Blade Over Magic

Let Them Handle It

”Hey, that’s not–” Sparrow was about to step forward and stop them. Staying so high in the ravine would only allow the monsters a higher chance to get past them and run around, which was the opposite of what they wanted.

But just then, Ragna placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

She looked back at him with a frown, but he just shook his head.

”Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, yeah? Something tells me he has a plan.” Seeing him uncharacteristically serious, Sparrow’s frown deepened, but slowly, she nodded and looked forward, both wary and a bit curious.

Meanwhile, when Aubrey let her arrow loose, it streaked down into the ravine, and with stunning accuracy, it slid into a small opening in the armor of one demonic beast that Xander thought resembled a raptor.

Blood spurred from its neck, and it let out a tragic cry before falling to the ground.

Its fellow creatures looked around, startled, but Aubrey didn’t stop.

Her way of breathing changed as it became measured and controlled, moreover, the way her body moved was different from what most people knew when it came to archery.

She stepped into the bow, throwing her weight forward as she shoved the wood toward the position of the beasts. The heavy cord snapped back to her ear in a single, fluid explosion of motion. Her frame was a rigid tripod of bone and muscle, perfectly absorbing a tension that would have snapped a lesser archer’s collarbone. A breath held, a sudden release, and the arrow vanished with a sound like a cracking whip.

Despite her deceptively small frame, Xander had taught her in the way of the bow well. To an untrained eye, the manner at which she used it was strange, as most people would draw the string and release. However, she almost seemed to pull the bow away while pulling the string. This was also known as the English Warbow from earth.

Such a method already caused the power of arrows to increase significantly, and coupled with the concept of channeling, not only were her arrows scarily precise.

BANG

Their power also exceeded imagination.

An arrow pierced the eye of another raptor, entering its skull and exploding out the back.

A third arrow struck another in the gap of its armor, burrowing through and shattering its spine in the back.

A fourth removed the neck of another.

A fifth went into the open mouth of what and severed its spine at the back.

Sparrow and co watched, stunned as Aubrey, who they’d all thought of as purely a support type, was unleashing arrows with power that simply did not make sense.

’Her strange way of using the bow aside, that precision and power is absurd. Those armored raptors are a pain to deal with because of their armor, but she’s finding gaps like its nothing, even at this distance.’ Sparrow’s eyes widened as another raptor was dealt a lethal injury, dying almkst instantly.

’Normal channeling shouldn’t be able to increase the power of an arrow like that. Is the weapon just enchanted? No, that can’t be it. Maybe... she’s similar to him?’ He gaze shifted Xander who was watching Aubrey with an unmistakable look of pride in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Xander was both praising and correct Aubrey in real time using telepathic link.

’Wonderful, but remember, lean into your bow as you shoot, use your body as leverage. Yes, good, keep your stance, and again. Good, and don’t forget to breathe.’ Xander nodded as Aubrey maintained her pace and breathing, each arrow as terrifying as the last. It was quite fulfilling to watch, seeing her put her training to use so effectively.

Moreover, even though she was focused on firing, she was still doing her job.

’The surrounding beasts have spotted us. They will be making their way here now.’ Right on the heels of that, the ground started to tremble slightly.

The numerous demonic beasts had finally noticed the humans causing trouble, and they stopped what they were doing as they got up and started charging up the slope towards them.

’Curtis, when Aubrey gives the signal, make the ground slippery.’ Xander instructed.

’... Alright.’ Curtis just nodded as he readied his wand.

Aubrey continued to methodically take down the charging demonic beasts, but their numbers soon grew more than she could take out alone. But even then, she didn’t let up or feel discouraged.

Soon, the beasts converged as they charged up the slope, looking like a stream of claws and teeth.

100 meters

80 meters

50 meters

’Not yet.’ Aubrey exhaled, and Curtis gripped his wand tighter.

40 meters.

30 meters

20 meters.

’Now!’

As soon as she gave the signal, Curtis cast his spell, and suddenly, the ground basement encased in a layer of slippery ice.

The beasts at the front of the charging mass suddenly lost their footing as they failed to find purchase with their claws, and because it was a slope, gravity did its job, and they were inevitably dragged down. They crashed into the beasts behind them, causing them to lose their footing as well, and the effect snowballed, creating a sort of reverse stampede as they all rolled back into the ravine in a very congested ball, and Xander even saw a few get crushed by the heavier beasts as they fell.

By the time they reached the bottom, many were dazed and in unfavorable positions, like their backs.

The squad didn’t give them a chance to recover.

Xander didn’t need to say anything as Falael stepped forward and aimed their wand, spell prepared.

”Star Burst.” Several small spheres condensed in front of the wand and shot forward like bullets.

They borrowed into the mass of beasts, then light shone from the gaps before several terrifying explosions erupted, blowing apart most of the beasts and sending blood, guts, and limbs flying all over the place.

In just a moment, the mass of beasts has been reduced to lumps of charred flesh.

”Woo!” Falael pumped their fist into the air, clearly happy with the result.

”... Huh.” Sparrow blinked, very clearly surprised. It wasn’t just her, but her whole squad.

”So that’s what he meant by ’taking advantage of geography’.” Nash rubbed his chin, his hardened expression also showing surprise.

”I guess he’s not just good at fighting.” Ragna nodded in approval. Actually, it wasn’t just Xander’s tactic, even Falael surprised them. The potency of their attack was clearly above average if it could deal with so many beasts at once. That said...

”Is it wise to use Mana so much in the beginning?” Zeke frowned. The others seemed to share his sentiment, but for now, they decided to watch.

’The next group is coming.’ Aubrey instructed, and sure enough, many demonic beasts, disturbed by the commotion, crawled out of their nests and charged towards the group. Once again, Aubrey killed as many as she could before the beasts got close, then Curtis made the ground slippery, causing them to tumble down in a heap, and Falael ended it with several concentrated blasts of starlight. This process repeated a few more times before Sparrow and co realized that Falael wasn’t showing any signs of mana exhaustion.

’... How much mana does that kid have???’ Was the thought they all had.

’New enemy types are approaching from both sides.’ Aubrey suddenly instructed. Shortly after, several groups of what looked like porcupines suddenly emerged from deeper within the ravine.

They aimed their backs at the group, and a salvo of ominous looking quills the size of spears shot forward.

Curtis reacted at the moment.

He casted a spell, and an ice barrier made up of hexagon surrounded the group, comfortably deflecting all the quills away from them.

An opening then appeared, and several magic circles of starlight emerged. They each shot a concentrated beam at the porcupines, engulfing and killing them before they could prepare another salvo.

’Hey, the barrier worked really well.’ Curtis was temporarily distracted from his feelings as he looked at Xander who gave him a thumbs up. He had been the one to recommend he make his barriers like that from now on, and it seemed to work even better than expected on the field.

’Xander, some beasts are gonna start crawling along the edges of the Ravine. Their temperatures are high, so they might be fire-types.’ Aubrey warned, and Xander nodded as he finally drew his sword.

’Curtis, I’m gonna need some footholds.’ Hearing this, Curtis didn’t create a new spell. Rather, he repurposed the barrier and made all the Hexagons separate, floating independently along the edges of the Ravine near them while two hovered around Xander.

Then, just like Aubrey said, several lizard demonic beasts with bright red skin crawled along the edges of the Ravine, lava dripping from their mouths.

Xander took a breath and thought to himself.

’Can’t be two slow in getting from one edge to another. So let’s be a bit quick.’ He leaned forward and took a breath, then the muscles in his legs bulged before he suddenly shot forward with incredible speed.

Like a ping-pong ball, using the footholds and moving between both ravines at a speed difficult for the naked eye to catch.

The lizards couldn’t even react as lethal wounds appeared on their bodies. Long gashes stretching across their bodies in a gruesome fashion.

Where Sparrow and co were watching with continued amazement, Bodhi’s eyes suddenly lit up when he saw Xander move, because he saw what Xander said he was going show him.

Having swapped to his Zweihander, Xander moved the blade in a constant rotating motion, using the centripedal force to to generate even more power in his swings.

The result?

The lizards were sliced into with ease.

And it wasn’t just random spinning, either. Xander allowed his body to move with the sword, his body following its orbit and never leaving his back exposed.

The addition of channeling enhanced this effect greatly, raising his power even further. And the fact he was doing this while jumping between footholds just big enough for one of his feet to step on was incredible.

Bodhi felt his arms itch as he wanted to immediately try and perform the same action, and Sparrow glanced back at him, her expression turning complicated.