Chapter 149: Transformation of the magic bone root
As the Level 3 Acolyte of the Subterranean World advanced toward Ruby, I remained at a distance, observing every movement.
She was fast.
Faster than I expected.
As soon as she entered attack range, she extended her hands and fired two extremely fast energy rays.
ZAP!
ZAP!
Both struck Ruby head-on.
My eyes narrowed.
She had managed to hit her.
But Ruby merely took a few steps back, showing no concern.
The enemy Acolyte did not waste any time.
She raised both hands and began reciting an incantation.
— Slowness is the same as Confusion!
The enemy Acolyte’s mana pulsed and traveled through both arms.
Buzz...
Two different magical waves spread throughout the cave.
One of them would affect the target’s mind, causing a slight confusion and slowing their reactions.
The other would directly interfere with their movements, drastically reducing their speed.
They were simple curses, but extremely useful.
If the enemy did not possess enough resistance or was unable to dispel them quickly, those two spells could reduce their combat ability by more than thirty percent.
But the Acolyte was not finished yet.
— Celestial Blue!
Her voice echoed through the cave.
She spread her arms and pointed her palms forward.
A blue aura appeared around her hands.
Runes began to appear.
Then something strange happened.
The skin on her arms began to transform.
What had previously been human limbs was slowly replaced by long structures resembling whips made of the bones of sea creatures.
CRACK...
CRACK...
The bones moved as if they possessed a life of their own.
It was a Spirit Summoning.
But that technique was different from conventional summons.
She was not simply creating an independent creature.
She was merging part of her own body with the summoned spirit.
This greatly increased her physical capabilities.
One of the bone whips shot toward Ruby.
ZOSH!
Ruby remained motionless for an instant.
The attack struck the ground.
BANG!
Two deep cracks spread across the stone like a web.
Dust and fragments flew in every direction.
Then Ruby disappeared.
For an instant, I saw only a sequence of red images.
Whoosh!
She appeared beside the Acolyte.
The enemy’s expression changed immediately.
She finally realized it.
Those images were not merely an illusion.
They were afterimages produced by Ruby’s speed.
And even under the effect of the Slowness spell, Ruby could still move far too quickly.
If she had not reduced Ruby’s speed...
There probably would not even have been any afterimages to see.
— Damn...
The Acolyte realized too late that she had made a mistake.
She should not have accepted close-quarters combat against Ruby.
But it was already too late.
— Bone Armor!
An intense blue light exploded around her.
Within seconds, an armor formed from magical bones completely covered her body.
Spikes appeared over her shoulders, chest, and arms.
She immediately raised the whips to protect her head.
CRACK!
ZOSH!
The whips cut through the space in front of her.
Ruby dodged in every direction.
She could barely keep up with her movements.
Even so, the Acolyte managed to defend herself.
Ruby’s attacks began leaving marks on the armor.
Small cracks appeared.
Then more.
And more.
One strike finally pierced part of the defense.
The enemy Acolyte retreated.
— Urrgh!
One of the bone whips had been partially destroyed.
But she quickly regenerated it.
The bones grew again before my eyes.
Interesting.
She had a much greater defensive capability than I had expected.
Ruby advanced again.
ZOSH!
The Acolyte swung the whips frantically.
The sound of bones cutting through the air filled the cave.
Ruby disappeared and reappeared constantly, like a red demon moving among the shadows.
The Acolyte could not figure out where the real body was.
She attacked the afterimages.
Ruby attacked her defenses.
It was a battle of speed against resistance.
And despite Ruby’s enormous advantage in close-quarters combat, the Acolyte was managing to survive.
I watched attentively.
She was clearly not a specialized combat expert.
Her fighting style depended entirely on the summoned spirit.
But that did not mean she was weak.
On the contrary.
Her spells covered practically every aspect necessary for a battle.
Attack.
Defense.
Control.
Regeneration.
Enhancement.
It was exactly this kind of preparation that made the Acolytes of the Subterranean World so dangerous.
They did not necessarily possess a single extraordinary spell.
They simply did not leave an obvious weakness for the enemy to exploit.
Then I heard something behind us.
BOOOM!
The entire cave trembled.
I turned my head.
Another rumble.
TREMOR!
The tunnel I had brought down with my Giant King Shark was completely blocked by rocks and sand.
The Pseudo-Mage we had separated from us seemed furious and was trying to clear a path.
Judging by the sound, he was destroying everything in front of him with magic.
Stalagmites collapsed and the entire environment trembled.
He was coming.
The Acolyte noticed the same thing.
From that moment on, her strategy changed.
She stopped trying to attack Ruby directly.
She began to focus exclusively on defense.
Ruby continued attacking.
ZAP!
ZAP!
ZAP!
Her nails left marks on the bone armor.
But the enemy continued to resist.
I remained watching.
Until Ruby finally retreated.
— Consort!
I looked at her.
Ruby dodged another whip and launched an attack that left two deep marks in the enemy’s armor.
— This beautiful and powerful empress orders you to stop hiding and come help!
I almost laughed.
She really could not go five minutes without turning a dangerous situation into a provocation.
Ruby attacked again.
The Acolyte defended herself.
Ruby retreated.
The whip passed grazing her body.
She advanced again.
But when she managed to strike the same area she had wounded earlier, she realized that the armor had already completely regenerated that part.
Ruby made an irritated expression.
She tried again.
The result was practically the same.
Finally, she lost her patience.
— George!
Her voice echoed through the cave.
— Help me, damn it!
The Acolyte turned pale.
She was already fighting at her limit against Ruby.
If I actually entered the battle...
Her situation would change completely.
She realized this.
And made a decision.
The Acolyte brought both hands together.
The blue aura around her body increased violently.
— Spirit of the Deep Sea...
Mana exploded.
My expression became serious.
Something was wrong.
Her body began to grow.
Her skin opened in several places, revealing magical bone structures.
Her feet began to transform.
Her legs disappeared into a mass of bone roots that penetrated the ground.
CRACK!
CRACK!
The roots spread throughout the cave.
Her arms had completely transformed into enormous whips.
Her torso took the form of a gigantic thorn-covered stem.
The only part that still resembled a human body was her head.
A sphere of blue water appeared around it.
I remained motionless.
The transformation continued.
Within a few seconds, the Acolyte had stopped looking human.
Before us was an enormous structure resembling a monstrous root formed from bones of the deep sea.
She had transformed her own body into a complete extension of the summoned spirit.
There were no longer any obvious vital organs.
There were no longer any easy-to-hit human weak points.
She had sacrificed her own form to maximize her resistance.
I immediately understood the objective.
She will certainly suffer greatly because of this transformation, if she survives this fight.
Her companion was destroying the tunnel to reach here.
And as long as she could endure until his arrival, she would consider all that expenditure of energy worthwhile.
I raised my right arm, and the explosive fire crystal launcher cocked a red crystal.
— Biochip, analyze this Acolyte and show me her status.
[Beep!]
[Name: Unknown]
[Level: Acolyte III]
[Gender: Female]
[Race: Human]
[Body Status]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 8]
[Vitality: 15]
[Mana: 15]
[Transformation activated.]
[Assessment: Dangerous.]
...
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