Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race Chapter 381: 380 - The Vertex of War

Linia moved like a blur across the white desert.

Wherever she passed, dozens of enormous shards of ice pierced the ground in sequence, blasting sand and frozen crystals in every direction.

In only a few moments, that stretch of desert had already stopped looking like a true desert. The ground was extensively covered in ice, frozen plates spread in several directions, spikes emerged from nowhere, and the temperature around them had plunged even further than normal.

Her opponent, the Magic Fairy, Sylphiette, showed no sign that she intended to stop.

Linia retaliated with her own magic whenever she could, firing lightning and using bursts of fire and wind to break the elf's rhythm, but the truth was obvious: on this battlefield, Sylphiette was far more skilled at manipulating magic.

Even so, Linia passed through the many shards of ice with the agility of a feline from the Doldia tribe. Her feet barely touched the frozen surface before she leapt again, and her body twisted through the narrowest gaps.

Her hands, the tips of her fingers numbed and cracked by the extreme cold, tightened even more around the grip of her blade as she jumped to avoid an ice spike that erupted from the ground exactly where she would have stepped.

If she was not better at magic, then she would have to use her own advantages.

Holding her breath for an instant, Linia charged.

Then she released the air all at once as she shouted:

"Haaaaah!"

The white breath leaving her mouth made it clear that the battlefield was completely under the elf's control.

But Linia was a Sword King.

Sylphiette, even if she was skilled in spear combat, would never be fast enough to even see her strike when it truly came.

After all, the Longsword of Light was the fastest attack.

The only real reason Linia had still failed to kill her up to that point was Sylphy's Demon Eye.

At the start of the battle, she had been caught by the magical effects of the Demon Eye of Affection and had ended up gravely wounded. A single moment under its charm had been enough for ice spikes to pierce through her torso.

She had only survived because she carried a magical ring that offered her mental protection to a certain extent, allowing her to prevent that first hit from becoming fatal.

But, as had become more than evident, that protection was not omnipotent.

A direct hit from the enchanting spell of that pink eye could still mean the end of the game for Linia. A truly demonic power.

So she could only approach in two ways: either by using cover, or by advancing so fast that Sylphy could not follow her with her eyes.

Seeing the Beast Princess approaching once more, Sylphy tensed.

Her eyes were red.

When they met inside the Labyrinth, her rage had gotten the better of her for a moment, and she had tried to eliminate Linia immediately, hoping to avenge Hector's death.

But when everyone was magically ejected from the Labyrinth, her concern for her allies overcame whatever fury she still felt.

Unfortunately, she had ended up falling right beside her enemy.

Even though she was worried about Rudeus and Sara, Sylphy could not simply turn her back on Linia. Doing so would be like offering her own head on a platter.

Her mana was draining rapidly.

But she had no choice if she wanted to win. If everything went well, she would win right now.

Channeling her mana through her staff, a dome of ice rose around her.

The translucent wall climbed quickly, rapidly covering her figure, and without waiting even a moment longer, Sylphy began sinking beneath the earth using Earth Magic to manipulate the soil beneath her own feet.

The dome continued growing, sealing off the view of what was inside.

Outside, Linia smiled when she saw it. A mere dome of ice could not stop her, but it was always good to be cautious.

Her body became an even faster blur, and fire ran along her sword, turning the blade incandescent orange.

At the same time, she opened her mouth and used Howling Magic.

The magical roar spread across the desert.

The vibration passed through the ice, making the constantly expanding dome tremble.

With a sharp, crystalline ring, Linia cut.

The Longsword of Light, wrapped in fire, passed cleanly through the enormous dome horizontally while she was still advancing.

But where Sylphy should have been, cut in half along with the ice, there was only a hole.

At the bottom of it, Sylphy was aiming her spear.

At the tip of the weapon, a bullet of ice had been condensed to the extreme, looking more like a projectile.

Her trap was perfect.

She had hidden beneath the dome, created the exact opening, and prepared the shot to catch Linia the moment she passed through the ice.

But Sylphy had not expected the Howling Magic to be capable of passing through the dense frozen layers by means of vibration. Her mind went dizzy for an instant, enough to disrupt her timing.

Even so, she shouted:

"Die!"

And fired. A crack rang out as the bullet disappeared from both women's sight.

The shot did not go where it should have.

Instead of piercing Linia's skull, it only tore away a lock of her hair, making it flutter violently.

Linia felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she realized how close she had come to death.

But she knew this was her chance.

Her body was already repositioning its stance. Now she would finish Sylphy.

But in the next second, Linia's body reacted before her thoughts did.

Instinctively, she positioned the blade beside her body.

At the same time, she used Wind Magic to propel herself away.

A massive suit of armor emerged with a crash, bursting through the dome of ice like a metal ball.

The ice exploded in every direction.

A blue blade, attached to one of the armor's arms, swept through the air and struck Linia head-on.

She managed to block the blow with her sword.

Even so, she underestimated its strength.

The impact was so powerful that Linia heard the sound of the bones in her own arm cracking at the moment of collision.

The only reason she did not suffer even worse consequences was because she had propelled herself with Wind Magic in the same direction as the blow, reducing part of its force at the last instant.

Even so, she was sent flying.

Her body crashed through pillars and structures of ice that Sylphy had created across the battlefield, breaking everything as she rolled uncontrollably for several meters.

When she finally stopped, she coughed up blood.

Even as she tried to stand, her arm still screamed in pain while it began to heal.

"Damn it! I was almost there! Damn armor!"

She raised her eyes.

It was obviously Rudeus Greyrat's Magic Armor.

Her situation, which had already not been very good, became even less optimistic.

Fortunately, Rudeus had not arrived alone.

"Gararara! Get back here, brat!"

Flying through the air with her demonic wings, Atoferatofe attacked Rudeus once again.

But he seemed ready for it.

In the next second, a dense mist covered the entire battlefield as soon as he raised his hand.

At the same time, lightning began to form in the skies, a clear sign that the weather was being manipulated.

Linia continued healing herself.

But she also began to retreat.

She had no intention of staying in the Magic God's line of fire, much less being mistaken for the enemy by Atofe in the middle of that chaos.

But as she retreated, she heard a strange voice ring inside her mind.

"Curse of Necrosis!"

Linia felt her body suddenly become extremely weak.

Even with the Healing she was casting on herself, it felt as if a black and malignant energy was invading her flesh and rotting everything from within.

She froze in shock for a moment. Turning her face, she finally saw the source.

In the distance, there stood a repulsive being.

A red-skinned Troll, small by the standards of his race, covered in both old and fresh lacerations, holding a sinister staff. It was the White Wizard, Kärtanak.

And around the curse mage, enormous Trolls of different sizes and colors continued fighting and roaring in his defense.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

Linia retreated as quickly as she could.

But before she could get very far, a shadow passed by her. An enormous wolf appeared in the middle of the chaos, grabbed her collar with its teeth during a high-speed run, and continued charging forward without slowing for even an instant.

Linia barely had time to curse before being dragged away from the center of the curse.

From afar, she could still see a Spirit made of fire and magma unleashing an enormous flaming breath toward the sinister Troll.

Ifreet, Verdia's Fire Spirit.

And along with that, vines began sprouting everywhere. They tore through the desert soil, binding the Trolls' legs, climbing up their bodies, and piercing their flesh like spears.

Linia could not see the battlefield clearly, but she recognized it. That was Sylva's magic, Verdia's Forest Spirit.

The farther she was carried, the more Linia felt the curse's effects weakening within her body.

Then, while she was still being carried, she heard Verdia's voice from afar, without even knowing where she was:

"Linia, stay away from the Troll!"

Finally, Linia was left at a safe distance.

She fell to her knees in the sand for a moment, breathing deeply, and only then did she realize just how dangerous that curse had been.

She forced her own mana once more to finish healing herself completely. Healing Magic was not her strong suit. She was much better with elemental magic. Even so, it was enough to stabilize her body.

Skoll barked and then shot off again, charging toward another fight that Linia could not even properly understand.

She was now at the top of a sand dune, still recovering. She activated the magical effect of her ring, and in that same instant, her body became invisible.

Since she had been unable to perceive anything clearly in the middle of that mess before, she finally had a moment to understand what was happening.

And what she saw left her stunned.

Because she had been so focused on her fight against the fairy Sylphiette, Linia had not noticed before, but the surroundings had transformed into complete chaos.

Verdia was using her Summoned Spirits and, together with Gretta, fighting against that strange Wizard Troll and his many Troll defenders.

Meanwhile, Rudeus Greyrat was caught in a fierce battle with Atoferatofe, and the Demon King did not seem to be doing very well.

But what shocked her the most was that four people were rapidly approaching while fighting among themselves.

Aisha, Nina, Randolph Marianne, and Kalman III.

Because of the confusion of the battle, Linia could not even discern for certain who was fighting whom.

Their movements were far too fast, lightning cut through the air, and blades clashed in rapid sequences. Even so, that was clearly one of the most dangerous fronts on the field.

She kept looking around, searching for more familiar faces.

But she did not find Jino anywhere.

She saw Taes mounted on Freki, fighting against a Barbarian Troll while a magical Hurricane swept across his surroundings.

She saw dragons tearing Trolls apart with claws and fangs while their Knights cast magic from above and cut down countless monsters amid the disorder.

In several places, the Iron Legion still dominated the field.

Obviously, Linia took that instant to check her communicator.

And when she saw a new message from Eris, she nearly jumped for joy.

Although Eris normally treated her like a mascot, at that moment she was a ray of light to Linia. The simple fact that she was alive was already more than good enough. And when she saw the contents of the message, Linia became even happier.

After reading what she needed to do, she immediately began searching for Jino again.

But before she could locate him, the ground in front of her cracked.

A sudden earthquake struck the Ever-White Desert.

Without pause, lightning began falling from the sky like rain, in a direction Linia could not even properly observe, because she was busy trying to keep her balance atop the dune.

The battlefield, stage to so many monsters — both literally and figuratively — was escalating at a speed Linia was not sure she could keep up with.

In the next instant, she saw an intense golden and white light appear on the horizon.

An enormous fissure opened across the desert as that golden light advanced like a blade, cutting faster than sound.

The attack crossed the vast white expanse of the desert in a single line, and only afterward did the delayed roar arrive.

After the slash, the remaining light still hovered for an instant, and an extreme gust of wind swept across the desert soon after, raising miniature sandstorms in several directions.

Linia gritted her teeth as she observed the origin of that golden blade capable of splitting the desert in half.

For some strange reason, she had the impression that that bastard Jino had something to do with it.

"Tch! This is insane!"

Without wasting any more time, she began running toward Aisha's battlefield.

As she advanced, she used her control over Wind Magic together with Howling Magic.

The result was cone-shaped magic, similar to a supersonic ray of compressed air and sound, fired directly in Aisha's direction to transmit the message.

"The Boss is out of the Labyrinth! He's coming with Laplace and Badigadi!"

Aisha, who had just counterattacked Kalman III with a barrage of lightning, heard it.

And she could not suppress the smile that appeared on her face.

----

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