Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 211: Overload: Courage 1/7

Darian was shouting orders at his men. As his warriors gazed up at the invading army, their faces were marred with brutal conviction.

Astrid expected to see confusion, fear of the unknown, but it seemed that they had experienced this before. Maybe that’s why they ran from their homeland?

Whatever the reason was, Astrid had to help them. Not only because it was her mission to do, but the main reason was because it was partly her fault. Or more accurately, it was the Eye-Queens doing. However, since Astrid was on her mission, the responsibility lay on Astrid’s shoulders.

The attacking Ixtalians, however, were terrified of the sudden appearance of an entire army. First, they scowled at Darian, thinking that he had something to do with it.

But when the invaders turned straight for the castle with killing intent swirling within their eyes, their thoughts quickly changed. And then, they ran. Disappearing into the jungle without looking back for a signal second.

Cowards. You’re next if we all die. Astrid spat, but she couldn’t blame them.

Ignoring the Ixtalians, Astrid prepared herself for war.

Taking a stimulant granted by the crazed psychos, Astrid took a renewed breath from her fight with the construct. Her mana swirled, broiling around her container like fuel to a furnace.

The invaders approached.

They were beastly humanoids, and strangely, they reminded her of the femora that she had battled a while ago. However, it was clear they had stark differences. For one, their arms were much larger than the former. Forearms bulging, with thick legs to match, antennas poking out of their heads, and vaguely human-like faces.

The attacking army reminded her of humanoid ants.

None of them held weapons. Instead, their fingers twitched, ready to attack with nothing but their beastly body. To Astrid, that meant they were either a primitive race, or they simply didn’t need them at all. She knew which one was the worse of the two.

Astrid was about to attack, but what was behind the first layer of attackers caused the fine hairs on the back of her neck to rise. Flesh tingling, she gazed in horror at the monsters scuttling behind the fearsome warriors.

Spiders.

Too many legs, with thick hairs covering them like a spiked torture blanket, and far too many eyes. It was Astrid’s worst nightmare. Not only that, but each of them had two long horns poking out of their head, and their fangs dripped a harrowing liquid.

Dropping to the floor, it sizzled, decaying whatever the vile saliva, or venom, touched until the land was petrified.

For the first time in a long time, Astrid hesitated.

Courage 13/100%

You can do it Astrid. Kill them all. Don’t let them get near!

Raising her mental fortitude, Astrid concluded that the fastest way to get away from them was to annihilate them instead.

Although she hesitated, it was only for a few seconds. Still, she was second to react. Darian had already given the order for his archers to fire upon the army.

High powered arrows blotted the skies with pointed accuracy. Each pointed shaft swished through the air, thrumming with power as they slammed into their target. The long distance mattered little to them.

It was clear the archers were no ordinary warriors. Each one of them were perhaps even stronger than the elite forces of Rebirth.

However, Astrid was confused on one point. They didn’t have a single mage. Not one. For an army, it was unheard of to Astrid.

Although archers were formidable in their own right, and even more terrifying if in a large group, just one single high levelled mage could decimate a large force on their own.

Without a mage, they couldn’t be considered a well rounded army. What would they do if they encountered one? Run into the flames of their cataclysmic magic? It was suicide. Of course, unless Darian was a powerful assassin, or he had an archer capable of firing a lightspeed arrow.

Whatever the reason was for not having a mage, Astrid was happy that she decided to walk the friendly route with them.

She summoned the mana within her container, and let loose.

Instead of using a huge explosion of void energy, Astrid decided to use smaller bullets instead. The more she could create, the better. After all, depending on the defensive abilities of the ant-like invaders, such a large attack that drained her mana wasn’t needed.

Astrid controlled the bullets, shaving them down until they were nought but small sharp needles. With her current control, there was no need to create them in the palm of her hand. Rather, she was moulding them above her head, above her shoulders, and to each side of her body.

She could feel the mana rapidly drain, but if she didn’t do at least this much, they would be quickly overrun. By spiders.

Shivering, Astrid blasted the void needles forward. Hundreds of creations pierced the air, turning the once blue sky into a hazy purple.

The invaders seemed to realise the danger they were in, but there was nothing they could do apart from crossing their arms in front of their bodies.

The ants at the front weren’t capable of putting up much resistance. Purple needles bore through their arms, and continued into whoever, or whatever, was standing behind them. Like death itself, they reaped the lives of her enemies.

All of this was done with a grin on her face. Of course, it was hidden by the mask on her face, but it simply transferred to the material of Avemoths gift. The white grin stretched from one ear, to the other in satisfaction at the destruction she caused.

However, her lips twitched as the first, and second line of ants fell, and the third took their mantle. They were larger than those at the front. Not only that, sharpened natural blades had formed from their pinky finger, and stretched all the way up their forearms.

Astrid could only imagine what a punch from them could do. Not only would it cave in bone, the blade would slice flesh apart like a butcher's knife. She made a mental note not to be struck by one of them.

Darian gazed at Astrid with difficult to understand emotions. They were… sad? Shocked?

It all began when she had used her void magic. Maybe it was a rarity in these parts? But both of them ignored that fact, and instead focused on the enemy in front of them.

Without a doubt, it was going to be a difficult fight.

Not only were they sending their weakest forces first to drain Astrid’s mana, but those behind were far stronger. Let alone the fact that Astrid hadn’t even spotted a single entity that could be considered a general of their army.

And every army had one.

Why didn’t it show itself? Was it perhaps a strategist? Astrid shook that thought from her mind. The humanoid ants had no strategy. It was clear they were taking orders from something, but what from, Astrid couldn’t see.

Despite the situation they were in, the thought of losing didn’t enter Astrid’s mind for a single second. Just like her family had always taught her, she stood her ground, and fought.

All of this happened in seconds and they were fast approaching, flying with their thin wings toward them at crazy speed.

Darian’s army couldn’t even make use of the tall wall they had created within the castle as they could simply just fly over. However, Darian stood there, calm as a ship in gentle water.

Did he have something up his sleeve?

In the next second, Astrid was made aware that he indeed did have something hidden. And it caused Astrid’s lips to twitch in shock.

Darian stood at the forefront of his warriors. There was no wind blowing in the jungle, yet his clothes, and hair, were being blown as if he was in the centre of a typhoon.

Astrid could feel the energy in his surroundings churn violently. At first, she thought it was mana, but it wasn’t. It was unlike anything she had seen before. Checking the Lord’s mana container, she was met with surprise.

He didn’t have one.

Yet there was still a violent power coming from within his body. Whatever it was, was incredibly powerful.

Darian brandished his longsword. The blade had hundreds of lines running through it. They had no order to them. Like waves crashing against rocks, the lines reminded her of the water bouncing back into the ocean like a riptide.

The guard of the longsword was four inches on either side, and instead of just a bar of metal like the swords Astrid was used to, they were moulded into lions. And the pommel that was the final ornament to the blade was an ice blue sapphire. A liquid sloshed within the gem, moving under the surface.

Like all magic, there had to be an element tied to it. That was why Astrid thought that the gem belonged to the water element.

But just like his formless energy, it was evident that it had the same properties that he himself had.

Darian stood in a powerful stance with his longsword pointed behind him to the floor. He was readying himself for a slash, but he was waiting for an opportune moment to strike. His eyes glistened, and radiated a vivid ice-blue light.

The army of ants and spiders were only fifteen metres away.

Astrid used a lot of her mana, blasting them into pieces, or tearing them apart with bullets. Or better, tearing their eyes from their sockets. With her current boosts to eyeball pulling, it was possibly her strongest attack.

Darian’s men were calm as they held back their attacks. Astrid thought they had something wrong with them, but in the next moment, Darian moved.

He slashed his sword.

A blinding light left his blade and swept through the surrounding terrain like a scalpel through flesh. Whether it was hardened carapace, bone, or the iron-like jungle trees, nothing could withstand the might of that one blade.

It wasn’t mana. Nor was it energy like Astrid’s void skills.

It was something else entirely. Astrid wanted to find out.

The blade of light had severed hundreds of humanoid ants and spiders all at once. It swept through them like an apocalyptic scythe, revealing the backmost warriors.

Surprisingly, they were smaller than the vanguard, but their bodies were no less impressive. With compacted muscle, they bolted forward, moving a speed Astrid couldn’t fathom.

However, just as Astrid was ready to create a hundred illusions to battle their strongest, another energy shot toward them.

This time, it was an energy she was familiar with.

Many were going to die.