Earth's Greatest Magus

[Shaman form has tremendously increased your spell power]

[Shaman form has tremendously increased your magic resistance]

Transparent windows of notifications kept popping into his mind, as the symbol on his palm glowed brightly like the sun. Together with the arrival of the torrent of notifications, Emery also felt his body brimming with so much spirit force that he inadvertently let out a deafening roar to the sky.

Right at this moment, Emery roused the spirit energy within his body, as he cast [Shadow Root]. The ground around where the harpy was suddenly shattered, from within, numerous jet-black roots as big as an arm shot out like lightning and entangled the harpy, before slamming it down to the ground.

"Stay!"

Emery said those words with extreme confidence. He believed this time the harpy would not be able to move even an inch from its current position.

Now that the annoying bird had been contained, Emery turned around and returned his attention back to the other creature, the Amber Cat. 

It had already been proven that Emery's [Jade Skin] was more than capable of withstanding the fiery temperature of the flame the beast gave off. Now that his shaman form had drastically improved his overall magic capability, Emery almost did not feel a thing when the fire swept over his jade-covered skin.

The beast seemed to have enough intelligence to realize things had gone south for it, as it quickly turned around - presumably to run away from this place. However, how could Emery let the prey he had searched so hard for get away that easily?

[Granite Wall]

When the Amber Cat turned around and dashed for the dense grove of trees, it quickly crashed into a black wall. A look of confusion flashed across its intelligent eyes, as it wondered about the origin of the wall that had appeared out of nowhere.

Since it couldn't think of any possible reason, the beast decided to ignore the wall and try to take a detour around it. Unfortunately, the only thing that waited for it was another similar black wall.

Enraged by the appearance of another obstruction in front of its eyes, the beast suddenly roared and seemed to activate a skill, because Emery saw the flames around its body burning even more ferociously that they soared high into the sky.

Then, the beast immediately charged towards the wall like a bull and shattered it apart with its immense momentum. The crash seemed to deal quite a bit of damage to the beast, as it stopped for a moment after it broke through.

However, it soon recovered its bearings and was about to continue its escape when another wall once again rose in its path. This time, instead of the black wall made of granite, it was dyed green and glowed as the sunlight hit its surface.

Remembering its successful attempt earlier, the beast immediately charged towards this new wall with the same intention in mind. Alas, a loud dull sound resounded through the air, as the beast's unable to create the slightest crack on it.

[Jade Wall]

A new evolution of Emery's [Granite Wall] following his recent breakthrough.

At this moment, the Amber Cat finally knew it couldn't escape before dealing with its opponent, so it decided to turn. It was about to pounce at Emery once again, only to discover it couldn't move. Its feet had suddenly sunk into the ground.

Emery put both hands on the ground, softening it to trap the blazing beast through its own weight. Now that the beast was incapable of moving, he proceeded to channel his spirit force into the ground. Moments later, the ground that trapped the beast suddenly hardened, glowed green and the beast started to roar in pain.

Ignoring the beast's painful screams, Emery closed his eyes to focus his mind on feeling the spirit energy he channeled on the ground around the beast. Then, his thoughts willed the energy to go upwards.

Crack!

A loud cracking sound was heard and the screams were cut off. When he opened his eyes, Emery saw the beast was already motionless, its body bent in an unnatural manner.

Emery stood up as he relished the power of the Shaman Form that enhanced his spell prowess and couldn't help but feel satisfied.

He then turned his head to the still entangled Forest Harpy and narrowed his eyes. He wanted to try the same thing with the [Shadow Root] and immediately went to action.

Tightening his grip as if the roots were his hands, Emery tried to control the spirit energy in the roots, so that they tighten the bonds as well. A moment later, a heart-rending shriek resounded through the air, as the roots that were strangling the harpy slowly closed on one another.

Emery could feel his [Shaman Form] was much more powerful than before. Although his spirit force had improved since the last time he used it, he knew it wouldn't be this much. This must be because of his stage 5 [Dao Divine Technique] or the [Soul Tempering]. Afterall, both helped strengthen his spirit channeled tremendously.

He couldn't wait to see how much stronger he would be after mastering the second book of the [Soul Tempering Technique]

From this, it seemed what Emery wanted to achieve had been accomplished. Therefore, the harpy was no longer of use.

However, when he was about to finish his deed and put an end to the harpy's misery, Emery suddenly was shocked to find the urge to suddenly come knocking on him. 

"No!"

It was quickly followed by a sharp pain in the chest where his heart was, causing him to fall to his knees and release his hold on the spell.

As a result, the Forest Harpy, who was on the verge of death, managed to escape from his bondage. Emery couldn't even move his body properly, much less recast the spell. It would be incredibly dangerous if the harpy decided to attack him now. 

However, it seemed the creature was too terrified of Emery, as what it did next was run away.

On the other hand, Emery wasn't in the capacity to care about the harpy running away. Right now all his focus was in resisting the painful sensation, because he knew this was the exact same sensation he felt when he was about to lose control of himself.

In response to this urge, Emery proceeded to deactivate his [Shaman Transformation]. But apparently, this was the wrong choice, because as soon as he let go of the transformation, the corruption suddenly joined the fray, causing black fur to appear on his hand.

"Arrghh!" 

The pain gradually increased. It seemed resistance was futile. 

Emery unconsciously holds tight the [beast pendant] on his neck, the one thing that probably keeps him sane.

However, he started screaming his lungs out, howling due to the excruciating pain he was experiencing. Knowing he would lose control of himself, he used the last bit of willpower he had to open the spatial space and took out a wooden box.

His other hand reached over to open the box, but unfortunately, Emery was in so much pain that he inadvertently dropped it. The box hit the ground with a thud, revealing the glass vials filled with red liquid inside.

Emery, who was currently squirming on the ground, crawled over to the box with great difficulty. He extended his hands to grab one of the vials. He needed to inject the vial's content or else he would be in extreme danger.

However, just an inch away from the vial lying on the ground, the corruption once again kicked in. A painful scream escaped his mouth again, as his body gradually transformed against his will.

[Night Wolf Transformation]

"No… no… I need to..."

The distance between the vial and his hand was almost nonexistent, but Emery couldn't grab it due to the violent sensation wrecking through his body. In the end, his outstretched hand fell helplessly to the ground.

When he was about to completely lose his consciousness, Emery could see a faint figure approaching him from behind the sea of trees.

At first, Emery thought it was the Forest Harpy, who returned to avenge its suffering. But his guess was quickly denied when long white hair came into view. It was Silva.

Seeing Emery's pitiful appearance, who was trying to reach for the vial, the girl quickly realized what was going on. She immediately shot for one of the vials on the ground and injected it into his body.

Moments later, Emery slowly returned to his human form, but the consequence he had to accept was the loss of all his stamina.

"You stupid! Stupid fool!" 

The girl was cursing like always, but Emery could see that despite her curse, she had a very worried expression on her face.

Emery weakly lay on the ground, still panting he took control of his breathing and said.

"Yes… I am a fool..." A sigh escaped his lips.. "Stop cursing me please."