Blade Over Magic

The Hunt III

Dorian wiped his brow of sweat before downing a mana potion to replenish his reserves.

Not far from him, the body of a large bird-type beast could be seen impaled on one of the large trees by a long spike of earth, blood dripping to the floor.

’Phew, that’s number nine.’ He thought proudly as from above, his seniors floated down and looked on with approval.

”Your control over earth magic has risen greatly since the last time I saw it. Very good.” One fourth floor Instructor said while nodding, and Dorian felt his pride surge.

”Just this much isn’t all that impressive. Either way, I’m well rested and any signs of burnout have receded. So let’s proceed to the next target.” He said and prepared to advance when...

BOOM

The ground shuddered, and a large blast wave washed over the group, many subconsciously casting barriers to stop themselves from getting blown away.

Dorian grunted and looked in the direction the wave came from, only for his pupils to constrict as, in the distance, a massive expanding sphere of heat could be seen, and even from where they were, the felt hot air hit them.

From what he could see, everything caught in this sphere was utterly vaporized, and before it could expand any further, it rapidly shrunk.

Dorian felt his throat go dry.

’Wh-What sort of beast is that? Is that something that should be this close to the outer area of the forest?’ He thought with genuine terror. He didn’t even consider anything other than it being a beast as he questioned why something like that wouldn’t be much deeper in the forest.

”Everyone, let’s go. Whatever that thing is, we do not want to be near it at all.” One of the elders said with a grim expression.

No one argued as all of them immediately activated their flight and flew in the opposite direction of the blast. Dorian wanted to win, but he had no intention of seeking his own death by encountering something so strong.

***

”Hm. I feel like we’re a lot stronger than we thought.” Falael scratched her head as she stood in the boiling crater she made.

That had been an armadillo which seemed to have robust defenses, but she killed it in one hit again.

Aubrey just sighed.

”Evidently. Seems like we’ll have to move in deeper than this. Well, I’ve already mapped out the location of some stronger beasts, so we should be able to find something less fragile.” With that said, the girls hopped onto Curtis back, and under her guidance, the massive white wolf shot forward like a freight train.

’By the way, what’s Xander doing?’ Curtis asked, and Aubrey just chuckled.

”He’s already killed all the beasts I showed him before and is traveling deeper to find stronger stuff like us. Oh, speaking of...” She sat up a bit. ”Seems like he’s about to encounter said stronger stuff.”

***

As Xander rushed deeper into the forest, the scenery around him began to change once more as the number of trees actually increased.

He kept his eyes peeled as he moved between the trees without stopping.

But then...

Abscinde moved as a long projectile appeared in front of him, and the sword deflected it to the side. It continued past Xander and blasted through several trees like they weren’t even there, the projectiles actually going out of sight as Xander narrowed his eyes.

A moment later, he moved his sword above him as he deflected another projectiles into the ground. The floor didn’t explode from the force, and rather, it simply borrowed deep inside for who knows how far. It was also then he finally got a chance to see what the projectile was before it fully vanished from sight.

It was a long bone-like projectile nearly two meters long. He didn’t want to call it a spear as it looked more biological, like something had produced and shot it out from its body.

’What strange Mana.’ Xander thought as he continued to deflect these projectiles that came from all sorts of angles. Whatever was firing them was moving around constantly, preventing its pocation from being ascertained.

’I see.’ He mused as he dodged the latest attempt, his eyes watching as the bony projectile passed him by.

’There’s some concepts at play here. They aren’t just fast, they are actively pulling the surrounding kinetic energy into themselves to get faster. And when they reach me, all that energy concentrates into the tip, giving it devastating penetrative power. Hm.’ With that thought, Xander evaded another projectile, but this time, he pivoted on his foot and stabbed Abscinde into another direction.

’Rupture Thrust.’

Before, Rupture Thrust only worked if Xander struck a solid object, and from the point of impact, the vibrations unleashed would travel faster and faster, utilizing a cascading effect to become more destructive before destroying the target.

However, the number of constraints this held were many. For starters, Xander could only use it when striking solid targets. Meaning the floor, an opponent’s body, and so on. It couldn’t be used as a ranged attack.

That was before.

Now, Xander’s attainments in his vibrations had risen dramatically. And factor in the Myriad Paths which allowed him to ’target’ non-physical things and concepts, in addition to Abscinde, well...

From the point Abscinde struck, space itself began to tremble violently, and it didn’t take long before this tremble turned into splintering as at some point, space began to shatter like glass, spreading outwards in a wide range where everything in its path was devoured and shredded by split space.

By the time the attack peaked, the entire area Xander had thrusted in was utterly decimated. There was a brief void where space was absent, then the surrounding space rushed in to fill it like a vacuum. This also pulled in many things that hadn’t been yet destroyed. Exacerbating the damage.

When it finally ended, an area of about a hundred meters could be seen where everything in the vicinity was just gone.

The only thing that remained was a large scorpion covered in a carapace made of bone. It’s pincers were gone, and its tail which had been the source of the projectiles were mangled terribly.

It let out a pained noise as it attempted to retreat, but Xander was already in front of it as he swung down.

’Crescent Moon.’ His sword cleaved through the scorpion, and its entire body followed as it was bisect in half cleanly.

Xander stored the body, then he spun while swinging his sword in front of him.

’Water Screen.’ A thin film of water appeared just as another bone scorpion appeared and struck at him. Unlike its dead comrade, its stinger was normal, but its pincers were oddly shaped, almost resembling Spears as they pressed against the water screen, not giving it a chance to reflect the force.

But Xander didn’t give it a chance to break through either, as he thrust forward.

’Frost Flower Thrust.’ Cold winds swirled around his blade before gathering at the tip, resembling a blooming flower as Abscinde Thrust through the water screen, making it distend and stop at the scorpion’s head.

’Ice Breaker.’

BANG

The scorpion’s head exploded. The fusion attack breaking through its defenses easily.

Xander once more collected the corpse and rolled his shoulders as he looked around.

In his eyes, dozens of hostile paths were aimed at him, and they all traced back to numerous scorpions that were beginning to gather around him.

Some were like the first two he killed. Either with stingers that threatened to unleash those strange projectiles. Of odd pincers that carried the same kinetic devouring effect as the stingers.

There were also some other ones. Like one whose pincers resembled two large shields. Another with a large bone spike on its back, the tip holding a pale white crystal. Some that looked very large, and some very small.

Xander felt his surroundings start to warp as each scorpion had its own conceptual weight. No doubt due to each having attainments in whatever concept they employed. Some more than others.

’Phew. Alright. Seems like I can start grasping the true extent of my current abilities.’ With that thought, he raised Abscinde to the air and said in his heart.

’Manifestation.’ His eyes burned brightly as around him, the phantom image of a large garden appeared filled with large flowers, and within each flower was a sword embedded in the center.

About a dozen of these swords flew out and floated around Xander, then from them, phantom figures formed holding them in the corresponding stances.

To an outsider, these figures would simply appear humanoid. But in Xander’s eyes, these figures were versions of him that wielded these swords in the past.

Suddenly, Xander wasn’t as outnumbered as before. He lowered Abscinde and felt the weapon buzz in his hands. Something akin to excitement radiating off it as Xander also entered a stance.

He didn’t hesitate, he simply gave a mental order.

’Charge.’