Overpowered Wizard

Chapter 200: B2: C100: Grimrock Eradication

Back when Zarian was in the Marines, he’d taken every opportunity to consume as much anime and fantasy as possible.

Prior to that, the foster care homes he bounced between had been a crap shoot in how lucky he could get. He’d faced different styles of abusive foster parents, from insanely religious fanatics to the downright criminal drug dealers.

He hadn’t gotten comfortable as a kid growing up because he was under a lot of pressure to survive with his only support coming from Ariana. He hadn’t gotten to nerd out as much during his foster care times.

So, despite having gotten kicked out of the Marines because they thought he was being insubordinate for not letting them haze him – he’d been through enough hazing before the Marines, so no thanks – he still appreciated some aspects of the Marines.

He’d appreciated Naomi for being a stellar recruiter. He’d appreciated getting to eat as much as he wanted and viewing his favorite media to where he even knew obscure and niche things from times long past.

“I think Bianca’s becoming a Digimon,” Zarian said on the spider network.

“Do you actually know what a Digimon is?” Hannah asked.

“I may not be an engineer, but my nerd status is top-notch,” Zarian replied.

“What’s a Digimon?” Gilbert asked, for himself and Naomi.

Hannah took the time to explain while casually shooting aberrations and calling down some more artillery strikes. The fight with the aberrations slowed down considerably, enabling everyone to split their attention more.

Zarian felt multiple viewers were looking through his eyes as the paladin leaders faced one mad Latina with a legendary spotlight and a bodily shift into something otherworldly.

On the side of the paladins, Prime Archbishop Orin Ignatius was the fiery and crusading heart of his regime. Zarian had read some reports from the Hemlocks about Orin being an old, zealous, hardcore man. He’d clawed power free from the last regime in a bloody coup ten years ago when the paladins were weaker.

He had the strict belief that the paladins should spread dominion across all the Walled Continent. He wanted all of humanity to serve the will of the Good Gods and the Ascended Heavens under strict, dogmatic doctrines.

Orin’s Battle Bishops were all yes men, but they were well-trained yes men with epic classes in the high Level 80s or low Level 90s. The Prime Archbishop himself was Level 101 and a Master Ranker.

Now, that might not seem like much of an issue.

The Floridians could fight above their weight and beat Master Rankers and overcome numerical disadvantages. So, there wouldn’t have been much concern if it wasn’t for how the Battle Bishops felt like they were good +3 while Orin was most likely good +4.

If their high goodness wasn’t problem enough, all the Battle Bishops had god-given boons woven into their heavy silver armor and the poleaxes they wielded.

Orin’s heavy gold armor and legendary greatsword shone the brightest. It had a combination of boons that felt familiar to Zarian.

Lovewar and Purehome? Zarian realized with some shock.

Lovewar’s boon being involved surprised him. He had to remember the Good Goddess still stood in opposition to the Evil Goddess despite their weird but friendly relationship.

Lovewar and Shadowfell were bound to have followers and pawns from their camps of good and evil come to head and clash with each other.

Zarian also had to recognize he and his friends were the few humans who knew the truth behind the game the gods played. They were the few who knew how the game had come from times long before the Reset Era.

Back when the Star System was called the Alignment System.

Despite Orin being seasoned and powerful for his position, he was just another piece on the board.

Then again, he’s so fanatic he might’ve already seen the truth and threw that aside in favor of being a tool for the gods.

Knowing this, Zarian had to admit he was glad Gilbert was so ridiculously stubborn with his Christianity. The big man’s beliefs looped around to keeping him safe from becoming a zealot in the Infinita Star System.

Zarian was also glad that despite the heavy advantages Orin and his bishops had with their gods and their high goodness on their side, Bianca still found a way to one-up them under a towering spotlight that followed her everywhere.

All fifty feet of her transformed body came swooping down on Orin’s regime. She struck as a spiraling dervish of shining swords, amber feathers, ivory talons, and six long tanned arms blown up to giant proportions like the rest of her.

“No, wait, she’s more like a Digimon inside a Dark Souls game,” Zarian said, seeing how Bianca moved to incorporate her size.

He also enjoyed her trash talk.

“YOUR UGLINESS IS DEEPER THAN SKIN, AND YOU ALREADY NEED A SKIN CARE ROUTINE!”

Bianca’s voice reached every nook and cranny in the basin, drowning out the artillery fire while resounding across the mountain range. Her voice was so voluminous, it snuffed out the roaring and shouting from the bishops as Bianca rampaged.

Her taloned feet trampled and ripped into a few men caught under her. While she crouched down amid the bishops, she swept into a flurry of spiraling strikes, all six of her radiant swords carving and slashing, adding to her giant dance.

It was because of the legendary spotlight shining down on her that Bianca could arm herself with powerful sabers of light. She could also fire powerful laser beams, too. And as the cherry on top, the spotlight buffed her already high Wonder stat even higher.

Her transformation made her a giant and bestial version of herself, which was an angel-like monster with a blinding light beaming from her face, making it impossible for anyone to see her true visage.

Despite the many changes, Bianca’s giant beast of a body still carried itself with the glamor and beauty of the woman it was based on. That made the big female monster aspect kind of scandalous.

She was completely naked while crushing and slashing down crusaders.

Thankfully, more blinding light beamed from the sensitive areas just like her face. Any untoward onlookers who tried to take a direct peek at places where they shouldn’t couldn’t see anything.

I hope Ariana’s not watching this after Bianca helped me scold her, Zarian thought, letting himself become a passive observer.

The fight was sordid, violent, and fairly badass. The paladins didn’t keel over and die easily.

Strangely enough, Zarian could appreciate the paladins showing some high vitality and toughness. Because it made the fight more interesting.

The bishops who’d ended up trampled or slashed by Bianca’s taloned feet didn’t die instantly. The bishops who took a strike from Bianca’s radiant swords blocked with their poleaxes and remained alive.

Many, however, had the misfortune of getting sent flying from one sword slash or kick from giant Bianca. The airborne paladins skipped across the waterlogged and uneven rock field, bouncing like skipping stones.

But even these paladins remained alive when they came to a stop.

Others dodged around her steps and radiant sword swings. Then they lunged to strike at her with their supercharged poleaxe swings.

In Orin’s case, the Prime Archbishop unleashed a white hot and divine flame strike from his greatsword and the boons of two Good Goddesses.

The remaining Battle Bishops pounced.

They hacked and cut at Bianca’s feet and calves. Some jumped high into the air daringly. The ones who went airborne struck at Bianca’s upper legs. A few went even higher. The highest risers dared to strike at her chest and face.

And they succeeded.

They landed hits that would’ve knocked down castle walls or cut giant monsters in half. Bianca soaked loads of damage that would’ve killed most adventurers many times over.

A plethora of cuts covered her. Some light. Some heavy. From these wounds, blood poured in thick red streams down her fifty-foot body.

Zarian watched this and thought to himself, I guess that’s that.

Bianca had won.

The paladins didn’t know it yet.

Even though Bianca couldn’t muster all the power from her free good +6, she didn’t need to. She still had more impressive advantages.

Using two legendary scrolls to transform and enhance gave her a big edge, but none of that would work without a powerful profile.

Bianca had aspects that only came to light when something or someone pushed her hard. Then her epic Overcomer trait kicked in, enhancing Bianca when she faced a difficult challenge.

An overconfident bishop soared through the air at Bianca’s eye level. He held his poleaxe high for a hard downward strike aimed for the middle of her face.

Bianca turned to the flying bishop. With no warning, she released a beam of pure and utter eradication from her entire face and erased the man.

Then Bianca flapped her wings and launched into the air. She entered a hover as the legendary spotlight seemed to shine on her even brighter.

She dismissed her radiant swords and pointed all six hands down at her enemies. After a quick charge time, she shot down a volley of eradication beams and wiped out three bishops while the others dodged.

Bianca charged up six more beams from her hands, and six more beams that hovered around her body, and shot down another volley of pure and utter eradication. She killed all but the Prime Archbishop and one of his followers.

“How can this be?!” shouted the last Battle Bishop. “We have the power of the Good Gods and the Ascended Heavens on our side! But we are dying, brother!”

“Then let our deaths serve the will of the Good Gods and Ascended Heavens!” Orin roared. “Let our sacrifice be known all across the universe, so one day the faithful servants of good will triumph over evil and seal the Dark Lord forever!”

Bianca paused her next attack volley. She remained hovering over the air as she examined Orin and his last major follower.

Then, in a voice that was lower in volume but still powerful, she said, “I can’t let you do that to Zarian. He sacrificed himself to save me. I’m here because he continues to care for me. I can’t let you have your way with someone who’s like familia to me.”

Bianca’s free good +6 peeked out.

Zarian turned away at the last second. Para formed a leathery shield over him and used Dark Affinity to coat him in darkness.

He could still feel the blinding light of Bianca going supernova outside. While she directed it elsewhere, her light and alignment were still unnerving.

Once it was over, Para peeled away the leather shield from over him. Zarian opened his own eyes and saw where Bianca had last struck.

A melted cut in the basin floor extended from beneath Bianca and all the way past the paladin camp and further beyond. Her attack had slashed through the slope and continued further into the mountains.

The cut was deep enough to be a ravine, its bottom filled with pooling slag. And laying a few feet to the side of the cut, beneath Bianca’s hovering form, Orin barely remained alive with his golden armor melted and fused with his flesh.

His last bishop had fallen to eradication.

“I don’t feel like killing you anymore,” Bianca said. “I think I want to talk to my family myself instead of having Shadowfell pass messages between us. I know this may look bad in the eyes of an Evil Goddess, but the assassination is being done for the wrong reasons. So I’m not going to do it anymore. You may live now.”

With that, Bianca flapped her wings and turned away from Orin.

Zarian didn’t know what to make of this, at least at first. After some thought, he could almost see some logic to Bianca’s madness.

This actually might throw a wrench into whatever nefarious plans his wife had concocted in the event of Orin’s death.

Thinking even further, Zarian’s free evil +4 and Unraveled Mind concluded that the Stalwart Paladin Kingdom would end up crippled without the experience of the one hundred epic and old bishops. But the kingdom wouldn’t fall apart completely and become easy prey, since Orin remained alive.

This ... actually works out. The kingdom will be too weak to be a threat to Ride-or-Die Village. But it won’t be so weak that evil forces can sweep in, corrupt, and make it a bigger problem in the future.

Zarian ended his spell, removing the quagmire blockade and letting the paladins run out to collect their defeated leader.

Once it looked like the paladins were retreating, Zarian turned more of his attention toward the aberration wave and saw that it was mostly over.

Thousands of corrupted corpses and roaring magic napalm flames covered the way between the Floridians and Castle Grimrock. The artillery bombardment was a resounding success.

Though, that might come with some sacrifice in experience. The ease and impersonal nature of earning the victory via artillery would deduct from their leveling gains.

Zarian didn’t mind that.

Hannah’s potential would grow even scarier going forward. It would be too unfair to the Star System to reward major experience to battles won by artillery or advanced magitek.

Still, as long as the experience earned wasn’t zero, the gains would be significant enough.

Turning back to Bianca, Zarian saw her legendary spotlight dimming away. Her bestial transformation would last for a while until she rested, then she would return to human again.

For now, she remained as a fifty-foot tall, celestial-like creature with shining lights covering her face and sensitive parts.

She came to a hovering stop next to him. Her shining face was on level with his body.

As quietly as she could, which still came out booming, she said, “I didn’t finish the job.”

“Not all jobs are worth finishing,” Zarian said. “Now, come on, Angewomon. We’re going to raid the castle of an evil warlock and bust our friend free.”

Bianca roared. “BUENO!”