Proofread by Thomas F
'Are you sure?' I questioned.
All I got in return was a neigh as we moved toward the ground, covered in black, sharp bone spikes, without fear. Unlike the stallion, I am quite scared.
I know their power, and even with the bronze protection, they would hurt me badly if I were not careful.
Soon, we reached near the ground, when lightning across Tempest's legs flared and struck against the bone spikes around us, turning them into ashes.
A moment later, we landed and turned to the man, looking at us with a wide smile, which did not give me a good feeling.
"Now, I want your monster even more," he said with a big smile, and the next moment, the bone spikes all around us lit up in black fire, with smoke coming out of them.
Within seconds, everything was covered in the dense dark smoke.
It not only obstructs vision but also creates a poisonous atmosphere that harms the skin and is especially dangerous when inhaled.
Every breath makes me feel a burning sensation, but it disappears just as quickly.
As I had said before, I didn't just get lightning from Tempest.
I was looking at the effect when I felt a skill activating, along with two spells. A moment later, the bone giant and the necromancer faded from my view.
Sensory suppressions.
The skills are spells of a sensory suppression type. I have Lord's Eyes active; it's a powerful skill, but now he has used a skill and spells that suppressed my senses.
Not wholly, at least 30%; it would have been 50%. If we had not been fighting in my territory.
It's still a lot.
Now he has disappeared, and I don't know where he is. The attack could come from anywhere, and I have to be ready to deal with it.
I had just thought, when Tempest moved, with lightning flaring across him.
A moment later, a huge, sharp, black pillar of black bone with a crystalline tip came out of the ground. If tempest hadn't sensed it, it would have skewed us both.
"You have really lucked out with your monster, Lord Silver," said the Necromancer; his voice seemed to be coming out of everywhere.
"I have," I replied, looking around cautiously.
A moment passed and another, when I sensed an attack. Four of them, the dark burning lances coming out of four directions.
Targeting me as well as Tempest.
Tempest neighed and moved, sending two quick balls of concentrated lightning, while I swung my blade toward one lance coming from the right, activating Tempest Razor.
My blade clashed against it, and I felt the powerful force before the power of dissolution began to tear it apart.
At the same time, I harnessed a concentrated lightning bolt and filled it with the power of dissolution and set it at the fourth fiery bone lance.
The lances exploded as they clashed.
"Interesting power your artifact has. Is it a disintegration or decomposition?" he asked, like before, his voice seemed to be coming out everywhere.
"It is rude to ask about someone's artifact power, Necromancer Marden," I replied, while my eyes looked around everywhere in alert.
I cannot see him, but at least my skills are working in my immediate area.
It's far from enough against the enemy like this, but this will at least provide me with a moment of warning before the attack comes.
"Don't worry, I will not tell anyone. I might even share with you what my artifact does," Marden said, but I remained quiet.
Though I am curious about his offer, I understand that one of his artifacts' abilities is a mask spell.
He was able to cast really close to me.
A second passed and another, when suddenly I sensed another spell. Tempest sensed it first and leaped, while below us, a bone appeared, wanting to chomp us down.
As it was happening, I saw the Dark Pyre Rain appearing directly above us and bone spears coming at us from all four directions.
How freaking powerful is this guy? In front of him, Wraithhearth was nothing.
If I had fought against him. Instead of Wraithhearth, I would have no chance of victory against him, no matter how much I could push myself.
Hell, even now, I have no confidence in victory against him. This is someone very powerful. Someone who a Grand Mage had taught.
I am extremely cautious because this man has a poor reputation.
He has a habit of getting lost in battle.
I looked at the attack coming from all directions and couldn't help but be envious. The mages have such versatility that warriors couldn't compare.
I raised my left hand and tapped into the well before releasing a net of bronze lightning.
At the same time, lightning covered my sword, and I swung it.
As I did, a whip of lightning materialized and began destroying every spear it touched, turning them into ashes.
The destructive power of lightning mixed with the power of dissolution. They stood no chance, but there are many, and so I had activated Lash of Grace, the second of my copied skills, to move the whip faster.
It's really an amazing skill, I wish its host had been above Lv. 40 like me; it would have helped me even more.
I pushed those thoughts and focused on the whip, as the spears were getting closer to me. The bastard had already summoned the too close to me, I have concentrate.
I destroyed all except three, which came really close when three bolts of lightning struck them.
"Thanks, Tempest," I thanked.
He neighed before landing on the ground, destroying the bone spikes that were covering it. The last attack had really come close. Those spears were less than a meter away from me.
A moment passed, and another, but the attack didn't come.
I wish to attack him, but I don't want to inflame his reckless tendencies. Defending against his every attack might do the same, but this option is much less risky.
If I had been alone and responsible for my own life, I would have done that without hesitation.
Give my all to kill this bastard, but I am not. Hundreds and thousands of people depend on me. If I become impulsive here, those hundreds of thousands of people will pay the price.
I have grown stronger and possess power that I had only dreamed of, but it is still nothing compared to the Navr kingdom.
I hate to say it, but I couldn't even fight a single region of it. hell, I couldn't even deal with a fifth of the force of the regions; that's how powerful they are.
I pushed those thoughts and focused on my battle.
I could see nothing but the dark smoke and fire. There is no sign of the bone giant or the man sitting on top of it.
It's quite amazing that he was able to hide it from our senses despite its size.
Even a tempest couldn't sense it despite his sharp senses. It creates a powerful psychological pressure and becomes even more important for me to calm down.
Those experiences, as he understood, taught him how to weaponize them.
Soon, the seconds turned into a minute, and no attack came. I kept myself calm and ready to deal with anything that might come my way.
Suddenly, I heard the sound, which was loud and powerful.
A few seconds passed, and I saw what was making the sound. It is a bone giant coming toward me, but it didn't have a necromancer sitting there.
In its place is a greenish fire; the soul fire.
Seeing it coming without the necromancer didn't give me a good feeling. Still, it is the most dangerous threat I have faced in this battle so far.
More dangerous than any spell Mardan had cast until now.
I looked at a massive bone construct holding a large, half-artificial sword that writhed in black flames. It is coming toward us, crushing everything that is in its way.
Where is the necromancer? I asked myself.
I asked Tempest to look for any suspicious or sudden spell, and I could feel him extending his senses, but there was no sign of the necromancer.
While the bone giant had appeared in front of us, it was huge, easily double Tempest's size.
As it did, it swung that massive sword toward us. Seeing that, my hands moved, and an enchanted blade appeared in my right hand.
At that same moment, I activated Might of Harmony.
Instantly, it filled my body with strength. Until now, I have resisted activating this skill; unlike other skills, I have not. The more I use it, the more I spend the skill.
Unless I am in the domain of my legacy, then it's unlimited as long as there is essence, and it's even stronger.
It is among my most powerful skills, and the strength it has given me is proof of that.
I didn't stop at that. No, I activated Lash of Grace, Sundering Blade, and Tempest Razor and filled them as much with lightning as I could.
It was the most powerful attack I had ever made, without aura.
It is coming close to my strongest aura attack, with physical and elemental boost from Tempest.
My blade moved at incredible speed and reached the massive sword of the bone giant.
A moment passed, and my blade clashed against the bone giant's sword, creating a deafening shockwave and pressing me with such power that my hand shook.
At that exact moment, I felt the attack. It is unlike any attack he has ever made against me until now.
A soul attack.
He timed it perfectly, a moment after a clash, when I am struggling to hold back the giant's blade. If I could not, it would come at me and hack me into two.
I don't know whether he will kill me, but defeat me or capture me, the consequences would be catastrophic.
I cannot let it happen!
The translucent chains reached me almost instantly, and I swung my blade toward them. I knew something like this would happen, which is why I used the enchanted sword on the bone giant.
Now, I swing my artifact against the soul attack.
Physical attacks are useless against the soul attack, but I am not attacking it with the physical attack.
It is why I had activated no skill, and even the swing is not that powerful. It would have been fine if I had just kept my blade up.
The attack reached the blade, and the normal soul attack should have passed by it, but my blade clashed against grey translucent chains.
…
Necromancer Mardan
A ripping sound rang out as he tore through the Chains of Bailis.
The soul attack, that was to incapacitate him instantly, was cut apart by his blade. It shouldn't have been possible, even by most of the artifacts that could deal with soul spells.
At least so quickly.
It is a powerful spell which I enhanced with my artifact. The enhancement wasn't big, but this attack should have been more than enough to deal with him.
He had just cut it away, as if it were a common iron chain.
I looked at him, and he had turned his artifact toward my construct. I had made it leap back.
What is the power of his artifact? I thought it was disintegration, but it doesn't seem to be. It is something else, something far more powerful.
Which begs the question, what is his artifact? It is one of the things the teacher had asked me to find out.
We have no records of it. It might be one of the lost or old ones; they seemed to pop up now and then, with barely anyone having records of them.
I pushed those thoughts away, and I smiled. He had made me very excited.
I have been searching for a challenger like him, and I want to use my full power. I don't believe I can defeat him unless I use my true strength and aura.
'Necromancer Mardan, we are retreating.' I was about to cast one of my true spells when the voice rang in my head.
'Give me a few minutes,' I said. 'No, we are retreating, now,' replied Vaessa firmly. I opened my mouth to reply to it when I heard her give the order of retreat.
This bitch!
I cursed, I want to kill her, but I calmed myself. If I acted on impulses, I would be in a whole lot of trouble.
Last time, myteacher had saved me; this time, he won't be able to. After taking a deep breath, I turned to the man, who finally gave me a challenge.
"It's such a regret that we have to end this early, Lord Silver. I hope we will meet again and will be able to fight at our hearts' content," I said.
The man didn't immediately reply; he wanted to say something, but seemed to be controlling himself.
"Have a good day, Necromancer Mardan," he replied coolly before his monster leaped into the air, galloping toward the fortress.