Soul Nexus. Volume 2: The beginning of the forced adventurer

30

Roef: 『 Our bomb is still atop that thing! I want to know if that's enough to punch a hole in its shell?! Can you do it from here?! 』

Jean: 『 Hmph, what are you saying?! Of course I can do it!! Just tell me when and I'll do it! 』

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Hmm, very well. Then, let's do it. 』

The Commander understood the plan and nodded. But if we wanted to do it, we had to get out of the blast radius. If Jean really had a lot of energy left, it was most likely that he would blow the bomb to smithereens. When it comes to explosions, he's serious business. So we had to get ahead of the tortoise and slow its pace a bit.

We sped up until we reached a higher point on the trail, putting several meters of distance between us and the mabeast. In front of us was a somewhat narrow cliff, but large enough and spaced between two of the mountain peaks so that the mabeast could keep advancing. We decided to use this narrow point to try to trap it.

I shot three arrows towards the opposite wall of the cliff, while Hector recited a command to create a mana barrier to protect us from anything. Now, we waited for the mabeast to arrive at the exact point to begin.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 Roef, now! 』

Roef: 『 Ostium primum realis. Ruptis vastare! 』

As soon as the mabeast walked beneath the cliff, I activated the command, and the arrows exploded, causing a collapse that dropped several pieces of earth and rock, making the mabeast stumble. Falling, it let out a cry denoting its surprise and annoyance. But it was just a small stumble we caused it, so we had to act quickly before it got back up.

Cmdr. Rask: 『 It's now or never, Jean! Do it!! 』

Jean closed his eyes and stretched his arm forward, tensing his slightly parted fingers as if holding something, and quietly recited a long sentence that suddenly darkened the miasma and raised small blue particles around us.

Jean: 『 Iter peregi. Ad maculus locate. Clavis anima utere. Et ostium vincula. Summa recipis centum. Caerula Ignes! 』

(*BOOOOOOM!!!*)

With tremendous force, the bomb exploded, unleashing beastly gusts of wind in all directions, bending the trees around us and leaving them leafless. It was very difficult to remain standing, even with the mana barrier. The shockwave pushed us with everything, making us feel an infernal heat, the product of the large blue fireball that erupted beneath us.

It seemed to have worked; I couldn't imagine anything capable of surviving such a blast. Apparently, the pounds of gunpowder and glycerin from our makeshift mass combined very well with Jean's elemental mana, burning splendidly.

Finally, things calmed down. Hector could now remove his barrier. We peered out to see how the mabeast fared; I imagined the poor thing all singed and lying on the cliff. However, it was difficult to find it; a dense cloud of smoke and ashes obstructed our view. We couldn't see anything down there.

Laurent: 『 Well? Did it work? Because I don't see anything. 』

Hector: 『 Well, perhaps we could go down and see— 』

(*GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!*)

The ground suddenly shook, and from the dense trail, the figure of the mabeast appeared, showing itself full of burns on almost all its scales and on its shell, where it had a large hole. It screamed in extreme pain and agony, but still alive.

Laurent: 『 How in the hell is that thing still alive?! Don't tell me you held back, Jean! 』

Jean: 『 Well... I— 』