CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! Several soldiers and adventurers swung pickaxes at the five-meter-tall boulder blocking the wall’s gate. “Hurry! There are people in need of healing behind it!” the local commander shouted.
“Damn it. We know!” One of the adventurers growled, “This boulder isn’t budging!”
“It survived the dragon’s breath and was blasted all the way here. Don’t expect us to crack it with iron picks!” One of the soldiers threw his pickaxe away. Its tip had flattened from the constant use.
“Wizard!” The commander then glared at the mages in the back.
“Don’t look at us. The boulder is too big, and you’ll need a sixth-level spell slot to move it. And even if we did, we can’t move it that far away.” One of the wizards, a woman replied. She walked forward, extending her staff at the boulder.
“Egg-shaped, and with a meters radius. At least five hundred cubic meters of heavy stone.” She looked at the commander, “One cubic meter of stone weighs almost one thousand and six hundred kilograms. We’re talking about eight hundred thousand kilograms of stones. That isn’t a weight even I can move,”
“The gems you wear are brown. An earth wizard?” The commander gasped.
“That’s right, I’m not joking here,” She walked forward, “I have to do those calculations each time I cast a spell, so I’m confident that I’m close to the real numbers.” She waved her staff, “You either cut the weight by slowly shaving it down, or we find a fire mage and blow it up, but that would probably destroy the wall as well.”
“This thing survived the dragon’s breath,” A fire mage sighed, “There is no way I can blow it up.”
“It survived due to its shape,” The woman replied, “I will create small holes inside it, and you blast your flame inside it. That should at least crack it,”
“Then we can take it down with several blasts,” The fire wizard thought, “But won’t the constant explosions damage the wall?”
“And the houses around it, but there is no way around it.” The woman smiled, “They need to be rebuilt anyway,”
“Hold up! Don’t go blasting anything away!” The commander gasped, “We should wait for the royal decree,”
“You’re the person who said people are dying outside,” The woman stared at him with a smile, “Let us blow it up. Unless you can find another dragon or titan to lift it up. Then we’re your only bet at taking this boulder out today.”
“I will send a request immediately,” The commander sighed, “You wait a bit,”
“How boring,” The woman sighed, but suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder pushing her aside. “Move a bit,” she heard a deep voice beside her.
“Who are…” She turned around, and her face twisted. She instantly recognized the man standing beside her. “The one who beat Five?” She gasped, jumping to the side.
The fire mage backed away as did the others. They still could feel the fight Arad had with five as if it was still happening. “Why is he here?”
The guards on the walls started sweating. They still remember Arad. They saw him fight the dragon and win. They do remember when he punched the dragon’s corpse away at the end.
“The dragon slayer!” One of the guards gasped, and everyone stared at Arad.
“The one who killed the white dragon?” One of them cried.
Arad approached the commander, “Isdis sent me. She said there is a boulder here that I should move outside and block a well with it.”
Hearing his words, the earth wizard instantly felt the fine hair on her body stand, and her breath got heavy. ^Move, not break? He killed the dragon, yes. But does she expect him to carry that thing and block the well with it?^ 𝙚𝙤𝙫𝙚𝒍.𝒐𝙧𝙜
Arad handed Isdis’s order to the commander, “Here is the paper,”
The commander stared at the paper. That was indeed a royal decree signed by Isdis.
“We only need to be able to transport the injured people into the city. As long as that’s possible, there won’t be a need to move the stone.” The commander smiled with a sweating face, “We can fill the well with dirt and stones until we get time to fix it. Albeit it’s a bit too big.”
Arad nodded, “I understand, but I will do as she asked and move the stone to the well.” He started walking toward the boulder.
The soldiers and adventuers ran away, expecting him to start casting a spell.
“Wait, not staff?” The earth wizard gasped, staring at Arad’s back with a puzzled face.
Arad touched the boulder with his hand, staring at it.
BOOM! BOOM! Something exploded beneath Arad, and everyone flinched. Some even jumped back in fear. “What happened?”
Arad looked down, seeing his boots torn apart. Their hard-leather sole exploded.
“What? A magic spell?” Some questioned, confused at what just happened. Only the earth wizard knew. Such a thing was bound to happen.
“What a monster,” She gasped, sweat dripping across her back. ^All the boulder’s weight. He tried to push it, but those boots couldn’t handle the pressure.^
“Aella bought those for me…” Arad looked down with a sad face, “She’s going to eat me over them,” He took the boots off and stored them in his stomach, surprising all the mages who didn’t expect to see storage magic.
“Wait! Is he a physical or a mage class?” They gasped in confusion. Storage magic is hard to learn, and only a rare few wizards managed to pull it off, but certainly none could hide things like Arad. The boots just disappeared.
After hiding his ripped boots, Arad took his shirt off, which was bought by Mira. A tight-fit black long sleeve that was durable enough to not break under normal circumstances. Moving a boulder wasn’t normal, so he had to take it off.
The moment everyone saw Arad’s back, they knew something was off. The man standing before them wasn’t normal. No human had such tight musculature.
Arad touched the boulder once again and took a deep breath. CRACK! It moved.