Swordmaster of the Great Wall

Ceres slowly closed and opened her eyes.

The Laurenti standing before her clearly wore the face of her teacher, but the energy she sensed was entirely different.

It was as if a foreign presence, the sense of someone else, was layered over his face.

'This isn't ordinary magic.'

Ceres realized that the magic Laurenti wielded as a necromancer carried a fundamentally different aura from regular magic.

Was it because the power, which should normally be drawn through magic circuits, emanated from his core instead?

However, Ceres sensed that there was something more to the power possessed by a necromancer.

'If it isn't through the magic circuit, then where is his power coming from...?'

Just then, the sky split open.

― Kurururung.

The rift in the sky was packed with icy spikes. The vicious blue magic seemed as if it might rain down at any moment.

But Ceres had already sensed Laurenti's arrangements. She kept noticing the current of power, seemingly drawn from somewhere, escaping upward toward the sky.

If one simply looked at the shape of the forces, it might have been easy to overlook.

But unlike swordmasters like Erich or Mikhail, Ceres, as a mage, could read the overall flow of power.

Thus, before Laurenti could finish his large-scale magic, Ceres devised a way to thwart it.

'I don't need much.'

Ceres slowly closed her eyes. There were various ways to counter magic with magic. If it was ice magic, one could simply apply heat to melt it... but in that case, victory would go to whoever had the greater amount of mana.

But Ceres knew Laurenti's mana reserves far surpassed her own. Confronting him head-on would be no different than suicide.

So, Ceres made the flow of magical formulas within her body even sharper.

With every flash of her eyes, the black tattoos etched on her body writhed and took form.

Had she not awakened these new eyes, she wouldn't have been able to do this, but now that she could see the flow of mana, it was not a difficult task.

A simpler, yet more sophisticated formula.

That was the direction Ceres sought.

Rather than answering vast magic with massive magic, she needed subtle control.

― Wooong.

A faint energy spread around Ceres. Her magic branched out into the air like twigs from a tree, and like vines, quickly extended through the surroundings.

Behind her, mana-forged chains spread in all directions, like the branches of the mythical World Tree.

Laurenti, watching from afar, furrowed his brow. He, too, seemed to realize that the magic Ceres was using was far from ordinary.

Soon, shards of ice poured down from the opened sky like rain.

― Kwagagagagak!

But at that moment—

The thin chains Ceres had already extended gleamed and disturbed the balance of the ice shards that had been suspended solidly in the sky.

Magic only holds meaning when the formula and mana are injected into precise coordinates in three-dimensional space.

But what Ceres had done was scatter the coordinates of the ice shards randomly in three-dimensional space.

As a result, the ice shards that hadn't received the intended amount of mana, or had received too much, exploded in the sky.

― Paang!

When the ice shards, empowered by mana, exploded in the clouded sky, they burst in a chain reaction like fireworks.

Ceres's blue hair fluttered in the aftermath.

The branches of mana completed behind her stood firm against the background of exploding ice shards. Ceres held a faint smile.

***

Erich gazed at the ice shards bursting in the sky. Clearly, Laurenti had intended to use this magic to wipe out everyone here.

But thanks to Ceres's intervention, Laurenti's schemes were broken in an instant.

Erich's lips curled slightly upward.

'Seems I don't need to worry about this side.'

Erich quickly realized that the mana branches Ceres had formed served not only to suppress the ice shards.

They weren't lethal, but the chains of mana continued spreading, weakening any magic of Laurenti's they touched.

Instead of directly attacking with her magic, Ceres had handed that role over to the swordmasters, including Erich.

Erich's blade was soon engulfed in golden flames.

― Fwoooosh.

While Laurenti's magic was weakened by Ceres's spell, Erich instantly advanced toward him.

He slashed diagonally at Laurenti's body. Laurenti's eyes narrowed as he tried to summon an ice pillar for defense as before.

― Chaaaak!

Blue blood spurted from Laurenti's shriveled chest. The ice pillar hadn't formed properly, so Laurenti couldn't block Erich's attack.

But Laurenti quickly regained his stance, hiding his burning chest, and stretched a hand toward Erich.

― Kwaaang!

Erich was pushed back after blocking Laurenti's ice spear with his blade. His feet scraped long lines across the snow.

Then Mikhail's slashes poured down on Laurenti. He tried to quickly raise ice walls for defense—

― Kwagagagak!

Slashes from every direction found even the narrowest gaps in the ice walls.

The damage didn't match Erich's flames, but blue blood flowed from Laurenti's entire body.

Moreover—

― Phit!

Mikhail's hand shot upward. Before anyone realized, he had drawn his sword, tracing a line toward Laurenti.

Behind him, with a tearing sound, the snow at his feet shot up to his head. It was a shockwave produced by a powerful impact.

A blow so heavy that simply swinging a sword could send a shockwave flying. As proof, a deep gash opened on Laurenti's shoulder.

Laurenti's face twisted into a demonic scowl.

"You wretched vermin!"

Laurenti raised his hand toward Erich and Mikhail. From his palm, a chill cold enough to freeze everything poured forth.

It was more than just the frost clinging to his body—there was enough power to turn whatever it touched instantly to ice.

― Kwakwa!

Erich summoned flames across his entire body, shielding himself from the magic, while Mikhail unleashed countless thin slashes, keeping the frost from reaching him.

But as Laurenti concentrated on the two of them—

― Paat!

A towering barbarian blotted out the sun as he brought his massive club crashing down on Laurenti's crown from above.

― Kwaang!

With a dull impact, Laurenti staggered. Even without powerful aura or sword energy, the club swung by Hrung-ga was extremely threatening simply due to his raw strength.

Moreover—

― Chwarararak!

"Grrk!"

Laurenti reeled. The Head Hunter ability embedded within Hrung-ga's club activated a moment later.

Razor-like winds rose, etching Laurenti's face with scars.

Had he not been such a robust high-level being, the blow would have shredded his skull entirely.

As Laurenti lost balance and reeled—

― Shaeeek!

Erich's sword sliced through the air with a sonic boom. Leaving a golden afterimage, the attack split Laurenti's body.

In that instant, Erich saw it with his own eyes.

The two cores inside Laurenti's body lost their light and shattered.

The powerful necromancer Laurenti was steadily sinking. All he could do was desperately hold out against the joint assault of the three.

Meanwhile, the dead attacking Erich's forces were falling one by one.

Because Laurenti's frost could not reach that far, the unit's casualties were minimal.

Laurenti glared with white, unyielding eyes as he unleashed magic recklessly.

― Kwakwakwang!

But none of it had the same power as before. Ceres's mana World Tree, spreading out behind the trio, was suppressing Laurenti's spells so they could not achieve their full potential.

On top of that, as Laurenti's cores dwindled, so too did his mana. Of course, the swordmasters and the Head Hunter's aura would naturally be consumed as the fight dragged on, but Laurenti's cores were depleting even faster.

― Kwaduk!

Mikhail clung to Laurenti's shoulder like a spider and drove his sword in.

As he withdrew the blade, a shattered core came out with it. Mikhail then lightly waved his sword as he jumped away, using Laurenti as a springboard.

― Tutut.

The ruined core tumbled across the ground. With less than half remaining, Laurenti's white eyes narrowed. He, too, understood his own impending end.

But then Laurenti's gaze turned elsewhere. Rather than the swordmasters and Head Hunter threatening him with gleaming blades, his eyes fixed on Ceres, who had conjured the mana World Tree.

Ceres's mana World Tree was trembling. The chains of mana forming it shone with an odd light.

The once-blue power was deepening into a darker blue.

The magic, shaped like a giant World Tree, slowly began to unfurl its leaves.

Even the smallest chains began branching out. This not only meant that the new magic Ceres controlled had reached an even higher level—

― Whiiii.

But that the light of mana changing signified an alteration in the formula as well.

Soon, the branch-shaped chains that had sprouted leaves vibrated once more.

Chains extended toward Laurenti. The branches and leaves on the chains transformed near him into thick fruit.

― Kwaduk!

The previously harmless chains now radiated killing intent. Now razor-sharp, the chains bound Laurenti's entire body.

He struggled desperately, but the weakened necromancer couldn't break the chains' strength.

Quickly, the chains with fruit wrapped Laurenti tightly. Ceres reached a thin, porcelain-white hand toward him.

Then, she clenched her outstretched hand into a fist.

― Kwaduk.

A series of small explosions rippled out from the fruits of the World Tree, swallowing Laurenti whole.

A mighty explosion rocked the battlefield. The pillar of light was so intense, it reached up toward the clouds.

Erich, the one standing closest, closed his eyes as the overpowering light spread—unable to keep them open.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】