Chapter 169: The Fairy’s Orb (1)  

I called forth the Fairy Energy within the twin blades as I slashed a monster. I was trying to make it so that I could feel it in my hands again.

However, it failed once again. The movement of my twin blades was stellar to the point it could be called, ‘One with the Sword,’ however, I couldn’t feel the Fairy Energy again until the end.

All of the monsters quickly died. I used to be able to get a decent feeling of hunting with a level 200 mid-sized Demon Cave, however, it went by almost too quickly this time.

I didn’t even feel like I got a good warm-up completed.

That showed the effectiveness of the upgrades to my equipment.

No, the changes to my sword art were probably the reason. My swords felt as if they were moving on their own. It was like the sword was making me move instead of my making the sword move.

I debated opening another Demon Cave before deciding not to do that.

My Spirit Energy was full anyway. I didn’t think much would change by practicing with monsters.

I guess it is now time to face off against the Demons.

“Shall we go find the Fairy’s Orb?”

“Let’s go.”

It was Harrison’s group who got up first this time. The quest to save Akto’s soul had to do with the Dwarves while the Fairy’s Orb quest had to do with Harrison’s group.

All of them looked ready to go.

We all moved deeper into the Demons’ Mine. I was naturally in the front along with the Guardian Elemental.

We walked for about 1 km like that.

“Kwaaaaaaa!”

A group of Demons suddenly popped out. It felt as if they knew we were coming and were hiding in order to surprise us.

However, neither the Dwarves nor Harrison’s group were shocked. They quickly put up their shields in a wall and got into a defensive position as if they had been expecting it.

It was because I had given them the signal in advance. The Guardian Elemental had let me know they were hiding there in advance.

There were only three Demons.

I didn’t want to waste my Dragon Fear that had such a long cool time for these idiots. I instead used the Horn Flute of Darkness that I had prepared in advance and threw five of the Sand Warrior’s Voices.

They were enough to tie the Demons down. I should be able to easily hunt them if I called forth the Stone Elves.

But I did not call them out. I opened a Demon Cave scroll and personally ran toward them with Goonto’s Twin Blades.

‘500 Spirit Energy to agility!’

The impact of 500 points to agility was amazing. I was so fast that my body did not feel like my own body. In fact, it was so fast that it was hard to control.

Even still, the sword did not shake even a tiny bit. Now that I had reached the One with the Sword level, the sword was automatically finding where to go.

The Demons were running wild at high speed but it was enough to catch them.

The damage was significant as well. I was reaching 20,000 damage at just a 20-hit combo, probably because my base damage increased by 500 percent.

I needed at least 100,000 damage to make it through the Demons’ defense.

I reached 120,000 damage at 27-hit combo. I used one of the special skills imbued within the twin blades at that moment.

[ Nullify 30% of Enemy Defense! ]

Papapat!

“Kwaaaaaaa!”

The Demon took over 60,000 damage. Lightning damage was added as well.

The Demon became stunned with one hit and lost its neck after the second attack.

There were only two left.

There were still many monsters nearby to serve as stepping stones. I was confident that I could easily kill any of them with one hit if I hit properly.

The Demons seemed to have realized that as well. They were quickly retreating as if they realized that getting away from my range of attack was the best decision.

It might also be because they felt fear after seeing that I was even quicker than them.

However, I was faster than them because of all of the Spirit Energy I put into agility. I approached them faster than they could retreat.

My combo had also continued without stopping.

But then I felt something weird in my palms that were holding the twin blades. How do I put this... I guess I thought that I could feel the will of the blades? Or maybe the will of the Fairy Energy within the blades?

It was squirming around. There were no voices that spoke into my mind, but I felt its strong desire to quickly burst out of the blades.

‘Why are they suddenly acting like this?’

I was afraid. I thought that all of the fortifications might be lost if the Fairy Energy burst out of the blades.

‘Please don’t do that.’

However, the Fairy Energy did not care about what I wanted. It just continued to show its desire to leave the blades.

The desire was so strong that I was almost convinced enough to let it out. Trying to avoid the Fairy Energy’s will like this for a long time will probably break my concentration and not allow me to fight properly.

‘Fine! Get out and spread your wings!’

I no longer forced the Fairy Energy to stay inside the blades. I swung the blades with a strong force to help the Fairy Energy leave.

The Fairy Energy shot out like a ray of light through the tip of the sword before slamming into an empty wall of the cave.

But the results of that slamming was unexpected.

Paaaat-

‘Huh?!’

There was a large scratch on the wall. It was as if my blades were guns that had shot Fairy Energy as bullets.

The more shocking thing was that my twin blades were still full of Fairy Energy. The amount of energy did not even decrease.

‘Then what is it that I shot through the blades?’

There was something that came to mind.

‘Is it perhaps Spirit Energy?’

I couldn’t check in my current situation. My Spirit Energy was going up every time I killed a monster to keep my combo going.

I couldn’t tell if Spirit Energy was being used because I couldn’t compare the before and after amounts easily.

‘Let’s try it once again.’

I first confirmed the amount of Spirit Energy I had.

[Spirit Energy: 984]

The Fairy Energy in the blades were still running wild. They seemed to want to run out of the blades at any moment.

I had nothing to fear. I experienced it once already.

I looked toward a Demon. He was running around dodging my attacks even as his soul was in pain because of the Sand Warrior’s Soul.

I swung Goonto’s Twin Blades once again. The only difference was that it was pointing at a Demon instead of the wall this time.

Paaaat!

I felt some type of spark that I did not feel before.

I guess it was the feeling of something leaving? It felt like a rotting tooth finally getting pulled out.

The energy shot out through the tip of the blades at that moment. I couldn’t see it with my eyes, but I could feel it.

The Demon received a big shock and fell backward as well.

“Ugh!”

I quickly checked the changes to my Spirit Energy.

[Spirit Energy: 784]

‘It decreased!’

It had decreased by exactly 200 points. That verified that the energy shot out through the end of the blades was Spirit Energy and not Fairy Energy.

The Demon who was hit by the Spirit Energy was quickly getting back up.

However, his movement was slower than before. He seemed to have received quite the shock.

The attack using 200 Spirit Energy even when my combo was canceled had this much impact.

What would happen if I shot this while a combo was still active? Would the increased damage thanks to the combo effect this as well?

I’ll find out once I try.

I used the stepping stones monsters to recreate my combo. Drake’s TBSA is such a fast sword art that I had reached 18-hit combo in less than 3 seconds.

I wasn’t greedy to reach an even higher combo. This was just a test after all.

I swung Goonto’s Twin Blades toward a Demon after reaching 19-hit combo. I felt like the Spirit Energy was almost visible as it shot out without making any noise.

My enemies will probably want to label me the Silent Killer if they were killed by the Spirit Energy.

“Ugh!”

The Spirit Energy accurately hit the Demon again. It moves so quickly that I doubt that anyone could dodge it.

However, the damage did not meet my expectations. The Demon fell backward again but was able to get back up easily, just like last time.

‘I guess the combo damage does not get included.’

It was disappointing, but there was nothing that I could do about it. It’s not like everything in the world would go my way. I needed to follow the laws of the world.

This alone was already extremely useful. It was a strong enough shock that even a Demon with high toughness was flung backward. That means that some monsters might even be killed by it.

It would also be very useful during the Demon hunt as well.

How?

Like this!

I shot the Spirit Energy toward a Demon without creating a combo.

I summoned some Stone Elves at the same time.

‘Crush him!’

The Demon that was hit by Spirit Energy flung backward again and could not move for one second.

That was enough time for the Stone Elves. They quickly rushed over and crushed the Demon, giving me time to create a 20-hit plus combo and finish him off.

Goonto, Harrison and the others all gathered around me once the final Demon was killed and all of the monsters from the Demon Cave were destroyed.

“What was that just now?”

“What happened? Did you shoot mana from your sword?”

There probably wouldn’t be any issues with telling them, but there was no need to tell them. I didn’t feel bad because Harrison probably had more secrets than I did.

I just unsummoned the Stone Elves and lightly smiled.

“I heard that everything has a place and time. I will explain it to you in the future if the opportunity arises.”

“Tsk! You’re being so secretive!”

Goonto clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed.

Honestly speaking, Goonto should have a decent idea about what I did. He was someone who has reached the ‘One with the Sword’ level as well. In fact, he got there before I did.

However, he seemed to just be keeping the information to himself after seeing that I didn’t want to reveal it.

Akto was the same. He had an odd smile on his face but he did not say anything.

“Shall we keep moving?”

We all moved deeper into the Demons’ Mine.

Demons were hiding every so often as Akto had mentioned.

Most of them were never alone. They moved in groups of at least three and large groups had over ten Demons moving together.

However, hunting Demons were not that hard anymore after learning how to shoot Spirit Energy from my blades. The only thing to keep in mind was to make sure that my Spirit Energy didn’t deplete completely.

We met another group of Demons and hunted them in the same fashion.

The Stone Elves and I pretty much dominated the hunts. The Dwarves did their best to help but they weren’t that useful.

But they still were not bored. Demons were not the only things in the Demons’ Mine.

“Leave those bastards to us!”

“We can’t just sit back and watch the whole time.”

Papapat!

Crackle!

Goonto’s group and Harrison’s group almost seemed as if they were competing with each other any time hordes of monsters appeared.

Of course, I didn’t relax either. I needed to use these opportunities to absorb Spirit Energy. Otherwise, I would have to use up my remaining few Demon Cave scrolls.

We ended up hunting another group of Demons after that.

“Shall we rest for a bit?”

Goonto and the Dwarves naturally gathered around me to sit once I sat down. It was as if they were treating me as a Dwarf and not a human.

It forced Harrison’s group to sit at a distance. We had been working together for over two years already, but there was this invisible wall between Dwarves and humans.

That wall was difficult to break.

“But how far do we need to go inside?”

The other Dwarves also chimed in once Goonto started.

“Are you certain that Fairy’s Orb or whatever is really in here?”

These funny punks. Their hero Akto is right next to them. Even though he only had his soul left, wasn’t he still one of the Dwarves’ role models?

Akto was the one who had said that the Fairy’s Orb was in the Demons’ Mine. But they were still suspicious.

I felt that Akto’s pride might have taken a hit.

I peeked toward Akto.

He was surprisingly stoic. He was looking at somewhere else as if he had not even heard the statement.

I was the one to ask Akto this time.

“Akto. Where do you think the Fairy’s Orb is located?”

“All I know is that it is in here. I don’t know the exact location. But I think you should be able to tell. Your friendliness with the fairies is much higher than mine, isn’t it?”

‘Me?’

Now that I thought about it, something did feel off since a bit earlier.