Chapter 170: Enemies in the Woods
The carriage rolled along the forest road at a steady, unhurried pace — the only overland route out of Shrimp Peninsula besides the sea, and a rough one at that, jolting badly over every rut. Neither passenger complained, though.
"Professor Wang, is the Gate of Legend really the only path to legendary rank?" Jessica asked.
"How do you know about that — ah, Emma must have mentioned it. That's right — as things stand, the only known method is an array that triggers mental resonance, what you're calling the Gate of Legend. No other path exists, as far as anyone knows. Though you're still a fair way off from that. Your task right now is breaking through to Arcanist rank — grasping elemental will," Evan said, then stopped abruptly.
Something had occurred to him. Jessica's own magical affinity ran unusual — not elemental at all, but mind-aligned. How could she ever grasp elemental will in the first place? Or was "elemental will" itself simply a manner of speaking?
Seeing him trail off, Jessica asked, "Something wrong?"
"A question just occurred to me. Your cultivation runs a rarer path than elemental magic — how would you even go about grasping elemental will? Or is elemental will itself just a convenient label — a way of describing the feeling of controlling magical energy through pure will? At least, that's how it felt when I broke through myself. It's hard to put into words — as though the elements themselves had taken on a kind of consciousness," Evan said. His own breakthrough had come while under the influence of the Book of the Dead — the sensation, he suspected, hadn't matched what others described at all.
"Lately, in meditation, I keep slipping unconsciously into a kind of trance — as though something's there, though I can't quite name it. I feel I'm close to Arcanist rank. Does that sound right to you?" Jessica asked.
"Trust yourself. It sounds right to me. I hope you break through soon. As for legendary rank — I honestly don't know, though something tells me there must be another path besides the one everyone knows. And even if there isn't, once you've reached the necessary strength, the school will help you without hesitation," Evan said, though he wasn't entirely confident in his own words.
Jessica laughed. "Why bring that up now? If I'd known, I'd have kept a sharper eye out when we found that magic gemstone vein."
Evan glanced at her, surprised she'd had the same thought. "Well, don't dwell on it. Reaching legendary rank isn't something anyone takes lightly — that outside-in method of triggering mental resonance carries real risk, and no one attempts it without real confidence going in."
Something sparked in Evan's mind just then. Wasn't this method essentially resonance in the physical sense? Did every person carry some fixed mental frequency, and the array simply induced resonance until it matched some external energy? If that held true, could a person adjust their own frequency directly — find the right conditions, even skip the array entirely? How would one even begin to tune that frequency?
The carriage suddenly slowed, then stopped. Both passengers leaned out. "Erik, what's happened?" Evan called.
"Honored mage, sir, there's a tree fallen across the road up ahead. Let me get down and clear it," the driver, Erik, answered.
Evan looked up to find a large tree lying across the path. His brow furrowed slightly, and he said with a smile, "No need to get down, Erik. I'll move it."
He didn't chant anything — simply extended his spiritual sense and used object manipulation to lift the tree and set it aside, all while quietly signaling Jessica: Ready your defenses. There's an ambush in the woods. Not sure yet who.
Aloud, he told Erik, "Let's go."
Erik acknowledged and snapped the reins. "Hyah! On we go."
The carriage started forward again. Evan's use of object manipulation had already served as a quiet warning — a signal that he was a mage, best left alone. Yet the moment the carriage moved, a fireball shot out of the trees, an incantation rising alongside it. The warning had gone unheeded.
The fireball was still forming when an earth spike burst up ahead of the carriage — but by then, both horses and carriage alike were already wrapped in crackling electricity. Fireball and spike alike struck the electric field and vanished instantly.
"At least two mages," Jessica said, gauging the enemy's rough level from the strength of the fireball and spike.
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Evan gave a cold smile. He had no idea who these people were, but it hardly mattered. A shout rang out, and figures charged in from both sides — four to a side, showing no sign of sword-force. Evan murmured an incantation and pointed down. Earthquake Rend split the ground beneath their attackers' feet — three of the four on the left couldn't stop in time and tumbled straight in, while the fourth caught himself just in time. Before he could react, the fissure snapped shut again, burying the other three alive.
Then an explosion tore through the earth, dirt flying, and one figure burst free, wreathed in white light — a knight-class fighter, evidently.
The other two never surfaced — buried for good. Only two remained on the left, though Evan knew two more still lurked hidden in the trees.
On the right, at the sound of Jessica's incantation, a great surge of water rose, her Water Dragon Beast manifesting with a roar, its tail lashing one attacker clean off his feet and into the trees. Of the remaining three, one turned out to be a beastman, and all three carried weapons wreathed in sword-force.
Evan and Jessica stepped down from the carriage. "Who are you? Why attack us?" Evan demanded.
"You're from Hollingburton?" said the man who'd just clawed his way free of the ground on the left, raising his greatsword. "We're just mercenaries, looking for some spare coin."
"Lies. If you were mercenaries, you'd have run the moment you saw me move a tree with magic. Besides, this is remote country — no one to rob out here but us," Evan said coldly.
"Don't waste words on him. Just two mages — we've got our own, and we're all ability-users besides, with plenty of magical resistance," another man said — bald, wielding a flail, its hexagonal head studded with wolf-fang spikes, glowing faintly as he charged.
Evan's face twisted into contempt. The crescent blade appeared in his hand, wreathed instantly in whirlwind, flickering into crackling lightning as it shot toward the bald man, leaves swirling up from the ground in its wake, the display genuinely impressive.
"Xiaoshuang, go help Jessica," Evan ordered. She flew up eagerly, a flash of blade-light following, and a scream erupted from Jessica's side of the fight.
The man who'd burst from the earth charged Evan with his greatsword, while Erik the driver cowered off to one side, shaking uncontrollably.
The crescent blade, trailing thunder-fire, met the bald man's swinging flail head-on with a crash, sending the blade tumbling away — the man stumbled back two steps, white light flaring over his skin, electricity crackling harmlessly across its surface. He'd weathered the magical damage.
What he'd forgotten was that the crescent blade wasn't an ordinary magical item at all, but an implement. Knocked aside, it spun through the air and circled back from behind him, trailing fallen leaves, lightning arcing several cubits from either tip, driving straight into his back.
He screamed — high magical resistance or not, nothing could stop the crescent blade's own physical edge, sharp as anything, driving deep. He collapsed, dead where he fell.
The other man closed on Evan, his greatsword wreathed in visible sword-force, cutting down at him. Evan stepped lightly aside, avoiding the blow entirely, and thrust his cane forward as he advanced — not much force behind it, aimed at the man's ribs, almost as though the man had walked into it himself.
His sword swung through empty air, and he barely registered the cane's light touch, dismissing it — until the strike landed and he understood, far too late, how badly he'd misjudged it. A tremendous force crashed through his body like a collapsing wall, and blood burst from his mouth in a thick jet.
Evan felt satisfied with that strike — no visible sword-force at all, the true power revealing itself only on impact, enough to send the man flying, his greatsword falling from his grip. In the same instant, the crescent blade arrived, spinning with thunder-fire, and the man's head left his shoulders.
Evan had dispatched both attackers on the left in mere moments. But it wasn't over yet — the two bodies had barely hit the ground when Meteor Fire Rain and Earthen Meteorite came streaking in like falling stars, and bowstrings sang, two blue-green arrows flying straight at him. Mage-archers among them too — four attackers targeting Evan alone.
Fury rose in him. A thick black mist surged up around him, swallowing him, Jessica, and Erik whole in an instant, while tendrils of black smoke shot out toward the treeline like an octopus's reaching arms.
The Meteor Fire Rain and Earthen Meteorite guttered out the moment they touched the mist, though the arrows kept coming. Evan flicked his cane, knocking them aside — Gale Arrows, not Blaze Arrows, meant specifically for a single target.
Screams echoed from within the trees. The black mist withdrew, carrying with it four invisible shapes — souls, four of them. Ordinarily, Evan had no taste for tormenting a soul, but today he made an exception. If they'd meant to kill him, they could die for it — and before they did, they'd give up their secrets.
Jessica had already dispatched her own attackers by then. A knight among them or not, she was no novice — she'd fought alongside Evan more than once by now, learned a great deal from watching his methods, and her own combat experience ran deep besides. Her Water Dragon Beast fought viciously, and with Xiaoshuang's help besides, she made short work of the attackers. Looking back, she found Evan had already dragged four souls in tow.
Evan's cane had already vanished into his ring, replaced by a bone staff, black light wrapping around the four captured souls. The moment that light touched them, all four let out agonized wails.
Evan showed no reaction at all, releasing a burst of green fire that made the four souls scream all the harder. Only then did he pause. The four had already learned exactly what a fate worse than death felt like — pitifully weak, honestly, unable to withstand much at all. He judged it enough. Time for questioning.
The interrogation cost him almost no effort at all. The four souls gave up everything they knew without resistance. Evan's face darkened as he listened.