Arifureta Zero: Volume 1 Page 11

  “Take this, heretic! Tremble before the might of the templar knights’ ultimate technique!” Oscar kneeled in front of Ruth and stuck out his umbrella. It was time to see if his shield could withstand the templar knights’ strongest attack.

  “Celestial Flash!” This was the technique the knights were known best for. Three shockwaves clad in Ehit’s fury hurtled toward Oscar. Being able to use this skill was the requirement to become a templar knight.

  Celestial Flash was an advance-rank light spell. It was so powerful that it could shatter through barriers of similar rank.

  And Oscar was facing down three at once. Everyone expected him to die.

  “Aniki!”

  “It’s fine.”

  Ruth was scared out of his wits, but Oscar was as calm as always.

  Booooooooom... The shockwaves of light smashed into his umbrella. There were furrows in the ground where they’d passed through.

  “That spell can take down even advance-rank barriers. I don’t care if you made that umbrella out of Azantium. There’s no way you can take three of those at... once?” The knight lowered his sword as he spoke. At the end, his voice trembled.

  “This is the first time I’ve tested this against a Templar Knight’s Celestial Flash, but I should have known Hallowed Ground could take it. It was worth spending three whole days crafting this.” Oscar was completely unscathed. His umbrella wasn’t even scratched. In fact, it was shining brighter than the Celestial Flashes had been.

  He’d enchanted it with the strongest barrier spell known to man, Hallowed Ground. It had taken him three whole days to enchant his azantium umbrella with it. He had no aptitude for light magic or defensive magic, so it had taken him much longer than anything else, but the result was the strongest shield ever seen.

  The umbrella wasn’t just made of azantium, either. It was a compound alloy that included sealstone in it as well. The alloy alone was nearly indestructible. Combined with a barrier spell, it became truly invincible.

  “Impossible... There’s no way! What in Ehit’s name are you!?” The ice holding the vanguard in place had melted, and in their panic, the knights prepared to charge again. They’d lost their ability to think straight after seeing Oscar casually shrug off their strongest attack.

  Oscar calmly snapped his umbrella shut and stood up. Then, he held the handle in both hands and slowly lowered the tip.

  “I’m just your average Synergist.” He said, as he tapped the umbrella’s ferrule to the stone floor.

  Huge cracks spread out from the point of impact.

  “R-Retreat! Retreaaa—” The lead knight had a very bad feeling about those fissures and called out the order to retreat, but it was too late. As he’d moved around the battlefield, Oscar had transmuted certain points in the floor. Underneath a thin surface layer of rock, the ground below had been transformed into coarse grains even finer than sand.

  That thin layer of rock wasn’t able to bear the knights’ weight, and it crumbled underneath them. They all fell into the sandpit trap Oscar had set up around them. It was actually shallow enough for them to stand in, but they were so panicked that they looked like drowning sailors.

  “Cough... You bastard! Don’t think you’ll cough... be able to cough... get away this this!”

  “Transmute.” Oscar’s voice was pitiless. The sand pit was surrounded in golden light. It slowly began to coalesce back into hard stone.

  Realizing what was happening to them, the knights reached out desperately toward Oscar.

  “N-No please, forgive—”

  “Will you value human life more than Ehit’s will? I might consider letting you live if you do.” It was hard to tell if he was trying to get back at the knights for giving him two unreasonable choices, or if he truly wished for them to realize the error of their ways.

  It didn’t matter though, as the knights were too stubborn to change their ways.

  “Nothing is more important than Ehit’s will! Cough... How can you not realize that!? If you repent your sins now, you might still be—” Oscar had thought they’d been begging for forgiveness at first, but it seemed they’d actually been trying to say “forgiveness is still within reach for you.”

  “Didn’t even want to consider it, huh?” Oscar muttered quietly to himself as he sealed the knights into their stone tomb.

  Once the deed was done, he breathed a tired sigh. It had been his first time facing templar knights, and he’d actually been rather nervous.

  He relaxed now though, and because of that he didn’t notice the figure that had been hiding further down the passage, nor did he notice when it dashed off.

  Ruth watched in amazement as Oscar buried the templar knights alive.

  He wasn’t confused by Oscar’s unbelievable strength. No, in fact, a sense of happiness he couldn’t quite describe welled up within him.

  The brother he’d admired for so long really wasn’t a loser. He’d had the courage to come down here alone, just to rescue his family. And his Synergist skills were even greater than Ruth had initially thought.

  He was so strong that even templar knights couldn’t beat him. Ruth was a fledgling Synergist himself, which was why he could tell Oscar’s abilities far surpassed that of any normal Synergist.

  No, surpassed wasn’t quite the right term. He’d been able to transmute sealstone, an ore that was supposed to resist magic. He realized now that that staircase heading straight to the first floor had been made by Oscar too. It must have been how he’d reached Ruth so quickly. How good do you have to be to make a 65 floor staircase in a few seconds?

  This was what it meant to be a master. All of the various tools Oscar had used to defeat the templar knights were artifact-level masterpieces; and he’d made them all himself.

  Ruth didn’t know why Oscar had been hiding his talent all this time, but that didn’t really matter. Aniki’s even greater than I thought he was! That was what was important.

  “Ruth, are you alright?”

  “Y-Yeah! Aniki, I’m sorry I misunderstood you all this time...” Oscar gently patted Ruth’s head.

  “It’s fine, Ruth. It was my fault to begin with. Anyway—” Oscar fixed up the staircase heading to the first floor.

  “I’m sure the kids who went on ahead are worried about you. Go look after them for me.”

  “But... I want to help you... You’re going to save Dylan and the others...” He couldn’t just leave his siblings behind. But more than that, he wanted to help his brother, to make up for being mean to him all this time. He wanted to chase after him like he had in the past. Oscar could tell from Ruth’s gaze.

  Just then, the pair heard the familiar clanking of plate armor. The knights had been overconfident, and hadn’t bothered to request backup when they’d engaged Oscar. That had been a real help while he’d been fighting, but of course other squads must have heard the commotion.

  “Hurry up and go, Ruth.”

  “But—” Ruth glanced back and forth between Oscar and the staircase. Oscar smiled fearlessly, something Ruth had never seen him do.

  “I’ll take care of Dylan and the others, but you need to look after these kids. You’re my little brother, Ruth. I know you can do this.” Ruth could tell Oscar was just trying to give him a way to make it look like he wasn’t running, but after being told all that, there was no way he could say no. He bounded up the first few stairs and turned back to Oscar.

  “Aniki. Take a right at the fork we passed through. From there, follow the path with the low ceiling made of flamrock. Then, go right where the walls are made of stratified shtar. After that, follow the taur and blastrock tunnel. Then, take a turn at the corner where the green glowstone is chipped! That’s where the building they took us to is! Keep Dylan and the others safe!” With that, he turned back around and dashed up the stairs.

  Oscar was a little surprised at how detailed Ruth’s description was. Still, he quickly closed up the entrance to the staircase, transmuting it to look exactly like the wall around it.
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  “He really is my younger brother. He’ll grow up to be a fine Synergist.” Oscar twirled his umbrella. He smiled, proud at how much his brother had grown, and dashed off down the corridor, following Ruth’s directions.

  He came across a number of templar knights on his way. Some he defeated with his artifacts, others he buried in walls, and yet others he fled from by transmuting himself through the walls.

  Finally, he spotted a glow in the distance. Not the natural glow of green glowstone, but the soft light of lanterns.

  “Ah!” Oscar quickly hid himself behind a nearby boulder.

  The reason why was simple. The passage opened out into a dome-shaped room with a ceiling that was twenty meters high. There was an ornate building in the center, and a veritable army of templar knights guarding it.

  There were at least thirty of them. Judging by the building’s size, the number of storage sheds scattered around it, and the fence surrounding the compound, Oscar guessed that it was no ordinary facility.

  Makes sense most of them would be here if they’ve gotten reports that there’s an intruder on the loose. I don’t regret doing what I did, but I really should have been faster about it... Now then, how to handle this? Should I just transmute an underground tunnel leading directly into the building?

  Before he could put his plan into action, however, he was spotted.

  “Get out here, heretic. We know you’re hiding.” An old, grizzled voice echoed through the room.

  Guess they found me.

  Of course, he had no reason to actually show himself. He could hear men closing in from behind as well. It was time to make himself scarce. He put his hands on the ground, preparing to transmute himself a new hiding place.

  Sadly, things didn’t go as planned. In fact, the worst possible thing happened...

  “You came to steal this kid from us, didn’t you?”

  “Ah!” Chills ran down Oscar’s spine. He timidly poked his head out.

  “Oh no—” One of the men had Corrin by the scruff of her collar.

  Why? How? Had they known Corrin was one of his sisters? But when did they find out? And who told them? Those questions whirled around in his mind.

  His confusion was understandable. His enemies shouldn’t have known who he was. Had they assumed he was here to take all the children back, and had picked a hostage at random? No. They wouldn’t have said “this kid” if that was true.

  Not only did they know who Oscar was, they knew who he was close to.

  Where did I slip up? He had either defeated every knight he’d come across, or fled from them before they got a good look at his face. Or at least, he thought he had. It seemed his countermeasures hadn’t been perfect.

  He clicked his tongue impatiently and stepped out behind the boulder. Corrin smiled when she saw Oscar.

  “Ah, Onii— Ow!” Before she could finish her sentence, the man holding her tightened his grip on her neck. Her face twisted in pain.

  “Stop tormenting little kids. Don’t you have even a shred of humanity left in you?”

  “What would a heretic like you know about humanity? Know your place, you Orcus Workshop dropout.”

  They exchanged insults. Oscar was surprised how much information they’d gathered on him. He adjusted his glasses to hide his shock. And, at the same time, he examined the man.

  His face had more wrinkles than he could count. It was obvious he was old. However, the flames of ambition still burned brightly in his eyes. Old though he was, it seemed his hunger for power hadn’t faded in the slightest.

  His clothes, too, stood out. They were made of high-quality fabric, and were ornately decorated. It was clearly a priest’s garment. No low-ranking deacon or curate’s habit, either.

  These were the robes of a bishop... The bishop of Velka to be exact.

  “Those clothes, and that face... I remember who you are now. So you were the one behind the kidnappings, Forneus Abyssion.” Though he hadn’t believed, Oscar had still joined the Holy Church to avoid raising suspicion. But he hadn’t been able to stomach their doctrine, and had rarely shown his face. Still, he had a vague recollection of the bishop from the few times he’d gone.

  Forneus’ eyes narrowed in anger. He couldn’t believe it had taken that long for Oscar to remember his own bishop.

  “You thrice-damned heretic. How dare you forget the face of your exalted bishop? Such a heinous crime is deserving of death!”

  There sure are a lot of crimes punishable by death according to the Holy Church... The bishop went on to talk about how dangerous heretics were, how wonderful the Holy Church was, and how he’d been ordained by Ehit himself for this holy mission. Oscar ignored him completely.

  He’d provoked the bishop in the first place in order to buy himself some time. During the bishop’s rant, he’d transmuted the ground underneath them, turning the terrain to his advantage. Then, he quietly sent out his Metamorph Chains, setting up traps in various locations.

  Oscar held his umbrella in both hands like a sword, tip pointed at the ground. His pose looked regal, like a knight standing before a challenger. He kept his gaze focused on Corrin all the while.

  Don’t worry, Corrin, I’ll save you.

  Okay, Onii-chan! They didn’t need words to communicate with each other. Corrin was scared out of her wits, but she had absolute faith that Oscar would save her. She managed a weak smile.

  A panicked, familiar voice interrupted the bishop’s speech.

  “L-Lord Bishop! Your glorious sermon is wasted on this worthless plebeian! Kill him and be done with it! So long as you hold the child, he cannot fight back!” They were trying to cut the time Oscar had bought short.

  However, hearing that voice had finally made Oscar understand the truth of the situation. He realized why Forneus had known so much about him, and also why Forneus had taken Corrin hostage. Plus, most importantly of all, he finally knew exactly why his brothers and sisters had been captured in the first place.

  It’s them. People had told Oscar they’d spotted them wandering around the residential district.

  “You’re the only reason I can think of for them to come down here.” Oscar remembered the words the adventurer had told him.

  So that’s how it is. Golden-yellow mana swirled around Oscar.

  “So you’re the one responsible for hurting my family.”

  “Hiii!?”

  “Uwaaah...”

  “N-No, we’re...” Ping, Torpa, and Raul all took an involuntary step backward.

  Oscar’s eyes burned with anger as the light wrapped itself around him. His anger hit them like a physical force. Even some of the templar knights balked.

  He had far more mana than any human they’d seen before.

  Oscar hadn’t finished all of his preparations yet, but he couldn’t hold back his anger any longer. He’d appeared calm, but when he’d first seen Corrin taken hostage he’d already been furious. And then, when Forneus had started talking he’d barely held himself in check, but the appearance of Ping and his cronies had tipped him over the edge. What made it worse was that they’d done this all because of a petty grudge.

  Because of these three dumb bullies, Oscar’s family had been put in danger. It seemed his loser act had made them think they could walk all over him. And so, he was furious not only at them, but at himself for letting this happen.

  “How are you using your mana like that!? Don’t tell me you’re— Ngh, you blasted heretic! Don’t you care about what happens to her!?”

  Corrin screamed as Forneus dragged her closer. He pulled out a magic stone the size of his pinky finger and held it to Corrin’s mouth.

  Oscar had no idea what it was, but that didn’t matter.

  He stuck out his black umbrella. Forneus and the knights were still stunned by the monstrous amount of mana coming out of him, so they were slow to react. The umbrella absorbed all of his mana and unleashed an unbelievably powerful gale.

  His Black Umbrella artifact had multiple abilities. This
was the sixth of them— Godstorm.

  “Nuwaaaaaah!?”

  “Kyaaa!?”

  The windstorm was powerful enough to send even the templar knights flying. There was no way Ping, Corrin, and the bishop would be able to withstand it. However, Corrin remained where she was. Oscar’s chains had snaked out of the ground and kept her from being blown away. Still, the wind had swept her off her feet, and she screamed as the gale lifted her into the air.

  The chains clanked against each other as they wound their way back to Oscar’s hand.

  “It’s... Well, it’s not alright, but you’re safe now, Corrin.”

  “Waaaaaah, O-Onii-chan!”

  Oscar retrieved Corrin and hugged her tight. She hugged him back, her eyes still spinning.

  Once the dizziness faded, she looked up at Oscar and smiled. She had no doubt that his arms were the safest place in the world.

  “Kill him! I want his head on a pike right this instant! Punish that heretic!”

  The bishop and his knights had been knocked around quite a bit by Oscar’s Godstorm. The bishop’s once-fine clothes were smeared with mud and debris.

  The knights charged at Oscar.

  He stomped on the ground in front of him, Corrin held in one arm. The ground glowed with light, and in seconds it had been transmuted into a thick stone wall.

  “You’re just delaying the inevitable!” One of the knights raised his sword and began chanting. He could shatter a barrier like that in an instant. Judging from the light running down his sword, Oscar assumed he was casting Celestial Flash. So he’ll just cut right through it.

  “Sorry, but this isn’t actually a barrier,” Oscar muttered, then thrust his umbrella into the wall.

  There was a thunderous roar.

  A second later—

  “Gwaaah!?”

  “Fuck, how did he cast something so powerful in an instant!?”

  “Ngh... What in Ehit’s name is that umbrella!?” The knights screamed in pain and confusion.

  When he’d stuck his umbrella into the wall, he’d created a shockwave that had shattered the wall and sent chunks of stone hurtling toward the knights.