslyFluffy' could on suppress their breath as the two of them watched from the sidelines, in disbelief as they saw what had just happened. 4ster, wide-eyed, stared at the pillar of ice that had appeared out of nowhere just in time to block the woman's hand, saving his neck by the skin of his teeth.

Their enemy, the fiery-haired woman, also showed a stunned expression as her hand went deep into the thick block of ice that appeared between her and the young man. To add further to their confusion, a sharp lance made of ice instantly shot out of the ice block and was aimed at the woman's forehead, it would've ended up skewering her if she hadn't jerked her head at the last moment before backing off in a display of incredible speed.

The woman then reappeared a few meters away from where 4ster and 'Remindmelater...' were standing, sending a glare as the woman seemed displeased with the interruption. "Those brats, to think they had the gall to put up such a defensive mechanism." Said the woman in a somewhat irritated tone.

"Are you alright?" The tank shot a glance of concern at their mage who wiped the cold sweat off of his brows. He regained his senses as he gripped his staff tighter before responding.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." 4ster glanced at the ice block next to him, watching the construct as it seemingly sprouted from the floor. After a few seconds, the ice then melded into the floor, disappearing completely after that.

"I never knew you were able to use winter magic," commented the hulk of a man as he gazed at his companion, slightly impressed.

"I didn't, it wasn't me who cast that spell," 4ster said to the tank, earning a confused look from the giant of a man. While it came out of the blue, 4ster decided not to think of it further as it doesn't seem to be after them, in fact, it even looked like the ice was protecting him. Keeping that in mind, 4ster moved on to the situation at hand as he gazed at the woman standing in the distance. He cleared his throat, "My name is 4ster, a mage from the guild Sky's Apex, before we fight and cause further misunderstandings, I would like to ask you about your identity and your reason for attacking our companions."

After a bit of silence between the two sides, the woman shot a look at 4ster which caused the mage to flinch upon eye contact. It was like staring into the sun as he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated. The woman then responded, her voice sounding both near and distant at the same time; "You seem to have some form of common sense, unlike your companions. Very well, I shall entertain you. I am Vadodara, do what you will with that knowledge, I am merely here to collect what is mine yet your companions chose violence and struck first." Was her response to his question.

"I see, then we apologize for attacking you first without talking to you." As he said this he bowed his head slightly as an apology, but this did not affect Vadodara as she remained neutral with her expression. Seeing no change in her expression, 4ster remained calm and took deep breaths, while doing this he caught a glimpse of something by the corner of his eye as he turned to look at the object.

4ster's eyes went wide in shock as he saw the corpse of Atherion's knight captain lying on the ground with his body cut in half. Noticing the face their friend was making, the others turned to where he was staring ending in them having the same facial expressions, except for Yuna who did not recognize the individual.

In the span of a moment, silence filled the hall as Yuna felt a chill run across her body, she turned to the Beastclaw next to her who she felt was the cause of the sudden chill she sensed. In doing this she witnessed 'FuriouslyFluffy' whose face cast a shadow as her eyes were only visible, Yuna couldn't tell what was happening but she was aware of the look in the Beastclaw's eyes as it was a look she's seen several times.

Anger.

Turning his head towards Vadodara after looking at the corpse, 4ster, in a chillingly cold and calm voice, asks one last question to the woman. "Pardon me for asking, but, were you the one who did that to our employer?" The mage questions her as Vadodara remained the same with her expression.

Upon hearing what 4ster said, Yuna finally understood the reason behind the chilling atmosphere as she gulped in suspense at what she was watching.

Surprisingly, after a bit of staring at their faces, Vadodara, without an ounce of hesitation, grinned mischievously as she answered; "And what if I did?" With a taunting tone of voice, the woman broke into an amused smile as she struck a landmine.

Right after Vadodara said those words 'FuriouslyFluffy' had already thrown a punch directed at the woman's face which was easily caught. It took a moment to sink in as Yuna stared in surprise to see the Beastclaw who had just been next to her a second ago, appear meters away without her even noticing it. Seeing how her punch was caught easily, the Beastclaw released a flurry of punches while weaving in some kicks aimed at particular parts of the woman's body.

To say that the Beastclaw's attacks were fast is an understatement. 'FuriouslyFluffy's rapid strikes were relentless as one of her punches can be perceived as three to four in a single attack, although her attacks were indeed fast to leave after images, she wasn't merely quick for the sake of it, every single one of her attack was infused with Ki and was thrown accordingly and with unbelievable accuracy. Yuna watched the Beastclaw's dizzying display of speed as she gripped her sword tighter.

She had badly underestimated 'FuriouslyFluffy's fighting prowess as she used to look at the Beastclaw as she would a friend, she was reminded that the Beastclaw, whose level was nearing that of 90, was not someone to be looked down upon just because of her personality.

Although the girl was fast with her strikes, not a single one of her attacks managed to land as Vadodara blocked each attack with a single hand almost effortlessly. The red-haired woman's movements were sharp and each of her movements have a calculated thought behind them, and this more than made up for her speed which was significantly below that of the Beastclaw.

But while it seemed that 'FuriouslyFluffy's attacks were useless as not a single one of them is hitting their mark, it wasn't that she was just trying to hit her opponent mindlessly, it was to distract them from the real attack. While Vadodara was busy blocking the Beastclaw's attacks, she barely noticed the giant hammer coming down above her as the red-haired woman scrambled to block the attack with her other hand.

She stopped the hammer with her hand as Vadodara was forced to defend against the Beastclaw while stopping the hammer from crushing her. But the hammer and Beastclaw's relentless assault weren't the only things the woman had to face as a mandala manifested itself beneath her. Thanks to this mandala's appearance, the woman felt her body's weight almost increase twentyfold as she struggled under all the weight.

This gave an opening for 'FuriouslyFluffy' who was unaffected by 4ster's spell, to land a clean roundhouse kick to the woman's midriff, propelling her a few feet thanks to the Ki infused with 'FuriouslyFluffy's strike. But while they successfully hit her, Vadodara was still far from defeated as she was still standing.

They did not stop there as 'Remindmelater...' followed up by smashing his massive hammer against the woman who was still reeling from the hit. This, in turn, forced Vadodara to cross her arms in front of her to guard against the attack only to find the hammer stopping in front of her. She was then pummeled from the side by 'FuriouslyFluffy' who slipped behind the massive hammer to get closer.

A clean fist connected itself on Vadodara's face as for the first time since she was released, she received a blow to her face which left her stunned for a moment before 'Remindmelater...' swung his hammer once again, sending her airborne. While still in the air, Vadodara opened her eyes to see the ceiling completely filled with mandalas which rained beams of concentrated magic upon her as retribution.

In the spur of the moment, Vadodara tried to put up her shield, the one she used to block [Blade an Rí] in the hopes of reducing the damage. But to her frustration, the beams shredded her defensive shield as it was made to do so. Unbeknownst to her, 4ster had already foreseen the possibility of her being able to use a shield thanks to seeing Harvey's [Blade an Rí] which was destructive but with a good magic control it could be nullified, his beams were the direct opposite as they were much finer and densely packed magic, basically a laser.

"As per the contract, since our employer is now dead, we shall act as punishment for the one to kill said employer." while Vadodara was being peppered with a hail of concentrated magic, 4ster finished his chanting as he raised his staff causing a large rotating magic circle to appear above the woman, then, without warning, a beam of light shot from the said circle and blasted Vadodara's body.

Meanwhile, the entire mountain shook thanks to the sheer force brought upon the woman as avalanches occurred outside of the mountain, causing the forests and animals to flee the area.

•∆•

Faint tremors created small cracks through the walls of the tunnel as pieces of the ceiling fell with a thud. This, in turn, snapped Muzui awake as he cracked open an eye to see what was going on around him. He woke up to see a portion of the ceiling in the middle falling atop his head forcing him to roll to the side by pushing against the ground.

The piece of rock made a pang as it collided with the floor, luckily Muzui was able to roll out of the way just in time or he'd look like a pancake. Muzui pushed himself to sit upright as the strength in his body was barely coming back, it was thanks to the drug that Burke fed him that he was in this state. He clutched his head as a sharp headache came over him, fortunately, he was able to stave it off by taking deep breaths.

As he did this, his head eased slightly giving him some room to think. Once finished collecting his thoughts, he turned around to look for any signs of Burke, and as expected the burly man had taken off. Muzui clicked his tongue then slammed a fist on the floor as he let out a frustrated growl.

He had his suspicion of the man for a while, and it began ever since their first meeting on the ship as Burke created a scene with Zhiang, trying to instill doubt but failed thanks to Zhiang's efforts. Although at first, Muzui wasn't sure of it, his suspicions were later proven while they were doing some recon, at first, it didn't seem anything weird was going but now that he's noticed, it was way too odd how their three other companions fell into that icy pond while Burke was unscathed. If he were with them at the time instead of standing guard from afar, maybe things wouldn't have gone this far.

Another series of faint tremors snapped Muzui out of his train of thought, the young man turned his gaze beside him as he saw the dead bodies of his companions whose bodies were crushed beneath a chunk of the ceiling presumably while they were unconscious.

Muzui fell silent for a moment until he snapped seconds later, "Shit." He cursed in a frustrated tone as he failed to protect his companions for a second time. The first was back at their camp as he failed to protect his colleagues from the invasion.

But while the young man felt guilty, the ever-present tremors prompted him to quickly give the unfortunate a short prayer, although he wanted to give them a proper funeral, the various cracks appearing on the walls made that impossible as the tunnels slowly began collapsing. Seeing this event happen, Muzui begrudgingly took his sword and started sprinting to find a safer area.

As he sprinted, he felt the numbness in his body slowly disappear as his strength came to him although he was still weaker than he originally was. His feet carried him to the vast circular room where he had encountered Burke, he saw it was still standing strong as the ceiling has yet to collapse which was a good sign. Muzui exited the passage as a sense of relief washed over him.

The passage he exited from soon fell as debris clogged the entrance, preventing him from coming back, this was also the same for the other passages which had collapsed due to the earthquake. Luckily Muzui made it in time, unfortunately, his problems would change from one to another as the entire ground shook

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net