Chapter 19: Resolving the Intractable
Buried inside the giant body of the Grave Tangle, Nathan smiled. Then immediately regretted it as he tasted the faintest amount of rancid flesh. But the joy was real. He had his tool, now he just needed to figure out how to apply it.
He planned out the most effective way to use his aura to encourage the destructive turbulence he felt. So far he’d destroyed the smallest part of the Wizardry that was the source of the Grave Tangle’s magic. Now he needed to get the rest of it. He gave a the wizardy a few more exploratory pokes, refining his strategy as he went until he thought it would work.
Wizard’s Meditation 9 achieved!
Then he unleashed his antimagic, reserving only the smallest portion to defend himself as the rest of it lanced out in dozens of rapid-fire stabs that caused the wizardry to retract away, only to run into another ripple of wizardry. He built the interference until it turned destructive and the overlapping waves canceled each other out. It was a bit like manually controlling noise-canceling headphones and only possible because of the large size of the Grave Tangle and the slow propagation speed of the wizardry.
Congratulations, you have developed the [High-tier Aura Manipulation 10] Utility Skill into [Aura Control].
Utility skill: Aura Control
Your Aura moves according to your will.
The process immediately became easier. Nathan’s aura moved instinctively, as if it had been honed by years of training. He canceled the wizardry in a larger and larger area, feeling gleeful as the amount of dark magic flowing into the world dropped dramatically. There was a positive feedback loop between the corruptive mana and the wizardry, and now Nathan was attacking both sides of that loop.
The Grave Tangle didn’t seem to notice what Nathan was doing. It certainly didn’t try anything new to kill him. The magic drained away and the crushing pressure went with it. Nathan used the break to extend his assault outward, scouring the wizardry and dark magic from the internals of the giant undead monstrosity. He could feel it slowing down through his magical senses, the attacks more sluggish and its forward progress slowed.