by L Travern
Everything happened in a few instants. Sara's Wind Blades reached the Eminences and did some superficial damage. This enraged the beasts. One of them opened its mouth, showing its three rows of teeth, and shot multiple balls of dark fire at the fog that was Sara. The other jumped to the side and barked, releasing a sonic wave that pushed Sara's fog almost ten meters back. While being pushed, Sara's human form appeared for a moment, showing a bloodied nose and ears.
She didn't stop though and kept attacking.
Matthew was satisfied with the results. Even in her narrow mindedness, Sara had shown better judgment than Mark. Helina had been the one to shine the brighter, and he decided to see just how good she was.
"Helina, get rid of these vermin," he ordered.
Chapter 40 - Fly, You Fools
Chapter 40 - Fly, You Fools
Helina's face twisted in unhappiness for being bossed around, but she obeyed. She chained mana into her orb. It shot hundreds of ice shards, small enough to look like bullets and rotating on top of their pointed tip for better penetration power, attacking all wolves but the Eminences.
It was a massacre. The wolves failed to dodge, and even those who shot fire at the ice bullets didn't manage to melt it. The ice hit them like real bullets, at least ten for each wolf, penetrating their hides and easily killing them.
Matthew raised an eyebrow at the ice bullet. It was the best attack spell he had seen yet in this world. Instead of releasing a cone of ice, she had used her mana much more effectively!
However, as much effective as it was, she had less than twenty percent of her mana pool remaining. He wondered how she would get rid of the Eminences.
She moved to the side and released her time shield, which made not only the wolves who had touched it unfreeze but also the hundreds of ice bullets that had also frozen when touching the beasts. When released, everything kept the momentum they had had before, the wolves moving forward, the bullets piercing their bodies, and Mark stabbing with his spear.
The wolves barely had time to think before they died and their bodies fell. Mark awkwardly lost his balance but used the spear to keep up. He looked around, confused, only to show astonishment at seeing everything dead. Since he had been frozen in time, for him, he had just attacked the wolf and the next moment, everything had changed.
With everything under control, Matthew glanced at Lo, but as expected the beast that attacked him was dead, with no visible wound. The wolf who attacked Shadow One though had been blown to bits.
Seeing that, the Eminences got pissed, and finally decided to attack for real.
One of them shone in a black flash and all its wounds were healed. Then, it shot at Helina. The other also healed itself, but then, two huge black wings made of magic appeared on its back, and it flew straight at Sara.
Helina shot tens of ice bullets at the Eminence coming for her, but a transparent black barrier appeared in front of it. The bullets turned into tiny bits of ice when they hit it, which impressed Matthew; beasts with barrier-like spells were a rarity.
Sara just ran. She had less than half her mana already, her fog form taking a lot from her, and she also stopped attacking the incoming flying Eminence. By now, all she could do was try to survive.
The Eminence going for Helina opened its mouth midway to her, and a huge wolf even bigger than it – and it was five meters tall! –, made of darkness and fire, shot for the opening, going for the Prophetess.
She released a light and ice barrier, which should've made her defense easy, but the moment the huge 'apparition' opened its maws and 'swallowed' her, it exploded in darkness and fire, making her instantly lose half of her remaining mana. And the Eminence was still coming.
As for the one going after Sara, it shone in a transparent white light – wind mana, Matthew recognized – and its speed increased so much that it was just about to reach Sara. There was nothing she could do.
Matthew was impressed with the Eminent Beasts. They were much better than most, if not all, of the Eminent Mages he had found until now. Sadly, it was time for him to act, and thus, for them to die.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting, Formation Mastery – Triple Element: Light, Wind, Space – Legendary Piercing Light Bullets' Stream!
To show Helina how to use a real bullet-like elemental spell, he cast that spell twice. In front of him, two bullets made of yellow light formed, its shape perfect for piercing armor and to ignore air resistance as it went ahead. They were the size of his closed fist and rotated ridiculously fast.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting – Double Elements: Ice, Space – Legendary Small Ice Explosive!
A small ball of ice appeared inside each bullet. It was pure ice but condensed to an absurd degree by changing ice itself and using space magic.
Helina had created hundreds of bullets, shot them, then created hundreds more, attacking in waves. Matthew shot his two bullets, using wind mana and space mana to make them move even faster. Directly behind them, in a distance of a couple of centimeters, two new bullets appeared, already shooting forwards. Behind them, new bullets appeared, and so on, until a stream of light bullets could be seen moving at each of the wolves.
His two spells had been cast as soon as he detected danger for Sara and Helina, and bullets moved way too fast, especially homing bullets like his.
The Eminence going for Helina had a dark shield around itself, which protected it from fifteen bullets – which just disintegrated into nothingness – before one of them pierced it.
Usually, a spell wouldn't be able to pierce a barrier; magic worked differently from a simple shield, and as soon as an area weakened, it would take mana from the rest of the barrier or from the wolf to regenerate itself, until either the entire barrier crumbled or the wolf exhausted its mana.
But Matthew's bullets had tiny formations in them; he had cast it using his knowledge in formation mastery, after all. Since there was no good medium – light mana sucking for this purpose –, the formation could only flare to life for a moment before disappearing, and even so, its power was so feeble it could barely be perceived. But when tens of it hit a barrier made with the element opposite to it, it was just enough to pierce the thing.
With its barrier pierced, there was nothing to protect the wolf from the incoming stream of bullets. The same was true for the one going for Sara.
When the first bullet hit a wolf, it pierced its flesh for less than a centimeter before being stopped. That's when the ice bomb exploded, a small explosion of ice dust, which dealt localized damage to the wolf without disrupting the new incoming bullet, which pierced the same spot, only a bit further, and exploded in ice as soon as it was stopped, too.
Eminent Beasts had tough hides, and that was all Matthew could do to harm them. It was easier for him to show a feat of magic like piercing a barrier than to pierce their hides!
But there were too many bullets, and they hit exactly the same spot over and over again in the wolves sides. The small explosions were just enough to make them move sideways and guarantee the safety of Helina and Sara.
The Eminences whimpered in pain. The unexpected pain and attack made them confused, and there was already a hole as deep as thirty centimeters inside them when they realized they recovered from their confusion and realized they had to heal themselves.
But Matthew acted first.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting – Single Element: Soul – Legendary Spiritual Vanquishing!
When he used that spell against the wraith, it was like sand being blown by a strong wind, easily dissipating into nothingness. This time, things were much more complicated.
Matthew could attack the wolves directly, but it would be a soul attack from a Champion against an Eminence that wasn't near as mentally weak as the woman whom he had searched the memories were. The wolves would easily resist him.
Unless, of course, he attacked from the inside. Body and soul were connected, and they were in pain, which affected their souls a little. More importantly, they were surprised and
confused, which weakened their minds. So, when his soul mana entered their bodies, and then their souls, it was like a Trojan Horse!
The spell then started attacking the souls of the wolves with all it had. Their souls weren't immediately destroyed, but the damage was big and painful enough that they whimpered again. Their power decreased just like that, the barrier around one and the wings on the back of the other disappearing.
Matthew didn't stop. The spell kept going, and the wolves had no way to defend themselves except for counting on their innate soul resistance. That should be enough if it wasn't for the initial damage from the sudden attack. Meanwhile, the bullets kept going, ravaging their insides.
Their bodies fell to the ground while they whimpered in pain. And finally, after a couple of minutes, they died.
In the silence that followed, Matthew spoke. "I told you before, my dear subordinates, always go for their weakness."
The first Eminence he fought couldn't deal with long-ranged attacks; the wraith was weak against soul attacks; the Duke was surrounded by beasts; and the Eminences from the Temple of Time had faulty armors. In all of his fights, Matthew had attacked his enemies weakness, even if the first time had been a coincidence.
But before he could explain his words better, a mighty roar resounded through the area. It had soul mana imbued, directly attacking everyone in there. It hit Helina hard, making her fall to her knees. Matthew's soul resistance, on the other hand, protected Mark, Sara, and him. Shadow One and Lo seemed unfazed by it.
Thousands of others roars and shrieks followed, and the very grounded trembled. Matthew immediately understood what had happened: they had pissed the boss by surviving, and it was throwing everything in the mountain against his group.
He decided it quickly. "Time to fly!" He yelled.
Before coming, he had decided flying above the mountain range would be nonoptimal, both because it would attract attacks from all flying beasts that saw them, and because he wanted to temper his underlings by making them fight the beasts.
But now, all flying beasts were already coming, together with all terrestrial and underground ones. He had no hope of surviving them with his limited mana pool. It was a shame for his subordinates, but they had to bolt!
A simple spell pulled Mark, Sara, and Helina close to him. "Don't resist!" He ordered, placing them in his miniature garden, which unlike his spatial ring, could take living beings. With them out of the way, he would be able to maneuver better and hopefully dodge incoming enemies.
Next, he shot through the skies at fast speed. He didn't look back to see if Shadow One and Lo would follow.
He had overestimated his enemies when he first saw them. Killing the Eminences had been ridiculously easy, and the tales of beasts being usually stronger than their human counterparts was only true because their human counterparts were so weak. But still, the feat had taken him forty percent of his mana pool.
Matthew took a few coins from his ring and started taking mana from them. He only hoped he would have enough to escape.
* * *
Shadow One was doing her best not to smile. If the boy died without her having to do anything, things would be much better!
Especially now that he had run away from her! If he had kept close, she would've had to protect him, as the Immortal Crusade should do when investigating someone. But now, she had just the perfect excuse to do nothing as the beasts killed him!
Better yet, he was still going to the White Sea. He would arrive there even weaker than he was, and dealing with him would be a piece of cake.
She lazily began to fly after him, keeping distant enough from him as to be actually unable to help in case something happened.
Chapter 41 - Chase
Chapter 41 - Chase
Matthew flew full speed ahead. An Eminence might be powerful enough to break the sonic barrier, but as a Champion, he felt his speed lacking.
Magic galore came from the ground trying to hit him, like a display of fireworks, all of which he dodged. He kept a mana shield close to his skin to absorb shockwaves and anything he failed to dodge.
When flying beasts tried to close on him, and there were hundreds which tried, he would use wind magic to prevent them from getting too close or to send them away.
Things were easier than they should be, but way too costly, and getting worse. In less than an hour, he already had less than half his mana pool remaining, and keeping flying creatures away was getting much more difficult.
He had kept his wind magic somewhat close to him. Although he could use it far away, it cost more the farther from him his mana had to affect. By trial and error, the beasts had gotten the gist of it, and were keeping just outside his range of willingness, sending magic from there and waiting for him to show weakness.
Wyverns were the most common of the beasts, followed closely by four-eyed black birds the size of a cow, and fat birds the size of his fist that moved incredibly fast. Many other kinds of birds were present – by now, he had tens of thousands of beasts surrounding him in the air – but none that had the numbers of those three.
His flying speed slowed as he was forced to dodge more and more spells. The birds kept accumulating. Anyone who saw it from afar would only see an enormous ball of flying birds, so big that even Eminences would feel uncomfortable fighting against, and even Ascenders without the right spells would avoid.
At a point, Matthew was forced to stop and hold his ground.
* * *
Shadow One looked excitedly at the encircled boy. He had flown fast enough, and his aerial maneuvers could've been enough for him to escape even from her. It had been the right decision to not try to attack him without certainty of her advantage, or things could get tricky.
But now, he was about to die. Surrounded like that, even an Ascender like her would've to spend over twenty percent of her mana to deal with the tens of thousands of beasts in there, maybe more if they attacked intelligently, and her mana pool was ten thousand times the size of his!
And yet, as much as she wanted to declare him dead and leave, she waited. He was a genius, after all, and the Immortals know what devious spells he had at his disposal to deal with the beasts.
She didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later, he acted.
* * *
Matthew had less than forty percent of his mana remaining when he decided to spring his trap.
From the moment the first beast realized how far it had to fly to avoid his attacks, he had known he wouldn't have been able to simply fly away from his problems, and prepared a trap. He slowed his flying speed even more than it should and showed difficulty in dealing with the incoming spells.
Now, it was time for some cheap magic.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting – Quad Elements: Light, Fire, Space, Soul – Legendary Complete Illusion!
Light mana distorted the air, creating a figure just like his. It wasn't just any illusion; it had a heat signature just like his and space even vibrated to release sounds like his, all the while also creating a solid feel to it in case any spell tried to check. Even soul mana was present to fool all spells.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting – Triple Elements: Space, Light, Soul – Legendary Stealth!
At the same time, he made himself invisible and got to the side. He started controlling the illusion, showing it struggle more and more. The beasts were getting excited, bloodlust making them even more susceptible to the illusion.
The moment a wyvern attacked, he finished his trap. He created a new illusion. This one was of Shadow One.
She seemed to appear out of nowhere and touch him, which made him disappear.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting – Single Element: Fire – Legendary Fire Stream!
Then, she seemed to shot a huge stream of fire one direction and fly inside. The stream was huge and powerful, but not even enough to burn half of the beasts in there. All the same, it was enough to kill tens of beasts and burn many others. They shrieked in pain and rage, while the illusio
n of Shadow One entered the hole created by the spell.
As soon as the illusion got to the edge of the hole, it also disappeared.
Then, Matthew stopped screaming altogether and waited.
With their prey gone, the birds searched elsewhere for the mysterious invader. It wasn't hard for them to look back and see the distant Shadow One flying in there.
The firsts to see her shrieked in even more rage for having their prey taken from them, and as one, the huge mass of flying beasts moved at her.
Matthew did his utmost to dodge all incoming beasts. It wasn't as difficult, for as flying beasts, they couldn't fly touching each other without disrupting their flying patterns, and there was some space for maneuvering.
The harder part was to avoid mana from disrupting his surroundings, but filled by bloodlust and anger, and controlled by stronger beasts, almost none of them paid attention to the mana disruption even if they felt it. The few who paid attention, quickly concluded it was created by some other beasts and kept going, afraid to not be able to help in killing the human and bringing the displeasure of the Ancient.
As soon as everything was clear, Matthew flew away, this time, invisible.
* * *
Shadow One didn't know why the beasts suddenly turned to look at her, or why they attacked, but she was sure it had nothing to do with the boy's death. He had done something, and she was the target now.
With a thought, he made her helmet close, while suppressing a sigh. As much as she wanted to show some finesse in dealing with those beasts – she was an Ascender, after all, and couldn't just brute-force through everything –, she didn't have the time.
She took her Spectral Eye of Blackwing out of her spatial ring. It was a Peak Artifact orb made from the eye of a Blackwing dragon, an Overlord Beast killed by the Queen herself. It boosted her death magic by twenty percent, something very difficult when dealing with her level of power. The stronger something was, the harder it was to improve on its power.