NOVPUB
Chapter 88: 028: Otherworld Rest Stop Lawn Mowing
Lynch frowned slightly, his right hand reaching forward in a grasp. The Space Ring on his finger flashed faintly, and the Fearless Great Sword appeared in his grip.
"Bang!"
A blazing inferno ignited on the great sword, flames roaring across its blade as though it were not a sword but a raging furnace.
Facing the swarm of soldiers charging toward him, Lynch gripped the furnace-like great sword with both hands and swung it forward with all his might.
"Boom!" A deafening explosion.
The furnace seemed to erupt, a torrent of flames bursting from the sword and engulfing the entire room in an instant. Long tongues of fire even blasted through the windows, shooting out seven to eight meters beyond, turning the room into a burning sea of fire.
Everything within the inferno was reduced to ashes—the wardrobe, bed, furniture, all burned to cinders. The soldiers who rushed in were turned into flaming human torches, collapsing in anguish and screaming in agony.
Only a man with the strength of a Knight reacted swiftly as the flames erupted, retreating outside of the room in time while the others were all consumed by the infernal purgatory.
This was the fundamental disparity between a Transcendent and ordinary mortals.
No matter how elite the soldiers, they remained mortals whose vaunted mastery of martial arts stood no chance against true supernatural power.
When the flames receded, the only figure left standing in the room was Lynch. The female assassin, whose limbs he had broken earlier, had been burned alive with no chance of escape.
Surveying the wreckage strewn across the ground, Lynch furrowed his brow tightly.
"What’s going on?"
"Are these people insane? Why are they attacking me?"
"And that maid..."
From the moment Lynch entered the town, he had felt an unease. Combined with the inexplicable assault now, he was certain there was more to this than he knew.
"Did Avery and the others provoke someone?"
Lynch was confident he held no grudges in this place. He had kept a low profile over the years, and his only real enmity was with Alfred—though he hadn’t caused trouble lately and likely forgot about him. Besides, Alfred didn’t have the power to mobilize mortal-world armies.
Thinking it over, Lynch deduced that tonight’s peculiar events were mostly related to Avery and the others. But whether it was due to their mission—or something else...
"Forget it. Better regroup with them first and figure things out later."
With that in mind, Lynch grabbed his great sword and rushed out the door.
"Whizz, whizz, whizz!"
The moment he stepped outside, sharp whistling sounds filled the hallway. A volley of crossbow bolts shot at him from both sides of the corridor.
Lynch instantly blurred his form, allowing the arrows to pass harmlessly through his body and strike each other, killing several ambushing archers in the process.
"Charge!"
Barely catching his breath, Lynch saw the archers drop their crossbows and switch to Cross Swords, rushing straight at him.
"Troublesome!"
Spitting in frustration, Lynch didn’t want to waste any time. He stomped hard on the ground with his foot.
With a rumble, the sturdy floor twisted and crumbled, collapsing like loose sand and opening a large hole in the ground.
A mid-level, zero-ring spell known as the "Earth Sinking Spell," it altered the elemental structure of the floor, widening gaps between elements and causing it to cave in.
Jumping through the hole, Lynch landed steadily in the corridor below.
Avery’s room was one floor beneath him, and the severely injured Adam had been placed in the room next to hers for easier care.
The lower hallway was just as crowded, even more so than the one above. Among the attackers were seven or eight knights alone.
"So that’s how it is?"
The sheer number of enemies confirmed Lynch’s earlier suspicion: tonight’s attack was mainly targeting Avery and her group, with him as an incidental complication.
"What miserable luck."
Feeling exasperated, Lynch cursed under his breath. Even on a straightforward mission, he somehow drew chaos to himself. Was he cursed with some bizarre constitution for inviting calamity?
Lost in half-serious thoughts, Lynch gripped his great sword and charged ahead into the crowd.
Unnoticed, Lynch’s sudden leap into the tightly-packed enemies resulted in devastating results. He tore through the cluster like a bomb exploding, killing several archers in a single strike. Reversing his grip, he threw out a Fireball that burned another four or five soldiers to ash.
"Behind us!"
"Block the rear, now!"
The knights up front finally noticed Lynch, and two of them, their silver armor glinting, rallied the soldiers to form a battle array that sealed off the narrow hallway.
Lynch used the same tactic again, summoning fire to coat his great sword. This combined two low-level spells—"Flame Control" and "Flame Burst." However, through his experimentation of merging magic with knightly martial arts, he had repurposed the spells onto the sword as a casting medium.
With a fierce swing of the flame-enveloped great sword, waves of fire once again surged forward to sweep through the enemies.
But the opponents here were much better prepared than the ones upstairs. Seeing the incoming flames, a group of knights deftly commanded shield-bearing soldiers to block the hallway.
These shields weren’t ordinary metal but exhibited remarkable resistance to fire, surprisingly managing to withstand Lynch’s flames.
Frowning, Lynch murmured, "Well-prepared, are you?"
"How about this?"
Planting the great sword into the ground, Lynch raised both hands above him.
"Whoosh!"
Amid a roaring wind, vast amounts of Wind Element gathered from all directions and coalesced into a dark gray cloud hovering over Lynch’s hands. Within the cloud, countless streaks of violet lightning crackled and danced.
Grasping the cloud tightly, Lynch pushed it forward with a tremendous force.
"Crackle!"
Like beans popping in a pan, the bolts of lightning lashed out like a ferocious serpent, savagely biting into the enemies ahead.
Though the shields resisted fire well, they had no defense against electricity.
The lightning serpent tore through the shields effortlessly, arcing into the soldiers behind and spreading rapidly, zapping everything in its path. The corridor echoed with relentless crackling, and surrounding enemies fell one after another, charred black by the storm.
"Lightning... lightning!"
"How can there be lightning? I thought it was just flames! Damn it!"
The surviving soldiers hesitated in terror, their eyes filled with uncertainty and fear, their resolve shaken by Lynch’s display of power.
Walking forward with his sword, Lynch approached.
"S-stop him!"
A knight commander hurriedly barked orders to his troops, though his own actions betrayed him as he quickly shuffled backward.
With the commander retreating, the soldiers lost all cohesion. Lynch raised a finger, letting a spark of electricity flicker at its tip, scaring them into complete disarray.
In the confined space, their combat effectiveness relied on formations and command. With their ranks in utter chaos, the soldiers began trampling each other in panic. Lynch seized the opportunity to unleash several magic spells, causing devastating explosions amidst the crowd. Decimated, the soldiers ultimately scattered and fled in ruin.
"Phew!"
After routing this batch of attackers, Lynch exhaled heavily, shaking his head. His mental energy had already been significantly depleted on Ghost Island, and he hadn’t had time to rest before diving into yet another battle. The relentless pace was wearing him down.
From his Space Ring, he retrieved a bottle of Awakening Potion prepared in advance, drank it, and regained a fraction of his mental strength before pressing onward.
Passing by the body of a fallen soldier, Lynch picked up one of those unusual shields for closer inspection.
"Fire Swallow Stone?"
Studying the shield more intently, Lynch quickly identified it as crafted from Fire Swallow Stone—a type of extraordinary material renowned for its high resistance to Flame Element.
"This confirms it. They were targeting Avery and her group after all!"
Avery specialized in Light Element magic while also dabbling in Flame Element spells. The deliberate use of Fire Swallow Stone clearly indicated a countermeasure prepared specifically for her.
"What the hell is going on here!"
Lynch continued moving forward until he reached a room where he found Avery.
At that moment, Avery looked far worse for wear, kneeling on one knee with her magic wand braced against the ground. Her face was pale, her breath labored.
Adam lay unconscious behind her, protected by her. In front of her were dozens of corpses, some of them allies who had fought alongside them earlier—including the Rawls Knight—while the rest were evidently enemies.
Rushing into the room, Lynch called out urgently, "How are you holding up? Avery?"
At Lynch’s question, Avery lifted her head. However, she didn’t respond. Her mental state seemed chaotic.
It was as if she had suffered some tremendous shock. Fear and confusion colored her eyes, her entire body trembling uncontrollably as she muttered ceaselessly:
"No..."
"Impossible... why... Why did I do this..."
"There was no need..."
Lynch approached and shouted a couple of times, "Avery! Avery!"
But Avery remained unresponsive, continuing her incoherent rambling.
"There’s no need..."
"We didn’t need to fight..."
"We..."
Frowning, Lynch contemplated.
Her injuries weren’t obvious, and her spiritual power seemed normal, indicating no physical trauma. This reaction was undoubtedly psychological in nature.
Lynch had no idea what had transpired, but he knew there wasn’t time to dwell on it. She needed to snap out of it immediately.
With nothing else coming to mind, Lynch decided to raise his hand and slap Avery hard across the face.
