Chapter 4123: Turning the Tables (Part 2)

The strike was awkward and carried little destructive power, but Thunder Soul only needed a conduit. Despite the full length of Double Edge and the jamming effects of the angry blade, the corrupted lightning tore the muscles in Lith’s hands and cracked their bones.

Captured World arrived just in time to stop Lith’s advance and allow Jorl to infuse himself with more Life Maelstrom as he retreated.

"Cunning bastard." The Thunder Griffon spat out a clump of blood and saliva. "Salanoth, stop playing around."

"On, it boss." She said with a smug grin.

Lith was still trying to understand what she meant when the nightmare began. He and Jorl had just resumed probing each other’s guard for openings when a swarm of magic wands surrounded him.

The alchemical tools fired a single shot each before disappearing into the thin air from which they had appeared. A storm of hail, fire, and lightning rained on the Tiamat, who was forced to conjure his Spirit Barrier to save his life.

The spells were at the peak of tier three, and even though a single one of them would do nothing against Lith, so many would have created the opening Jorl needed to win.

That moment of pause allowed the Storm Griffon to gain the high ground, and the Ring of Space to conjure an Adamant chain behind Lith.

’That cursed object is a storage ring!’ Solus warned him. ’A storage ring that can release all the artifacts it contains in a wide area and use them from a distance as if she’s holding them!’

’I noticed!’ Lith had perceived the exit point with Full Guard, but no matter where he looked, he couldn’t find the entry point because there was none.

The Adamant chain, Snakebite, grew in size and slithered at Lith, trying to wrap itself around him at the same time as Jorl charged ahead.

Lith used a Final Sunset to repel the chain and Ragnarök to keep the Storm Griffon at bay, but when Captured World arrived, only he and Snakebite stopped. Jorl just adjusted his angle, and when the space relaxed, he struck again.

The blow sent the Tiamat into the Adamant chain’s embrace, leaving him open for more. The second Dusk Wraith hit Lith with such strength that it sent him crashing against the ground, opening a meter-deep crater and breaking his dominant arm.

’We need to help him!’ Solus said. ’We need to help them!’

Morok wasn’t faring any better. He was exhausted, whereas the Firbolg-Upyr was at his peak strength. The wooden glaive had a massive reach advantage, and Morok struggled against the air displacement while dodging the blows.

’If I block and get hit by that Thunder Soul thingy, it will kill me!’ The Tyrant thought.

’I know, but I’m already at my limit!’ Protector used Wild Hunt to push his perceptions to the limit and anticipate the enemy’s moves, yet it was barely enough to keep him and the others alive.

Mana Storm was just Uragar’s opening act. After that, he had conjured the Thunder God, Midnight Dread, and Fiery Eruption arrays.

Lightning bolts the size of a truck rained on the Skoll from every direction, the air had turned toxic, and small fireballs turned into massive explosions that blinded his senses and disrupted his flight.

Of course, each one of the magical formations was strong enough to kill Protector if he stopped. As it was, they dulled his perceptions and robbed the Skoll of his strength, allowing a few Mana Storm bullets to hit Protector from time to time.

Placing multiple arrays in the same area was a nigh-impossible task. Not only did weaving one of them require time, but unless their placement were perfect, the magical formations would implode on themselves with no effect.

Uragar could conjure any spell recorded in his pages just by infusing them with mana, and millennia of practice had given him a level of skill that even Master Wardens could only dream about.

On top of that, his host could use Invigoration in battle to constantly replenish the Book of Knowledge’s mana reserves. In his long life, Uragar had killed countless so-called expert mages and many Divine Beasts.

He had never been defeated in one-on-one combat, and it took a small army of mages just to force him to retreat. But that was back when his host was a weak human who could be easily beaten, draining Uragar’s strength.

Now he was a Divine Beast, and he could swat a battalion of soldiers with a single sweep of his colossal limbs.

Another of Uragar’s pages lit up, conjuring a Raging Sun above and another below the staggering Skoll. The explosions would have killed Protector and his passengers if not for multiple spheres of golden light protecting them from the onslaught.

’I can’t hold on for much longer!’ Nalrond conjured more shields and shot down as many emerald bullets as he could, but there was no end to them.

’Me neither!’ Tista breathed twin bursts of Cursed Flames at Uragar, but he dodged everything with well-timed Blinks.

’Can’t you Ethereal Aegis out of here and bring the fight to him?’ Solus asked while using a Mana Storm of her own to fight the deadly swarm.

’My bloodline ability just turns me into Origin Flames.’ Tista replied. ’I can’t be hurt in that state, but the Flames can be smothered by a spell strong enough. If that happens, I’m dead!’

***

"How long does it take to kill you?" Crank snarled.

Graveyard Shift gave him an advantage, and Hyperions loved themselves a good brawl, but Mana Body protected him as much as it protected Akhton. The two golden auras sparked with every clash, and Thunder Soul wounded Crank even if he blocked.

"Longer than killing you!" The Dryad-Upyr jumped into the darkness-infested pit and struck the Hyperion in the back with her mace-arms.

The heavy blow and the Thunder Soul it carried turned the tables in Akhton’s favor. The Bastet hurled a jet stream of Origin Flames that disrupted Crank’s Mana Body so that the Dryad’s next blow reached his lungs.

The Hyperion was pushed off the Bastet and sent sprawling on the floor, gasping for air.

"You fought well, traitor!" Akhton hurled Origin Flames again and again, until not a speck of golden light was left on Crank. "Now you die!"

***

’Yes, this is all nice and dandy, but it’s time to leave.’ Jorl was diving at Lith with his maces crackling with silver lightning when the Black Throne warped him inside his walls.

All the Upyrs found themselves inside the cursed tower just seconds away from killing their enemy.

"Why did you do that? We could have killed them!" Jorl snarled.

"You don’t know that." The Black Throne pointed at the spell aura surrounding the Tiamat, the Tyrant, and the Hydra-hybrid who was coming down to help the Skoll. "I, instead, know for certain that if we don’t leave now, we’re all dead."

The image on the surveillance mirror changed, showing a storm of Griffons large enough to blot out the sky. They rode the winds of a colossal thundercloud while using the Chain Maelstrom ability to empower each other and the natural disaster they had conjured.

"Fuck!" Jorl slammed his fist against the nearest wall. "How long do we have before they get here?"

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