Naturally, I didn't hit the shadow demons impersonating Master Bey with High-level magic. Mid-level was plenty. With a wave of my hand, "Ice Chains" flew at all the appeared figures, dispersing them on hit.
The shadow demons' defense was frankly so-so, but their attack, as I know, is quite good on the contrary. At minimum, they can damage High-level mages' armor with one strike, even if not the best quality. Considering how many of these things Bey can summon... Who's the summon element mage here?
As soon as all the figures I sensed were dispersed, new ones appeared immediately. But since even the dumbest person should've realized by now that Bey wasn't among these figures, I started looking around, ignoring them like the earlier Darkness Masks hallucination.
"Hmph, think that since I'm not among the appeared figures, they're just simple illusions? Heh, I can assure you, my little lamb, that's not the case, and you'll convince yourself soon enough." Sneering, Master Bey poured magical energy into our surroundings, and the space around me began filling with shadow demons.
One hundred, two, three, four... their number reached half a thousand, but they kept appearing. Damn, shadow element magic is so powerful, just like a curse with proper development. It's summon, soul attacks, movement restriction—what combo can't you make with them. But my poison element is still more versatile; at least I have a great idea to turn it into something terrifying... But that's not for thinking about in battle.
The shadow demons rushed at me like a river, trying crowd sea tactics. Many had whips and daggers as weapons. Those using the former attacked from afar, the latter tried to get as close as possible. It was these I saw first with normal vision. They looked like blurry humanoid shadows with strange head shapes.
As if they were just ordinary shadows: their form constantly distorted, creating a creepy feeling. But it didn't affect their deadliness. Nor their catastrophically low defense. After all, they really weren't material. True, killing them without soul attacks is very hard. With my public abilities, I can only keep dispersing them so they reform after a while and return to the fight.
Wanting to save magical energy, I conjured an ice octopus form around myself and started dispersing shadow demons with sharpened tentacles. Of course, whips and daggers constantly hit my ice armor, but I ignored the defense. With the "Indestructible Ice" effect from my Soul Seed, the surrounding shadow demons couldn't separate even a snowflake from it. Their strikes didn't pull senior Commander level, let alone peak.
But I couldn't kill these pesky bugs either. Dispersing into dark mist, they reformed after a while and attacked again. We ended up in a deadlock, and whoever runs out of mana first loses this clash. And even considering my reserves superior to Bey's and that I'm basically defending with only Mid-level magic, I can't say who'll exhaust faster in the actively used element.
After all, I don't know how his elements fused—maybe he has double the mana he can use? Though even if so, he has reserves like fourth step High level, while mine, thanks to the recently acquired talent, are fifth.
However, I know for sure Bey has reduced domain consumption, as Night Fury takes part of the load. And how much he spends reconstructing shadow demons is a mystery to me. So yeah, we've got a stalemate here.
Which, glory to the Totems, he wanted to break first. Apparently, he doesn't have double reserves after all. Nice to know his OP-ness isn't infinite, or I'd start thinking the original light novel's protagonist isn't Mo Fan, but Master Bey. So many balance-breaking abilities. Though in that case, who am I? I have even more...
At the moment when an especially large crowd of shadow demons rushed at me, and I was already swinging ice tentacles to strike, a sword emanating cursed aura slammed into me sharply. It didn't fully breach my defense, but sank twenty good centimeters and started eating the ice below with the curse.
The spread speed was pretty fast, by the way: in three seconds, it would've eaten through my defense and gone for me. But not being a fool, I just separated the infected piece with the artifact cursed sword and froze it additionally into an ice block so Bey couldn't recall it.
Who knows if he has an explosive attack like my artifact dagger? Though considering it breached my defense, which only a senior Commander could slightly damage, maybe that was it... Well, no guessing, better overinsure. Life's only one, hypocritical as that sounds from me.
"Tch, you're no slouch, huh, kid? Such sturdy defense... It'll be hard to breach, but what about consumption? Doubt you have full reserves now. More like a third. Think you can survive my attacks when it hits bottom?" Bey started provoking me again, but I caught tension in his voice.
He apparently realizes that though I can't reach him with his chaotic labyrinth, he can't reach me either. No, he can reach, but what's the point—zero, he won't breach my defense. But as far as I know, against such turtle opponents, Bey has his plan. And he's already implementing it.
Maybe he let the tension in his voice slip on purpose to boost my confidence in his inability to do anything to me. Damn this sly bastard; if I didn't know most of his aces beforehand and have my own cheats, I'd be dead long ago. From that cursed sword at minimum. Judging by the power, it's a very strong High-level peak artifact. Apparently, this rich kid earns a lot on his contracts to afford it.
I sharply felt a darkness seed sprouting in my aura; small for now, it was slowly charging from my magical energy. If I don't actively cast, it'll take about an hour to grow. During active combat... about five minutes. Damn Bey, apparently being in his domain is the only condition for infection. I thought I needed at least a wound from him. Well, doesn't matter, it doesn't affect my plan.
Actually, the dark seed growing in my own shadow a potential assassin who can appear anytime is very hard to notice—not every Superior-level mage could if not examining closely. But I'm far from Superior level, though only in the past. And the light element helped too. In this life, I rarely use it, which is ironic since it's the very first element I awakened. Well, whatever, I'll get to it someday.
Hm, judging by my understanding of Bey's tactics, he'll either try to make me drop defense for a moment so they can stab me in the back, or he'll just fly away so the shadow assassin finishes me at night. But given his pride, I'd bet on the first.
He uses the second only against superior opponents like Superior-level mages. In his eyes, I'm just a lucky smartass kid. He won't even think of putting me above him. Not for nothing did I hide my real character. If I'd fought at full official power from the start, he'd just infect me and fly off.
And fat chance I'd stop him—the chaotic labyrinth would hold for some time after he leaves. Enough for him to fly as far as possible. No way he lacks wings. Hell, I don't even know his remaining two elements. They shouldn't be particularly strong, but what if wind's among them? Damn, acquiring a sensor talent needs to be my priority. How many times have I reminded myself? Get a notebook?