Supreme Magus novel Chapter 234

From her vantage point above the trees, Professor Farg was burning with envy.

’How the heck can someone so young already be an Awakened one? I dedicated my whole life to the Crown before I was chosen to be turned into a member of the Corpse. Still, I don’t understand why Lady Tyris is so worried about him.

He is just a stupid kid with more power than brain.’

Lith’s companions didn’t share her outlook. On the contrary, they were amazed.

"That was Chasing Lightning!" Yurial couldn’t believe his own eyes.

"It’s a War Mage spell! Where the heck did you learn it?"

"From the library." During the past months, Lith had studied many different spells from the various specializations, searching for those that were the easiest for him to imitate.

He didn’t have the time to understand the fake magic principles underlying each magic class, so he had focused on the spells that had something in common with his personal ones.

Chasing Lighting was simply the tier four air magic version of his Checkmate Spears spell. The real War Mage’s spell allowed one to mark their targets during the casting of the spell, something that Lith hadn’t been able to do reproduce.

However, being a true mage and making use of his heightened reflexes, he was able to alter the course of each thunderbolt at will.

"Dude, how did you find the time to learn another specialization? Self taught at that? You are crushing my self esteem!" Yurial was only half joking.

Sometimes being so close to someone two years younger than him who was stronger, apparently more talented, and had a bottomless supply of suprises made him feel quite insecure.

"Less yapping and more spellcasting." Phloria scolded them both.

"You know the saying: ’where there is a Clacker, expect to find a hundred more.’ We need to recharge our rings before they return."

Lith had not used any of his rings, so he just pretended to recharge them.

He used that time to think about the spiders’ behavior.

"You are right. This doesn’t make sense. While fighting against me, I noticed they were able to think for themselves. They should have understood their strategy was pointless. Unless they were just buying time!" Lith said.

"Damn me and this stupid walk!" Phloria cursed at their bad luck.

"Let’s fly out of here." She had yet to finish talking when the ground below them turned into quicksand and tendrils made of earth wrapped around their limbs, pulling them into the ground.

The five reacted in unison, Blinking out of the quicksand. The tendrils were bisected as they passed through the remnants of the dimensional spells. The detached tendrils turned back into mud as the spell animating them failed.

"Keep your distance!" Phloria ordered.

"If we group up before finding the enemy position, we will only offer them an easier target. Get ready to Blink again."

Lith activated Life Vision, turning his head around, above, and below before finding their answer. While the group was fighting the wave of small Clackers, a few fully developed monsters the size of bulls had burrowed underground their feet and turned the clearing into a death trap.

The Hatchlings’ strength lied only in numbers, but Soldier Clackers were fully developed magical beasts and could use water and earth magic. Not only were they physically much stronger than a Hatchling, but they were also smart enough to not underestimate such dangerous enemies.

They had forced their underlings to act as cannon fodder while they prepared the field to ensure their victory. Even if reluctant to throw away their lives, the Hatchlings had no choice but to obey.

The Soldiers had received their authority from the Brood Mother and she was an absolute being to them. Defying her will meant becoming their brethren’s dinner along with the intruders

"It’s a trap!" Lith was unaware of the Soldiers’ plan, but he could see them moving right below their feet.

"They are hiding underground. We need to get out of here!" Before Lith could finish warning his companions, new tendrils of earth erupted from the ground and seized him, Yurial, and Phloria. At the same time, Quylla and Friya fell into holes that opened up right below them.

Quylla screamed in surprise, but Friya had learned her lesson after the failed attempt on Yurial’s life. She kept her cool, Blinking to Quylla’s rescue and bringing her to safety on a nearby tree.

’There are four Clackers capable of using magic below the ground’ Solus warned Lith that was still struggling to free his hands to Blink away.

’Their mana cores are only bright green, but their physical strength is on par with Protector when he was still a Ry. They only need one hit to kill a normal human.’

Lith nodded, using brute strength to break free from the constraints. He used water magic to freeze the tendrils restricting his companions. The spell wasn’t powerful enough to completely block them, Lith couldn’t risk freezing his allies to death in the process.

Yet he managed to slow the tendrils enough for Phloria to cut them down, freeing herself and Yurial, allowing them to Blink away. Lith followed their lead, but the trees they had taken cover on started to tilt.

Two Soldiers were uprooting them with earth magic, while the other two generated a hail of ice shards as thick and long as an arm to prevent their prey from running away.

The group Blinked again to safety, but their mana was about to run out. They had gone all out during the previous fight and Blink was a very mana expensive spell.

"Damn! If we try to fly away the shards will skewer us, but if we keep hiding behind the trees, they’ll just uproot them again. How the heck can they see us from below the ground and how do you manage to do the same?"

Quylla was racking her brain to find a solution to their predicament, but there wasn’t much they could do while the enemy remained hidden. She used an earth spell, opening a hole in the ground and partially revealing one of the Clackers.