Savior! Redemption in Another World! - Chapter 34

As the Birdcage closed, I took the initiative. Drawing my great ax, I focused all of my might into my custom technique, Speed Cloak.

Instead of forming a cloak of mana around and inside of myself, as normal Cloaking does, Speed Cloak funnels it all into the interior of my legs and hips, allowing me to move at an incredible speed.

Speed Cloak combined with our naturally superior physicality, allows me to end most encounters with a single, unblockable strike. No matter how strong you are, if you don’t have time to cloak yourself in mana and raise a defense, you’re nothing but a sack of meat.

That being said, this move is insanely risky. If by some chance I’m hit, I also have zero defense. The only thing I have on my side is my natural durability.

However, that disadvantage doesn’t seem to be a factor in this fight, as I reach the Golden Idiot in less than a second, and swing down on him with all of my might. Of course, I transfer the Speed Cloak to my upper body first, making the swing faster than even I could see.

Yet as my ax slams into the warrior’s body, I can tell something is amiss.

Instead of being chopped directly in half, he is sent crashing against the side of the birdcage. It felt as if there was something stopping me from hitting him with all my might, yet I could tell he had not used any Cloak yet.

Looking towards the would-be corpse, I quickly cancel Speed Cloak and spread it throughout and outside of my body, just in time to block an invisible force meant to crush me.

“Impressive speed! Without my armor and Hands, I would have lost there and then!” The durable warrior said, as the dust cleared and I could once again see him.

His illustrious black and gold armor had a huge dent on its right side, with spiderweb-like cracks emanating from where I struck him.

Not allowing the warrior any more breathing room, I shot towards him again, surprising him, yet allowing him enough time to bring up his buckler in a defensive posture.

My strike hit his defensive stance to little visible effect, but a battle like this is a war of attrition, and this man was still a human.

Increasing the density of my cloak, I threw my two-handed ax into my right hand, instead choosing to punch with my left and swing with my right. Sure, it would take a bit more mana and focus, but it’s obvious he’s an opponent of some caliber.

Continuing to press the attack left the knight on the defensive, blocking my ax with his buckler shield and either meeting my punch with a parry of his short sword or relying on his very durable armor to absorb the hits. Yet, his buckler and armor began to become filled with cracks.

Perfect, soon it will be weakened to the point that another large hit will break it.

That time came sooner than expected, as in the next few blows, his buckler and right gauntlet shattered into shards of what looked like volcanic rock.

Seizing the opportunity, I spun and kicked him in the head, causing him to stumble. Perfect.

Grabbing my great ax with both hands, I swung into his dented right side.

The armor shattered on impact, and I could see I made a gash at least an inch deep, yet that impact once again caused him to be sent flying into the birdcage.

Before I was able to give chance, I felt an immense amount of magic pressure come over me, forcing me to assume a fully defensive cloak.

Richard stood himself up with his shortsword and began to chuckle ever slightly. At a speed visible to the naked eye, the shards of armor returned to him and cracks began to fill in with a golden light, eventually repairing to look as if they were an intentional design.

“Self-repairing armor? That must be a drain on your mana.” I reply, attempting to change my stance into a more defensive one. Yet, then I realized something. The force that my Cloak was blocking was simply overwhelming, and it felt as if I couldn’t move a muscle without great effort.

Of course, I could unleash the rest of my mana, but that would reveal my trump card and leave me crippled after this fight.

“It would be if I had mana issues. Besides, this battle is already over. I just felt you try to move within my Grasp, and seeing as you can’t, you should realize this is the end.” Richard said, slowly walking toward me. What an astounding amount of pride, he’s full of opening.

“What is this magic?” I ask, keeping him occupied as I funneled more and more mana into my cloak. I need to fight him at full power, yet I can’t afford to drain my entire pool.

Cloaking, at the end of the day, is just another utilization of magic. It takes a huge chunk of mana, and in turn strengthens the wearer and protects them until that initial investment is used up of course.

Realistically, if I invested my entire pool of mana, I could most likely dominate this man. I’ve seen his strength, and I know approximately how much cloak he can apply.

Yet, after this battle, I would collapse in a few minutes.

“Well, no harm in telling someone who’s already been caught. This is my personal magic, known as Arms of Avarice. I was able to, acquire it, after defeating an opponent of incredible skill. Its name may not suit me, but its effects surely do.” Richard said, a cocksure grin plastered on his face. He was now a mere four steps from me, yet his guard was completely down. “Now, be a doll and surrender, would you? I can’t wait to see exactly what I’ll get from a Tiamat.”

What nonsense is he on about? Either way, my plan has worked perfectly. He’s given me plenty of time to funnel mana into my interior cloak, leaving me with just enough mana to not pass out.

Without saying another word, I took a single step and broke out of his magic. Before he could even think about reacting, I took a second and a third, bringing him into perfect striking distance.

I swung down on him. Hard. Aiming at his right shoulder, the idea was to cleave him in two with one diagonal strike.

Surprisingly and unfortunately, as I was slamming into him, the ax stopped around four inches deep into his shoulder and was suddenly repulsed.

No, the ax wasn’t flung backward, he was thrown to the left.

Looking toward him, it was obvious what had happened. He had used his magic to move away at the last moment. What impeccable reflexes.

Instead of the face of anger or rage, I had expected him to wear, it looked as if he was smiling. No, he was smiling, a huge, disturbing grin.

“You sly dog! You caught me monologuing!” He yelled, giggling to himself as he delivered the line. Strange, instead of anger, he seems almost excited to say that phrase.

Just as he said that the battlefield changed. Without any words or chanting, four huge ethereal blue arms appeared one of which was where I was just being held, looking to have broken fingers.

“It’s a waste of mana to keep em invisible if you can just overpower em. Either way, the real fun can start now.” He said, madly grinning as a disturbing sight began to unfold.

The large chunk out of his shoulder began to reattach, snapping into place and fusing the tendons and muscle back together, eventually being covered with a flashy pale-pink skin.