ICS - Chapter 103: Psionic Blast

That cold, viscous will, carrying malice like abyssal silt, silently struck Roland's soul barrier like a tangible tide.

His Spirit, now as high as eighteen points, screamed warnings madly. Every cell in his body was crying danger.

The gaze filled with calculation and malice, along with the enormous pressure radiating from its body, made Roland understand in an instant the unbridgeable gulf between them.

If he fought it...

It probably would not be a battle at all. It would be suicide.

After realizing this, Roland did not hesitate, nor did he have even the slightest thought of stepping forward to test it.

The instant he saw the existence within the shadows, his body had already made the most instinctive response.

Create an opportunity.

Retreat immediately.

"Retreat!"

A sharp shout exploded like thunder.

It was not meant to bolster courage, but to send the clearest and most urgent retreat signal to every companion.

At the same time, Roland's left hand snapped up like lightning, five fingers spread and aimed at the soul-freezing shadow deep within the cave.

Hum!

The fire element in the air instantly turned violent, flowing like a tide along the dragonbone on his left wrist toward his mind.

The runes engraved on the Consciousness Shoal lit up at once.

In the blink of an eye, a condensed, blazing fireball with a core flashing almost white-hot formed out of thin air.

The space around the fireball distorted from the high temperature, radiating destructive pressure.

With Roland's low shout, the [Fire Bolt], which had consumed almost all his current mental power and had been amplified to the limit by fire-element affinity, transformed into a dazzling scarlet stream. It tore through the air with a shrill whistle and shot into the cave with perfect precision.

The instant the Fire Bolt left his fingertip, Roland did not even look at the result of the explosion.

He turned sharply. Battle aura erupted with a roar, and his entire body shot toward his shaken sailors and companions at maximum speed, like an arrow leaving the string.

"Everyone retreat! Board the ship! Now!"

His roar overwhelmed the Fire Bolt's scream, filled with unquestionable resolve.

The moment Roland shouted, Teresa and Galvez had already moved by reflex.

Their trust in Roland was carved into their bones, especially when he showed such unprecedented gravity and urgency.

Teresa became a streak of silver light. Her rapier returned to its sheath as she instantly pushed several stunned sailors toward the ship.

Galvez's music abruptly became rapid and sharp.

It was no longer an attack. Instead, it carried powerful mental urging, like invisible whips lashing the sailors and driving away the stiffness caused by fear and shock.

Boom!

Almost at the same time Roland turned and sprinted, an earthshaking roar came from behind him.

The greatly enhanced [Fire Bolt] exploded violently, releasing blazing heat and a furious shockwave.

The hard reef stone cracked and melted under the extreme heat, immediately triggering a chain reaction.

Crack! Boom!

Massive chunks of reef stone crashed down like a ceiling shattered by a giant hammer.

Smoke and dust mixed with vaporized water and powdered stone, surging out from the depths of the cave like a tsunami.

The entire cave shook violently, on the verge of complete collapse.

Yet amid the rolling smoke, dust, and falling stones, the tall, thin figure standing at the edge of the shadows seemed only to sway a little.

Its "eyes," pulsing steadily with ominous purple light, pierced through the chaos and locked accurately onto Roland's rapidly receding back.

There was no angry roar and no pursuit. Only a colder, deeper will spread outward.

It seemed to be silently recording and analyzing this prey, the one that had dared to create chaos before it and attempt to escape.

That feeling of being seen through made Roland's scalp go numb as he sprinted, but he did not dare pause.

The collapsing cave blocked the pursuit route, buying them precious time.

Teresa guarded the team's flank like a stream of light, continuously knocking away or blocking the smaller stones falling from the tremors and keeping the retreat path relatively safe.

Driven by survival instinct and the lingering warmth left by Roland's [Ember Echo], the sailors erupted with astonishing speed, scrambling and crawling toward the gangway.

When the last sailor was directly thrown onto the deck by Roland, he and Teresa exchanged a glance.

No words were needed. With tacit understanding, they exerted strength at the same time, preparing to leap after them toward the deck that represented safety.

But the instant their feet pushed against the ground, their strength erupted, and their bodies had just left the earth...

Hum!

There was no sound.

Or rather, it was not a sound that acted on the eardrums.

An indescribable, terrifying impact composed purely of mental power erupted from a certain point at its center. It swept across the entire open ground like an invisible, viscous deep-sea vortex.

This power was cold and sticky, heavy as lead, wrapped in pure malice that could crush will.

It was not a physical impact, yet it was more lethal than any material attack.

It pierced straight into the depths of the soul, detonating a spiritual collapse at the core of consciousness.

It was a crushing weight grinding thought into powder, and invisible claws tearing consciousness apart.

Teresa was in midair when her silver figure abruptly stiffened.

Her sharp eyes instantly lost focus, pupils dilating in the grip of some deepest nightmare.

All movement, all strength, all vigilance were frozen and shattered in that instant.

An extremely suppressed groan of pain squeezed from her throat.

Immediately afterward, she fell like a kite with its string cut, her body completely out of control, carrying the momentum of her unfinished leap as she plunged straight toward the ground.

On the deck, Galvez had just steadied himself when his expression changed drastically.

The harp in his hand gave an ear-piercing broken note, and several strings snapped at once.

He felt an irresistible, icy hammer smash viciously into his mind. All thoughts, sense of music, and mental power were stirred into a boiling mess in an instant.

He groaned, knelt on the ground clutching his head, and convulsed violently as thin trails of blood seeped from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

The sailors who had just climbed onto the deck and were still badly shaken fell one after another like wheat before a scythe.

Some fainted outright. Others clutched their heads and let out silent screams, curling into balls, their gazes scattered and foam spilling from their mouths.

The entire deck sank into deathly chaos, leaving only painful spasms and hollow gasps after consciousness had been forcibly stripped away.

Only Roland remained.

The instant that destructive mental shockwave touched his consciousness, an indestructible power from the depths of his soul awakened.

[Steel Will]

All powers that tried to distort, control, or dismantle his will shattered and dispersed the moment they touched that cold, pure, absolutely self-owned, steel-like barrier. They broke like waves crashing against a reef.

Roland only felt his brain lightly pricked by a cold needle, bringing an extremely brief and mild dizziness.

Immediately afterward, the mental storm powerful enough to make others collapse vanished before his rock-solid will.

It did not even slow his movements.

From the corner of his eye, he caught the figure that had appeared behind him.

It stood at the edge of the smoke and dust that had not yet fully dispersed, less than ten steps away.

The "eyes" on that tall, thin, smooth head, pulsing with purple light, stared coldly at him.

Its tentacles swayed faintly, silently announcing...

It had been the one that released that terrifying strike.

Roland's heart sank, and a chill shot through his limbs and bones.

The enemy's speed and methods far exceeded his expectations.

But he did not hesitate.

Still in midair, he forcefully twisted his waist, and his left hand, infused with battle aura, shot out like lightning, narrowly grabbing Teresa's falling wrist.

However, this rescue action also interrupted his own upward momentum and brought a downward pulling force.

"Galvez! Catch her!"

Roland let out a low roar.

Then he exerted force with his left arm and pushed Teresa's unconscious body hard toward the nearby bulwark.

This push was not a violent throw, but a precise and powerful shove, like moving a heavy object across ice.

On the deck, Galvez's head felt ready to split open. He knelt on the ground, clutching his nearly exploding skull, but his bloodshot eyes remained locked on the area below.

When he saw Teresa being pushed to the ship's side, he used the last shred of clarity and strength he had, lunged toward the bulwark, and reached out with both arms.

By the narrowest margin, he caught Teresa by the shoulders and armor, dragging her onto the deck.

At the exact same moment Roland pushed Teresa away, the reaction force from that precise shove sent him back to the ground.

As he quickly adjusted his posture, preparing to rise, sprint, and leap toward the ship that was already accelerating away...

Another sudden change erupted.

The purple nightmare moved.

It did not stride forward. It "slid" a short distance, instantly closing the gap with Roland.

The two masses of pulsing purple light on its smooth head locked onto him.

One of its hanging, slick tentacles shot out like a predatory serpent at a speed far beyond visual capture.

Silently, with a nauseating faint whistle through the air, it stabbed like lightning toward the back of Roland's head.

The target was clear.

Pierce the skull. Suck out the brain.

The cold aura of death stabbed through Roland's spine like a tangible icicle.

Although the barrier of [Steel Will] isolated mental guidance and fear, it could not completely cancel out the lethal threat brought by a purely physical attack.

At the critical moment, Roland did not even have time to turn fully around.

His absolute intuition for danger and combat instinct, tempered through countless life-and-death battles, saved him.

Almost through muscle memory, he violently infused the battle aura he had just gathered for jumping into his legs, waist, and abdomen. His body twisted and rolled sideways at an almost impossible angle.

Then, as mental power circulated rapidly, an almost transparent film covered his entire body in an instant.

Hum!

Along with a piercing hum, the slick tentacle tipped with sharp suckers came with a shrill whistle through the air and was successfully deflected by [Shield].

It brushed past the hair Roland kicked up as he rolled.

Shhk!

The tentacle tip stabbed viciously into a half-man-high reef stone behind his previous position.

The hard rock was pierced as easily as tofu, leaving a smooth hole.

The appearance of [Shield] seemed to slightly surprise the unnamed monster, but Roland, mid-roll, did not pause at all.

The instant the tentacle missed, before his body had fully steadied, the mithril longsword gripped tightly in his right hand had already become a cold arc of light.

With a scream that tore the air, it slashed upward from his rolling posture, targeting the base of the unnamed monster's tentacle, which had just attacked and had not yet fully withdrawn.

This sword was fast, precise, and ruthless.

The unnamed monster's cold purple light seemed to flicker, clearly not expecting this prey to counterattack so swiftly after avoiding a fatal blow.

Its tentacle abruptly retracted. At the same time, its tall body drifted backward with a lightness that violated common sense.

Clang!

A piercing metallic clash rang out, and sparks scattered.

Roland's reverse upward slash did not sever the tentacle.

The sword edge seemed to strike some extremely tough layer of horn or invisible force field, leaving only a shallow white mark and flying sparks.

But the violent battle aura impact and pure physical force contained within clearly exceeded the unnamed monster's estimate.

And at the instant the blade collided with the tentacle, Roland keenly captured one key piece of information.

Although the enemy's retreating movement was strange and swift, carrying nonhuman lightness, when dealing with a fierce, purely physical slash, it revealed an extremely subtle "stiffness" and "clumsiness" that did not match its powerful mental pressure.

It had been forced back by overwhelming strength, not by refined close-combat technique.

That tough tentacle was more like an innate shield or tool than a weapon used for fighting. Its method of blocking was simple and direct, without technique.

This discovery cut through Roland's mind like lightning.

This terrifying existence's advantage lay in its strange, unpredictable, immensely powerful mental power, not close-range physical combat.

And precisely because of this weakness, Roland's all-out sword forced the unnamed monster's drifting figure to visibly pause, creating a bit of distance.

"Now!"

Using the recoil to spin and steady himself, Roland's focus hardened.

His left hand reached behind him like lightning, instantly drawing three short spears from the special leather sheath.

These short spears were entirely black, their surfaces engraved with unusually active mana runes. They were single-use enchanted weapons he had forged himself.

There was no time to aim.

He relied entirely on feeling.

The instant the unnamed monster's body paused, the muscles of Roland's arm, infused with battle aura and his remaining mental power, bulged.

The three short spears became three black streams of light tearing through the gloom, forming a triangular pattern as they shot straight toward that purple figure with shrill sounds of torn air.

The instant the short spears left his hand, the runes on their shafts lit with unstable, dazzling red light.

The Mana Elements that had been forcibly guided inside were clashing madly, compressing, and approaching their limit within the overburdened material.

Purple light flared in the unnamed monster's eyes, and an invisible force field fluctuated again, attempting to block or deflect these rapidly flying "little things."

However, at the instant the short spears were about to touch that invisible force field...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three blazing, violent fireballs mixed with chaotic mana shockwaves exploded less than a yard in front of the unnamed monster.

The inferior material could not withstand the violent energy of the Mana Elements surging inside, causing the spears to detonate early before impact.

Firelight shot into the sky, broken stones flew, and scorching air waves wrapped in metal fragments and chaotic mana turbulence instantly swallowed the unnamed monster's position.

The roar of the explosion overwhelmed the groan of the waves, shaking the entire coast.

Smoke, dust, and firelight spread, temporarily obscuring vision.

But Roland did not relax his guard.

He knew very well that these three inferior single-use enchanted weapons could not possibly resolve that terrifying existence.

Before the shockwave of the explosion had fully subsided, the twisted purple figure in the smoke and dust appeared once more, but it no longer had its previous calm.

That invisible mental shield fluctuated violently and was finally torn open slightly by the chaotic mana turbulence.

The explosion's metal fragments and scorching shock slammed fiercely into its smooth torso.

Its tough horny layer was corroded through in several places, leaving charred burn marks.

Dark-purple mucus seeped out, dripping onto the ground with faint sizzling sounds.

The pulsing purple light on its smooth head abruptly stalled, and for the first time, its entire body showed an almost imperceptible tremor.

That was the pain and astonishment caused by carelessness and underestimating its enemy.

But this strange emotion did not affect its actions.

Roland's pupils contracted. The barrier of [Steel Will] instantly reinforced itself, forcibly enduring the mental impact that followed like an invisible heavy hammer.

Amid mild stabbing pain and dizziness, the lethal tentacle had already stabbed toward him again with a faint whistle through the air.

"Hmph!"

Roland's gaze turned fierce.

The two previous exchanges, especially the recoil from that sword strike and the stiffness when the enemy drifted backward, had already branded a clear impression into his mind.

This terrifying existence's strength almost entirely relied on that strange, unpredictable mental power and these lightning-fast tentacle thrusts.

Once the distance was closed, once it entered the field of pure physical combat...

Its methods were extremely scarce.

Its reactions were almost clumsy.

This thought instantly split open the fog of fear and ignited resolute fighting spirit.

Run?

In the face of the enemy's strange speed and the mental impacts that could descend at any time, that was simply a fantasy.

The only path to survival lay within this seemingly most dangerous close range.