Chapter 96: A Powerful Defensive Spell

’At this rate, I should really use the Glacial Calamity,’ Magna thought grimly, his daggers cutting a deep gash into the Witch’s body with every strike.

He could see the Witch’s mana reserve dropping fast. If they kept attacking at this pace, it would run out soon.

But the problem was, they were about to run out as well.

The number of fire arrows had already started thinning. Renna had run out of her mana supply, and was now burning through the very last of her reserve.

Magna, meanwhile, had already gone past exhaustion, his arms starting to cramp and ache.

Even a small calculation was enough to tell him they would be the side to run out first in this fight.

He had been stubborn about not wanting to use his spell, mainly because he didn’t want Renna to see it. Explaining it to her afterward would be too difficult.

Also, if there really was another enemy waiting somewhere outside, he needed to save his mana as a trump card.

But as time passed and he saw no other way out, he finally decided to use it.

While he kept attacking with his daggers, the honorable names began flowing out of his mouth.

While he prepared his spell, the Faceless Witch’s jaw moved, her voice coming out full of delight. "Yes, this is it. Show me what kind of miracle you have inside you."

She didn’t sound scared or troubled at all. She only sounded excited to see the same spell again.

This made Magna hesitate.

’Does she have some kind of trump card too?’ he wondered, cutting his chant off halfway.

Until now the Faceless Witch had only stood still, seemingly unable to move, wasting her mana just to heal her own body, like a mindless practice dummy.

But it looked like that wasn’t the case.

She was clearly planning something.

When Magna stopped, her voice changed too, laced with disappointment. "Why did you stop? Show me."

She even started urging him on, growing impatient.

’Nope, she’s definitely planning something.’ Certain of it now, Magna stopped his attacks too and jumped back quickly.

Renna’s fire arrows didn’t stop, though, and kept striking the Witch’s body.

As Magna watched her take damage and heal at the same time, he finally understood what her trap was.

"Why did you stop?" The Faceless Witch suddenly screamed, her voice grating on the ears.

All at once, her mana reserve, which had been steadily dropping, started climbing fast.

Magna froze, shocked to see it.

Through his golden eyes, he could see the golden glow in her stomach slowly growing brighter and darker in color. It meant she was somehow regenerating her reserve.

Then his eyes caught something else.

When he looked at the fire arrows, he saw a faint golden hue on them too, showing the mana they carried inside.

Every time a fire arrow struck her body, that golden hue scattered and was pulled into the Faceless Witch, flowing straight into her mana reserve and filling it back up.

"Renna, stop!" Magna shouted toward the woods the moment he realized the trick.

The fire arrows stopped right away.

The Faceless Witch’s remaining scars kept healing, while Magna kept his eyes fixed on her mana.

He had been right. Now that the fire arrows had stopped hitting her, her mana reserve had truly stopped climbing.

He gulped nervously, realizing how close he had come to casting his spell on her. He had nearly handed his own mana straight to his enemy.

He finally understood that the spell she had chanted earlier wasn’t only about physical regeneration.

It had two layers inside it. One was physical regeneration. The other was absorbing and stealing the mana from any spell that struck her.

Thinking it over, Magna acknowledged it was truly a wild tank spell. Its only flaw seemed to be that the caster had to stay still, but even with that, it was an incredibly strong spell.

"So you figured it out." The Faceless Witch finally began to move, deactivating her spell. "Sadly, it won’t change a thing."

She genuinely seemed surprised that a kid had figured out her spell’s trick this fast, before even falling for the trap.

Unfortunately, it wouldn’t change anything, since the outcome of the fight had already been decided.

Magna stood breathing hard, his arms hanging tired at his sides. Renna was nearly out of mana too.

Meanwhile, the Faceless Witch stood there completely unharmed, still holding a high reserve of mana.

"I’ll be sure to give you the best treatment you could ever imagine." She spoke with delight and began chanting.

’’O Spire of the Eroding Coast, Tide that has washed since before the First Age, Tongueless Mother of Youth and Age. ’’

Her chanting wasn’t fast this time. It was slow, so painfully slow that it was as if she was dragging it out on purpose, turning it into mental torture for the boy.

While she chanted, Renna cast her fire arrows from the woods again, desperate to stop her, but they weren’t enough anymore. She could only delay the Witch for a second before the chanting continued.

Magna, meanwhile, felt so exhausted that he kept taking deep breaths, his golden eyes fixed directly on the Faceless Witch.

Though, he didn’t look cornered at all. If anything, he started to smile as he opened his mouth and began to speak.

"O Spire of the Eroding Coast, Tide that has washed since before the First Age, Tongueless Mother of Youth and Age."

His chanting, in contrast to hers, was lightning-fast as he made sure to finish the spell just a fraction of a second before the Faceless Witch.

While the Faceless Witch was taken aback by the chanting, she realized Magna was casting a spell from the Matriarch of Time and sensed something was wrong. It was already too late for her to stop her own incantation.

Magna finished casting the spell, only letting the correct sounds flow from his mouth.

A mere tenth of a second later, the Faceless Witch also completed her spell, chanting the final words after the honorable names to activate it.

’’Quicken time’s march, teach flesh and stone their mortality.’’

A blurry, yellowish wave burst from her body at that exact moment, surging rapidly toward Magna before striking him directly.