Chapter 121 - I Am The Breaker
Half an hour before the Calamity Spider was expected to reach Blacksilk, Zas and Li teleported to Arthur's location near the hill. It was easy to find the mecha after Ivy sent them their locations.
"Foolproof plan!" Zas lamented sarcastically when the group met. His appearance was more haggard than usual. "I've had to fool them into stopping the chase by sacrificing blood and breaking bones!"
"You did good, shut up to keep our good impression of you. Furthermore, we wouldn't have been caught anyway. You've seen his piloting." Ivy shrugged and pointed with her thumb toward Arthur, who was sitting behind her still holding his dagger. Zas couldn't refute that and Li gave Arthur a thumbs up.
"So, now we need to wait." Zas sat on a patch of grass and Li leaned on a tree and the group waited. The two didn't ask Arthur about how he was able to unlock the mecha, and their silence was much appreciated.
The minutes ticked by as Arthur closed his eyes and concentrated. Master Ronin said that the connection was there, he just needed a key and a command. He felt slight shaking in the ground that made him open his eyes.
"It's here." Ivy stared grimly toward the horizon where they could see the tip of the Calamity Spider. Without saying anything, the group entered the mecha with Arthur taking the pilot chair.
The group took their seats and the mecha's door closed as Arthur placed his head on the virtual reality headrest. The view changed and he looked from the mecha's eyes now, using the sensory devices to listen and see. With a simple command, the zooming function activated allowing Arthur to see the Calamity Spider.
The runes were already activating. After another minute, the walking destruction machine was already in a shooting range. Before the soldiers could do anything, pillars of fire already attacked the castle.
Arthur wasn't a target by himself, as he doubted the Ender or Prince Alfred would be able to see him. However, the pillars of fire were still a threat as they destroyed everything in his path.
He jumped and high-pressure air started propelling him upward, coming out from a set of vents on the mecha's calves. Using a tree's branch to jump again, Arthur was moments away from being engulfed by fire.
The trees were burnt to crisps as chaos ensued amid the soldiers and the army. Arthur was already close to the Calamity Spider when the other mechas and Vetus-rankers started attacking it, dealing damage of their own.
It was then that the Calamity Spider stopped and revealed the hexagram runic circle. Then, a tsunami appeared.
"Holy…" Ivy stared with a daze as she witnessed the great show of power. "Arthur, turn back and run away!"
"No, I'll teleport us to a place near the calamity spider." Zas unbuckled his seatbelt to start using his ability.
"Don't be crazy. You can't possibly teleport the mecha as well." Ivy looked at him with shock. However, Zas simply shrugged.
"I can try, even if it means expanding all of my mana." Zas knew that teleporting a single artifact with genuine runes was difficult and needed more mana. As for teleporting a mecha? It was so mana-draining that not even the kingdom used this method to transport them. However, they needed the mecha if they wished to get close to the Calamity Spider without expanding their mana. After all, the outside was the spider's playfield.
"Who can pilot the mecha?" Arthur interrupted their quarrel as he stopped the mecha on top of a hill. "Quickly!" He shouted when the group had no answer. Zas then came forward and sat in Arthur's seat.
"What are you going to do?" Ivy asked when Arthur opened the cabinet's door.
"I asked you to trust me, and you guys did. Now it's the time I prove your trust was well-placed." Arthur looked at her with a stoic expression before leaving the mecha and jumping on top of its head.
He took out his dagger that was fully golden and engraved with drawings he didn't know what they mean. However, the dagger didn't have the power to stop the tsunami or the Calamity Spider. The dagger was merely the key.
'Insignias are the rewards for completing the first trial of the holy crown.' Master Ronin said. 'There are many different kinds of insignias, but they all share a similar function. They aid their owner in gaining the holy crown. They're a fraction of the crown's power, given to those who had been acknowledged by the crown.'
'There's not a single way to use it. Some people can use it by saying a phrase, like the healers or the Saints. Others would require an item or a weapon. It's all different, but it should be obvious. What did you do when you gained the insignia? That's your answer.'
Arthur looked at his dagger and raised it high to the sky. This was how he ended the trial. He didn't know what type of powers he was given by the insignia, but his legacy wouldn't show it if he couldn't use it yet.
'However, the crown is a powerful artifact. Don't use it unless necessary, as insignias use the soul as a medium.'
Master Ronin told him and this was the time to use it. As Arthur faced the high-towering tsunami coming his way, his heart was beating with nervousness. He took a deep breath.
'I am the outsider.' His eyes shone golden light. 'I am the inheritor of the scholar guardian, walking the path of creation.' His dagger was pointed toward the skies defyingly. 'I shall also break everything in my path for I am the breaker.' The sky rumbled.
[Insignia has been used.] Words shone brightly in front of him.
"Break!" Arthur roared as a pillar of black descended on his body like lightning. His body was filled with unimaginable power that was far from being mana. This was a part of the source of all creation, an authority he was given.
His arm felt heavy as if he was holding a blade piercing the skies. He felt his very being shake as he slashed with his right arm toward the tsunami that was rolling furiously in his way. The giant black blade descended and cut apart the tsunami before leaving a giant gash on the calamity spider.
The defensive runes that protected the spider were cut apart as if they were paper. The runes that held the metal together fell apart. The water ceased pouring out as the wave was split in half, starting to die down as it swept through the forest.
Arthur's mind buzzed as he felt mentally exhausted. He lost his footing and fell off the mecha before its giant arm held him in place. Without saying anything, the mecha placed him next to the cabinet's door before Ivy pulled him in.
"Go! Before the water rejoins!" Arthur shouted hoarsely toward Zas who operated the mecha clumsily but still functionally to start running. Luckily, there were some remains of Arthur's slash that allowed them to slip through before the wave rejoined and continued, although it started dying down without any runes supplying it.
"Heavens, Arthur…" Ivy threw him over the bench and fastened the seatbelt in place before sitting next to him. "What you did…"
"We'll talk about that later. We still have a prince to take down." Arthur was breathing heavily, but he was slowly recovering. The strain wasn't anything physical but it felt like his mind was tired.
Ivy nodded but still looked at him with a complex look. He knew that what he did was not something he should be able to do, but he needed to complete his legacy quest. This was his plan all along. To use the breaker's power to get into the calamity spider.
The only regretful thing is that the outer runes of the calamity spider were now partially ruined. However, he could tend to them after he kills the prince and the Ender, even though he didn't know if the latter was killable.
Zas seemed to be barely able to operate the mecha but he still got them near the Calamity Spider. Now that they were so near, the prince, who was controlling it, was sure to focus its attacks on them after the earlier show of power.
Arthur took the seat again instead of Zas since the runes haven't activated yet. Even though he was tired, there was no helping it since he was the most skillful to drive the mecha.
Ice spears started raining down, but Arthur evaded them using the mecha's abilities. This was the reason mechas were so expensive and so appreciated. It allowed skillful but weak pilots to exhibit higher strength by controlling the mecha.
Even though Arthur was skillful, he lacked combat experience. Thus, the mecha was hit several times by wind blades that he didn't notice in time. However, he was able to climb the spider's leg to reach the large gap in its defenses left behind by his insignia.