Chapter 4: Slaying Demons (2)
Kommer only saw shadows flashing before his eyes. Well-prepared for this battle, he relied on the acceleration magic he had cast on himself to sway slightly and dodge the grab of one of the ogres. A powerful wave of stench swept past his head. While amazed by the ogre’s extraordinary jumping ability, Kommer dared not slack off in the slightest. His delicate wand pointed at the ogre, which was performing a graceful spin before landing. A red orb formed at the tip of the wand and suddenly detached, emitting a blinding red light mid-fall. Even Kommer, who had long been accustomed to such light, couldn’t help but narrow his pupils. The red light dispersed into a fan-shaped rainbow in mid-air, heading straight for the ogre, which was ready to pounce. This was one of the few light spells Kommer knew—Ice Melt. Though it couldn’t directly harm enemies, it could effectively break or weaken magical immunity defenses, making it a powerful weapon against high-level monsters.
The air was filled with a strong stench, a reaction of the ogres when enraged. Their armpit glands, stimulated by dark magic, emitted a dizzying odor that spread in waves. However, Kommer and Ilot, who had already taken cooling pills, were unaffected. Kommer had made thorough preparations for this battle, ensuring he had everything needed. He believed in the principle of never fighting unprepared; before his strength improved, proper material preparation was essential.
Soft footsteps came from behind, while the two ogres ahead were fully ready to attack, their dark red eyes gleaming with bloodthirst, their huge mouths opening and closing, and their long arms slightly spread, ready to devour prey—signs of an ogre about to launch an attack. Turning slightly, Kommer caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye that two more ogres had sneaked up from behind, less than ten meters away. Their cautious movements clearly indicated they intended to launch a surprise attack while the two of them were focused on the ogres ahead.
It had finally happened. This was exactly what Kommer had been waiting for. His concern was that even if they managed to kill the two ogres ahead, the other two might hide and, driven by their fierce desire for revenge, subject him and Ilot to endless attacks and harassment in the days to come—a scenario he couldn’t bear to see.
“Go!” Komer roared. Ilot, already ready to act, lunged forward at Komer’s command. The dark giant sword suddenly emitted a fierce glow at that moment, and a massive fan-shaped barrier of blueish light rose in the air in front of the two ogres charging at them, creating layers of ripples.
Komer then swiftly turned sideways, forming a pagoda-shaped tower of fire with three thick arcs of flame. As he recited spells silently and moved his index finger rapidly, the flames descended one after another from the sky. It seemed even the entire sky darkened, leaving only this enormous fire tower expanding continuously. In just a few moments, the flames from each arc rose to form fire barriers three feet high, with blueish flames swirling upward, instantly enveloping the two ogres.
Terrifying, guttural screams quickly spread across the entire wilderness, sending chills down everyone’s spine. Komer dared not slacken in the slightest. Wiping away his sweat, he continued to chant spells to strengthen the binding power of this mixed magic. It was a large-scale fire magic infused with elements of light. Komer only knew it was an ancient magic that had been lost for ages, and he himself didn’t understand its origin. If a few powerful figures from the continent were present, they might be able to discern its source—Fumu, a perfect variant of mixed magic, the result of centuries of hard work by the magical genius Chubais.
This was also what Komer had achieved after spending months studying the various memories and knowledge obtained through nightmares and delving into that parchment scroll. Unfortunately, he didn’t understand the strange, ancient script on the scroll. He could only roughly figure things out using those ancient spells and pictographic gestures, gaining some understanding, though at a greatly reduced effectiveness. As the fire tower expanded and then contracted, layers of blazing flames surged with heat. Komer could even sense fire elements escaping outward. Clearly, the ogres were using all their magical core crystals to resist the attack. The powerful magical resistance of these beasts was fully displayed at this moment of near-death. Yet, this magic, which had taken Komer months to master, was not so easy to break. As the fire elements drifted outward, the massive fire tower acted like a powerful suction force, drawing those escaping elements back in and also consuming the surrounding air, causing the space within the tower to continuously collapse and shrink.
Komer kept using gestures to channel magic, enhancing the corrosive effect of the spell. A faint black aura surrounded the entire Flame Tower—clearly black and white, blending holiness with eeriness. This was the result of Komer applying Kenifer III’s most skilled dark corrosion magic. This kind of dark corrosion magic could be added to any spell; although it couldn’t strengthen the original spell’s power, its highly destructive nature allowed it to silently invade an opponent’s body and severely disrupt various functions. However, it had limitations—its effectiveness dropped significantly against dark creatures, and it had no effect at all on undead beings. But in such a situation, Komer had no choice but to use whatever was available.
After doing all this, Komer still wasn’t at ease. Glancing behind at Ilot, he saw that Ilot had already successfully cast a disruption spell—Phantom Remnants—using the magically crafted scroll he had prepared. Ilot had transformed himself into two copies. This spell was worthless to any warrior or knight with a basic understanding of elemental magic, but it was perfect for such a magical beast. The two Ilot figures took turns distracting the enraged ogres. The two figures spun rapidly around the ogres, with their swords emitting dark light as they stabbed at them from time to time. Though they couldn’t kill the ogres in one strike, with Ilot pouring all his inner energy into them, the sword tips could now emit a faint shadow, which was enough to cause damage to the ogres’ bodies.
The two figures flickered between illusion and reality, appearing and disappearing rapidly, making it impossible to tell which was real. This left the two ogres, despite their powerful attacks, unable to use them effectively. All they could do was roar in anger and charge more desperately.
Slightly relieved, Komer turned his attention back to the Flame Tower ahead. But suddenly, a badpremonition made his heart pound. The incessant screams inside the Flame Tower vanished abruptly. Before Komer could react, he felt a massive surge of magic in the space ahead. Suddenly, the entire fire barrier collapsed, and a dark shadow rushed out from behind it straight toward him.
Without time to react, Komer could only instinctively tilt his head. As darkness enveloped his vision, a tremendous force from the chest and abdomen along with excruciating pain spread throughout his body amid the howling wind. The shadow that had broken through the fire barrier paused briefly in mid-air, rolled nimbly, and rushed straight at Komer, who had been thrown several meters away by its fierce strike. Fortunately, Ilot, shocked and panicked, quickly regained his composure. With a roar, he abandoned the two other ogres he was fighting with and launched a full-force frontal attack, forcing the ogre that had broken through the barrier to roll sideways in mid-air, reluctantly giving up on its attempt to kill Komer.
The three ogres let out deep growls, seemingly communicating with each other. Their massive bodies bent slightly as their long, powerful arms swung through the air, creating gusts of wind. These intelligent monsters realized that the two men before them were about to surrender. Their eyes, filled with rage, hatred, and greed, scanned the two of them.
Enduring the pain of broken ribs, Komer managed to sit up with Ilot’s help. He never expected the other party to be willing to sacrifice itself at a critical moment, using a unique technique specific to highly intelligent monsters—exploding their own magic cores. By using the magic power within their bodies to trigger the core’s explosion, they created a brief distortion in a small area, causing cracks in the magic spells that had previously trapped them. With one final powerful strike, they broke free from the binding magic strengthened by Komer’s solidification spell. As a result, one ogre was torn to pieces on the spot, while the other managed to break free from the magical constraints and delivered a devastating blow to the unprepared Komer.
Biting his lip to control his emotions, Komer no longer cared about anything else. He grabbed a handful of finger-sized objects from the bag at his waist and threw them into the air. A dark, hellish chant rolled out of his throat: “O destination of all things, please save your faithful believer. He is willing to use his lifelong faith to awaken chaos in the world. Rise, Creator!”
The seven round skull beads emitted a sudden crackling sound of bone joints the moment they hit the ground. As a swirl of black mist passed, seven skull frames the size of infants appeared on the ground. Not only was Eilot, who was protecting Komer, stunned by this sight, but even the three-headed ogres, who were about to pounce from the opposite side, were captivated by this incredible scene and stood motionless, watching the strange transformation. If they had been mindless, inferior magical beasts, they might have attacked, and Komer and the others, already defenseless, would likely have had no choice but to wait for death. Yet it was precisely their lack of wisdom that ruined their chance at victory.
The seven infant-sized skulls neatly stacked together and then rose, as if by magic, doubling in size. With another repetition of the same motion, they grew to normal human height. Komer gritted his teeth, staring intently at the magical artifact that had required so much of his effort. It was supposed to be his last resort for survival and should only be used in extreme circumstances. But now, he had to use it right from the first encounter with the ogres, which left him somewhat frustrated. Yet survival came first. No matter how rare or difficult the magical artifact was, it would always come in handy when needed, and being able to save one’s life made it worthwhile.
The black mist slowly dissipated, and the now-grown skull warriors moved swiftly, forming a typical triangular attack formation. The skull soldier standing in the center held a crossbow, which left Eilot, who could no longer believe his own eyes, unable to resist rubbing his eyes and pulling at his thigh to confirm he wasn’t dreaming. Fortunately, the pain in his thigh finally snapped him out of it, making him realize that everything happening before him was indeed real.
The three-headed ogres finally sensed the hostility and murderous intent emanating from these bunch of strange, bone-like figures. By now, Komer no longer cared about Eirlot staring at him as if he were a monster; he kept reciting spells to strengthen and solidify the skeletons, aiming to boost their attack and defense capabilities in preparation for the impending battle. Such skeleton soldiers might have a significant advantage over ordinary human magicians or knight warriors. Their innate toxic phosphine gas, combined with fire magic, could turn them into true Poison Fire Skeleton Warriors. These warriors were especially effective in close-quarters battles, capable of inflicting damage on humans from every part of their bodies, while the toxic smoke released from their flames could easily kill any non-undead creature, especially humans.
The skeleton spearmen, in their fighting stance, appeared somewhat comical with their thin arms, though their stance was fairly proper. Their slightly dull iron spears were held slightly upward, while two skeleton warriors on either side, holding shields with their arms, stood closely beside the spearmen. Their broad-bladed short swords in right hands were ideal for close combat. However, the hands—formed by the joints of five little fingers and one slightly larger wrist bone—seemed awkward when holding those heavy swords, giving an unsettling impression.
War broke out once again. When two skeleton sword and shield soldiers were torn to pieces by the enraged ogres charging into their formation, another skeleton soldier finally delivered the fatal blow. It plunged its broad sword into the armpit of the ogre’s arm, which was waving broken bones. Suddenly, cyan-gray blood gushed out like a fountain. The ogre shriveled up instantly, trembling violently as agonized screams filled the wilderness. The intense sound waves knocked Komer dizzy and weak, trying to overwhelm his sanity like waves crashing against a dam. Such deathly sound attacks were especially devastating to magicians like Komer who focused on mental cultivation. Once a magician’s sanity was destroyed, they would either become idiots or madmen, as a result of magical backlash.