The Final Battle (Part 2)

Ophelia and I ran over to the market stall in front of the house.

It was close to the house, but…

“We need to push this thing closer,” I told her.

“R-right.”

We both went to one side of the wooden market stall and pushed.

I scanned the area.

Cici ran over to help the crazy injured guy fight the shadow humanoid. I guess it was perfect for her. She wanted revenge after all.

The young archer boy stood in the back, waiting for his perfect moment to strike while the guard had his eyes on King.

And Mia…where was she?

“Need help with that?” Mia asked.

“Ah!”

I jumped up.

When did she get behind us?!

Mia laughed.

“What’s with the screaming?”

“You scared me. That’s all. But please, can you help us with this?”

Mia stood in the center of the market stall and pushed.

“Of course,” she said, all chirpy and joyful.

We pushed the market stall against the wall of the building in front of us.

That wasn’t so hard.

But I kept glancing towards King.

He must’ve seen us push this thing. He must be at least searching for Ophelia.

He knows that she’s the one person who can stop his crazy spells.

If I were in his position, I wouldn’t want Ophelia to leave my sight, nor would I allow her to cast any spells.

That was the only possible thing King could’ve done, but he stood still in the middle of the road.

What’s he doing?

King clenched his fist as purple liquid dripped from his forehead and traveled down his arm.

Was that his blood?

It didn’t matter.

Because the next thing I knew, his eyes glazed over mine. They were bloodshot and filled with hate. With animosity.

With killing intent.

He bared his clenched teeth for all of us to see.

“Kill me?” he said to himself. “You’re going to kill me?! Like your forefathers did?! Yeah, right! My friends and I aren’t gonna let scum like you roam this world any longer! You’re all gonna die by our hands!”

King swiped at the air and glared at us.

“Creatures of the Orange Forest, kill the mage and the vermin beside her!”

Mia and I swung our heads in all directions.

Creatures? There were more creatures?

From not that far away, Arnold and the others had already defeated most of the monsters that revived and attacked us.

Their last opponent was again the large purple giant.

Though the purple giant didn’t seem like the biggest deal, even if they seemed sluggish and tired.

Despite how powerful that giant was, its moves were slow.

They could handle it.

But if that’s the case, then where are the monsters that King’s referring to?

Scanning the open market area once more, I saw them.

Four flying chimps.

They displayed their sharp, dagger-like teeth as the terrifying pack flapped its bat-like wings straight towards the three of us.

“Damn it!” I yelled. “I don’t have a weapon!”

I threw it at King earlier, and he hasn’t moved away from it. There was no way I could get it back!

“I don't either!” Mia yelled.

Just great. So we were defenseless against a bunch of flying homicidal chimps.

This night just continues to get worse and worse. This author just loves making their protagonists suffer.

Okay, enough of that.

Think, I told myself.

We need something to defend ourselves.

I stared at the wooden stall pushed against the building’s wall.

Grasping the center of the wooden counter, I pulled and pulled with heavy grunts until it broke off.

“Here,” I told Mia, handing the piece of wood over to her. “You take this.”

I went back to the wooden counter and pulled out a smaller piece of wood.

Dang, these things were hard to break.

Oh well. At least I was able to do it.

“Let me head up first,” I told the two girls.

The girls nodded.

I climbed to the roof and stretched my arm out to pull Ophelia up.

And that’s when the flying chimps caught up.

One swiped at me but I was able to lean to the left and dodge it with ease.

This is my chance!

The chimp shrieked as I thrust the splintered part of the small wood plank right to the center of its back.

The flying chimp lost its balance and fell. Without wasting any time, I used the opportunity to kick it off the roof and right into Mia’s large plank.

“Hyah!”

Swinging the plank like a baseball bat, she sent the flying chimp into the air screaming and without any time to flap its wings, the flying chimp crashed onto the floor and rolled around.

And that’s when it came across the armored guy.

He stabbed it in the chest. Quick and with precision.

The flying chimp didn’t scream or squirm. Its death was quick.

I heaved a heavy sigh.

“Tai, look out!” Mia screamed.

By the time I processed her words and turned, it was too late.

A medium-sized hand, rough and hardened through the experience of living in the wild, swung towards my very direction—and was aimed right at my left eye.

No! I-I can’t dodge!

The flying chimp’s hand was too close.

I closed my eyes. It was instinctive. But all I could do as time slowed was pray that the pain wouldn’t hurt as much as I thought it would.

But that’s when the flying chimp fell onto the tiles of the roof and squealed in pain.

I opened my eyes.

In front of me, squirming on the ground, the flying chimp had an arrow right through its hand and in between a tile in the roof.

The flying chimp was stuck!

Ophelia ran past me and towards the squirming chimp on the floor. She kept her staff low and swung right at the flying chimp’s temple.

“Gyahhhhhh!”

The flying chimp screamed as it fell from the roof.

Once it landed on the ground, another arrow flew straight to its head.

The chimp died in an instant.

Was it Cici? I thought it was at first, but she was with that crazy injured guy fighting the shadow humanoid. Plus, she was out of arrows.

The young boy archer ran towards the flying chimp.

It had to be him. And when he drew the two arrows from the flying chimp’s corpse, I knew for a fact that he was the one who saved me.

“Thank you!” I told him.

“Don’t mention it! And stay focused!”

I turned my focus away from the boy archer. The guy was right.

There were two flying chimps remaining. And all I had was a small wooden plank.

But they hovered from a distance and dodged any incoming arrows coming from the boy archer.

I cast Protection on Ophelia while she started chanting her spell.

My mana tightened the veins in my arms. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t comforting.

“I think I’m out of mana…”

“Don’t worry about it,” Mia said.

She climbed to the roof and stood by Ophelia and I.

Continuing her chant, Ophelia closed her eyes to focus.

“Damn you, apes! Stop that mage!”

The flying chimps flew towards us with purple rage singed into its eyes.

They shrieked and were ready to swing when an arrow hit one of them at the side, bringing them to the roof.

The boy archer smiled.

“I don’t know what’s happening right now, but these chimps are a lot easier to hit.”

Thank goodness for that.

The second flying chimp was still a problem.

It flew past the arrow that the boy archer shot and flew straight to Ophelia!

I threw my small plank at the flying chimp. To my surprise, the thing actually hit the chimp square in its face!

“I got him!” I yelled. I know I was stating the obvious, but in a light novel, situations like this don’t usually work out.

Mia followed up with a dash towards the flying chimp. The purple rage in its eyes was gone. The thing tried to fly away, but Mia wasn’t letting that happen.

She already caught up with it.

And with a swift swing to its side, the flying chimp collected itself, regained its balance, and flapped its bat-like wings before an arrow flew to the thing’s back, sending it spiraling towards the ground.

“Nice one, Mia!” I yelled. “You too, archer!”

The two thanked me as well, and with great haste, Mia and I stood by Ophelia to guard her.

Looking at the ground, King was in a fight against Cici, the armored guy, and the crazy injured guy.

Cici and the injured guy must’ve taken out the shadow humanoid while we were up against the chimps.

“Get out of my way, vermin!”

“Like hell I will!” the injured man yelled. His eyes were filled with as much rage as the flying chimps.

He swung at King, but to no avail. He used that invincible spell to have the blade go right through him before punching the injured man right where his bleeding arm was.

The injured man howled in pain.

Arnold and the others showed up. They saw the whole thing happen.

Frank wanted to join in and help, but Bertram and Arnold held him back.

I could understand why. With that invincible spell of his, there’s bound to be an accident if one of us continues slicing through his unfazed body and accidentally hits someone else with it.

King continued using the spell as a quick way of defense before performing kicks and punches to the trio that surrounded him.

But the injured man was able to land a hit once King tried attacking again.

He punched him right in the jaw.

“Ouch.”

I don’t know why I did that, but I winced for King.

“I finally figured it out,” the injured man said. His grin spanned from ear to ear. “You can’t attack when you’re in that invincible state. So, the moment you attack is the moment you’re able to be hit!”

He slashed at King, but it phased through.

King clicked his tongue.

“Nightsmoke!”

A large cloud of thick, dark smoke filled the lower area.

“Ah!” Mia yelped. “The smoke didn’t reach us!”

“Yeah, but be careful! He can come from anywhere.”

Ophelia continued chanting as I stood in front of Ophelia, and Mia stood by the back.

King was on his way up. I just know it.

Wait a minute, what if…

It was crazy, but I closed my eyes and concentrated on the one thing that could track him down in this thick smoke.

The thick amount of mana that emitted from King’s body. I could sense that since the smoke flew out from all facets of his body.

I focused on the sensation. A violent and suffocating sensation.

I opened my eyes and moved.

“He’s coming from the side!”

King jumped from the building beside us and launched his body straight towards Ophelia.

But I wasn’t going to let him hurt her. Not a chance!

Ophelia moved her staff and aimed towards the ground.

Her chant was over!

“No you don’t, you vermin!”

King drew his arm back for a punch, but I ran straight towards the punch.

If the injured man was right, then King’s punch couldn’t phase through me!

I took the hit. And damn did it hurt, but King wasn’t so strong that he could kill a person with a single move. I knew that I’d survive.

And that’s when Ophelia cast her spell.

With eyes brimming with determination and confidence, the orb on Ophelia’s staff started glowing.

“Meteor Volley!”

Large boulders broke off from the stone inside the open marketplace we stood near and rose into the air.

“Nooooooo!” King screamed.

As the boulders flew higher and higher, King ran towards Ophelia, but I grabbed onto his leg.

“Get off me!”

King’s leg phased through my hand, and he continued running towards Ophelia, drawing his arm back once again for a punch.

But he couldn’t get to her. Not if Mia could do anything about it.

She swung her wooden plank right at King’s abdomen, pushing him back.

“Nightsmoke!”

The dark cloud of smoke filled the air again, but I sensed where he was.

It was easy since I could also sense Ophelia. There was a strong amount of mana emitting from them both.

I rushed towards the sickening sensation of King’s mana.

Before he could land his punch on Ophelia, I tackled him and fell on top of the tiles of the roof we stood on.

Though the tackle wouldn’t have made any difference since Ophelia had already sent the huge boulders to crash onto the ground where the magic circle was visible.

A large cloud of smoke rose from the impact. King’s nightsmoke faded.

“It’s over!” I told him. “Your magic circle is broken!”

We win!