Chapter 211: The end of the mosquito

Sharniz immediately responded to the command.

He turned around and began firing blue flames nonstop at the Giant of Light advancing toward him.

The explosions forced my Giant to retreat.

At the same time, Sharniz and my Golem began a fierce exchange of attacks.

My attention returned to the Mosquito.

She continued advancing through the barrage of spells.

Her sprout armor absorbed an impressive amount of damage while the magical bow in her hand continued firing.

She did not need to win immediately.

She only needed to destroy the enemies’ defenses one by one.

And it was working.

A Pseudo-Mage’s defense could not withstand more than thirty seconds under that kind of pressure.

Whenever a barrier was destroyed, that Pseudo-Mage had to hide behind a companion while rebuilding his protection.

The remaining three covered for one another.

And in this way, they managed to keep resisting.

They also began accumulating new wounds from the Mosquito.

The battle had turned into a contest of endurance.

The Mosquito, despite being a Mage-level demon, had a limited number of offensive spells.

To quickly destroy the enemies’ defenses, she would need to get close and fight directly.

But that would also mean receiving far more attacks.

Therefore, her guerrilla-style approach was much safer.

However... The best opportunities often appeared precisely when no one expected them.

The Electricity Shield of the Pseudo-Mage specialized in the electrical element was destroyed once again by the Mosquito.

He immediately retreated.

Salin was nearby.

The man hid behind the tall body of the Shadow Serpent and began rapidly reciting the incantation to rebuild his defense.

That was when the ground violently trembled.

The layer of rock beneath the four men’s feet cracked.

Fissures spread across the ground.

And an enormous head emerged from the opening.

My Black Rock Basilisk rose before them.

The expressions of the outlaw Acolytes changed instantly.

Their formation had been broken.

The violent changes in the terrain forced everyone to jump and dodge.

And in that chaos, their dependence on one another disappeared.

Each of them had to fend for himself.

The other Pseudo-Mages were in a slightly better situation.

Their own defensive barriers were still active.

They began retreating while continuing to attack and quickly moved out of the Basilisk’s range.

But the electrical Pseudo-Mage was not as lucky.

His Electricity Shield was almost complete when the earthquake interrupted his concentration.

Then I sensed a change in the air, and a powerful wind appeared behind him.

The electrical Pseudo-Mage seemed to realize the danger at the same instant.

He desperately turned around.

His eyes widened.

— No!!!!

—DAMN IT!!!!!!!!!!!

But it was already too late.

Before the Electricity Shield could be completed...

A slender hand pierced through the energy.

The hand pierced through the barrier as if it did not exist.

The fingers closed around the man’s shoulder.

And then pulled him into the air.

The Pseudo-Mage panicked.

Several magical items attached to his body lit up simultaneously.

A field of blue lightning exploded around him.

In an instant, the entire area transformed into a realm of electricity.

Rivers of raging electrical energy snaked through the air.

Yet the Mosquito still held his body with both hands.

And then she pulled in opposite directions.

"Crash~~

A horrible sound of flesh being torn apart echoed across the battlefield.

The Pseudo-Mage’s body was torn in two.

As his still-warm small and large intestines, heart, liver, lungs, and all his other internal organs fell to the ground, I felt as though the entire battlefield had fallen silent for a moment.

The human Acolytes who still remained there simply froze.

Their expressions were twisted with rage, but behind that rage was something none of them could completely hide: Fear.

If, just moments earlier, it had been one of them whose defense had been destroyed, perhaps that mutilated corpse on the ground would have been their own body.

For the first time, those outlaw Acolytes truly understood the difference between facing a Pseudo-Mage and provoking a Mage-level demon.

And they were terrified.

I barely had time to process what had happened when Sharniz made his decision.

Without saying a single word, he completely enveloped his small body in dazzling blue flames.

Then he disappeared for an instant, and when he reappeared, Sharniz was already at the edge of the Dark Forest.

The next moment, I saw a small mound moving rapidly across the terrain, heading toward the outer perimeter of the forest.

Another Acolyte was also fleeing.

Salin also realized that the situation had completely changed.

The Shadow Serpent’s face changed.

Then, in an instant, an enormous amount of crystalline shadow began forming around his body.

The shadow condensed until it transformed him into something resembling a huge black cube.

Magical runes glowed inside that structure, while the thickness of the shadow walls continued to increase.

I looked at it and immediately understood his intention.

That defense would probably be capable of withstanding even the Mosquito’s most powerful attack for some time.

The transformation into a Shadow Serpent had granted Salin an extremely powerful body and terrifying muscular strength.

In addition, his affinity with the shadow element had increased to an absurd degree.

But there was one thing that transformation had not given him: Speed.

And that was precisely the biggest problem.

If he lost the battle and tried to flee using that enormous body, he would only become an even easier target.

Therefore, Salin had no choice but to use a Shadow Wall to buy himself some time.

While remaining protected inside that cube, his body began to shrink.

I watched as his enormous Shadow Serpent form gradually disappeared, once again being replaced by his original human body.

Then Salin took out a magical scroll.

The object was completely covered in ancient and complex patterns.

He cast a furious glance at the Mosquito.

Then he looked at me.

For a moment, our gazes met.

And then he activated the scroll, and an intense light exploded. Along with the light, a violent spatial wave swept across the battlefield.

The space around us seemed to distort.

When that light finally disappeared...

Salin was gone.

— An escape scroll...

I could not help but murmur.

That was definitely not something an ordinary Acolyte could easily afford.

Scrolls capable of performing spatial escapes were generally produced by Official Mages, and the destination had probably been predetermined somewhere safe and hidden.

I had no time to pursue him, nor did I intend to.

Instead, I carefully ordered the Giant of Light and the two Black Rock Basilisks to go around the Shadow Wall.

Meanwhile, the few outlaw Acolytes who had served as nothing more than cannon fodder also fled.

In the end, only the Mosquito and I remained on that battlefield.

She probably would not consider the fact that we had fought side by side earlier to be enough reason to let me escape.

To her, I was still an intruder.

I had barely managed to move a hundred meters away when a dark light appeared before my eyes.

I stopped immediately.

The Mosquito appeared in my path.

Her body was covered in scars.

Her flower armor was practically destroyed.

She looked far more weakened than before.

And I could still remember the moment when she had attacked the electrical Pseudo-Mage.

Although that battle had lasted only a few moments, the man’s desperate counterattack before his death had inflicted tremendous damage on her body.

— So, after causing such destruction in my territory, you still think you can leave like this?

— You’d better obediently stay behind.

— Use your flesh and soul as compensation for my losses!

She immediately began preparing to attack.

I raised my hand.

— Wait!

My voice echoed across the battlefield.

— Honored Mosquito, we were fighting side by side just moments ago, weren’t we?

She snorted.

— Hmph!

— All of you are damn intruders.

— You all deserve to die.

— Those others already paid their price.

— As for you...

Her eyes became even more ferocious.

I remained calm.

— Honored Mosquito, think carefully.

— You are also seriously injured.

— If you want to defeat me now, the price you’ll have to pay might be something even you cannot bear. So, why don’t we...

She interrupted me.

— You’re dreaming!

— No matter what price I have to pay today, I’m still going to tear you apart!

I stared at her for several seconds.

Then I sighed.

She had chosen this.

I stared directly at the Mosquito advancing toward me and shouted.

— Since you insist on fighting, then I have no choice but to keep you company!

My voice echoed through the forest.

— Explode!

The Mosquito narrowed her eyes.

— Explode everything for me!

This time, an extremely ominous feeling arose within her.

I noticed it.

Those final words had not been directed at her.

And then...

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion came from the ground.

The ground beneath our feet began to tremble violently.

The connection the Mosquito felt between her current form and her true form... had been severed.

Without the endless energy her true form constantly transmitted, her aura began to weaken rapidly.

— You damn human!

— What did you do?!

Her voice was filled with fury.

— I’m going to kill you!

Even after suffering so many attacks, the Mosquito’s strength had still not fallen below the Mage level.

This surprised me.

She had clearly stored a gigantic amount of elemental energy after occupying that Elemental reserve.

But I knew it would not last.

I looked into the distance.

Ruby was coming toward me.

Her wings beat rapidly as she flew across the battlefield.

I raised my hand.

— Now!

The Giant of Light and the two Black Rock Basilisks immediately advanced against the Mosquito.

The flame of war, which had just begun to die down, was reignited.

And the battle continued.

It lasted for two hours.

But for me, the outcome had already been decided the moment I destroyed the Mosquito’s true form.

If she had possessed enough intelligence to understand the situation, she would have fled immediately.

But that demon did not possess the cunning and calculating malice of a human.

She decided to fight to the very end.

But that cost her her own life.

Ruby took advantage of an opening.

The Blood Fairy clung to the Mosquito’s body and sank her teeth into her neck.

I could never have imagined that a Blood Fairy’s hunger for blood could be so absurd.

Ruby began sucking the blood filled with elemental energy from the Mosquito’s body.

The Mosquito reacted violently, but no matter how many wounds Ruby received, she continued sucking.

The Mosquito’s aura rapidly diminished, and after several minutes, the last trace of aura disappeared.

The Mosquito died.

Ruby finally released her arms.

The demon’s body fell to the ground like an empty leather sack.

Ruby let out a loud burp.

I stared at her.

Her face was flushed and full of vitality.

She looked up at me and gave me a sweet smile.

Then she collapsed beside the corpse and simply fell asleep.

I placed a hand over my face.

It really was troublesome when a woman went crazy.

I just wanted to know why she couldn’t wait until we returned to the Tower of Mages before starting to have fun like this.

But there was no time to complain.

I placed Ruby over one arm.

With the other, I grabbed the Mosquito’s corpse.

Then I began giving orders to the Giant of Light.

The electrical Pseudo-Mage’s body was scattered across the battlefield.

There might be some useful magical items among those remains.

And, honestly, what I wanted most to find were the magical spellbooks that were probably stored inside the bag attached to that man’s waist.

While I searched the battlefield, I heard a noise coming from a nearby bush.

The leaves parted.

Raticati appeared.

He was carrying an enormous sack on his back.

— Master!

— Master!

— There are still some treasures underground!

I gritted my teeth.

Then I stomped my foot on the ground.

— I’ll send a Black Rock Basilisk to help you.

— Take everything you can!

— You have fifteen minutes!

One of the Basilisks immediately slithered toward Raticati.

It opened its enormous mouth and swallowed him.

Then the creature raised its head, and its body launched itself into the ground.

The enormous creature burrowed through the earth, breaking through layers of soil and destroying rocky strata as it advanced toward the second underground floor.

....

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