Chapter 38: The Stormcaller

The Stormcaller.
This monster, born from the erosion of the Fragmentum, was once known as the Void Ranger: Trampler. It was a creation of the Antimatter Legion, forged in the war furnaces by combining the remnants of warriors and ancient beasts.

Though relatively rare, it possessed the intelligence of a warrior and the strength and mobility of an ancient beast. Its piercing cries could summon hordes of Void Rangers.
During the thirty-year defense of Belobog, it was one of the enemy's key siege forces. More importantly, after its core power was corrupted by Fragmentum energy and mutated into its current form, its combat capabilities increased rather than diminished.

With its newfound mastery over the wind, its attacks became more ferocious and agile.
Frankly, even before the battle began, Seele didn’t believe she could easily defeat it. No matter how confident she was in herself, she had to accept objective reality—otherwise, it would be foolish arrogance.

Her usual attacks would hardly be effective against such an enemy. She needed time to build up her power and enter an enhanced state to deliver a decisive blow.
However, this was just her assumption before the battle. Once the fight began, she was surprised to find—

The battle wasn’t as difficult as she had imagined. Aside from the young lady from the upper district enhancing her with the power of Harmony, making her movements faster and her strength greater, even the bard had revealed his own power.

“Let’s play together.”
The bard gently strummed his bowstring, calling upon the wind that harmonized with poetry and music. The winds, previously restrained by the enemy, suddenly rebelled, forming a wind barrier under his feet that hindered the Stormcaller’s movements. A fierce gale swept toward the Stormcaller, which was still drawing its bow.

To Seele’s astonishment, the monster, which should have been impossible to move by human strength, was lifted into the air by the wind field.
The discomfort of having its limbs off the ground caused it to let out a sharp cry. Perhaps encountering such a situation for the first time, the enemy instinctively leaned back, trying to fire its arrow prematurely, but in doing so, it exposed its vulnerable abdomen.

Seele, though surprised, didn’t stop moving. Her figure, darting in and out of quantum space, left only faint ripples in reality.
Then, from the boundary between reality and illusion, her scythe emerged, delivering a precise “gut-wrenching” strike.

The initial attack was highly effective, greatly boosting Seele’s confidence. Her scythe glowed with a dark purple light as it returned to her hand.
The Stormcaller, after a moment of severe injury, quickly adjusted its posture, gathering its strength and using its excellent airflow adaptability to “break free” from the invisible wind’s grasp.

As it landed, it immediately sprang into action. The stone bricks beneath its hooves shattered, forcing Seele to retreat to avoid the flying debris.
Having pushed back Seele, the Stormcaller then charged like a warhorse. Though it was alone, its momentum grew with each step, creating the oppressive feeling of a thousand-strong cavalry charge.

The intense battle spirit and wildness born from the fusion of warrior and ancient beast, combined with the omnipresent wind, locked onto Venti from afar.
Clearly, the Stormcaller had identified the bard as the source of its earlier injury.

If an ordinary person were targeted like this, they would surely be terrified. Even Bronya, who was innocently caught in the crossfire, felt significant pressure.
She knew that against such a charge, the best option was either to prevent the enemy from gaining momentum or to stop it before it fully built up speed.
Otherwise, even if they could withstand the impact, the recoil would cause considerable damage.

But none of them were shield-bearers. If they were hit head-on, they might not die, but they would certainly lose their ability to fight!

They had to adjust their strategy immediately!
As Bronya performed evasive maneuvers, she noticed Venti still standing in place.
It was as if he hadn’t noticed the enemy’s overwhelming charge. He was even drawing his bow, taking aim.

This made Seele, who was too far to return and defend, shout in panic, “Venti, stop aiming and dodge!”
Even Bronya, who knew Venti wasn’t weak, was sweating bullets for him.

But on the battlefield, words couldn’t travel faster than the wind. However, contrary to Seele’s expectation of Venti being sent flying, his arrows struck first.
The three glowing green arrows traced elegant arcs through the air. The first hit the Stormcaller’s head as it reared up in excitement, the second struck its chest, and the third grazed its hastily raised leg shield, hitting its hind hoof.

Logically, wind-element arrows shouldn’t have any effect on it. The Stormcaller had considerable resistance to wind elements, so it didn’t even bother to dodge.
After all, using such attacks against it was like throwing an egg at a stone. But the reality was quite different—

Facing the enemy’s attack, the Stormcaller’s body seemed to lose the favor of the wind. Not only did its charge come to a halt, but the swiftness it gained from riding the wind also vanished.
In the Stormcaller’s perception, it felt as if it had become a slow, frame-by-frame old film projector.

Moreover, the wind elements it usually commanded now seemed to work against it, dragging it down rather than aiding it.
It realized that the arrows, infused with the power of a thousand winds, had begun to assimilate its own wind field upon impact, initiating a continuous weathering effect.

The Stormcaller’s remaining rationality crumbled as it struggled to comprehend this. But even more unbelievable things were yet to come!
The wind direction was constantly shifting—

The wind-element crystals that made up its body were being extracted and, under the bard’s control, joyfully singing a song unique to the wind as they flowed toward him.
How was this possible?!
The Stormcaller couldn’t fathom such an absurdity.

To put it in human terms, it was like someone stuffing a Stellaron into their body and being completely fine.
Though its rank was certainly lower than a Stellaron, the Fragmentum’s erosion was indeed a manifestation of Stellaron power. To separate and repurpose such power—
Could he be an Emanator? No, even an Emanator might not be capable of such a ridiculous feat!
And if he were, why would an Emanator stoop to staying on such a small, fragile planet?

The Stormcaller’s chaotic thoughts were unknown to others. Even Venti was surprised by the improvement in his control over his authority.
If before he had simply used wind elements and hurled them at the enemy, relying on brute force, now he was using the wind’s properties to perform precise actions.

For example, using the wind to play a piano with falling chalk—
The convergence of elements naturally brought about changes in natural phenomena. In the past, Barbatos could perform the grand symphony of the thousand-year flowing wind thanks to this authority.
Now, Venti was merely warming up, yet he felt as if he had touched a new realm.

His braid took on a faint emerald hue, and his robes swayed as the wind cheered. His body was gently lifted by the omnipresent wind field, and the hunting bow in his hand transformed back into his lyre.
Suppressing the urge to play a melody commanding the thousand winds, he instead lightly strummed the strings, creating a wind wall in an instant.

The Stormcaller, having lost its control over the wind, crashed into the wall in a pitiful state. Upon contact, it was shredded like a document thrown into a shredder.
The harsh crunching sound spread from the point of contact. Its heavily weathered body couldn’t even resist as half of it was completely consumed by the wind wall.

The dispersed winds quickly filled the street, as if breathing life back into the dead city, making it “come alive” once more.
What happened in those few moments left Seele, who had been extremely worried, wondering if she was dreaming.
Was the bard really not the weakest among them…?

Memories of underestimating his strength flooded her mind, making her blush with embarrassment at her past remarks.
Only Bronya, who had already known of his considerable strength, finally relaxed, her gaze growing even more intense.

Yes, Venti, with this power, was the turning point and hope for changing Belobog’s desperate situation!
But how to ensure this power was used in the right direction was another question.
She certainly didn’t want to control Venti or use him for her own purposes, nor was she worried he would use this power to build another tyrant’s kingdom.

But if they kept seeking his help without offering anything in return, wouldn’t he eventually grow tired of them?
Bronya found herself hesitating over how to repay him.

T/N:  Simple, Booze.