Paragon of Skills

Chapter 282

Astabazos, the handsome Infernal man who recruited Nimirea, looks at Delefagus without hiding his disgust for the Human.

Yet, even without their Leader keeping them together, the Dark Champions present have received orders to follow Delefagus in this mission by the Prophet himself.

“When are we leaving?” Astabazos asks, irritated. “I have waited long enough.”

Delefagus looks at him like he’s an idiot, which makes Astabazos want to summon his weapon from his Interspatial Ring.

All the Dark Champions have been summoned for this mission, and they have arrived at Delefagus’s tower, which is littered with weird experiments and is probably even more dangerous than Nimirea’s old Alchemy lab.

“Jacob Cloud has just cleared the last hurdle that was in front of him before entering the mines,” Delefagus says off-handedly, tinkering with a mechanical contraption that Astabazos has never seen before. “He’s probably about to leave for the mines right now. And, if we’re lucky, Master Velnaris will go with him. I’ve wanted to kill the bastard for so long.”

“How do we know?” A feminine, high-pitched voice comes from one of the hooded figures in the room.

“Let me set up the scrying mirror. Jacob Cloud should be just about—“

Delefagus activates a large mirror that immediately shows Jacob, but he’s nowhere near the mines.

“What the—“ Delefagus frowns.

“And so,” Jacob Cloud says, in the backyard of the Sleeping Goose Inn, “that’s how you should train your Movement Skill now that your leg is fine.”

Thalric Ashenvale, one of the targets of interest in this backward country, has red eyes and is sniffling during the lesson.

“What is he doing?” Astabazos asks. “Is that where the mines are? Why is there an inn there?”

Delefagus frowns and says, “huh…”

As if prompted by the question, Thalric lowers his head and says, “I’m so, so sorry that we haven’t gotten permission to enter the mines yet. It’s… they found a potential Mithril vein and they’re in the process of locating it. It’s going to take several months, I think. They don’t want anyone entering to disturb the process of extraction.”

Delefagus knows that locating a potential Mithril vein is a very hard process. It might, however, completely turn around the fortune of Ashenmere, making it a powerhouse if they can indeed locate the Mithril. Yet, the locating process is extremely expensive in terms of time and resources. Mithril, being a perfect Mana conducting material, dissipates very little Mana, and it’s usually extremely deep underground. That means you need experts capable of slowly triangulating the position of the ore while digging out tunnels to reach it.

For several moments, Delefagus expects Jacob to protest loudly, which… it doesn’t really happen.

“Heh,” he says. “You know what? I’ve spent enough time in mines in my life. I’m not that eager to enter. Did you say you have an older sister?”

“Yes, Mr. Cabbage,” Thalric says with a smile, “I’ll introduce you to her. She’s… celibate. Do you intend to… woo her? If so, you might want to speak to my mother.”

Astabazos, who’s just behind Delefagus, pushes the man to the side and stares right at the grinning bastard face of Jacob Cloud on the mirror.

“Let’s drop on him right now and gut him like a dog,” the Infernal man says, furious that he took Iskara away from him. His… creature. He had been waiting for the Prophet to truly reward him for his deed, perhaps putting him on the trail for another Rainbow Skill, perhaps giving him Iskara’s body to slaughter and use to absorb her Skill. But that bastard of Jacob Cloud and the slave he has recruited ruined everything for him.

“Let’s wait,” Delefagus says, frowning. “He’s still undercover. He probably wants to get closer to the Ashenvale family, Astabazos. That’s why he’s asking for the sister. If he manages to capitalize on his gain in fame and ask for her hand, they might allow him to enter the mines. Damn it! I knew the Mana in that mine was weirdly harmonious, but why Mithril! AGH!”

“Mithril?! What damn Mithril?! That son of a whore is just after some female flesh,” Astabazos says, disgusted. “Look at how he went after Nimirea. He clearly has some sick, sick perversion.”

“I mean, maybe he just likes girls, dear. He doesn’t have to turn them into monsters to get himself going,” the girl with a high-pitched voice says.

The Infernal ignores her.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Astabazos wants nothing more than to stab Jacob Cloud through the neck, but he’s now looking at Delefagus with the same fervor. If they have to wait for weeks, this means…

“I’m taking the top bunk,” the feminine voice says. “I’ve already been here. It’s full of rats and they usually jump on the lower bunks.”

Astabazos turns to his fellow Dark Champion, about to reprimand her, when she starts sprinting for the door.

The rest of the hooded figures briefly look at each other before sprinting after her. Astabazos turns to Delefagus.

“Don’t look at me, I sleep in my lab. You know the Prophet’s rules about accommodation. All under one roof. I’d run if I were you. The rats have only gotten bigger.”

Astabazos curses under his breath, puts his pride aside, and starts a mad sprint.

“You bastards! Wait!” The Infernal shouts at the top of his lungs.

Delefagus ignores the ruckus and sits on a recliner, moving a finger and making the mirror levitate in front of him. Then, he looks at the recliner, reclines it, and has the mirror attach itself to the ceiling, watching on.

“Mr. Cabbage!” Thalric shouts, “look!”

Delefagus sees Jacob smile at the student.

That boy is talented. Not Champion-material, but… he’s not bad. I wonder if I should monsterify him first after killing Cloud.

Jacob sees Thalric drawing several lines at different intervals. Then, the young man starts sprinting back and forth between them, reaching incredible speed. But, the most impressive thing is that now that his left leg is healed, he has an insane pivoting ability.

Would make a good skirmisher, but I think he’s a Breaker, isn’t he?

“You’re the perfect Breaker,” Jacob says.

“What?” Delefagus adjusts himself in the recliner, outraged. “Doesn’t that bastard have the Grimoire Extraordinaire?”

Delefagus knows that the Grimoire has the ability to spot flaws. And it being a Rainbow Skill means its detection must be without peers. Yet, Delefagus doesn’t know the exact details of how it works. He just knows that he must be very careful in facing Jacob Cloud head-on. In a one-on-one, he might get him.

But I’m not an idiot, Delefagus thinks. I’m not going to face him alone.

“Mr. Cabbage… I am trying to become a Dagger, an unconventional one.”

“Why a Breaker, then?” Delefagus frowns and agrees with the boy. “Can’t he see that—“

“Take the sword and, instead of pivoting away, execute a sharp turn. Move into the enemy and swing with all your strength. Do it on Lance.”

Lancelot, who was sitting down and sweating bullets, practicing some technique, turns to Jacob.

“What?”

“Let him hit you.”

Thalric looks nervously at Jacob.

“Mr. Cabbage, I don’t want to hurt your assistant.”

“If you manage to hurt him at your level, he might as well die on the spot,” Jacob replies.

Delefagus knows that Jacob’s Squire has some kind of Draconic transformation. That much is public knowledge. Yet, without his Draconic form, wouldn’t he suffer catastrophic damage at the hands of the boy?

Lancelot rises with a sigh and smacks his chest.

“Come on. I don’t have all day.”

“Just… I hit him straight on? Doesn’t he have a weapon?”

“He used to be fat,” Jacob ponders. “If that counts.”

It doesn’t count! Unknowingly, both Delefagus and Thalric have the same exact thought.

But, despite the joke, something gleams in the eyes of Jacob Cloud. And both Delefagus and Thalric, once again, take notice. It prompts Delefagus to, once again, straighten up, and this time also reposition the mirror in front of him as he sits up. As for Thalric, instead, he takes his sword out and looks at Lancelot, who gives him a nod.

Trusting in Jacob, Thalric suddenly sprints — this time, he pivots inside, transferring the kinetic energy to the blade and slashing at Lancelot.

“Pivot again!” Jacob shouts just as the attack hits the man without leaving any trace other than cutting through his clothes.

Not daring to stop, Thalric pivots once again and once again slashes. This time, he has even more momentum.

“Again!” Jacob shouts.

And so Thalric does it again and again, until Lancelot is in his underwear.

Panting after more than a dozen slashes, Thalric finally stops, and looks in disbelief at the faint scratches on Lancelot’s skin.

Delefagus, too, looks at that. Those were Diamond Rank attacks, nothing in his eyes. But not even he would have been able to take them on like this in his normal form. Plus, now that he has seen how Jacob Cloud just suggested to a boy to change the course of his entire Class…

We can’t underestimate him, Delefagus thinks. He’s strong. And I’m confident that this wasn’t the Grimoire. That was just his intuition, that the boy could slash and deliver a lot of damage in one go like that… what a damn monster.

The Dark Champion feels a pang of apprehension.

Could it be, perhaps, that he saw through my plan, somehow? That he’s not going to the mines because he thought of something? But I have been here the whole time. It can’t be. He doesn’t have any reason to suspect me.

Delefagus licks his lips and nods.

“Yeah, everything’s fine.”

The feared Leader of Champions, then, sharply inhales and clears his throat, looking straight at the mirror, almost making Delefagus jump, as if he has just been caught.

“Right, it’s time to go visit your sister,” Jacob says, making Delefagus almost fall from his chair.

“You goddamn idiot! You scared me!”

For a second, Delefagus thinks that Jacob has somehow looked at him right through the mirror.

“It was just the scrying angle… why am I getting so flustered? He’s essentially dead meat.”

He’s about to turn off the scrying spell when a voice suddenly shouts.

“You pervert! You’re not going to sully my sister’s honor like this! I demand a duel to the death!”