Supreme Magus novel Chapter 138

Being a self-taught true mage with very little knowledge outside of tier three, had always been a problem for Lith. He had to make up from scratch most of his spells, and not having much free time, if not none at all, his toolkit was quite limited.

For such reason, most of his spells were derived from imitation. Phloria’s Full Guard, the Ry’s slipstream effect or the Wither dark aura were all tricks that he had picked up along the way.

His fight with the plant Abomination had allowed him to further understand darkness magic, and how to overcome its obnoxious limitations.

Darkness was an element capable of inflicting an enormous amount of damage overtime, and to add insult to injury, it was extremely hard to defend from it. On the other hand, though, darkness based spells were so slow that outside niche situations they were nigh useless.

Vampiric Touch required physical contact, hence it was a last resort. The Wither’s dark aura had good range, but required a huge mana expenditure compared to the damage dealt.

That was why Lith had thought long and hard about it, trying to figure out a way to use darkness magic to cover for his weak points. No matter how much he planned in advance, he was still an amateur fighter, lacking any professional training.

Despite being much slower than Lith, two members of the Talons were enough to force him to go all out just to not be turned into mincemeat in a few seconds. Thanks to their rich battle experience, they were able to anticipate his movements and adjust their attacks accordingly.

Not to mention that even speed could do only so much in front of such refined teamwork. The moment they closed in, they had used the range advantage granted by their blades to restrict Lith from escaping or counterattacking.

To gain the upper hand, he needed to fight dirty and shamelessly like before, exploiting the fact that his opponents knew nothing about true magic. When the four melee experts approached, black tentacles emerged from Lith’s body, trying to grab whoever came near.

The Talons’ first instinct was to cut them down, but the tentacles were made of pure energy, so they passed through the blades like a breeze, lashing at the enemies’ bodies, sucking out their life force and giving it to their master.

Death Call was the answer Lith had devised to his problems. Anyone that came too close would have to endure the vampiric touch of the tentacles, that were nothing more than a dense mass of dark magic guided by his will.

The compact form meant that, unlike the dark aura, the draining effect was fast and efficient, while the mid range of the spell made the slow speed irrelevant. Thanks to Full Guard, Lith was completely aware of his surroundings, therefore able to manipulate every single tentacle like it was one of his limbs.

Combined together, the two spells offered a perfect defence. Come close, become food. Stay away, suffer true magic. Lith didn’t need to attack anymore, he could simply focus on dodging while the tentacles did the rest.

Barely a few seconds after the activation of Death Call, the close range Talons realized what was happening. They were out of breath, their movements getting sluggish, each strike sloppier than the last.

Their opponent, instead, was suddenly fully healed, either dodging or deflecting their combined attacks with his bare hands, without even breaking a sweat. But the most shocking part was when the five of them, Lith included, noticed an unforeseen side effect of the spell.

The four Talons seemed to be aging by the second, their hair getting thin and grey, while their faces were now full of wrinkles, the skin starting to sag. It was actually a mere cosmetic effect, caused by the sudden loss of moisture and life force.

Nothing that a few drinks and some rest couldn’t fix. No Talon feared death, but age? That was another matter entirely.

For the first time in many years, the members of the Talons started to feel fear. From the moment Seephit had opened that Warp Gate, their day had quickly turned into a nightmare.

Since when kids could rip off heads? Since when spells could be cast with no magic words or hand signs? How could possibly exist someone capable of killing a soldier of the calibre of Negal with just a wave of the hand?

"Black, fall back! Red, fire at will! White, hold your fire until Red is done!" Fear had never made Beruit falter, and this time was no different. _{freewebnoveℓ.com}