Chapter 99 - Absolute Magus

Chapter 99: 99 - Absolute Magus

Amelia could only stare as Adrien lowered Umbral Root slightly and the thousand [Frost Lance] spells hanging across the chamber began to move. They did not fire. Instead, the nearest lances shifted toward one another, their identical structures aligning as Adrien forced them together without allowing the condensed ice to collapse.

Ten became one larger spear. Then twenty. Fifty. More followed from every direction, the smaller lances merging into a growing mass of frost above him. It wasn’t a new spell, nor the Spell Fusion function he had recently discovered.

Adrien was simply taking the spell he understood better than any other and pushing its shape, density and scale as far as his current control allowed.

The Ancient Tree reacted immediately. Mana surged through the roots covering the chamber, and dozens tore free from the floor and ceiling at once. Adrien sensed every movement through Absolute Mana Sense before the attacks began, then raised Umbral Root and formed [Ice Wall] after [Ice Wall] around Amelia and Lucien.

The first barrier shattered beneath a descending root, but a second already stood behind it. Another root struck from the side and broke through two walls in succession, forcing Adrien to replace them before it could reach the pair inside.

"Keep healing him. Don’t move."

Amelia forced her attention back to Lucien, though her eyes kept lifting whenever another tremendous impact shook the ice surrounding them. Healing mana continued flowing from her hands into his damaged chest while his breathing slowly became more stable.

Outside, [Winter’s Reach] remained expanded across the entire chamber. The temperature continued falling as ice thickened over ruined stone, sealed shallow pools beneath opaque frost and crawled farther along the Ancient Tree’s network.

Smaller roots snapped when they tried to move, Barklings slowed until their wooden limbs locked completely, and the surviving Root Crawlers struggled beneath frozen ground.

Adrien didn’t give any of them time to recover. Dozens of the remaining [Frost Lance] spells broke away from the formation and shot toward the smaller enemies, some piercing exposed joints while others struck the floor and froze escape routes. Absolute Mana Sense handled the targeting while most of his concentration remained fixed on the enormous spear forming overhead.

The Ancient Tree tried to regenerate again. Adrien felt mana flowing from the yellow-brown Heartroot Crystals into the surviving connections, so he cast [Ice Wall] across two exposed roots and pinned them against the ground. Frost from [Winter’s Reach] rapidly encased them, weakening another pair of channels feeding the main body.

A thick root erupted toward Adrien himself. He moved before it reached the surface and cast [Veil of Mist] across the center of the chamber, letting white vapor spread between the frozen ruins. The Ancient Tree could still attack through it, but Adrien no longer needed ordinary sight to know where anything was.

Absolute Mana Sense remained perfectly clear. Every root, every crystal, every Barkling still moving and every current of mana entering the Ancient Tree remained distinct inside his perception. Above him, the final hundreds of Frost Lances continued merging.

Amelia looked up again and finally saw the completed construct.

A colossal lance of translucent blue-white ice hovered above Adrien, wider than a tree trunk and long enough to span much of the ruined garden. Dense frost rolled from its surface, and the mana compressed inside it chilled the surrounding air enough for crystals to form across nearby walls.

Adrien’s arm trembled slightly. For the first time since he began pushing himself, the strain reached beyond simple mana expenditure. Maintaining [Winter’s Reach], replacing the defensive [Ice Wall] spells and holding that much condensed frost together demanded almost all of his concentration.

’So this is closer to my limit.’

The Ancient Tree lifted both massive arms, and nearly every remaining root in the ceiling moved with it. The chamber creaked under the motion as thick wooden tendrils converged toward Adrien and the enormous spell above him.

Adrien didn’t wait.

"Go."

The colossal [Frost Lance] launched.

It crossed the chamber with a violent rush of displaced air. The Ancient Tree brought its arms together before its torso while roots converged from the walls and ceiling, forming layer after layer of living wood in front of its body.

The lance struck.

The first roots exploded into frozen fragments, and the next layers fractured immediately behind them. The Ancient Tree’s arms broke under the impact before the point finally entered the center of its chest.

The collision drowned out everything else.

Wood, ice and shattered stone erupted throughout the chamber as the lance drove straight through the creature. The Ancient Tree was forced backward, its lower body tearing deep trenches across the frozen ground before the spell punched completely through its torso and buried itself among the ruins behind it.

A hole several meters wide remained through the center of the boss.

Its upper body sagged. Roots dropped lifelessly from the ceiling, several Barklings collapsed where they stood, and the violent movement that had filled the chamber disappeared almost at once.

Amelia stared through the fractured Ice Walls surrounding her and Lucien. Adrien remained standing beyond them, partially hidden by the thinning mist, Umbral Root still manifested in his hand while [Winter’s Reach] continued covering the chamber.

For several seconds, nothing moved.

Then Adrien frowned.

Absolute Mana Sense still detected something inside the ruined body. The signature was much weaker than before, but it was concentrated, stable and unmistakably alive.

"Still not dead? After that?"

Deep inside the enormous cavity, beneath shattered bark and exposed Heartroot Crystal, something small began pulling itself free. It was barely larger than a child, yet its shape resembled the Ancient Tree almost perfectly: thin wooden arms, root-like legs and a narrow trunk surrounding an intensely concentrated point of mana.

Adrien understood immediately. The colossal body had only been an outer shell connected to the chamber.

’That’s the real core.’

The miniature tree turned toward him and began retreating deeper into the remains.

Adrien was already casting.

Lightning gathered around Umbral Root in violent arcs, illuminating the frozen chamber in white-blue flashes. The target was small now, but Absolute Mana Sense gave him its exact location through every remaining fragment of bark and crystal.

[Lightning Bolt] fired.

The discharge crossed the chamber instantly and struck directly through the creature’s center. Its small wooden body vanished inside the electrical burst, fragments scattering against the hollow interior of the ruined trunk.

Adrien kept Absolute Mana Sense focused on the remains for another second.

Nothing.

This time, the mana signature was gone.