"Go." With a single word from Xin that seems to be echoing around the jungle, Zarba and Nadia, who were watching inside their respective barriers, see the dozen magic circles around the half-elf quickly spreading out from her position, each darting into the jungle like shooting stars and hovering in the air between the trees for a second before they pulse brightly with magic energy and detonate in synchronized explosions and mini shockwaves that light up the area with intense brightness.
The intense light from the pseudo stun grenade magic spell was so bright that Zarba and Nadia had to cover their eyes as the trees shattered into splinters and the foliage blew away from the combined force of the explosions and shockwaves from the magic circles.
This spell is originally just a light beam spell that is usually used to light up the dark and is not this powerful, but with how many there are and how much mana the half-elf overcharged them with, it actually transformed into a great AOE and crowd control magic spell as a result, thanks to Zarba, who suggested it to her a long time ago in the past.
And when the light from the explosions finally dims enough for them to look at their surroundings once again, there's a new clearing carved into both sides of the road of the jungle with no cover left for the necromancer to hide behind from Xin's spell anymore.
The trio also can't see the green smoke that was around them earlier since it got blown away by Xin's spell, so the half-elf just cancels the barrier around them too, and not far away on their right flank, they could see a smoking silhouette crouching in the middle of the wreckage with a tattered moss-covered robe fluttering as the old necromancer staggered, her hand covering her remaining eye with an angry hiss as the bright light from the spell had blinded her. Surrounding her was a transparent barrier that she conjured up in time; otherwise, she would probably have gotten torn apart by explosions.
Xin's fingers twitched as her mind raced toward another spell, but the old witch's gnarled finger was faster as she hurled the two bird skulls up in the air before a green magic circle materialized with the two skulls as mediums, and then the magic circle pulsed once before erupting into a funnel of shrieking spirits of various animals.
"Tsk, another distraction," Xin clicked her tongue and muttered as the swirling vortex of spectral wildlife surged toward them. The half-elf immediately moved her staff and pointed at the incoming spirits before the golden staff glowed with purple magic light as the ominous red magic circle materialized and shot out to intercept the shrieking spirits like a shield, but the expected collision when the two sides clashed didn't happen, as the spirits just shrieked in agony while Xin's magic circle unexpectedly sucked them in like a noodle and empowered the half-elf instead.
"Since they are just spirits, the corpse tribute ritual is perfect for this…" Xin said with a smirk as she feels her mana recover steadily.
On the other hand, Zarba barely had time to blink before Nadia was already sprinting from her position, her greatsword placed on her shoulder as she rapidly closed the distance toward the necromancer. Nadia didn't know that Xin wanted to duel with the necromancer; she only knows that this is the perfect time to attack while Xin is drawing the old witch's attention—but the old witch also anticipated this move.
The necromancer's barely recovered eye gleamed with malice behind her hand as she snapped her fingers from the other hand, and the ground beneath Nadia suddenly erupted in a geyser of blackened bones that fused into a big single skeletal hand that shot upward, seizing Nadia's ankle mid-stride and yanking her off balance to the side.
The bikini warrior snarled as she balanced her body before her greatsword stabbed through the grasping bones below, and the anti-magic property of her greatsword dispelled the conjured skeleton hand as she safely dropped on the ground—but the opportunity to surprise attack was lost.
"That woman is doing something unnecessary…" Xin grumbles at Nadia's interference with her fight while she sends her displeasure look to Zarba, who noticed her expression and just smiles wryly in response.
"Hmph…" Xin swears in her mind that she will make the muscular woman only watch her and Zarba tonight; that'll teach her some manners.
Meanwhile, the old witch was already retreating away from the clearing as her bony frame melted into the jungle's shadows. Her total mana is only half left, and it's a golden rule for the magician to retreat and not totally exhaust their mana in a fight as much as possible so they don't become a helpless lamb for slaughter.
Since she saw that the odds were against her and there was no point for her to risk her life needlessly, she decided to just leave for now. She can just try again later, but if someone actually got to the prince first, then it's also good; the money is not her objective after all.
As the last of the spirit disappeared inside Xin's corpse tribute ritual, the necromancer's rasping laughter began echoing through the clearing—a taunting, annoying sound that irritated Xin and Nadia as the muscular woman kicked the fallen tree branch nearby in frustration.
"Hahaha, I'll let you all keep your pitiful lives today, brats!" The necromancer's voice seemed to slither through the treeline in the distance as Xin's pointed ears twitched and her beautiful face frowned—she couldn't trace the old hag's sound anymore.
The half-elf's fingers tightened around her magic staff, wondering if she could shoot some fire bolts randomly so she might actually hit the necromancer if she was lucky enough, but before she could act on it, the old witch, who was hiding behind the jungle foliage, quickly tore up a magic scroll she pulled out after she felt a malicious intent from the half-elf as a magic circle materialized under her feet before she got teleported away unceremoniously.
Xin snorted as she felt the necromancer already teleport away. Her first duel was not as fun as she hoped, but at least she got to experience a real fight with a fellow magician like she wanted, even if the hag was not fighting her face-to-face.
"Is she gone?" Zarba, who came to her side, asked as he looked around the battlefield, "There's no sign of danger anymore..."
"Unfortunately, that hag escaped…" Xin nodded her head with a dissatisfied expression before she turned to look at Nadia, who was walking towards them with pursed lips.
The two of them made eye contact for a brief moment before Xin smiled at her with deceptive gentleness as the bikini warrior felt her heart sinking into her stomach.
"I'll make you lick it off..." Xin said with a gentle smile still on her face.
"L-Lick what off…? What are you talking about…?!" Nadia was confused and nervous, as she didn't even know what she had done that the half-elf seemed to be mad at her.
÷×÷×÷
The world twisted violently around the necromancer, and her vision was filled with distorted images that can't be explained as her tattered clothes clung tight against her skeletal frame.
It seemed like an hour for the old witch before she reappeared ankle-deep in stagnant water, the sudden familiar chill and moldy smell of her secret underground lair making her remaining eye relax slightly.
Around her, dim phosphorescent fungi clung to the dripping stone walls, with some glowstones hanging on the ceiling, casting shadows across the uneven floor as somewhere in the dark corridor ahead of the old witch, the rhythmic dripping of water echoed alongside the distant skittering of rats' claws on stone.
The old witch then started inspecting herself as her hand patted around her clothes, which became even more like a rag after that half-elf's brutal light explosion magic.
"Insolent little girl..." she hissed to the empty dungeon, as now she has to go find new clothes to replace it later.
Meanwhile, the teleportation scroll's remnants dissolved into dust between her fingers; it was a waste of an expensive magic scroll, but survival demanded it.
Then her good eye narrowed at the bone altar in the corner of the room she is in—its surface etched with long-dried blood rituals—before she limped towards the altar with a sigh, her feet sending ripples through the murky water.
When she arrives at the altar, she snaps her fingers before the seven skulls embedded in the altar flare to life with green fire in their eye sockets. The necromancer then pressed her palm against the central skull's forehead next while feeling the magic energy move through her bone.
"Answer me," she said, and the flames from the skulls became bigger as a small green portal materialized above the altar, which responded with a deep chuckle coming from the other side of the portal.
"Ahhh...the old witch returns," the voice said as the old witch saw shadows from the other side coalesce into the silhouette figure of a man in a cloak who was turning towards her with a shadowy, writhing face under the hood as he spoke. "Did you complete what you must, Keanu?"
"Yes, yes, I'm alive and kicking, thanks for asking," the necromancer, or Keanu, said with a sarcastic tone as the green firelight illuminated her ancient face. "The prince has an unexpectedly powerful slave or slaves with him. I'm not sure about the other one if she is a slave or not, and even more surprising, the prince himself is also a summoner who could summon a lot of construct soldiers to fight for him. Can you imagine that the Zigma bloodline finally produced a magician?!"
"That's… indeed unexpected…" The cloaked figure muttered, but he urged the old witch to continue, "And what about the prince's companions?"
"Well, there's a warrior woman who uses a greatsword with an anti-magic enchantment; I suspect she is a Great One, and a half-elf slave who is a magician that is definitely a Great One." Keanu reports about Zarba's companions to the cloaked figure.
The shadowy figure leaned forward, suddenly attentive after hearing about the half-elf existence. "Describe that half-elf appearance to me."
"She has long black hair with amber eyes," the necromancer muttered, trying to recall the appearance of her recent opponent. "Very pale skin, petite figure…"
The shadowy figure's silhouette seems to become more intrigued the more he hears the old witch describe Xin.
"Xanadura's spawn..." The words came out with venomous recognition. "She shouldn't have been alive this long..."
"Spare me your cryptic talk. You seem to know her. Who is she really?" The necromancer scoffed, rolling her remaining eye before asking with some curiosity.
"The half-blooded is just a child that was born from someone I know and despise… She was no one important and destined to die when she was sold off as a slave…" A pause. The cloak man's fingers could be heard drumming against an unseen armrest on the other side of the portal. "Though it seems that fate has taken pity on her soul…"
"Hmph, whatever." The necromancer huffily waved away the cloaked figure's musing appearance; she doesn't really care, actually.
"More importantly, I didn't risk my hide just to hear your nostalgic ramblings." Her remaining good eye stared at the cloaked figure with expectation.
"I'll expect my payment in full, you hear?" The necromancer rasped as her contact with the cloaked figure to probe the prince's strength was complete, though she didn't manage to kill him for the bonus reward…
"Fuu… you can expect your promised payment to arrive very soon..." The cloaked figure's voice dissolved into static as they disconnected from the communication spell link after telling the necromancer what she wants to hear.
"That's great…!" The old witch grins as she powers off the altar while feeling a lot better after the thrashing she received today…