LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 5: Moral Support
"I will be here for your moral support."
Saying that, Julian pushed Arthur to where Adam was already waiting for him.
Adam cocked his head, and a lopsided grin appeared on his face. "What's up? Little pipsqueak ain't comin'?"
"He is not a pipsqueak." Arthur shot at Adam, casting a sidelong glance.
"And who said anything about not coming?" He whispered at the last part.
Letting out an obeisant sight, Arthur retrieved a small wooden sword and walked in front of Adam.
Julian was sitting between Alice and Jasmine.
Focusing his gaze on Adam, who was just around 5 metres away from him, images of Arthur's past life popped up into his head.
Arthur's eyes narrowed, restricting his vision to only the man in front of him.
'He is the opponent now.'
Willing mana into his legs and dashing forward with both his hands gripping the wooden sword, he slashed to Adam's right.
With his smug look still present, Adam prepared to block his horizontal swing.
Feinting with an ease that came as naturally as breathing to Arthur and using a special footwork he had developed in his old world; he weaved around Adam's defense.
However, momentum carried him away and he was unable to stop himself from being thrown off-balance.
"Curse this body!"
He couldn't perfectly execute the skill because of the height and weight difference compared to his old body, his current 114 cm's body being too foreign.
While he didn't reach the area he was aiming for—unfortunately for Adam—where he had already prepared his wooden stick to block Arthur's swing from the other direction, so his right side was unprotected.
The smug look on Adam's face all but vanished and was replaced by a look of surprise, with his eyes opening wide, as he realized what was about to happen.
Swinging his wooden sword to his open ribcage, Arthur reinforced his wooden sword with mana at the last moment to conserve it, because he knew he was definitely at a disadvantage against a veteran like him.
The look of surprise on Adam lasted a split second before he pivoted his right foot with almost inhuman speed.
However, just before his leg could come near Arthur, a stone came hurtling like a bullet and struck his shin.
Although the little stone broke into a million different pieces, Adam was surprised, again.
He looked at the twin horns and his expression was the same as all the others.
"HEY!"
Julian's eyes suddenly glowed. "There were no rules against using the terrain."
A cold shiver ran down Arthur's spine as he saw him talk.
Julian never talked much; however, his true nature was showing now. Referring to even his own parents as terrain to be taken advantage of was something that was not on his bingo card as an elder brother.
However, it was not the time to think about it.
Adam dashed and zipped through the air as the other twin horns dispersed.
Jasmine stayed close, ready to act on a moment's notice.
Julian dodged the vertical attack just in time, however, being even younger than Arthur, his coordination was not up to the par.
He fell on his face.
Adam leisurely walked up to him, a victorious grin on his face. "Heh, little squirt, and with that, you're dea—" Just as Adam was about to touch the wooden stick against Julian's back, he turned around.
"You finally got close to me." He said and slashed his hand.
The following moment four blades of wind shimmered in an emerald color and went towards Adam at a blinding speed. Backflipping at the right moment, he dodged two and then swept his makeshift spear to destroy the other two.
"What a nasty schemer, HAH!" Adam was taken aback.
Suddenly, Arthur appeared from behind with a big grin.
Without looking back, Adam swept his makeshift spear back.
Arthur switched his stance from a thrust to a spinning swipe and landed a blow on Adam's left ankle using all of his momentum.
His ankle gave out at that moment, throwing Adam off balance.
Or so he thought. Adam actually did a full-on split, followed by a roundhouse sweep with his legs as soon as he was on the ground.
Arthur was thrown off-balance, and Adam was about to land the final hit when his senses flared outwards.
Immediately giving up, he jumped a few yards away from Arthur as five fireballs rained down at where he was standing.
'Holy shit...this is crazy...it's not much if I use mana but they're impenetrable!'
Adam exclaimed as he saw the brothers standing at a little distance.
'Art is good at using the sword, and that other little squirt covers up every time Arthur slips. This is insane!'
Lifting his hands up, Adam stood straight. "Let's end this here, I am not sure if I can continue without hurting them."
Everyone had held their breaths and all of them exhaled at once.
"Arthur! Julian!" Alice ran towards her children as Durden slapped the back of Adam's head.
"Why did you go hard on them?"
"Yes, that was too far, Adam." Helen commented, sighing as she walked over to Arthur. Ruffling his hair, she took a closer look at him. "Good thing you are unscathed."
"Too far!? I just gave up, what else do you want me to do—Oww! STOP HITTING M--!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Durden thwacked the back of his head, making him hold his head in both his hands.
"But I am surprised. Your moves are really good. And you are just three!" Helen exclaimed, like a proud aunt, pinching Arthur's cherubic cheeks. "Hey, Rey! What kind of hellish training have you been putting them through?"
"I— I did not teach them any of that. Hell, even I am just as surprised as the rest of you!" Reynolds exclaimed, scratching his head.
"But that was really, really cool! They are like an unbreakable chain!" Angela chirped, lifting Julian up.
"That said, we can count this as a win for my boys, right?" Reynolds raised his voice as everyone looked at Adam and then erupted into laughter.
"""Yes!"""
"Hey, come on, that is not fair...!"
A chorus of appreciation and laughter ensued.
Julian let out a sigh as Arthur flinged his arm around his shoulder. "Aren't we a good duo?"
"No."
Removing his arm from his shoulder, Julian slowly walked over to where Alice was sleeping, leaving the crowd behind as Arthur watched Julian's back grow smaller, a rather sad expression creeping on his face.
'Does he hate me...?'
JULIAN:
That was close, way closer than it should've been.
However, such opportunities present themselves very far in between.
I had to take it. But this was enough to show me my limitations.
I now know how much I lack in the physical department. Since my mana channels are not active, it means that I cannot augment my body, which means that I have two options:
1. Advance my core fast enough since the disparity between augmenters and conjurers vanish at higher core levels.
2. Find someone suitable enough to cover me.
While the second one is impractical, I have to go with it. I can already feel the disparity between core levels and how much time it takes to purify the core. Although it is kind of convenient given how I already have someone who can take up that role.
I looked at Arthur who was still looking at me.
He waved his hand, and a sullen look appeared on his face.
I waved back and then walked towards the place where mom was sleeping. While the different between Arthur and me is only of a year, Alice treats me like a newborn. Hence the reason why I have to sleep with her.
Feeling the fatigue catch up to me, I decided to sleep.
We still have a week's travel to overcome.
And I can't wait for this travel to be over, so I can finally learn more about the phenomenon called magic.
***************************************
A couple of days passed as we finally managed to make it to the foot of the Grand Mountains.
Looking at it up close now made me realize that the name sure did justice.
Just as the name implied, it was quite grand—both in name and reality.
Along the way, only Helen managed to lay down her pride and asked Arthur for some clarification on his technique which he called "Feint Step" which he used to arrive behind Adam while I was down and then counter his attack.
Arthur went over it slowly, explaining what the timing of the interval between the last right foot and the left foot should be and how to properly balance the output of mana into both feet so she could go the way she was aiming for.
It was quite a simple technique.
As the name hinted, it was basically just a series of feints.
On earth feints were detected based on pure reflexes or something called the battle sense.
Over the past few months, time and time again, I have observed how people in this world rely heavily on reading the flow of mana of the opponent to react.
Which was a convenient way. I have nothing against the method.
However, just as Arthur did, it was prone to quite a lot of violations.
Throwing mana equally in both directions and attacking from a single one creates a disorienting tempo. It's a good tactic.
Although it worked because the core stages between Adam and Arthur are not that much.
A higher core stage would most likely mitigate this.
The next step of the journey was ascending up the mountains .
Luckily, there was a path around two carriages wide that circled around the mountain, eventually leading to the teleportation gate at the top.
The front carriage included Durden, holding the reins in the front, with Reynolds besides him to keep him company.
This carriage held most of our luggage.
Helen was currently seated on the top of the second carriage, the one Arthur was riding in, scouting for any abnormalities.
Looking to my right, I saw Arthur still explaining to Helen.
Meanwhile Adam, Durden and Reynold's ears continued to get larger, trying to listen in on him and take mental notes.
Adjusting my backrest, which was Alice, I leaned in on her arm which was extended to the side and looked up.
I could feel the wind blow against my face and make my hair flutter.
A lone bird flew in the air, its wings extended. It felt so liberating. This sense of freedom.
I felt Alice's head turn towards me.
"Do you like looking at the sky, Julian?" Alice asked, ruffling my hair.
"Sometimes." I replied. There was a degree of truth to it.
The vastness of the sky, and the diverse things it had to offer intrigued me.
And besides everything, looking at the sky somehow alleviated the stress on my brain which was still not catching up to my thought process due to the still developing brain.
"Me too!" Alice replied and was about to pull me in, however, she winced and held her stomach.
Looking up, there were visible dark circles around her eyes and from the looks of it—although subtle—she was gaining weight.
Probably in her 14th week.
"Are you alright?" I asked, peeling myself away from her body on which I was taking support.
Smiling, she caressed my cheek. "I am. Thank you." Once again, it seemed like a jolt of pain went across her face. "Go play with Arthur— I am fine."
My hair suddenly stood on edge and goosebumps racked my arms.
Something is wrong.
"Arthur." I called out, raising my voice.
Arthur looked at me and frowned.
"What happened?" He asked, and despite not saying anything, I could already feel like he had started to panic due to hearing me talk out loud.
"Something is wrong." I spoke up as he frowned.
"Heh, little squirt is acting up. Calm down, kiddo—"
Arthur cut him off. "NO, he's right!"
In the other corner, I could see Jasmine looking at me with a piercing gaze.
"Something... wrong?" She repeated.
"Nothing is wrong, calm down guys. Julian is acting up only because we are nearing the teleportation gate. Maybe the mana is agitating him"
I felt it again.
There it was.
The odd sense of disturbance.
It was from a spell forming.
It's really weak. But I can feel it.
My senses seem to be extremely sensitive to such changes.
At first I thought it was an additional effect to being able to use mana.
However...
"We are being ambushed." I spoke.
I had not expected her to take the word of a three years old so seriously. Speaking of which, I had turned 3 and Arthur turned four years old during our journey.
Jasmine jumped down and immediately gave Arthur and me a knife.
Not sure what a conjurer like me is supposed to do with it, but it's better than the wooden sword Arthur has.
Anyways. Jasmine immediately stood up and the twin daggers left their scabbard with a metallic grind.
Everyone's heads turned towards her in surprise.
The green sheen of wind mana enveloped her blades like a second skin, making her raven black hair flutter in the air.
"Ambush. It's coming." She spoke, forming a full sentence—for the first time.
Helen looked at her with a confused look, however, at the same time her voice cracked before looking back at the hill's peak.
"BANDITS! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!" She shouted, as a rumble of footsteps came from our right and rear.
"Submit, O' wind and follow my will. I command and gather you around in protection. Wind Barrier!"
Instantly I felt a gust of wind forming a tornado around Alice, Angela, and me . Then the gust bent into a sphere around us.
"Arthur!" Alice cried out. Arthur's eyes flicked in our direction before Helen picked him up from the scruff of his shirt and threw his roughly in our direction. As the protective veil of wind mana encircled around us and closed, Arthur made it inside just in time.
Alice pulled him and me together in a tight hug. Her arms were shivering as she hugged with a neck breaking intensity. Almost as if she was trying to hide us inside her body.
A natural motherly instinct, I suppose.
Although it can't be an objective remark.
Since there are many mothers of different species that harm their own off springs. And humans are not so different themselves.
Although the percentage vari—hmm, I guess it's not the optima topic of discussion right now.
Angela was holding out her wand, concentrating on keeping the barrier active while arrows constantly bombarded the barrier, only to get redirected to a different direction.
In a matter of seconds, the tarp covering the carriage was torn to shreds and I got a better view of the situation at hand.
Of course, as one would expect from a situation like this, we were completely surrounded.
Just from what I could see, there were at least thirty bandits.
Our current situation was unfavorable at best, as both our path forward and our retreat back were blocked off by bandits wielding swords, spears, and other close ranged weapons.
On the mountainside to our right, there were archers positioned atop a cliff, their bows aimed at us, while only the steep edge of the mountain with the looming fog beckoned to our left .
Jasmine, Durden, and Reynolds seemed to be fine, with no visible injuries, but Helen had an unhealthy pale complexion that seemed to be a result of the arrow jutting from her right calf.
A bald man with multiple scars deforming his face and a body of a bear carrying a giant battle axe spoke out.
"Look what we have here. Pretty good catch boys. Leave only the girls and the kids alive. Try not to scar them too much. Damaged goods will only sell for less," he snorted with a smirk that revealed a nearly toothless mouth.
Maybe it was the fear of the situation, but it seemed like Alice could not notice the almost suffocating bloodlust oozing out of Arthur, like a dam breaking.
It was not an instinct. It would seem like bloodlust can actually manifest from a person due to mana.
Interesting.
"There are only 4 mages and none of them seem to be conjurers! The rest are normal warriors!" Reynolds cried out.
Faint mana fluctuations around a person's body made mages distinguishable compared to normal humans, only apparent if studied closely.
As for whether they were an augmenter or conjurer, making an inference based on physical structure and the weapon they were holding gave me a pretty solid idea.
Reynolds seemed to have adjusted pretty well . He donned his gauntlets, shouting, "Safeguard Formation!"
Adam quickly arrived behind us as he faced the back of the road, spear pointed, while Jasmine and Helen came to our left with both of their weapons unsheathed, facing ahead.
Reynolds and Durden faced the mountainside, positioning themselves to protect us from the archers overhead.
Meanwhile, Angela maintained her position, preparing another spell as she kept her wind barrier active.
This was the basic way of fighting for a conjurer. Maintaining a barrier while you prepare more spells.
"Gather and guard my allies O' benevolent Earth; do not let them be harmed!" — [Earth Wall]
The reason behind incantations is still a mystery to me.
I still do not think incantations are a practical way of going around to perform magic.
Especially when you can do it without a chant.
However, thinking about it from a different perspective, it might be because of my status as a reincarnate that I am able to manifest spells without a chant.
Anyways, the ground rumbled as a four-meter earthen wall transmuted up from the ground curving up in front of Durden.
Using that moment, Reynolds burst forward, raising his gauntlets in a guard position against the arrows towards the enemy archers.
Moments later, Angela finished her spell and unleashed a torrent of wind blades, aimed at the front and back of the path.
That was apparently the cue as Adam and Jasmine shadowed behind the wind spell, arriving in front of our distraught enemies that were covering their vitals against the flurry of blades.
Helen remained, her arrow nocked, and bow drawn, imbuing the tip with mana that shined in a faint blue light.
With two layers of protection from the conjurers and an archer mage ready to snipe anyone who managed to cross the assaults of Adam, Jasmine, and Reynolds into the defense line, it was a standard, yet, well thought out formation, aimed at doing escort type jobs.
If they existed in this world, that is. However, it fits perfectly.
"Warrior coming your way, Helen!" Adam shouted as he dodged the swing of a mace, delivering a precise swipe to the jugular of the bandit.
His eyes widened as he dropped his weapon, desperately trying to seal the fatal wound with his trembling hands as blood spurted out through the gaps between his fingers.
I saw Arthur grab the small knife Jasmine had given him and bring it close to himself. I held mine close as well.
Suddenly, a scruff, middle-aged man wielding a machete lunged towards Angela, hoping to disrupt the spell.
Although the wind blade spell didn't seem all too powerful, it provided a painful distraction that was keeping us on equal footing, despite our lack in numbers.
Seeing him get close, Arthur freed himself from Alice and lunged at him.
However, it seemed unnecessary as the fierce sound of the show came only after the arrow had done its job.
Helen's shot had carried a force powerful enough to pierce through the armored chest of the machete-wielding bandit and lift him up and back a half-dozen meters, nailing him into the ground.
"Leave this to us, Kiddo."
Helen spoke before her eyes narrowed as she nocked and drew another arrow.
Focusing, I could faintly see the mana gathering into her right eye as she shut her left.
Soon, another reinforced arrow streaked through, followed by a sharp hiss, ignoring all opposing air resistance as it closed in on another enemy fighter.
Jasmine was engaged in an intense duel against an augmenter, whose weapon was a long chain whip.
It looked like Jasmine was at a disadvantage since the range of her two daggers was lacking. She was doing all she could to dodge the erratic movements of the whip.
By now, it was evident the enemy had realized how much she was struggling as he jeered while licking his lips .
"I'll make sure to treat you real well before we sell you off as a slave, little missy. Don't worry, by the time I'm done training you, you'll be begging to stay with me," he hissed, followed by another lick of his lips.
While Jasmine could hold on her own, there was something more troubling here.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Reynolds trying to engage with the bandits' leader.
While he was strong, this was not a fight he should've picked up on alone.
As if on cue, the next moment Reynolds was knocked against the debris that remained of the "Earth Wall" Durden had conjured.
Struggling, he tried to stand up, blood drooling down from his mouth.
"Dad!"
"Honey!!"
Arthur and Mom ran towards him, while I stayed behind with Angela. Me or Arthur going up to him would not heal him.
It would just slow his performance down.
Humans have shown a significant drop in performance in such situations when the wailing faces of close ones come into focus.
On the flip side, just having the thought of them in their mind could lead to a significant boost in strength and morale.
"Cough! Alice, listen to me. Don't worry about me. If you use a healing spell right now, they'll realize what you are and try that much harder to capture you. They'll be willing to sacrifice a lot more if they know!" he stressed, his voice in a low whisper.
She seemed afraid of using her magic.
Perhaps using mana brings some kind of harm to the fetus.
Reynolds turned to Arthur after giving up trying to persuade his wife.
"Art, listen carefully. After the healing spell activates, they're going to try to capture your mother at all costs. After I'm healed enough, I'm going to engage the leader and try to buy more time. I think I can beat him, but not if I have to worry about protecting you guys. Take your mother back down the road and don't stop; Adam will open up a path for you."
"No dad! I'm staying with you. I can fight! You saw me! I can help!"
A sense of desperation clawed at Reynolds. His desperate eyes landed on me.
"Julian... please. You can understand, yes? Please, take them away."
I regarded him for a second. Even if he didn't tell me to do it, I would've done it anyways. Amongst the three of them, keeping Alice and Arthur was more beneficial.
Even if Reynolds had died, Alice would be sad and would brood over it for a long time, however, she still had her own uses.
More so than Reynolds.
"Talk to me, Julian. Please, tell me you understand!" Reynolds agonizingly roared. "I am entrusting the baby inside your mother to you two!"
Of course, Alice took priority. But...
...should I really give up on a fight? After promising myself to grow and not fall into the pacifist mindset anymore.
"We will protect her." I spoke and brandished the knife Jasmine had given me.
It floated over my palm as wind held it in place. Suddenly, it turned, pointing at the warrior beside the bandtis' leader.
I flicked my wrist, and, in an instant, the knife lodged itself between the eyes of the warrior as blood splattered in every direction and he dropped dead.
"You don't have to worry." I continued as Reynolds' smiled.
"OYA, OYA! Looks like the kids are mages! And the hottie is an emitter! Kill the rest, capture those three!"
As everyone started to run towards us, I looked back at Angela.
"Can you deactivate the barrier and manifest it two feet in that direction?" I asked, pointing at space towards the west.
"Huh!? Hmm, yeah, sure, but what are you planning?" She asked, as the barrier above her head flickered.
"Just do it." I replied as I ran over towards Arthur and Alice.
As soon as Alice finished her chant at this time and both she and Reynolds glowed in a bright golden-white light.
We reached the area Adam, and the dual wielder were battling a dozen meters down the road.
Once again... I felt it.
The faint spark in air.
Half-guessing the location, I fired a huge fireball.
I compressed the fireball and then shot it. Due to compressed size, the overall potency was mch higher than it looked, and it not only collided with the small waterball that lurched inwards and dissipated, turning to white smoke, but it zipped towards the boss.
Reynolds was fighting him once again and Alice was right behind us.
The fireball hit the boss in his ribs as Reynolds punched him in the face, making his body fly upwards.
Meanwhile, another attacker threw his body at us.
However, a heavy thud resonated as Helen's arrow stabbed him right into his heart.
Stopping for a brief moment, I pulled the arrow from his chest immediately and ran again.
The man was still alive after being stabbed.
There was no telling if he could conjure a spell in his dying moments.
Desperation makes humans do unprecedented things.
With the arrow in my left hand, I ran after Arthur and mom.
Arthur's eyes glowed.
"Julian, we are being surrounded due to us being priority...I need your help."
I looked at him from the corner of my eye.
"No, we have to run! You can't fight." Alice pleaded.
"There is a cliff ahead. There is nowhere we can run off to." I said as I came to a halt as well.
Alice looked ahead and her complexation paled.
"Julian!"
"Hmm."
The man following us soon caught up with us, his hands travelling straight for Alice.
A fireball manifested as I threw it at his hands.
The flames were just enough to melt his skin over his knuckles.
My senses flared once again.
A spell, somewhere. Someone is forming a water attribute spell.
I looked around hastily.
The man let out a cacophonous scream, which was cut short as Arthur became a blur and his knife carved a deep cut into his throat.
The man writhed and fell on the ground.
"Damien, forget the plan. Kill them!"
About time. There was someone hiding here all this time.
"Waterball!"
A waterball curved towards me.
I slashed my hand in air and multiple blades of wind flew towards it.
However, this time the spell overpowered my own, and continued to arc towards us.
"NOOO!" Arthur threw the mana augmented knife at the spell as it reduced the impact.
By the time it hit me, its impact had reduced quite a lot, but it still hit me like a heavy ball as I was thrown multiple feet away.
The man continued to chant as another water ball formed.
However, a caster is weak without strong defenses.
Arthur was behind him and his plunged an arrow inside the man's heel.
I crawled up to the knife and siphoned wind mana.
The knife tore through the air as it stabbed the man in the heart, swiftly killing him.
Arthur sidestepped and dodged the man's body.
He looked at me and grinned. "Nice one, buddy!"
'Not sure if he should act so jolly after killing a human at a tender age of 4.'
Arthur walked over to me and raised his hand.
Uhh—is he asking for a hi-five?
Hesitatingly, I did it.
Right after he walked towards mom.
However, the uneasy feeling never left me.
In this world reading the flow of mana or the presence of mana helps one to avoid many things.
However, if a thing is utterly devoid of mana, it becomes hard to sense it.
I suppose that is the case why...
Blood dripped down my lips as an arrow stabbed into my back.
"Huh..." I felt Arthur gasp and the following moment a heavy sheen of bloodlust weighed down like a thick, wet blanket on all of us.
My vision doubled as the scream of someone dying ringed into my ears.
The world fell into a disoriented mess of gasps, screams, sobs and colors as the sensation of falling invaded me.