Supreme Magus

Chapter 4459: Not Weak (Part 1)

So far, Faluel had managed to deflect crippling blows by conjuring explosive spells in front of the enemy’s weapons at the last second and detonating them at point-blank range.

The Hydra was immune to her own mana, and the ensuing shockwaves hurt her much less than the Adamant blades would. The Isharas, instead, took the full brunt of the explosions and were blown away, giving Faluel precious moments of respite.

”Come on, suckers. I can do this all day!” She lied through the teeth of her third head as it took a deep breath of Invigoration to replenish her mana and heal her body.

”That’s a game two can play!” A male Ishara lunged with his spear while his two team members regained their strength with their breathing techniques.

Faluel parried his thrust and intercepted the stinger of his tail with one of her mouths. She bit as hard as she could, her fangs pumping acidic venom into his tail. The Ishara grunted in pain and unleashed two more attacks with his pincers.

The Hydra blocked them as well, but she needed to extend two more heads, forcing herself into an uncomfortable stance. Just like the Isharas wanted.

”Got you, lizard!” The pincers of the Ishara focused the two Life Maelstrom-amplified spells he had conjured and shot them at Faluel.

She conjured the opposing elements to neutralize the threat, but the Ishara’s magic was much stronger and denser. His spells pierced through her defenses and hit her stumpy torso like sledgehammers.

The other two Isharas joined the attack as soon as the Hydra crashed to the ground and the air was squeezed out of her lungs.

”Weak.” A rumbling metallic voice resounded as the volley of tier five spells rained down on Faluel.

She ignored the distracting voice and conjured the Hands of Menadion on top of two of her heads in the form of crowns. The artifact’s enchanted blades countered the elements imbued in every spell Faluel struck down, but she had only two blades to face the magical onslaught.

”Weak!” The voice roared louder as Gungnir lunged forward on its own and released part of the Blade Energy it had stored into a golden dome that shielded Faluel from harm.

”What the fuck?” Faluel allowed herself to stare at the glaive with one of her heads. ”You can talk?”

”WEAK!” Gungnir’s battle cry manifested as a shockwave of air magic that pushed Faluel to her knees and the Isharas back. ”Not weak! Not me!”

The glaive escaped her grip, bolting against the nearest Ishara while wreathing itself in a giant hard-light construct shaped like a Dragon.

”What is that?” The male Ishara could see with Life Vision that Gungnir held the power of an incomplete Blade Spell, but a Blade Spell nonetheless.

A fraction of that energy was enough to kill a Divine Beast if struck directly.

He Blinked away, but the Dragon construct was faster. The Ishara kept Blinking away from Faluel, but the conjured creature kept getting closer.

”Fuck!” Realizing he had no way out, the male Ishara conjured a powerful Spirit Barrier.

He also unleashed every spell he had at the ready against the conjured Dragon after boosting them with a spark of Life Maelstrom.

Great was his surprise when the roaring spheres of fire, darkness, and earth met no resistance as they hit the construct. The deadly spells phased through the shining Dragon harmlessly while Gungnir bolted forward unimpeded.

”Fuck! This thing is not a construct. It’s just a hologram!” The Ishara realized his lapse in judgment only when he struck at the Dragon’s maw closing on him and discovered it was an empty threat.

”Not weak! Not me!” Gungnir had wasted no mana in theatrics.

The glaive had simply channeled part of its aura outward in the shape of a Dragon to hide its real flight path until the very last moment. Gungnir recalled the mana dispersed in the hologram and focused it on its tip.

The resulting Blade Strike punched a hole through the male Ishara’s chest, severing the humanoid upper torso from the scorpion lower body.

”Not me!” Gungnir performed a U-turn and blew the Ishara’s head to bits on its way back.

The Soaring Dragon Blade Spell reappeared, and it dove at the two remaining Isharas.

”You finish off the Hydra!” A female Ishara said to another. ”I’ll deal with that thing. It can only target one of us, and now we know what-”

”Not weak!” The hologram sprouted a second Dragon head, each staring at a different Ishara.

The mass of light was large enough to hide Gungnir’s position, making it impossible to tell which Ishara was its real target.

”That thing could be anywhere! What do we do?” Asked the second female Ishara.

”Run!” The first replied.

”Good gods.” Faluel muttered as the hologram grew a third neck from which another head sprouted. ”The little bastard is learning.”

Gungnir struck the slowest of the Isharas, using half of the energy it had left to blow her body to bits on impact. Then, the glaive plunged into the ground at Faluel’s feet, the shockwave forcing her to stand up and grab its haft to support herself.

”Not weak!” It growled. ”Not us. Stand. Fight. Feed me!”

”I can definitely believe you’re Lith’s craft.” Faluel panted, using Invigoration to replenish her strength and her other six heads to cast her Blade Spell, Venom Fang, as fast as she could. ”You’re barely a month old, and you’re already a nagging pain in my ass!”

The golden energy enveloping Gungnir grew in size as new mana flowed into the Adamant weapon.

”Talk less. Cast more!” The glaive grumbled, avidly absorbing every drop of mana she released.

”I need help!” The only survivor of the three-man unit didn’t feel confident facing the Hydra alone. ”If we don’t stop Faluel, she’ll cast a real Blade Spell!”

Not with all of her seven heads focused on the last remaining Ishara. Not with the murderer of her best friends in Faluel’s grip and filled with new power.

Meanwhile, Lith faced Ankhuta and two more Isharas alone. The good news was that Tista’s arrays had scattered the enemy forces, and it would take them a while to assemble and coordinate their efforts again.

The bad news was that Lith was still outnumbered and outgunned. Life Maelstrom made each of the Isharas’ many limbs a threat Lith had to watch out for and bestowed them physical and magical prowess that eclipsed his own.

Their long weapons gave the Blood of Selkis the reach advantage, while their pincers worked both as a secondary attack and a tool to shoot hyper-compressed spells with pinpoint accuracy.

Their long tails were slightly shorter than the polearms, but they released jets of a powerful acid even if blocked or dodged.

The splashes of acid inflicted on Lith only shallow wounds, but he had to be careful they never came close to his eyes or his open mouth whenever he breathed a burst of mystical flames.

”You are an annoying bastard, Verhen!” Ankhuta snarled as he unleashed a barrage of quick thrusts of his spear and two anti-Dragon spells, Frozen Wasteland, from his pincers.

The tier five spells conjured a cold wave with water magic and drained the humidity in the surroundings with air magic.