Chapter 117: These Sorcerers are no joke

Kanan moved as fast as he could, dodging spirit attacks that came his way. Below him, the plains remained engulfed in chaos, with warriors clashing against Verminus-controlled corpses and the air filled with screams, fire, and the constant crack of spirit attacks.

A corpse suddenly lunged upward toward him, its claws reaching for his leg, but Kanan twisted sideways at the last moment and fired a concentrated spirit beam straight through its chest, sending the creature tumbling toward the ground, where two Typhon warriors immediately rushed forward and engulfed it in flames before it could rise again.

Another corpse leaped toward him from below, forcing Kanan to drop beneath it before spinning through the air and firing two beams upward, both of which struck the creature and sent it crashing back toward the ground, where Nemean warriors surrounded it and shouted for the Typhon fighters to burn it before it could recover.

Kanan continued forward, keeping his attention fixed on the small figure ahead, but his expression suddenly tightened when he sensed five powerful presences moving behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he realized that all five Sorcerers had noticed where he was going.

Nik broke away from Lars first and sprinted across the battlefield with his spear ready, while Nak followed by launching herself through the air with a burst of wind, and behind them Patty abandoned her duel with Hal, Wak turned away from Trena, and Bone stopped attacking Telah and Selin as all five corpses redirected their attention toward Kanan.

"Seriously?" Kanan muttered as Nik’s spear thrust toward his face, forcing him to throw up a shield of spirit energy that caught the weapon with enough force to send him backward.

Nak immediately followed with a brilliant beam of light that Kanan twisted around before firing a blue spirit beam of his own, which Nak deflected with her staff even as the resulting explosion forced her away.

Kanan barely had time to recover before Patty was already upon him, her sword descending with tremendous precision.

He summoned the new bronze staff Igor had created for him directly into his hand, catching the blade against its shaft and gritting his teeth as the impact shook his arms before Patty drove a kick into his chest that sent him flying backward through the air.

Kanan recovered almost immediately, but Wak was already waiting for him and launched a series of fireballs that forced Kanan to create three overlapping spirit shields around himself.

The first fireball exploded against the outer barrier, the second shattering it completely, and the third striking the next shield hard enough to send Kanan tumbling through the smoke.

Bone emerged from the flames immediately afterward, charging toward Kanan with his enormous fist already swinging toward his head, but instead of blocking or dodging, Kanan reached out with his spirit energy and seized control of the direction of Bone’s attack.

He twisted the massive punch back toward its owner so that Bone’s own momentum carried his fist directly into his face with a tremendous impact that left the hulking corpse staggering backward.

Kanan stared at him for a moment before muttering, "That was satisfying. I didn’t expect that to work."

For several frantic moments, Kanan fought all five Sorcerers at once, blocking Nik’s spear, blasting Nak away whenever she tried to attack from an unexpected angle, shielding himself from Wak’s flaming assaults, parrying Patty’s precise sword strikes, and using his spirit energy to redirect Bone’s overwhelming attacks whenever the hulking corpse tried to crush him beneath sheer strength.

Despite their individual fighting styles being completely different, the five worked together surprisingly well, constantly covering one another and preventing Kanan from simply flying past them.

Kanan could not keep this up forever, however, because every second he spent fighting them was another second the Verminus Plant’s host remained alive, and the more he watched the five Sorcerers attack him, the more obvious their desperation became.

They had abandoned their battles with the Elders entirely, choosing instead to focus everything they had on preventing him from reaching the boy.

’The Verminus Plant is scared.’ Kanan theorized. ’It’s trying its best to prevent me from going after it.’

Kanan surged forward again, but the Sorcerers immediately moved to intercept him, only for the Elders to arrive and finally cut them off.

Telah’s spear slammed against Bone’s arm while Selin’s flaming sword cut across his path. Trena’s explosion forced Wak backward, Hal’s energy construct blocked Patty’s advance, Nala warped the space around Nak and disrupted her movement, and Lars appeared directly in front of Nik before the spear could reach Kanan.

"Keep going, Kanan!" Telah shouted.

"Thanks." He accelerated across the battlefield, not looking back, as he believed in his people. His power still amplified the Elders, so it was up to them to finish their battles.

Finally making it across, Kanan descended toward the boy, expecting the child to remain defenseless, but the moment he entered striking distance, the boy suddenly looked up, and his body lurched forward with terrifying speed. Roots erupted violently from beneath his feet as the Verminus Plant launched its attack directly at Kanan.

Surprisingly, the attack from the boy was weaker than Kanan expected. He easily cut through the roots with his spirit energy-coated staff and parried any physical attack the boy tried.

It was as if he were genuinely fighting a child with little fighting expierence.

"Now I see why you wanted those Sorcerers to stop me; you’re weak on your own." Kanan slapped the boy to the ground, then kicked him into one of the charred roots.

Amplifying his speed, Kanan rocketed toward the boy and wrapped his hand around the child’s neck.

"You’re a disgusting creature that has no right to take the body of this child. As intelligent as you are, I hope you feel fear as I take your life. And as it pains me to do this to a child’s body...Die!"

"W-Wait!"

Kanan paused, the spirit blade wrapped around his staff nearly punching through the boy’s chest.

It was common knowledge that the Verminus Plant-controlled corpses could not speak; they were dead, so it made sense. But then, Kanan remembered something: Chief Woton.

’Wait. Chief Woton could speak because he was a perfect host to the Verminus Plant. Then, that means..."

"P-Please, don’t kill me!" The boy cried; no, the Verminus Plant did.