Supreme Magus

Chapter 4219: Third Element (Part 2)

The vampire took flight, harrying the Ishara closer to her with her spells. Anaka turned around, unwilling to make Estrizo’s same mistake and ignore the small but deadly flea.

"Your dirty trick won’t work twice, undead!" The female Ishara roared. "Everyone, you focus on killing the orange Horde. I’ll take care of the enemies!"

She Blinked right between Solus and Nyka, a position that would have been tactical suicide for anyone without so many limbs. Ishara lashed with her tail and left pincer at Nyka, while her right hand and pincer lunged at Solus.

She and Nyka had seen the exit point with Life Vision and aimed their spells at it, but an emerald barrier protected Anaka’s vitals. What little damage her limbs endured, she healed it with a spell cast with left hand from inside the barrier.

Nyka blocked the stinger with her mace, but the impact sent her right in front of the pincer and the spell it held. Ice Coffin generated a volley of black daggers that rammed into Nyka like a stampede.

The cold released by the crystals did nothing to her, but the darkness that filled them to the brim was an undead’s bane. To make matters worse, whenever an ice dagger hit Nyka’s Ravenguard armor, it stuck to it and released the darkness element it contained.

In the blink of an eye, Nyka was trapped in a heavy block of ice that ate at the necromantic energy that gave her life.

’All those eyes may not have any mystical power, but they allow that Ishara to control all her limbs at the same time and have perfect peripheral vision.’ Solus inwardly cursed.

The burden of the Eyes of Menadion was too great for her alone, so she had to rely on the Ears and her own wits. The artifact allowed her to predict the trajectory of both pincer and arm, dodging the first by a hair’s breadth and blocking the second thanks to the surprise effect.

"What the heck are you?" Anaka asked as the small woman managed to stop her colossal hand with a swing of an even smaller hammer. "Never mind. I don’t care. Just die!"

The pincer was close enough to release a Raging Sun from point-blank range, but that wasn’t the only reason for the attack. An Ishara’s pincers were part of the secret of their strength, allowing the Divine Beast to channel the Life Maelstrom in a closed circuit.

Any spell an Ishara would conjure in between their pincers would receive just enough silver lightning to reach its maximum efficacy, while the rest would be indefinitely conveyed until the Divine Beast dispelled it.

The Ragin Sun exploded true to its name, generating a blinding radiance visible for kilometers. The Ears had forewarned Solus, but there was nothing she could do about the spell except for conjuring all the barriers she could.

Her Voidwalker armor and the Mouth of Menadion raised two Spirit Barriers, while the Sage Staff channeled the light and earth elements to raise another layer of defense.

Solus employed the gemstones’ facets to solidify the hard-light construct and lowered the ground where she stood to escape the brunt of the blast.

Most of the Raging Sun and the shockwaves it produced harmlessly went over her head, saving the power cores of her armor and the Mouth’s precious mana.

"You’re smart, little woman, but not as much as you think." Anaka laughed in savage joy. "This is still my win!"

Tier five spells were always imbued with willpower and could be freely manipulated by their caster. Anaka couldn’t afford the mana or focus to redirect the energy of the Raging Sun or the Ice Coffin that had missed their target, but she could give them a new one.

The spells swept over the battlefield, burning Loma’s spore stashes that Life Vision revealed in the ground nearby. At the same time, she moved right on top of Solus’ hideout and punched downward with all her strength.

’I can block it easily, but I have only two arms while she has four.’ Solus said. ’I need to get out of here!’

She Blinked away from the first blow, just to see another fist and two pincers come at her at full speed. The Spirit Barriers blocked one hit each, but shattered after the impact, leaving Solus only her hard-light construct to defend her.

’Think, Solus, think!’ She pushed the Balor eyes to their utmost limit while mimicking Dawn’s technique to refract light and repair the cracks on her already failing barrier. ’What would Lith do?’

Aside from "Solus, analysis!" and creative ways to release Origin Flames, her mind came up with nothing.

’Don’t worry, Mom.’ The Sage Staff replied. ’Me help!’

The blue crystal lit up as well, conjuring a swirling mass of water from the nearby stream that coated the barrier inside and out. It cushioned the blow, but was far from enough.

’Me protect!’ The Sage Staff said, working with Solus to fuse the light, earth, and water elements.

The resulting mud barrier spun at high speed, generating a centrifugal force that pushed the Ishara’s pincer to the side and threw the Divine Beast off balance. Anaka’s pincer was stuck in the shining mud that refused to let her go and spun her like a frenzied top.

’By my Mom!’ Solus was flabbergasted. ’The speed of the light element combined with the hardness of the earth element and the versatility of the water element.

’Together they form a barrier that can repair itself quickly and rapidly spin on itself without losing durability. This is just like with my energy glaive earlier.

’I controlled two elements, and the Sage Staff added a third one of its own. With its help, I can cast tower tier elemental spells!’

’See? Me protect! Me help!’ The Staff expressed Solus’ same concepts, but in a more succinct way.

’Yes, sweetie, but remember, attack is the best defense!’ Solus called upon the power of the Sage Staff to reshape the swirling barrier into a high-speed drill.

Suddenly, Anaka found herself free from the mud, and rejoiced for it for almost half a second. Before the dizziness that clouded her vision could clear up, the construct pierced through her helm and expanded inside her exoskeleton, blowing it apart.

"You killed my sister!" Utho lost his mind at the same time Anaka’s mana core faded. "I’ll kill you and everyone you love for that!"

’Solus, can you do that again four more times?’ Nyka broke free from the remnants of Ice Coffin, but her body was still battered.

’I doubt it, but maybe we won’t come to that.’ Solus replied. ’Quick, use your breathing technique.’

No matter how well an Awakened could suppress their mana flow, the Ears of Menadion would detect it, and its user would notice the mana flow if he were skilled enough.

Amid the chaos of the battlefield, Solus was the only one who kept her cool and used Invigoration when a twin burst of orange mist erupted from the armor of Estrizo and the first Divine Beast killed by Solus.

While the Isharas focused on locating and destroying the spore stashes with Life Vision, Loma had spread their spores wide, reaching the two fresh corpses and using them to regrow the Horde’s mass behind the cover of the enchanted armor.