Supreme Magus novel Chapter 286

From his first and only serious fight with Protector, back when he was still a child, Lith had learned an important lesson.

Be it while facing one of the Kings of the Trawn woods, an Abomination, an Evolved Monster, or a Valor, he had always stuck to it, never allowing his pride to blind him.

Even with an enhanced body, even despite all the changes he had experienced after the recent breakthroughs, Lith never allowed himself to forget that he was just human.

There were enemies whose fury and savagery he couldn’t match, no matter how badly he wanted it. Instead of charging blindly like his rage demanded, like his opponent was doing, Lith kept his mind cold while his mana core burned with power.

He had to play it smart, eroding his opponent’s strength until the tables were turned.

Gadorf had never been so furious in all his life. He had allowed a simple human hatchling to mutilate him. With his flesh now rotten, reattaching the pieces was impossible, the only choice he had left was regrowing it.

That was the exact reason why Lith had done it.

’He is faster and stronger than me, but without the tail his balance is all over the place. No matter if he prefers to keep his energies and wobble like a duck or to heal himself and exhaust his reserves. Either way he is dead.’

The stump had stopped bleeding, but Gadorf wasn’t used moving, let alone flying without his tail and in such a confined space at that. To keep his balance, he ended up twisting his body multiple times, touching the edges of the array with catastrophic consequences.

Every time the array and the destructive spell engulfing him clashed, both would lose part of their power while waves of pain invaded the wyvern’s body. Lith easily dodged the charge with a few side steps. When the left wing passed a few centimeters from him, he slashed down with both hands.

The blade cut through the light bone of the arm, lacerating the wing almost all the way to the wyvern’s hip. The short flight turned into a tumble, slamming against the altars before crashing into the barrier again.

A new barrage of spells struck the wyvern’s body, making him bounce back and forth against the dome of light like a pinball. Lith and the surviving members of the unit, even Red, were throwing everything they had, to pin Gadorf as long as possible.

Gadorf was almost in agony. The phantom pain from the tail was blinding, his left wing was being consumed by the darkness magic Lith had infused into the blade, and his back was sizzling like a steak forgotten on the barbeque.

Worst of all was his pride, shattered like it didn’t happen from years. Yet the physical pain made him snap out of his fury. The wyvern was thinking clearly again. His survival instinct combined with centuries of battle experience allowed him to see how foolish he had been.

’I really am an idiot.’ The Master’s words echoed into his mind and for the first time the wyvern actually listened to them. Seeing that the kid with the sword was waiting for him to do something stupid again, Gadorf took a deep breath instead.

Lith rolled behind the closest altar, expecting another breath of fire and so did the others. Gadorf channeled light magic into his wing instead, wiping off the dark energies and healing the limb.

"I’m done underestimating you, human."

Despite his arrogant tone, Gadorf didn’t like his odds. His body was too huge to move nimbly inside the array’s closed space. Yet he didn’t dare return to his human husk. Tier three and below spells could barely break his skin, let alone harm his scales.

The sword, though, was another matter entirely. His human form wouldn’t be able to stand more than a couple of slashes from such a powerful weapon.

’That kid is too fast for a human. Could he be like me? In disguise?’ Another sting struck his abdomen while Gadorf was lost in thought.