Wilhelm's current stats
Gamer Magic: Level Seven ~ 1132/1600 XP
Strength: 11
Speed: 8
Agility: 8
Stamina: 9
Endurance: 9
Stealth: 7
Wilhelm opened the envelope, pulling out a single piece of paper with writing on it, detailing his task.
Several residents of the town of Crete have reported sightings of a beast nearby that has slaughtered livestock and has been getting bolder in what it does. They have requested magic knights to solve the issue. No real information is had on this beast and the people of Crete should be consulted for more info.
Wilhelm processed the task and nodded. He had to go get rid of some animal that's just being a nuisance, easy. However he needed to learn where this town was, which he assumed it was nearby if the assignment was passed to the Blue Roses in Kiten before passed to him. Turning around to walk into the Blue Rose's base he figured to ask Charlotte or someone there for directions.
Entering the building he saw Charlotte and Gina talking over by a table with a map out, Charlotte saying something about a part of it she was pointing at. However the captain stopped to look up at who opened the door and saw Wilhelm.
"What do you need?" She seemed annoyed to have Wilhelm there, which he ignored.
Holding up his paper Wilhelm replied. "Where is Crete?"
"It is a twenty minute flight, or a few hours of walking for you I suppose, southeast of here by the coast."
"I can teleport him there." Gina offered.
"No, your mana needs to be reserved for this." Charlotte tapped the map, Gina nodding.
At that moment someone walked in behind Wilhelm, who really hadn't moved from near the door, and bumped into Wilhelm's back. That person fell backwards from the impact while Wilhelm had to take a step forward to steady himself. Turning to look at the person it was that Stone magic girl who healed him at one point, Galgaria.
Galgaria looked up at Wilhelm and turned red. "I'm sorry! I didn't think anyone was right inside the door!"
"Galgaria, are you done with patrol?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes ma'am!" She spoke in a higher pitch than she meant to as she stood back up and moved around Wilhelm. "Patrol is done and nothing is out of the ordinary!"
"Good, go rest. Don't over exert your injury." Charlotte requested.
"She can take Wilhelm to Crete." Gina pointed at Galgaria.
"What?!" Galgaria once again had her voice break.
"I mean... She's done for the day right? Nothing happened so she has her mana so she can just grab a broom and Wilhelm and fly him there. He'd get the job done quicker and have time to look for his magic exploding rock." Gina explained.
Charlotte thought for a second before nodding. "Okay, he can use the supervision to make sure the beast isn't too much just in case. Galgaria if you are willing to do so, take a broom and escort the boy to Crete soon."
Galgaria looked at Wilhelm, who had no visible reaction to this twist, and turned redder. "O-okay. I'll do it."
Gina gained a smug grin, laughing internally at her words making Galgaria be alone with her crush. Her whole actual reason for the suggestion but she'd never admit to that.
"Broom?" Wilhelm asked.
"We can use our mana to make brooms fly, it's a common way to travel here." Galgaria explained. "I'll go get one." She quickly left to go into a side room.
"Get to your task and waste no time, report to me when it is done." Charlotte spoke to Wilhelm one last time before turning back to Gina and the map.
Galgaria came back less than a minute later with a broom. "I'm ready to go now."
"Good luck Mister Magic-Sword." Gina called out to Wilhelm as he silently left the building with the other Blue Rose.
Outside Wilhelm just looked at Galgaria. "How does this work?"
Galgaria didn't answer him, instead she was distracted by what was on his head. "You have an anti-bird on your head."
"Nero. It's name is Nero." Wilhelm responded.
"Oh. I thought Gina was joking when she said she made you adopt a bird." The girl continued to look at the bird, which gave her an apathetic look in return.
"Gina didn't make me do anything. Nero just wouldn't leave me alone and I stopped trying to make it." He explained. "How does the broom work?"
"Ummm... give me a second." The girl put the broom below her, between her legs. She closed her eyes for a second and the broom shook before rising up, lifting the girl off the ground a few inches. She turned to Wilhelm. "You just sit behind me and hold on... to the broom!" She said the last part with panic. She had almost said to hold onto her, and that thought would've broke her mentally to voice.
Wilhelm didn't question it at all, and got on the broom in a similar position to Galgaria, holding onto the space of broom between him and the girl.
With him on board, the girl made the broom lift higher, above the buildings and wall of Kiten. Once a decent distance above obstacles they were off, moving at a fast speed over and beyond Kiten.
Wilhelm looked at their surroundings with awe as they went past the field surrounding Kiten and quickly onto crossing over a forest. As much as he has seen exciting uses of magic, each new use he saw was something that took his attention and interest.
Nero had left Wilhelm's head the moment they had began to fly, and was seen flying beside them, Wilhelm looked for the bird from time to time to make sure that it was still near them.
"You said it was Crete right?" Galgaria asked after a minute.
"Yes, it's the town of Crete." He nodded despite her facing the other direction.
"It should take about twenty minutes." She informed him.
He gave no verbal response and instead went back to looking at the sights flying past.
The flight went on in silence, which was unnerving to Galgaria, until the coast and Crete were in sight.
"We're there." The Blue Rose spoke as she brought the two down to the ground near the town of Crete.
Crete was built right next to the coast, parts of the town going out onto areas split by bays of water. Wilhelm could see a decently sized dock with several big ships at it. He noticed that unlike Kiten, this city didn't have a massive wall around it, only on the northern section of the town towards where a river cut halfway through the town. In that part of the town surrounded by the wall and river the buildings were noticeably bigger and more extravagant, making Wilhelm think it was more or less the town's essential head and center.
The two teens walked along the path towards a gate, coming from the north they had to cross a gate in order to enter the town.
"Stop," A robed person right inside the gate held up a hand. "Identify yourselves."
"I'm Galgaria of the Blue Roses and this is Wilhelm..." The girl introducing them stopped and looked at Wilhelm, not sure what his last name was.
"Just Wilhelm." The orphan responded, as he did Nero landed back on his head.
"Blue Rose? Why... OH!" He opened the gate. "You are the one sent to assist with our problem?"
"No, I am." Wilhelm held up the paper that had made him assigned to this task.
The man raised an eyebrow, not sure why someone other than a Blue Rose, the squad currently in the region, had that request. "What squad are you from?"
"None. Cha- Captain Charlotte gave me an assignment and this was it."
The man rubbed his chin. "Too busy to help I suppose. Well anyways come on. You should report to Lord Minos." The guard began to lead the two into the town.
"What does this beast look like?" Galgaria spoke after a moment of silence that bothered her. "A lion? Bear?"
"Some people have different descriptions, it's never came to town directly and avoids the people as much as it can. All I know for sure is that everyone agrees that it is massive."
That really didn't give Galgaria any ease, the girl now picturing something they were less than a half the size of. Wilhelm stayed silent the whole time, which also didn't help Galgaria but didn't make her feelings of panic worse however. He was calm, which made her think he was confident enough to handle it. Which should make her be okay, but at the same time she stressed over why she, the one of the two with mana, was panicking and he wasn't.
Truth was, Wilhelm did and didn't care about the info. He cared enough to take notes of its description, but he didn't care about worrying because he already had it settled in his mind that he was completing this mission. Nothing would stop him from conpleteing it.
Making their way through Crete they came across and entered a buding with large brass doors, which led into a large hall that to Wilhelm resembled a church. At the end of the large room were people sitting at a long table, perpendicular to the entrance of the building. A man who sat in a central chair at the table which faced them made a motion with his hand, silencing the conversation at the table to point focus to the newcomers.
This man had straight, brown hair down to his shoulders, held back from his face with a brass band, and a recently unshaved beard whic had grey starting to appear in it. He had brown robes on top of white clothing, tied together with a red cord. Several rings were placed on his fingers and Wilhelm instantly got an image that this guy was a noble and possibly the giy in charge of the town/area.
"Greetings, I am Lord Minos, ruler of the fine town of Crete and it's surrounding land. You must be the Blue Rose sent to give us help with our pest problem." Minos spoke with a voice like gravel, looking at Galgaria and not even looking at Wilhelm for a second.
Galgaria turned unnoticeably pink. "Actually... I was told to guide Wilhelm here to assist you." She pointed at the teen next to her.
Minos turned and looked at Wilhelm, and within two seconds gained disgust upon noticing two things about the boy. His lack of mana and that bird who's species only appeared around the lower class, which just sat on the kid's head. He looked back at Galgaria. "With no mana? Ha! I thought that Lady Roselei had no sense of humor but the rumors were apparently wrong."
"I am here to get rid of the beast." Wilhelm held up the envelope while gaining a scowl.
Minos gained an amused expression. "Boy, your confidence is something," His smile dropped and he gained a dark look. "but this beast is something that no one here can face, just two days ago our strongest mage and soon-to-be magic knight, Theseus, was found killed by it." He went silent for a moment. "Only an experienced magic knight could possibly face it."
Wilhelm had a blank expression, what Minos said having no effect on him. "I was still ordered to come here and get rid of it. Just tell me what direction it is in."
Minos quickly decided he didn't like this kid, being way too confident for someone with no mana. However he would tell the kid what direction the beast was in if it meant seeing this kid learn how in over his head he was. "The beast so far seems to come from farther north up the coast in that region. So far-" He stopped as he watched in shock as Wilhelm turned around and began to leave. "Where do you think you are going?!"
"North." Wilhelm responded plainly as he opened the large brass door and began to leave.
Several people at the table had shocked expressions at how the foreigner spoke with a noble, some speaking about disrespect. Galgaria hadn't moved from her spot in sheer awkwardness, which got worse as Minos turned to her.
"I- I can take more information about the mission." The girl spoke with unease.
Several minutes later Galgaria found Wilhelm walking out of the town heading north, having used her broom to catch up to him.
"Wilhelm!" She called out as she dropped the broom and herself to the ground several meters away, the teen kept moving on the dirt path and she had to run to catch up. "Wilhelm!"
"I can hear you." He didn't bother turning to her, and she failed to noticed a crack in his voice.
"Why'd you leave without me?" She took a breath after having to run to catch up to him.
"You had the broom, I wanted to leave."
"You could've at least waited for Lord Minos to give us the information."
"No. I already know everything I need to know about it."
"You only heard it being up north."
"No. That guard said it was active at night and that it attacks livestock. It avoids people as well but that is irrelevant, just like it killing that person."
The Blue Rose gave him a wide eyed expression. "How is that irrelevant?!"
"It's irrelevant because I am killing that thing either way. It avoids people but will absolutely attempt to kill them if it is pushed into conflict is all that is taken from that information, which means nothing because I can make multiple other animals who would do the same thing."
"It also killed a mage." Galgaria pointed out.
"And?" Wilhelm stopped to look at her, revealing his angry expression. His expression threw her off and she didn't respond, so Wilhelm spoke. "I don't care about the death of someone I never knew. For them it sucks and I won't trash talk him but beyond that I don't care."
"...That's not what I meant." Galgaria stopped looking at Wilhelm.
The mana-less teen was silent for a second. "You're just like them." He turned around and began to go back north.
"What?"
"Forget it. Go back to Kiten or wherever, I don't care."
"Wait. No!" She ran to catch back up to him. "The mission isn't over!"
"Yours is." Wilhelm replied flatly. "You said you were just a guide. I don't need one anymore."
"You can't fight that thing alone! It killed a-"
"STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME!" Wilhelm snapped, turning to glare at her. His outburst startled Nero and made the bird move away from him. Galgaria actually took a step back out of surprise. "I am tired of you people acting like I am so far below you just because I can't do the same magic bullshit as you! I don't give a damn about how scared those people are of this animal. I was told to kill it so I am going to find it, cut off its damn head, and prove that I am not the pathetic person you all keep treating me like I am!"
The girl gave him a now worried look, and tried to speak but only a stutter came out. "I-i-..."
Wilhelm turned around and began to walk again without a word.
Galgaria stood there for a moment in silence, before looking at the teen who had gotten a decent distance away. "Wait!" Galgaria used the broom and flew to in front of him, standing in his way.
The mana-less teen stopped and glared at Galgaria. "Get out of my way."
"I'm going with you!" The Blue Rose declared, ready to get into a huge argument with him over it.
Wilhelm's glare disappeared. "Sure, whatever, I don't care." He walked around her while the girl processed his response.
"Wait... Really? No arguing?"
"I'm not wasting my time arguing with the women here, all of you give me no choice most of the time anyways." He responded.
Galgaria didn't respond, and instead followed the other teen along the path for a bit before speaking again. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, I don't care. You aren't even the issue."
"That doesn't matter, I still caused part of it."
"No. You didn't." Wilhelm sighed. "You were actually concerned and I let my frustration out on you... I'm sorry."
She gave him a look of surprise. "You shouldn't be the one apologizing here! I'm-"
"Stop, please, this is just going to get repetitive."
"Sorry." Galgaria replied sheepishly.
Wilhelm gained an exasperated look as he sighed.
After walking farther past the farmland they got close to a forest, and Wilhelm stopped right before they crossed the trees.
Galgaria stopped and just watched as Wilhelm looked around, and saw him turn away from the trees to walk along the edge towards the east. She hadn't moved from her spot but did call out to him. "What is it?"
"It's here."
"What?!" She panicked and had her grimoire out in a flash.
"Not here here, but this is definitely it's territory." Wilhelm crouched to look at the ground and something on it.
"The forest? How are you sure?"
Wilhelm held up what he had found on the ground, having no reaction to it, unlike Galgaria who covered her mouth in shock. "This hand."
"That's a hand you're holding!"
"The arm doesn't look like it's been here for long. It's been less than a day. It was irrelevant earlier but now isn't, did more people try to fight this thing past Theseus?" He asked her, figuring that she may have stayed to listen to information unlike him.
"..." Galgaria didn't speak but moved closer to look at the arm. "No. But that's not him either. They recovered most of his body."
Wilhelm raised an eyebrow. "Most?"
"He was missing an arm and a part of his side."
Wilhelm held up the arm he had. "And this isn't his because...?"
"He lost his right arm. This is a left hand. It can't be him."
Wilhelm looked back at the hand and noticed that the palm had a wound like something had been ripped from it. He studied it for a second and thought before speaking. "Okay. So someone else, not from Crete, was also killed by this thing." He looked into the trees. "It's that way. It lives somewhere in the forest and at night comes out to take livestock from the farms on the edge of Crete." He pointed back behind him at the fields between them and Crete.
"The forest gives it a place to be unseen, especially with how close we are to Diamond. No other towns or places between here and the border unless you head west for Kiten." Galgaria agreed.
"Now the only things are to find and kill it, and I guess figure out who's hand this is." Wilhelm stated as he put the arm back down and looked at the blood splattered across the grass.
"You are way too calm for someone who just found an arm." She couldn't help but say.
"If this is bothering you, you can go back to Crete." He offered, speaking calmly and made it clear he wasn't trying to put her down.
"No. No I can handle it." She got closer to also investigate the area like Wilhelm. "I just thought that you being completely calm was weird."
Wilhelm didn't speak immediately. He stood up and looked into the trees, seeing an almost unnoticed trail of blood and parts plants that would lead him to his objective. "When you face death once, it begins to not matter after that." He waved to the trees. "I see a path, follow me quietly, the sun sets in less than an hour and we need to be ready if it sees us before we see it." With that said he began to walk, following the trail.
It took Galgaria a moment to begin following, the girl thrown off by how deadpanned he was about almost dying before. Did his near-fatal encounter with that Diamond mage really make him this calm about dangerous situations? No that couldn't be it, Sol did say how ruthless he was when he first washed up on that beach. Did he have another almost fatal encounter before coming to Clover? She had no idea since he never really talked to anyone about his past, except when he made it clear he never wanted to go back to where he is from.
Shaking her thoughts Galgaria moved to catch up to Wilhelm, who was walking slower than he was earlier.
Soon the sun had set and the two had gotten no closer to finding the beast. Wilhelm had lost the trail after they went through a clearing, but he had assumed the place the beast was hiding qt had to be east and possibly right on the coast.
After half an hour of searching after the sun set, Galgaria had requested they stop for a moment to rest which Wilhelm only allowed once they got to the coast. The area they had gotten to on the coast ended as cliffs before meeting the ocean around fifty meters below. The trees had stopped around twenty meters away from the edge of the cliffs, leaving the two in a very visible setting, but also would let them know if something was trying to get close.
Galgaria had sat down and drank some water from a canteen she had, while watching Wilhelm who didn't take the time to actually rest. Instead he kept his eyes on the trees. Thinking for a moment Galgaria ended up speaking.
"I'm sorry."
Wilhelm turned to her in confusion. "What?"
"For earlier, I'm sorry about making it look like I was looking down on you."
Wilhelm exhaled as he turned back to the trees. "I said you have no reason to apologize."
"I do though. People do that to you and they shouldn't. You're... really cool." She got quieter as she said that last part, turning red.
"I don't like being patronized either." The mana-less teen replied.
"I'm not- I mean it though!" Galgaria huffed. "You've done some cool things since you came here! You have no mana and still defeated multiple people who did, one of them was even an assassin sent to kill you specifically!"
Wilhelm took a second to reply. "I was lucky."
"What?"
"Every single time, I was lucky I didn't die."
"That's not-"
"Don't." Wilhelm, surprisingly to Galgaria, spoke with a depressed tone. "At every single encounter I did get lucky. On that beach everybody was looking at Sol and had their back turned to me. If they hadn't looked away I would be dead. That assassin girl would have killed me too. If she knew it was me and didn't hold back from the beginning, or if you guys took any longer to get there, I'd be dead." He wasn't looking at her at all, still looking at the trees.
Galgaria was silent for a moment. "Lucky isn't a bad thing. It's luck, everyone has some."
Wilhelm didn't respond to the idea of everyone having luck. He took to being silent again.
Galgaria didn't like that Wilhelm shut down again, not wanting the conversation to end with him putting himself down. A feeling she knew too well. "I got lucky to be in the Blue Roses." She went quiet for a minute, before letting out a sigh and speaking quietly. "... I actually hate it."
That caught Wilhelm by surprise and got him to look at her. "What? Why?"
"I just... I feel like I don't belong there. Everyone else shows so much talent and I... I have nothing. Selena has insane talent in everything. Sol's offensive magic is really strong. Gina has only been a magic knight for a month, half a year shorter than me, and already she is a personal assistant to Captain Charlotte." Galgaria said while looking at the ground. "Everyone is really talented and I am not really good at anything."
Wilhelm turned to her again, looking at her with an odd look she noticed, and turned red from before looking away. He thought for a moment before speaking. "You can use clay you make out of nowhere to fix someone's arms after they got stabbed. You can make a stick with a bundle of twigs at the end fly you across a large distance in less than an hour that would've taken hours to walk. Back where I am from, none of what any of you are capable of is anything but fantasy."
Galgaria gained a small smile at the statement. "What was your home kingdom like?"
"Terrible." He responded without hesitation, pausing before speaking again. "Clover is far better, even if half of the people here are still assholes." He thought of the obvious exceptions to that statement. Selena, Fuegoleon, Mimosa and Gina were far from horrible and the best people he knew. Thinking of them made him smile a bit. "I am lucky to have washed up here around the Blue Roses. Your squad has great people and even if I don't like her, your captain is smart and I don't think she'd let just any random person in the squad."
Galgaria turned red, her seeing Wilhelm smile for the first time making the shade grow. For someone who almost always looked slightly mad he had a cute smile in her opinion. "... Thanks."
"Let's keep searching." Wilhelm changed the subject. "It's been night for a while now, so the thing is likely waking up now."
The Blue Rose stood up and nodded. Now no longer as worried as earlier, her fears and anxiety not mattering as much. She wanted to instead focus on helping Wilhelm do this mission and prove both of their worth.
Not far up the coast, the two staying near the cliff and out of the trees still, Wilhelm put his arm out to silently tell Galgaria to stop. She looked at his back in confusion before he pointed to the trees ahead of them. Galgaria looked at the darkness in-between the trees and squinted, trying to see what Wilhelm saw. Before she can even see it clearly, Wilhelm moved forward, staying low and quiet as he moved in the direction he had pointed. She followed and began to hear a sound from that direction.
Once past the first few trees Wilhelm put out a hand to get Galgaria to stop again, and pointed again so she can properly see the animal he had seen.
It was a massive bear, probably twice their height, and it was in the middle of eating a deer. Galgaria looked at it with wide eyes as she tried to understand seeing a bear that big. It was a sight to see but then Galgaria felt her hair stand on edge even more, as she noticed something else was in the area, something far worse.
Wilhelm watched the oversized bear for a second, before taking the belief that this was the beast he was supposed to kill, and took a step forward, putting a hand on his sword to pull the weapon out.
Before he could draw his weapon or take a second step, Galgaria grabbed Wilhelm's arm and stopped him in his tracks. The mana-less teen looked at her with confusion and a slight scowl, before seeing how terrified she was, which wasn't fitting for a large bear. Before he could ask anything, they both felt the ground shake, something massive moving, and turned to see that something attack the bear that Wilhelm was about to do the same to.
The bear was caught completely off guard, being struck in its side hard by the other beast, which used it's horns to impale the bear and then throw it into the air, a show of the other beast's strength given the size of the bear. After being tossed into the air, the bear was subjugated to being roughly slammed back into the ground by the other beast. A sickening cracking sound erupting from the bear as its ribs were broken and it was beaten into the ground by the beast repeating its action of slamming down its fists. The beast stopped after a few more strikes, and pulled apart some of the bear to put in its mouth.
This beast, was in short literally just that, a beast. It had the head of a bull, and large horns to fit the head. Past it's neck however it had a more human body, the upper body of a man, except that body was covered in the same dark brown fur as it's head. Below its knees the legs changed from a human body to the hind legs of a bull. It had the same tail as the animal it halfway resembled too. The man-bull beast had blood, dried and new, covering a decent amount of its person, with only a few scratches to make it clear most of the blood was not its own. It's appearance gave off a terrifying aura of it being a more than capable killer if it's earlier display wasn't enough to convey that.
Wilhelm and Galgaria both had similar expressions from their frozen spots. Pure disbelief and shock as they couldn't take their eyes off the beast, looking at it eat the bear it killed in not even a minute.
Wilhelm ignored his fear and readjusted his grip on his sword, ready to draw it. He now knew without a doubt that this was the actual beast he was meant to defeat. As imposing as it looked he wasn't going to back down. He took a breath and pulled out his sword. He had one good thing going for him, which was this beast facing away from him, meaning he can get a strike or two in before it reacts to him.
As Wilhelm moved closer to the beast, Galgaria made her grimoire open silently, keeping it low to keep the glow out of sight. She tried to think of what spell to use to cover Wilhelm, resigning herself to backing up his offense against the thing. She refused to let her fear make her hesitate now, focusing solely on the thought of assisting Wilhelm.
Once close enough to strike the beast with his sword, Wilhelm raised it to a thrusting stance, and lunged forward.
To the shock of Wilhelm, when his sword made contact with it, sparks of mana burst from that spot and his sword didn't pierce the flesh. His sword not piercing made Wilhelm stagger.
The beast moved in surprise and turned to face Wilhelm, it locking its gaze onto him with hate. The teen had a moment of panicking before he began to move backwards. The bull-headed beast didn't waste time in reacting, it showing anger by smashing the ground with its fists before charging on all four right at Wilhelm.
"Watch out!" Galgaria yelled at she made a spell activate. "Stone Creation Magic: Stone Rain!" Several large boulders made of stone appeared around Galgaria, and she instantly made two of them shoot off with force at the beast to let Wilhelm gets away from it.
The bull-headed beast stopped chasing Wilhelm to catch both stones, grabbing them both and sliding only a foot backwards from the momentum. Galgaria looked in shock as she saw the beast absorb the mana from her attack before crushing the stones. His fur gave a shimmer of light from the mana it took in.
Wilhelm moved back in at the moment he saw the beast had stopped to deal with Galgaria's attack, lunging in and swinging hard with both hands on his sword, slashing at its calf. More sparks of mana came off and Wilhelm didn't cut into its flesh again. The mana-less teen cursed as he made to make distance again.
"Wilhelm!" Galgaria shouted to get his attention. "It absorbs mana!" She wasn't sure if he could also see the magic like she could, not sure how much being mana-less made him be left out on.
Wilhelm gave no response as he kept moving away from the beast, its focus returned to him after he tried to hack at its leg. He needed to make a plan quick. If it absorbed mana, did that mean he wasn't cutting it because that thing was able to make the mana reinforce its hide? He wasn't completely sure, this thing was a behemoth so it was very likely it also just had thick skin. However even he could see the sparks from him striking the thing's being, so he believed firmly that it was using mana to strengthen itself.
The beast dropped to all fours, striking the ground with its fists like before as it did so, and charged at Wilhelm with speed. Wilhelm cursed as he made to dodge, the speed this thing has giving him too small of a window for comfort. Wilhelm used its size against it and dropped down, sliding to have it run above and past him. The momentum it had made it so the beast took a second to slide to a stop and be able to turn to Wilhelm, giving him enough time to quickly bring a downwards slash to its leg again.
Sparks flashed as he struck, once again not piercing flesh but he noticed less sparks than before appeared, meaning that there had to be some limit to what it had it could do in regards to this defense it had. All he had to do was keep working at the damned thing until he can start properly slicing at it. With that thought he realized something.
"Don't touch it!" Wilhelm shouted as he moved back from the beast again, shouting to Galgaria who was keeping more distance from the beast then he was. "My sword is taking away its mana!"
"I'll only get in its way if you are in serious danger." Galgaria made her own terms to the order. "How fast can you swing the sword?"
"Why?!" Wilhelm yelled as he dodged a massive fist being slammed into where he just stood.
"I can bind it in place! If you can use the sword quicker than he can absorb the mana then that can work!"
"I don't want to test-" Wilhelm didn't get to finish his statement as the beast managed to out maneuver the teen, a backhanded slap from it sending Wilhelm through the air and off into bushes behind Galgaria. His sword had left his grip and was dropped along his descent.
"Wilhelm!" The girl screamed, before turning back to the beast she heard moving now towards her. She threw the rest of her stones, four in total. The beast caught one of them, while the other three smacked into the thing and made it stagger. She knew she was only making it harder to kill, but now she needed to keep it away from Wilhelm who had to be badly hurt now.
As if her thoughts summoned him, Wilhelm stood up and moved forward, somehow his movement barely different.
"No more talking." Wilhelm said as he moved past her, the girl then seeing how he was bleeding from his lip.
"You're hurt."
"it's just a cracked rib." Wilhelm brushed off a injury she didn't know he now had. "Focus on making sure that thing doesn't squash us. I have to grab my sword from wherever it went."
She pointed where she saw it fall. "Go that way." She turned towards the beast and made a spell go off. "Stone Creation Magic: Stone Wall." A wall of stone erupted from the ground and rose up, higher than the beast and for a decent distance in either direction. She made sure that where she believed the sword to be was on their side of the wall. "That'll buy us a few seconds."
Wilhelm didn't respond, already running towards his sword, looking through the foliage for it. Before he found it, they both heard a roar and two booming strikes from behind the wall.
Cracks appeared in the wall and Galgaria saw the mana holding the structure begin to leave it, the beast likely pulling the mana to strengthen itself and weaken the wall more. The sound of more strikes came over the wall and Galgaria took a breath to ready herself for the inevitable collapse and that animal to come through it.
Four seconds later, the wall broke, and the beast was through, having charged into it to break though. It skidded to a stop to look over and see Galgaria a bit aways, seeing her easily due to her glowing grimoire next to her. The beast smacked its fists against the ground as it got ready to charge, and Galgaria began to run through what she should do.
Both of their actions were interrupted as Wilhelm re-entered the battle, leaping at the beast with his sword back in his hands and in a downwards swing. He struck the beast on the nape of its neck, sparks flying and the heavy object being slammed into it making the beast be slammed jaw-first into the ground.
Wilhelm quickly attacked again, bring his sword back down to slam back into its neck, striking again and taking away more mana from the thing. He raised his sword a third time but was unable to go through with the strike as the beast backhanded him again as it tried to get up, sending the kid back through the air.
Luckily for Wilhelm this was a weaker attack then the first time, he didn't get hit hard enough to make him let go of his sword. The teen crashed to the ground several meters away. He groaned as his cracked rib felt worse, but pushed through it and got back to his feet.
He saw that the beast had chosen to pursue him again, it seemingly focusing on whichever of the two was being more of a threat to it at the moment, which for the most part was Wilhelm. He preferred that since Wilhelm had the only seeable way of beating the damned thing, and he wanted Galgaria as much out of danger as she could be in this situation.
He readied his sword as the beast charged at him, this time staying on its hind legs as it broke down trees to get to Wilhelm. The mana-less teen took a breath as he ran at the thing, at an angle going around some trees to his right, making a plan that required him being reckless. He waited until the thing was just about to attack where he was heading. before changing directions and sliding under it again and getting behind it, using his momentum to spin into a slash with his sword, his blade crashing into the back of the beast's right knee.
The impact caused sparks again, less than before. The impact of his blade with it and the beast's own movement made the beast fall to its knee. Wilhelm used this moment to raise his sword and do a side slash on the beast's lower back, and again in the other direction. Upon his last slice something new happened.
The beast roared in what was pain. His sword managing to cut the skin.
It was only a shallow cut, enough to bring about a reaction of pain. Pain and anger that followed as the beast changed its focus back to the boy who drew blood, even just a few drops, from it.
The beast didn't bother getting up, swing its arm around and striking Wilhelm with a fist, the teen being sent away and crashing into a tree three meters away hard.
The mana-less teen gasped for air as the impact took his breath away. Wilhelm slumped to the ground below the tree, dropping his sword next to him.
The beast had an almost gleeful look as it turned around and saw Wilhelm not moving. It got to all fours and charged at him without hesitation, eager to kill the kid.
"Stone Restraints!" Galgaria shouted as she made stone burst from the ground and grab the beast by its ankles and wrists, making it trip over itself from the loss of movement. The beast had been stopped just two meters away from Wilhelm.
The beast roared in annoyance and attempted to free itself, absorbing the mana as it used brute strength to free itself from the restraint on its right wrist.
Before it could react properly to break out of more of the other restraints, Wilhelm had gotten back up, grabbing his sword.
The teen looked down at the beast as he raised his sword, an evil look in Wilhelm's eyes. He said nothing as he swung, slashing at its head. The beast tried to move but the slash was too far into its movement, and Wilhelm got through the motion of his attack.
The bull-headed beast roared again as its flesh was pierced, the pain made it jerk and break free from the restraint on its left arm. The beast reached forward with another fist, punching Wilhelm full force and slamming the teen into the tree. After that the beast stood up to hold its wound and handle the pain, the left side of its face covered in blood. It's eye had been sliced right through, Wilhelm effectively having rendered it blind on one side.
Galgaria made another spell. "Stone Creation Magic: Stone Arrow!" A arrow made out of pure stone came out of the mana from her outstretched hand, shooting at the beast and going in-between its fingers to pierce the already destroyed eye. It's mana defense did nothing to block the strike, Wilhelm draining it earlier for enough of a window for her to attack it also.
The beast roared again, pain going through it as it reeled from the shock. Regaining itself, it brute forced itself from the shackles on its legs. the mana having been absorbed, and turned to face Galgaria again. It gave off intense bloodlust and the girl began to rethink her last action. The beast charged at her, on only two legs, its rage making it break down every tree in its path as it made it way to Galgaria.
Galgaria made more stone boulders appear, instantly throwing them all at the beast, who began to bat them out of its way. It caught the last one, absorbing its mana before throwing the rock with force at Galgaria.
The Blue Rose barely had time to raise a stone pillar to block herself from being hit, the debris flying past her. Not even two seconds after she raised the pillar, had the beast struck the pillar and brought it down in front of her. The girl lost her chance to do anything else and braced herself for the attack.
A clashing sound was heard, and she looked up to see sparks around the beast's upper back. The beast turned in confusion and Galgaria also looked and the two saw Wilhelm.
Wilhelm stood a bit away, breathing hard. Blood was pouring from scrapes on his face, as well as bleeding through his shirt. He was breathing hard and no longer standing up straight, not able to. His sword dropped to the ground in front of the beast after Wilhelm had thrown it at the beast.
Wilhelm opened his mouth to speak, and Galgaria saw blood drop out from inside his mouth. "Your... Your fight... is with me!" The teen shouted at the beast.
With that, the beast turned its complete focus to Wilhelm, taking a step towards him. It stopped however when Wilhelm fell to his knees, coughing up blood. The beast roared and got ready to charge the downed teen.
"Now Galgaria!" Wilhelm shouted.
Galgaria didn't know exactly what he meant for her to do, but made a spell. "Stone Arrow!" She shot the spell instantly and it flew at the beast. Galgaria became surprised as it actively pierced the animal in the back. The beast stopped from going after Wilhelm to turn to Galgaria.
"Again! It's standing on my sword!" Wilhelm coughed.
The Blue Rose then realized that that's why she could hurt it now, Wilhelm's sword. He had thrown it so it would weaken the thing, and the beast luckily stepped on the blade so it is constantly taking away the thing's mana. She can attack it freely as long as it stayed there. It of course wouldn't, which is why she had to act fast.
Quickly she made several stone arrows appear, and fired them all at the thing. Half of the arrows were swiped away by it, before the beast stepped off the sword to go after Galgaria. Three arrows pierced it at that point, and it absorbed the mana to regain its defense while stomping towards Galgaria.
The girl didn't panic this time and made two stone pillars appear between her and the beast, slowing it down before it could get to her.
As the beast broke the first pillar was when Wilhelm stood back up, ignoring his pain and moving as fast as he could towards his sword. He had to run with a limp, his right leg in bad shape. As the beast broke the second pillar was when Wilhelm grabbed his sword again, and began to rush behind the beast. Galgaria made a third pillar appear, waiting to make it appear until it could appear right in front of the beast, striking his jaw and making it stumble. That was enough of a stop to let Wilhelm catch up, who swung his sword at the beast's calves, attempting to slice both legs. The first one only gave off sparks, but halfway through the swing of the second, right calf, Wilhelm managed to cut flesh again. The beast roared in pain again and kicked at Wilhelm, missing the teen who dropped down to get away from the blow.
The beast roared in annoyance and grabbed the last standing stone pillar, breaking it off and swinging it at girl wasn't prepared to become the focus at that point, thinking it would stay on Wilhelm for the moment, and got caught off guard.
The stone pillar collided with Galgaria, taking her off the ground and throwing her into a nearby tree, hitting three branches before she fell to the ground.
The beast turned back to Wilhelm, turning to see the teen lunge forward and stab the sword right into its foot, hitting the beast's mana shield and not piercing flesh. Wilhelm instantly stabbed a second time, yelling as he did and this time it connected with flesh. His stab piercing all the way through and making the beast roar once again in pain.
The beast reached out at Wilhelm quickly, the teen not being able to get away in time, and was grabbed by his right arm. Lifted into the air he was also grabbed by his legs. Wilhelm panicked as he realized the beast was about to tear his arm off, the thing already pulling its arms in separate directions.
Before any serious damage could be done though, A stone boulder crashed into the beast's back and was enough of a hit to make it release Wilhelm, the teen falling to the ground hard. He didn't need to look to know that Galgaria had used a spell, instead focusing on getting his sword. He stumbled to the foot of the beast and pulled the sword out without hesitation. He knew pulling the sword out would give it a chance to regain the shield, but at the same time he knew the beast was smart enough to pull the sword out, and he needed to keep the weapon near the fight.
Moving away from the beast as Galgaria threw another boulder at it, Wilhelm watched as the beast grabbed the boulder from midair, obviously taking the mana it could use for defense. Not wanting it to have any shield he quickly moved back in and swung his sword again, hitting the beast's calf where he had previously cut it. Sparks flew off meaning he didn't get to cut it, but since he struck where the cut was, the beast still felt pain. The beast turned back to Wilhelm and tried to swing at him, Wilhelm swinging his sword to slice the arm that came for him.
Both attacks landed, Wilhelm getting a long slice right up the beast's forearm, and the beast's arm struck him. The teen was thrown backgrounds and out of the tree line, into the clearing close to the cliff.
Wilhelm landed on his back and yelped in pain as the crash landing rattled his definitely more than just cracked ribs, and his probably not-okay organs.
The beast emerged from the trees and stomped towards the still downed teen. Wilhelm turned to his stomach and struggled to his hands and knees, his body about to give up on him. He grit his teeth and pushed himself higher, standing back up right as the beast got close enough to attack the teen.
"Look out!" He heard Galgaria yell from the forest, the sound of a arrow shooting through the air following as she struck the beast in the arm that was about to grab Wilhelm.
The mana-less teen grabbed his sword in that opening, spinning and swinging it as hard as he could.
His sword clashed with the beast's right hand, scraping against the back of its hand before he took away the beast's shield. Once the mana shield was gone, Wilhelm's sword went through flesh, and ripped away the beast's index finger. The digit fell to the ground in a spray of blood as the beast roared in agony. Wilhelm's swing made him stumble, the teen barely having energy to stand anymore.
Filled with rage, the beast slammed its fists into the ground, barely missing Wilhelm, who barely moved away. No one noticed the ground shifting near the ground, all too focused on the conflict they were in. The beast fell to all four and charged Wilhelm, this time hitting the teen with its rush.
Galgaria watched in horror as the teen was struck in his side by one of the beast's horns. Wilhelm's face twisted into agony as he was pulled from the ground and lifted into the air by the strike, his ripped open side releasing his blood along the cliff. Wilhelm crashed to the ground right along the cliff's edge.
"WILHELM!" The girl shouted as she made her Stone Rain spell activate, striking the beast with multiple boulders. The ground shifting again as the boulders crashed to the ground.
The beast turned to the girl, barely stopping itself from tumbling off the cliff. It got ready to charge her but was stopped by something falling on top of it.
Wilhelm's sword, which he had thrown as he fell through the air, fell right on top of the beast. The sword did nothing on its own, cutting nothing from the beast. However it touched the monster and absorbed the mana it was using to strengthen its hide, giving Galgaria the chance to strike once again.
"Stone Rain!" Galgaria made a single boulder, one bigger than the others she had made, and shot it right at the beast. It had little time to react and barely caught it, but that didn't matter as Galgaria got what she planned.
The beast stumbled backwards from catching the boulder, and went over the edge of the cliff.
However that action had consequences, the fight along the cliff and the weight of Galgaria's stones caused the ground to shift too much, and three meters of the cliff's edge broke off, securing the fall of the beast into the ocean below. It also meant that Wilhelm, who was too severely injured to react at all, was also sent falling to the water below.
Wilhelm's head was unclear as he watched the ocean get closer, his injuries making everything foggy. It didn't catch up to him that he was going to fall into the ocean until he had already hit the water. The debris of the cliff saved him from hitting a hard surface, but once underwater the debris turned again him, a chunk of a boulder above him putting pressure on his chest, and pushing the teen farther into the depths. Making Wilhelm relive the lowest point of his life.
A cloaked mage watched as the portal he made dropped the beast right in front of him and his partner. Before it could move the second mage wrapped tendrils of flames from their magic around it, binding it to the ground.
"A person without mana made a fool of Morris's creation." The Spatial magic user stated as he looked down the cliff to where he had fallen into the ocean.
"It's one weakness was his weapon. With that now in the ocean like that filth, nothing can get past its mana defense." The flame user pointed out. "Teleport it to Crete. Clover losing that town will give Diamond an edge."
A new portal opened below the beast made by Diamond's Morris, and it disappeared, teleported to Crete.
"For the glory of Diamond." The Spatial magic user gained a twisted smile.
Gamer Magic: Level Seven ~ ?/1600 XP
Strength: 11
Speed: 8
Agility: 8
Stamina: 9
Endurance: 9
Stealth: 7
A/N: That's the end of chapter nine, part one of the First Mission arc.
I have been looking forward to writing this arc since I planned it. I hope everyone liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Yea, that beast was the Minotaur, didn't know really how to slide the name in organically, since he's a Greek myth and Wilhelm is the only one from the world where Greece is a thing, but I doubt he read it. I figured once I revealed the town as Crete and Minos as a person, people would connect the dots. Especially once Theseus was named.
Imma reply to the important review of chapter eight now:
The guest: [Everyone else this contains spoilers so warning.] First person to actually say that, and finally, someone realized it. Yea, Wilhelm is Licht's reincarnation, or his vessel moreso. Patolli (Everyone calls him Patolli or Patrick and I just got stuck on Patolli tbh) actually reacted in that chapter in the capital, chapter six. That last scene where someone is questioning who Wilhelm is, that was Patolli trying to figure out who Wilhelm is as a vessel, well to who a vessel he is. Basically because of story reasons it isn't completely obvious he is Licht's to those who can detect that. William probably hid his reaction is what I wanna go with, it'd be odd to act like the foreigner is familiar to you on that level when weird magic rock stuff happens to him.
That's all I got for now, expect chapter ten in a week.
Remember I have a link to a Discord server if you guys wanna ask questions and the such, I am more open to conversations there.
Hope you liked the chapter and have a nice day!