I was a Nerfed Hero in Another World

I held my ground and raised Clarent in my hands, hoping that I could stop it. But god knows that I would not withstand the blast… I could only limit the area of damage this spell would create.

If I had to sacrifice myself for the sake of others, I would gladly do so. But I also wanted to survive this blast, since I needed to protect the villagers from this tyrant king. And I could not do that if I'm already dead!

However, that thought seemed unnecessary, considering that a mercenary showed up in front of me. A blast painted with emerald light basked me from the side, with the plants growing underground. Those vines covered my entire body, wrapping me with everything it had.

A voice of a man shouted in the distance, saying "Overgrowth". After hearing those words, the plants turned into reanimated forms controlled by this person. After a few seconds, the dark energy launched itself. But thanks to the plants, that obsidian energy never hit the people behind me or me.

"It's a good thing I made it on time. Arthur, how're you holding up?" the person who saved me said, as he walked in my direction.

That man had an armour made of emerald and mossy stones. He also enhanced those rocks on his vest, making it more durable against spells and physical attacks. I almost felt envious if it were not for my Clarent.

As long as I had this sword, I could become the strongest again.

"Aren't you mad at me…. at us for killing your leaders? I know this is not the right time for us to talk about it, but…"

"I am, and will remain mad about it," the mercenary interposed, without staring at my figure. "But we're protecting the townspeople right now. They come first before our fight. And besides, we cannot return to the way things were before…. Let's just focus on fighting against this king."

"Agreed"

After concluding our talk, I picked myself from the ground and joined this man for this fight. Luckily for me, I still had remaining strength left inside me, with the enhancement kicking in from my Clarent. As long as my goal here would remain to protect the injured people, Clarent could provide me with the power I needed.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name. And it seems everyone knows me already. But I'm Arthur. Nice to meet you," I exclaimed in the middle of our fight.

"You can call me Green Knight... or Green…. because I'm green," the mercenary replied, while hiding his laughter.

After our exchange, the king impatiently fired another set of shadow balls in our direction. Two spheres emerged from his magic circle, zooming in at us at full speed.

"You take the one on the right, and I'll take the one on the left," I instructed, while launching myself from the ground.

Green did the same as he dashed sideways and summoned his plant once more to control the darkened sphere. He covered the ball using his plants and ate the entire thing in one bite! Within a few seconds, the ball disappeared, leaving a blast that vibrated the ground. It also almost killed the plant if it were not for Green amplifying his magic to those viridescent leaves.

I used my extreme speed and blocked the shadow ball coming hot in my direction. Since my Clarent gave me this strength, I used its full potential and swung the ball back to the king. There was no way this attack would kill them, considering that the king sent this spell to us. But I considered that thought as well. So I angled the ball slightly at the side, hoping nobody could get hurt.

This power was not the full potential of Clarent. Since I used my main account before, the raw damage of my sword could disappear every spell in our surroundings. And if I disliked that idea, I could always absorb the energy and claim it as my own. But since I was only tapping the edge of my arcane, I could only do this much as my counterattack.

"Thank me for being a nerfed hero in another world! Or else you'd have been pulverised within seconds!" I shouted, as the darkened energy hit the king.

It was what I had presumed. The king used a dark barrier to obstruct the spell he sent to me. It took the skills five seconds before it exploded, creating a blast powerful enough to blow the walls away. That king protected all of his soldiers, except the villagers and the two of us. I did not have any protective magic ability besides the physical healing I had as a knight.

But before everything fell into pieces, a shimmering light emerged behind me, covering everything in our surroundings. That luminance protected us from the devastating blast of the shadow sphere, protecting everything behind it.

As the beam ended, arcane scattered around us, filling the air with a strong sense of mana. Upon shifting my view to the side, Merleen's figure welcomed my eyes, with her arms shakingly raised in front of her.

After her ultimate push, Merleen finally lost consciousness and fell to the floor. But I arrived on time to catch her falling body and gave her to Galehaut.

"Merleen needs a bed right now!"

Galehaut and his family heeded my instructions and sprinted back to the shelter. They made Merleen their utmost priority, considering that Merleen was still a mage that could fight with us. We needed more hands against the king if we wanted to win.

"I can't believe you defended that," the king exclaimed, as he raised his arms once again. "Too bad I could conjure more spheres than those I sent earlier."

As soon as the king announced that, he absorbed the life force of his elite guards for his own. After a few seconds, those elite guards turned old and rotted before our eyes.

According to my system, the dark matter had a spell that could convert life force into arcane. That life force would multiply anyone's mana five times for a short time. And when that would happen, every spell that ruler would throw at us would annihilate everything in his surroundings, including his beloved castle.

But I doubted he would do such a thing, considering how much he loved himself. That narcissistic guy would have prepared a shield to block his own attacks.

This boss also did not give a damn about us. Usually, the final boss fight would give us a chance before revealing their trump card. But this king had an original plan compared to what I had in mind.

That tyrant king orchestrated these to kill us before we could even react! And since he already exhausted our mana and energy, fighting the king while protecting the shelter became a chore.

But that was not the end of our line. Right before the king could summon those spheres, seven figures emerged on the sides. They went in and stopped the crown from moving his hands, ruining the spell he tried to conjure. After a few seconds, those seven members successfully stopped the king from casting a spell.

However, that action caused a disturbance surrounding them, forcing those seven warriors to get blasted away by an invisible force. That blast broke free the barrier those mages conjured, considering how powerful the dark matter could exhibit.

"GUYS! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" Green shouted.

But despite screaming for his teammates, Green maintained his eye contact with the king.

"Damn it, that fucking ruler! How can we penetrate that dark energy from the king!" cursed Green, as he clipped his bastard sword tighter than he could ever have. "We need to stop the king before he could even do something again. Arthur, any bright ideas? You're the warrior here. Have you thought of a plan?"

When Green asked me, I already processed a search for any weaknesses against the dark matter. My system analysed everything it saw from me and turned it into raw data.

After a few seconds, my system finally gave me an answer.

[Dark/Shadow spells can only be countered using dark/shadow spells!]

It was just what I had expected. The weakness of dark energy was dark energy itself!

However, despite knowing this information, none of us knew about dark energy. Merleen would be the only candidate to stop this monster from wreaking havoc against these villagers. But because of her physical strain, Merleen could not use her magic.

She was our fighting chance against this tyrant king. Without Merleen, we cannot deal any damage to this monster, not even my Clarent.

"We need dark energy to stop that dark energy," I explained to Green. "But right now, Merleen's our only bet."

"But she's currently resting… Fuck!" Green cursed once again, while stomping his foot on the ground. "Is there anyone capable of learning it? We have eight members in our mercenary guild. We have a thief that could steal arcane…. A ranger that could wield a bow. And me, a plant enthusiast. Can't we form something, Arthur?"