Chapter 310: Alanah (Patreon)

Chapter 310: Alanah

Alanah floated above the soon to be battlefield while wearing the battle armor she’d not had a reason to wear for well over a decade now. It had been a while since she had to personally get her hands dirty, and even longer since there was someone strong enough as the opposition that she actually had to take the fight seriously.

Unfortunately, the entire royal family and their barrier magic was a counter to some of her most powerful skills. In the next moment, after she shouted her command, a sound barrier went up around herself and Ryven, who was now slowly ascending on to reach the same height as herself.

Alanah was more than content to wait for the man to arrive, so, before the fighting started, she glanced over her personal information and stats.

Looking over her stats, Alanah couldn’t help but sigh. She hadn’t been completely honest with Derek when they discussed the system. Not because she didn’t want to be, but she had to be very careful with her words ever since she capped a fourth stat and met a requirement for advancement, whatever that was.

She suspected it had something to do with the level 250 level cap, but she couldn’t be sure. After years of trying to figure out how to unlock the second requirement, she came to the conclusion that it was most likely locked behind her remaining two stats. She had given up on ‘advancement’ until Roman… that little alchemist, came along and was able to create a potion that had a permanent increase in a person’s dexterity, and Derek brought back the Void Beast that allowed her to refine Vitality Elixirs.

Still, she had held off on monopolizing the potions and elixirs because she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to advance anymore. She was getting old, and even with her naturally high longevity and increased endurance from all the Void Beast meals she had consumed over the years, she would probably only have 50 to 100 years left. It was better to give what she could to Avery and Stella. Maybe those two would be able to figure out what ‘advancement’ was. She knew it was only a matter of time before Derek did.

“Alanah Swan,” Ryven’s voice called to her, causing her to focus more on the man. “You shouldn’t be here,” the commander of the combined army said as he reached the same height as her.

“I’m afraid that is not an option I have,” Alanah said.

Ryven Elras frowned deeply and said, “What do you mean by that?”

“I vowed to keep some people here in Savannah safe well before you attacked with your little army.” She gestured to the crowd below, which was in chaos after her command. Soldiers were exiting the Portals only to run straight into other soldiers who were completely still. “I’m afraid I have to abide by that vow,” she continued. Of course, she had told Derek she would take care of his people if he left. However, she hadn’t made an oath or contract to do it, but Ryven didn’t need to know that.

The elven commander furrowed his brow. “How about you gather up those you need to protect, then be on your way? I promise nobody in this army will try to stop you.”

“That won’t be possible,” Alanah said. “I doubt you sing the same tune after learning of those I have to protect.”

It was easy enough for Ryven to piece together what she was saying. “So, you are bound to protect the rabbit who killed my nephew?”

“You don’t have to act like you’re here for Orion. It’s just the two of us up here,” she snorted.

“Nevertheless, that creature has to die today,” Ryven said.

“That is unfortunate,” Alanah said as a long, needle-like rapier appeared in her hand. “I really wasn’t looking forward to fighting today.” She lied. In fact, she was very much looking forward to having someone to take her frustrations out on.

“I agree.” Ryven clapped his hand to his chest, then pushed them out, causing a near invisible barrier to appear and cover a sizable area around the two. “It is very unfortunate.”

Alanah inspected the barrier that now surrounded her. This is exactly why Ryven is going to be a problem for me, she inwardly sighed. What Ryven had created around them was a sound barrier. Normally, it was a barrier that wouldn’t be very useful in a fight, but against someone who relied on sounds like Alanah, it was almost the perfect counter.

I guess I should have had them all attack each other instead of just stopping, she thought. Going so long without battle has made me soft. She chuckled. Time to rectify that.

“What are you laughing about? With us up here, there’s no one below to stop my army from invading the city.”

That’s where you’re wrong, she thought, but didn’t voice it. “It’s just been a little while since I’ve had a good battle. Remember, your army is safe from me for now, but you are trapped in here with me. Do keep up.” With that, she took her finger and flicked the blade of her rapier, causing an extremely sharp hum to radiate from the weapon.

Ryven grit his teeth and his eyes turned dark as the vessels inside them began to burst. Then blood began to flow from his ears.

“I hope this isn’t all you’ve got.” Channeling her aura into her rapier, immeasurable vibrations began to flow through the weapon, causing it to become nothing but a blur. The sharp hum from the blade increased, causing the elven general to bleed even more profusely.

Ryven screamed out and slashed his arm through the air. Alanah didn’t see anything, but she didn’t need to. He was in her domain. Anything that affected the sound in the area was something that couldn’t escape her. So, she didn’t see the barrier barreling at her, but she could feel it. In an instant, she brought her rapier up to block.

The barrier crashed against her rapier, but, with her strength stat, and the vibrations behind her holding her steady, she didn’t budge an inch. In fact, once the barrier lost all momentum, she struck forward, sending the attack back at Ryven even faster than he had sent it at her.

Ryven’s eyes widened as he canceled his skill to avoid being sliced in two. “How… how are you this physically strong?”

Alanah rolled her eyes. “For such a smart man, you sure are an idiot.” It wouldn’t take much to connect her strength with the permanent increases that Void Beast’s brought her. And she had been consuming the stuff for over 150 years.

After a second, she saw it click for the man. “Well, it doesn’t matter. It looks like the majority of my army has broken out of your trance. I don’t have to beat you, just stall you.” At that, he hit his chest once again, and another barrier formed. This one, though, stayed small and even conformed to him. There was less than an inch of separation between him and his newly created sound barrier.

Alanah clicked her tongue and didn’t respond. She would have, but she knew it would be pointless with that barrier up. Nothing she said would be able to get through it. Still, she kept her Sonic Vibration skill active because it was a great counter to his almost perfectly invisible barriers.

Alanah launched herself forward and stabbed out with her blade. She couldn’t count on her element, so she would count on her experience and stats. A barrier appeared before her, and her rapier stabbed right through it, causing it to flicker and appear before falling apart from her attack. She continued on, destroying barrier after barrier, encroaching on the duke more and more with every attack.

Finally, she was close enough to attack the man instead of his skills. She stabbed out, and another barrier appeared. However, when her blade hit the barrier, instead of breaking through, it glanced off, and she felt a sharp pain in her chest. A fucking Deflect Barrier? Growled internally before taking an attack to her head.

The barrier’s attack power was diminished greatly by her headpiece, but it still managed to come through and hit her. She did a backflip before righting herself. She reached up and touched the area between her nose and headpiece. When Alanah pulled her hand away, it came back bloodied.

She looked up and sneered. Ryven was floating in the distance with a shit-eating grin on his face. Alanah cast Cleaning on herself to remove the blood from her head. When it was gone, so was any sign that she had ever been attacked. The cut hadn’t been very deep after being weakened by her headpiece, then her high endurance was more than enough to stop it from breaking through any bone.

With that, she saw the smile on Ryven’s face disappear and he grit his teeth. He motioned to attack again, but before he did, Alanah glanced down at the front gate and smiled. Then she pointed.

Ryven glanced down, and they watched together as the front gate to the city opened slowly. Once it was open, a middle-aged man wearing glasses walked out, and behind him was what looked almost like a short statue. Alanah would have thought that was what it was if not for it walking slowly behind him.

The statue was very short and had no openings. Alanah did her best to keep from feeling secondhand embarrassment for Marcus. Because, behind him, in the thick suit of armor with no openings, was Natalie. She was basically a walking tin can.

However, the slow-moving suit of armor wasn’t anything to scoff at. In her decades in Cydaria, she had witnessed the small woman personally fight exactly one time. And she still shuddered to think of it even now.

Once the duo exited the city, the gate closed behind them. The two stopped before the approaching army and waited. Once the army was within a couple hundred feet of the duo, it began. Marcus ripped a scroll in half and completely vanished from everyone’s sight, and the golem-like Natalie raised her hands.

Then, out from the dozens of storage rings built into the armor, spell scroll after spell scroll poured out and activated. One second, it was an army of hundreds versus two people, the next, the army was doing everything they could to block the fireballs, icicles, lightning strikes, flying boulders, and every other attack one could buy or find in the kingdom.

The amount of money the woman was using each second was staggering. And, as the scrolls activated, enhancement runes on the suit of armor, a suit that had been personally created by the greatest dwarven smith in Vallum, activated and made each spell that flew forward all the more powerful. As ridiculous as it may look, that suit of armor, and the person inside, were crazy.

Alanah turned her head back to Ryven, who was frowning as he looked up from the chaos below with furrowed brows. “Your move.” She mouthed.