Supreme Magus novel Chapter 34

Lith’s and Solus minds were spinning at full gear, but for entirely different reasons.

"What if magical beasts are the primordial true mages? What if human mages learned true magic by watching the magical beast hunting, like Chinese martial artists derived their moves from Earth’s animals?" Solus pondered in amazement.

"What the F*ck can I do? I just revealed my trump card for nothing and my fusion magic is useless, since if that thing closes in, it needs only one hit to rip me in a half. Not to mention that air, earth and spirit magic would probably be useless against it.

I am only left with light, dark, fire and water magic!" Lith trembled in fear, but his body was ready to move, his mind never giving up on life.

The Byk charged through its own shield, intending to make things up close and personal. Lith reacted promptly, using air fusion to gain speed and keep their distance in check.

"You may truly be immovable as a mountain, but you sure can’t keep up with someone fast as lightning!" Yet the two enemies’ speed was the same. The Byk was indeed heavier, but the difference in physical prowess was enormous.

Not to mention, they were both slowed down by trees, rocks and undergrowth.

Lith felt reassured noticing that the Byk couldn’t close in, since he could still resort to fly as a desperate measure.

"Unbelievable speed my pale a*s! This thing is fast, but not that much. Ekart and his men were either too scared or hallucinating."

The game of tag went on for a while, with Lith throwing ice spears whenever he could spot an opening, and the Byk using rock projectiles trying to shoot him down.

Lith knew that bears weren’t supposed to smile, but on the Byk’s muzzle he could clearly see a smirk, sometimes even emitting a "Hurr, hurr" sound.

"Is that a laugh? Is that b*stard actually just having fun?!"

While running, Lith moved the fight to his private clearing. He had finally found a path to victory, but he needed to have both hands and legs free, without worrying about tripping on roots or pebbles.

Also, the river Philo flowed nearby, greatly enhancing his water magic. Not having to conjure it anymore, Lith could focus only on the manipulation aspect.

The Byk moved forward slowly and triumphantly. It knew the prey was now cornered. In front there was only the raging river, while the Byk was plenty capable of cutting off any other escape route.

But soon it noticed that something was off. Not only the smell of fear was gone, the prey had ceased to run, standing firm with the river at his back, watching the Byk’s every move with defiant eyes.

The Byk slowed down even further, trying to suppress its overbearing bloodlust and looking again at the surroundings. Suddenly it remembered about all those dangerous ice spears, realizing it was a trap.

But it was too late, it had already got too close to the river. Tendrils of water grabbed its legs, trying to drag the Byk in the water. The Byk reacted promptly, making tendrils of earth envelop his legs and body stopping the water in its tracks.

It knew it could not play only on the defensive, so it fired a barrage of stones against the prey. Lith didn’t move and inch from his spot, either dodging the rocks, or using his own earth magic to deflect those he could not avoid.

It soon became a war of attrition, about whose mana would run dry first.

After a few of such exchanges, Lith infused himself with fire and earth magic, performing a roundhouse kick to send a huge stone back to the sender.

The Byk didn’t miss that anomaly. The prey had never done such a thing, it was clearly a deception. As soon the stone come near enough, the Byk deflected it with a flick of a claw, using earth magic to avoid touching it.

That way it noticed that right behind the rock there was a dense black mass, Lith’s Plague Arrow.

The Byk followed its instinct, and tried to dodge that slow bullet, but its own tendrils of earth were keeping it stuck in place! Before the Byk could summon any sort of magical protection, the Plague Arrow had hit his mark straight in its huge chest.

Pain started blinding the Byk, that became unable to notice Lith closing in while shooting six more Plague Arrows. The first to the chest, again.

The easiest target to enhance the crippling pain. Then he followed striking the four limbs once, to prevent the Byk from fighting back.

The sixth and last one to the head, almost at point blank, for the kill.

It all happened in barely three seconds. In that very short lapse of time the standstill had turned into a victory for the prey.

And that saved Lith’s life that day.

As soon as the Byk let out an agonizing cry, a second one, even bigger came out rushing from the woods.

"It wasn’t fast! There were two of them! That’s why they could play with the hunters like a cat with a mouse."

Lith used air fusion to stay away, keeping the distance the same he previously had with the other Byk.

Luckily the second Byk didn’t seem interested in pursuing him, and started to lick its partner affectionately.

"From its size, it should be a male. The only notable difference is that his fur has shades of black instead of green. No wonder the hunters weren’t able to tell them apart." Solus observed.

"You better make use of this time to replenish your mana. We don’t know what it’s capable of."

Lith immediately used the Invigorating breathing technique, letting the world energy replenish his lost mana and washing away his fatigue. Thanks to the good night sleep, Invigoration effect was at its peak, and it would not take Lith long to recover.

After all, his body was in perfect condition, only his stamina and mana had been consumed during the fight.

"Filthy human! How dare you kill my spouse?!" The Byk spoke.

Lith had no time to be surprised, so he kept his breathing rhythm steady, aiming to stall as long as he could.

"Wow, you talk! I didn’t know bears could talk."

"Lowly maggot! I’m not a bear! I’m Irtu, the new king of the woods, and she was my queen, Gerda."

"Sorry, your majesty, but if you wanted to live happily ever after, you should have respected my turf. I don’t care what you do on the east side of the woods, but the west side is mine! Not to mention that I know a Ry that could refute your claim."

"A Ry?" Irtu moved away from the carcass, putting enough distance from the river to be safe from the man pup tricks. "You mean that weakling! The mutt is as good as dead." Irtu grinned while slowly moving forward.

"Don’t come any closer!" Lith ordered. "If you leave now and promise to never return, we can close it here. Otherwise one of us will have to die."