novelraw Chapter 105: Toward the Castle
Chapter 105: Toward the Castle
Notifications for collected XP appeared one after another as his stats and skills leveled up.
Running like a ruthless killer, skilled with his weapon, Mitsuki swung his sword from side to side, cutting down every monster that leapt in front of him. Small trails of emerging flames illuminated his excited face.
Whenever he felt like he was falling behind, he accelerated with ash to maintain his speed. He kept it up like that until they exited the alley.
Because he was running so fast, Mitsuki couldn’t stop in time. His boots skidded across the ground as he tried to keep from kissing the floor, but in the end, he fell onto his back, rolling and slamming into the wall at the end of the alley.
Azel landed beside him and looked at him with an awkward smile.
"Don’t you think you got a little too excited?"
From the ground, Mitsuki stared up at the sky. He hid his embarrassment behind a monotone voice and a poker face.
"I guess I did..."
At that moment, Marco and Monar exited the alley and approached Azel. They all looked at Mitsuki lying on the ground like some kind of zoo animal, which only made his embarrassment worse.
’Oh... damn it.’
Monar crouched down to take a closer look.
"You shouldn’t burn through so much energy in such a short time. We still have a long way to go before reaching the castle, and we can’t stop until we’re inside the palace."
"Though I’m surprised at how well you can fight with a sword," Marco added. "I didn’t think you were capable of that when we fought the dragon."
"Really? Well, there are still a lot of things I haven’t tried yet," Mitsuki said, standing up. "Maybe I’ll try them on the next enemies."
Azel placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Then surprise us, Ashen Kid. Maybe your tricks will come in handy later."
Monar nodded. Mitsuki was far too unpredictable. It was as if he always had a hidden card up his sleeve. At least, that’s how they saw him—when in reality, Mitsuki simply grew stronger by killing monsters.
"I’ll do what I can."
Right after that, an eerie laugh echoed through the surroundings. The group turned toward the far end of the street, where a mysterious figure in a black cloak raised its hand, holding a glowing green sphere.
"A mage..."
Everyone reacted to Monar’s statement, readying their weapons. Without hesitation, they charged together at the ash beast.
The mysterious figure raised its trembling, bony hand. The sphere shone intensely. The ground trembled slightly, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of skeletons emerged from the ground, breaking through it with ruined hands—some dressed as villagers, others as nobles or knights.
"It’s a necromancer!" Azel shouted, aiming an arrow at the mage’s head.
Mitsuki ran toward the enemy alongside Marco. At the same time, Monar cast a spell that immobilized the skeletons with branches emerging from the ground—like tentacles—that wrapped around their undead bodies.
That gave Marco and Mitsuki a clear opening to act. Together, they coordinated an attack based on distraction and speed. As more undead emerged, Marco would use them as distractions for the necromancer—by throwing them straight at its face!
At the perfect moment, Azel fired an arrow at the mage’s head, disorienting it. Marco executed his part: as the undead rose, he shoved them forward with his sword, and when the ash beast lost its balance, Mitsuki moved through the undead using Ash Propulsion.
In the next instant, he was already aiming his shotgun at the necromancer’s head.
Click. The trigger was pulled. Bang. The creature’s head vanished. Its entire body dissolved into ash, leaving behind a single mana crystal on the ground.
’Hey... it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these.’
He didn’t hesitate to pick it up and store it for later sale.
’Now that I think about it, the drop rate is garbage. I completely forgot these even existed since no monster has dropped one this whole trip.’
He shook his head with a tired sigh, but Monar interrupted him, calling him to keep moving.
They resumed their run after that.
***
Ash beasts fell after every battle, and Mitsuki only kept growing stronger and faster with every bit of XP he gained. Maybe this was what he needed after all—not rigorous physical training or studying magic to exhaustion, but killing monsters nonstop and learning from it.
In the end, experience was worth more than raw knowledge. Training was only a supplement to it.
And so, they continued clearing the path as they ran toward the distant castle. Dozens of ash beasts appeared, each more grotesque than the last, though with similar powers.
Everything was easy—until a Rank A bastard showed up. This time, the team had to focus. Together, they fought as always, with perfect coordination, now with Mitsuki on the front line. That made defeating the monsters much easier.
"Maybe this is why people who entered Nemoria to investigate ended up dying—they lacked Arcane Magic to counter the curse," Monar said.
Mitsuki thought about it. In a way, he was right. Arcane Magic in this world was an extremely complex branch of magic, and ironically, it was the weakness of specters and creatures born from the ash curse.
"We’re lucky to have you, Mitsuki. I’m sure Marco wouldn’t have liked calling Ellegaard to help us."
Marco scoffed and kept moving ahead, ignoring what Monar said. Azel glanced at him with a faint but amused smile.
"It’s all because she taught me the basics of Arcane Magic. I picked it up pretty quickly, actually."
"Of course you did—you’re a prodigy."
"Yeah, sure..."
Mitsuki turned his attention forward, where the castle loomed before them. Its massive walls, the countless stairways leading inward, and the magnificent towers that made up its structure were all breathtaking—if not for the fact that they could feel an almost mythological being suffering within.
Without a word, the group headed toward the diagonal stairway running along the massive wall. Soon, they reached the top—a small area that looked like something out of a park.
There stood a statue of a beautiful winged female figure.
Monar was quick to identify it.
"The Goddess..."