The Sword and The Shadow

Chapter 500

Winter Wight

"Angelista! It was you after all!" Sol was an 18th-stratum necromancer but he had a huge figure unbefitting of magi. He also didn't have that vicious yet elegant air unique to dark elves, possibly due to his frequent meddling with corpses. He wore a torn robe and held a skull staff with an amethyst embedded between its eyes. Leguna looked from afar and felt that he seemed more like a witch doctor or barbarian rather than an elven magus.

However, he didn't laugh because of that. He understood well that this necromancer was a tough expert. A true necromancer was far harder to deal with than the magi he had killed before.

"Archmagus Sol, how nice to see you here." Angelista didn't seem fearful at all even against someone Leguna took seriously. She pointed at her warrior servant to signal him to support another spot. Then she approached Sol and bowed elegantly. "I am terribly sorry for all I've done to your house, but I had no choice."

"Die!" Sol didn't have the luxury of hearing her run her mouth. He knew that while Angelista wasn't that bright, her power was not to be underestimated. He didn't feel at all guilty about launching a surprise attack. He took out a magic scroll from his dimensional pocket with lightning speed and activated the formation within without any reservation.

It was a level-seven Death's Finger spell. The crimson red energy beamed in front of Angelista in an instant. Angelista was only just raising her head from the bow.

"This crazy woman…" Leguna couldn't help admire Angelista's arrogance. However, she proved that she could afford to be arrogant the next second.

The ray didn't even hit her at all.

"You must be quite confused given how chaotic the commotion is, right?" Angelista said, "So, when you used your spell, I only had to use the slightest bit of soul enthymemic disruption for your spell to be wasted just like that."

Sol grit his teeth. The veins under his dark skin pulsed like earthworms. But a few seconds later, he calmed down all of a sudden. "You're right, Lady Angelista. Chaos is taboo for us magi. Thank you for reminding me about it. To thank you, I'll make sure to put up a good fight."

"So I can finally get serious, huh?" She smiled and got into his proper spell stance.

A few seconds later, all sorts of magical flashes lightened up the darkness. Sol was a necromancer, but he did have quite a good understanding of evocations. So, Leguna watched as Sol summoned a large horde of corpse-eaters to attack Angelista and the rest from House Elvin while still having enough energy to use evocation spells to fight Angelista.

"Ughh…" Sol groaned. He had just been struck by a fireball of soul energy. A warrior wouldn't mind that level of damage but a magus without any barriers could be even weaker than a normal human. Usually in a fight between magi, breaking the opponent's barrier usually led to victory.

[Is it enough, Sol?] Angelista yawned lazily as she spoke with a transference spell fueled with soul power. [You're not my match and not many of Andalir's core remain. Will you really give your life for the house? Seeing as you're a magus, I think you'll be spared if you surrender.]

[It sounds like a good offer.] Sol seemed to be in deep thought, but he shook his head a couple moments later. [However, for the sake of my future, It's best I prove my worth here.]

[Fine by me.] Angelista still had many tricks up her sleeve. She shrugged and said, [If you have any more trump cards, better use them all. Make sure to show House Elvin and House Andalir just as crippled so we can both make the best out of it!]

[Very well!] After achieving a certain understanding with Angelista, Sol felt relieved and began his dictation. Not long after, an ice-blue spell formation around 50 meters in diameter appeared before him.

Sol's spell formation formed and he bellowed his heart out. The crimson eyes he had hidden under his hood glowed eerily. Leguna then saw the huge magus's body wither before his very eyes before the giant not much larger than Kurdak turned into a dark elf not that much taller than others of his kind.

The formation glowed even brighter and a withered hand stretched out of it, before its arm, head and body followed.

Even from hundreds of meters away, Leguna could feel a chill when the creature appeared. While it sounded a little awkward, he thought it didn't feel much different from Annelotte's Glacial Domain.

"What's going on?" Leguna asked with shock.

[It's a winter wight, a necromantic creature you won't be able to take down in close combat,] Gahrona explained, [This one truly is quite powerful. In terms of destructive power alone, it can take on three Marolyts. Even Kreighdon's tough body might not be able to hold up to it. However, it still has some liquid in it.]

[It's really that amazing?!] Leguna asked, surprised.

[Yeah,] she replied lazily, [Ley, I admit that young ones, you or Saron or whatever, are rather powerful. But you have a weakness. You think too highly of yourselves.]

Leguna continued to listen silently.

[This is all too obvious on Saron. Fortunately, Annie gave him a lesson he'll never recover from and used Death Sentence on him.] Gahrona only really praised Annelotte. [I thought that you would learn the lesson from Saron, but it looks like you didn't. Since that's the case, it's better for me to just tell you this directly. The world is much more complicated and scarier than you can imagine. If you think you can go about without worry with your level of power, you're in for a harsh wake-up call. Don't always think that you'll be able to deal with anyone aside from Annelotte on the same stratum. It wouldn't be weird for a myth-realm magus to be able to take down a deity. While high-order magi aren't that impressive, they're still not something you should look down on. Sol is the perfect example of one such person. I dare to bet that this wight he summoned isn't in its full form. If Sol gave it his all, he should be able to summon the whole thing, or at least nearly whole.]

[So this is… a high-order magus, huh…] Leguna stared blankly at the winter wight and could feel the terrifying power it contained.

[That's right. Also, don't look down on Angelista. Soulgraspers are terrifying people. If not for my help and Annie's tools, you would have ended up as a corpse or an idiot.]

Leguna mulled in silence for a moment and nodded. [I understand.]

[Good, then let's continue observing.] Gahrona was quite satisfied with how easily he was taking it.

"Please allow me to introduce…" Sol had now shriveled up so much he seemed like a wrinkled prune. Regardless, he still bowed elegantly and pointed weakly at the wight. "This is Solus. I've spent three centuries researching and raising him. This isn't his full form, but I believe this level of power already pays sufficient respect to you, Miss Angelista."

While Angelista felt a little creeped out by the winter wight, she wasn't terrified enough to lose her ability to fight. She nodded and said, "You're right, Mister Sol. It's enough."

"Then…" Sol gave his skull staff a pained look. The light in the jewel had dimmed considerably. He sighed and said, "Let us begin!"

The winter wight let out a soundless cry as it moved about slowly. The withering flame on the top of its head let out a wave of coldness that could freeze the whole world.

Angelista furrowed her brow and continued dictating.

At that moment, all dark elves stopped fighting and watched the two magi fight it out in awe. They felt like they were rabbits quivering before two mighty lions.