VOLUME 15: CHAPTER 22

VOLUME 15: CHAPTER 22

Using Lady Alice’s remaining life force as the sole fuel, the strongest undead of Aravark rampaged through the battlefield, pummeling the Wandering Sage one-sidedly.

It was amazing how Louvienne Antasha’s body had retained its battle instinct even after death.

As a witch who’d dedicated her entire life to martial arts, the movements she’d practiced countless times back when she was still alive had been deeply ingrained into every fiber of her being.

The undead’s inability to feel pain, coupled with the modifications on its body and the life force from Lady Alice serving as its fuel, made it possible for it to unleash power far stronger than should have been feasible.

“Ha! How long do you think you can keep this up, witch!”

Those words were thrown at Lady Alice instead of Louvienne.

No matter how strong the undead was, if its master was unable to keep up with the required resources to maintain it, everything would be useless.

“Even if I can’t catch up with this undead’s movements, look! It’s hardly inflicting any damage!”

After realizing that it would be hard for her to keep up with the undead’s speed and battle senses, the Wandering Sage focused on defending instead.

She activated two of her three auxiliary cores, converting all of the energy flowing from them into defense.

The undead’s fist, imbued with life force, could no longer penetrate the Wandering Sage’s defense like before. The thick layer of mana that started enveloping the Wandering Sage’s body served as a cushion that forcibly diverted the life force wrapped around the undead’s fist, dispersing it before it could even touch the skin.

Without the life force from Lady Alice reinforcing it, the undead was nothing but a master martial artist with a modified body.

It was still insanely fast, and its battle senses were off the charts, but its inability to penetrate the Wandering Sage’s defenses made every attack pointless.

They needed to break that layer of mana first—only then would the undead’s attack be able to pierce the Wandering Sage’s defenses.

“Blackie! Arcturus!”

Fortunately, this wasn’t a one-versus-one battle.

Lady Alice had allies nearby, and they were very reliable to boot.

“You see that layer of mana enveloping her body? Help me break it!”

Blackie and Arcturus also quickly noticed what was happening. What started as a one-sided beating the moment the undead appeared had quickly turned into a defensive battle.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” said Blackie. “I don’t really care if you die, but if something were to happen to you… God Evander would probably be sad.”

Lady Alice was already near the limits of her lifespan. Honestly, there was a chance this place could be her grave. If they couldn’t take down the Wandering Sage within the next hour, Lady Alice would no longer have enough life force to control Louvienne.

Moreover, if she overexerted herself in this battle, she would no longer have enough life force left to participate in the war with the demons.

“Just do it,” said Lady Alice. “I don’t have much time left anyway. In the event I die, please return that undead to Aravark. The new leader is also capable of controlling it. Also, don’t worry about damaging it in this fight. It’s more durable than it looks.”

“How ominous,” said Arcturus. “But don’t worry. I shall do so. You have my word.”

“Thank you.”

Lady Alice showed a strained smile. She could feel her life being drained with each passing second.

Like a plant exposed to the heat of the scorching desert, her internal organs that had been frozen in time through the skillful use of life force had started aging rapidly.

“Let’s go, Scylla!” shouted Arcturus.

“Shut up! I know! Don’t tell me what to do!” roared Blackie.

Although the two bickered with each other, they quickly assumed their separate roles.

Just like when it fought Vulcan and Shahaneth, Blackie started firing compressed, non-elemental orbs of mana toward the Wandering Sage.

Arcturus, on the other hand, shot torrents of fire at the Wandering Sage, not caring whether or not they also hit the undead.

The combined attacks of Blackie and Arcturus broke the mana shield covering the Wandering Sage’s body. Although the mana shield was quickly repaired by the auxiliary cores, the split-second opening was enough for the undead to deliver several blows.

“Ugh!”

The life force–coated fists of the undead pierced through even the strongest metals in the world. Like an ethereal existence, the attacks of Louvienne bypassed the external armor of the Wandering Sage and struck her insides, damaging the deeply protected parts of her body.

Some of the blows even reached her main core, causing minute cracks to form on it.

“Damn it. So annoying!”

From the tips of the mechanical arms sprouting from her back, funnel-like apparatuses came out. Using these funnels, the Wandering Sage started firing concentrated beams of lightning at the undead, Blackie, and Arcturus.

Blackie and Arcturus held their ground and took the lightning beams head-on. Although their scales were scorched by the attacks, they didn’t manage to reach the flesh behind.

The undead, on the other hand, lost a small chunk of flesh after being hit right at the shoulder. But this small injury was quickly regenerated using Lady Alice’s life force.

“Hehehe! I knew it! There’s no way my prided scale couldn’t endure your attacks, maggot!”

Blackie was visibly pleased after it successfully endured the Wandering Sage’s attacks.

When the mechanical arms easily pierced its scales back then, Blackie was honestly horrified and disillusioned. It couldn’t believe that its scales, which it was so proud of, couldn’t endure an attack from such a puny opponent.

Arcturus said, “I see. Your physical attacks are incredibly powerful, but your magic is no different from a royal court magician.”

The Wandering Sage felt insulted by that.

How dare they make an assessment when they hadn’t even seen everything she had?

“A royal court magician?” she spat angrily. “You dare compare me to a mere royal court magician?!”

A sophisticated automaton like her being compared to a mere human was one of the greatest insults she’d received in her life.

She was the masterpiece of the Black Mages of the Magic Empire.

An entity created solely for destruction during a time when the world had been stripped of its ambient mana.

Ridiculing her was akin to insulting her creators, and she would never let such a transgression pass.

The Wandering Sage activated the last remaining auxiliary core and used it as a power source to amplify the damage from her magic attacks.

She’d been trying to conserve her power since she didn’t know when she would be able to find another bloodstone fragment, but she was currently so pissed off that it no longer mattered.

Screw conserving energy.

Just like that witch over there, she would go all out and annihilate all of her opponents.

The Wandering Sage ignored the thin layer of life force that had been continuously forming words in front of her since the start of the battle.

The Voiceless One had been begging her to stop for quite some time now, but she simply dismissed his words as the rambling of an old man.

She activated several magic formations engraved on her body.

“Just die already!”

And to everyone’s horror, four powerful spells of different elements were unleashed simultaneously.

The sky parted, and bolts of lightning rained from the heavens, striking everything on the ground.

Four massive tornadoes formed around them, sucking in the trees, rocks, and even the water from the Silen River.

A thousand orbs of fire formed above and fell down like bombs, exploding upon impact.

The earth cried before being sundered by an earth elemental spell. The split ground disintegrated and quickly turned into massive, moving spikes that chased after their targets.

Unlike before, Blackie and Arcturus didn’t dare to block these attacks with their bare bodies.

Even Lady Alice leapt hundreds of meters back, creating distance between her and the Wandering Sage.

The Wandering Sage’s attacks continued raining down, like an enraged god displeased with his subjects.

The attacks were so powerful that even the guards standing on the walls of Metesda City saw the phenomenon.

Even several kilometers away, the citizens of the city felt the ground rumble.

The guards quickly reported the situation to the City Lord, and a reconnaissance unit from Metesda was dispatched to assess the situation.

Of course, it would take them a long time to reach the place on foot.

By then, the fight between the colossal figures of the world would have ended.

“What a lunatic,” spat Blackie. “How much mana does she even have?”

Arcturus didn’t answer and continued evading the attacks.

Since the two of them were currently in their real forms, they were easy targets for the spells. They dodged those they could and blocked the ones they couldn’t.

Injuries slowly piled up on Blackie’s and Arcturus’ bodies.

The undead, on the other hand, continuously regenerated its injuries—albeit a bit slower this time due to the distance between it and its master.

The Wandering Sage’s eyes darted back and forth. She ignored the undead in front of her and the two lizards busy evading the attacks in the sky.

“There you are.”

The Wandering Sage was delighted upon locating the undead’s master.

Her target this time was Lady Alice.

Although Blackie and Arcturus were strong, just them alone wouldn’t be enough to pierce through her body made of the strongest metals in this world.

The Runebound Sentinels were inherently resistant to elemental attacks and mana, after all. It was the reason they’d managed to endure fighting against the Elementals, eventually sealing them over a thousand years ago.

As long as she took care of the annoying pest that utilized life force, she would be guaranteed to win this battle.

“You’ve been hiding like a rat!”

She shot toward Lady Alice, quickly closing the distance between the two of them.

Lady Alice strengthened her entire body with mana, and using her fists and legs, immediately retaliated.

Lady Alice was also powerful even without her undead. She gritted her teeth, resolved to fight the Wandering Sage until her last breath.

The mechanical arms behind the Wandering Sage shot toward Lady Alice, but the former leader of the witches nimbly dodged each and every one of them.

The Wandering Sage suppressed her with gravity magic, but Lady Alice resisted the spell with sheer brute strength.

Realizing that life force was the Wandering Sage’s weakness, Lady Alice didn’t hesitate to coat her fists with it.

Her left hand was coated with mana,

her right hand imbued with life force.

With this, even if the Wandering Sage protected her body with the mana shield, it should still be possible for Lady Alice to penetrate her defenses.

“Haha! It’s a commendable attempt, but—!”

The Wandering Sage strengthened the gravity magic suppressing the area by five times.

The Wandering Sage was also affected by it since she was inside the domain, but her body was far superior to that of a mere human, enabling her to move in a relatively normal manner.

“—You are not Louvienne!”

Unable to move freely due to the gravity spell, Lady Alice failed to dodge two of the mechanical arms in time. One of them struck her thigh, and the other pierced through her abdomen.

Lady Alice felt her life flashing before her eyes, but she held desperately to dear life.

“Louvienne?” said Lady Alice, blood dripping down her mouth. She smirked, “You’re looking for her, huh?”

The eyes of the Wandering Sage widened. Although she was a golem, she felt an indescribable chill run through her entire body.

Was this the fear of death?

She felt an attack coming toward her.

The Wandering Sage tried to create distance, but she realized that Lady Alice was holding onto the two mechanical arms that had pierced her body.

“Not a chance!”

“Shit!”

Several mana-imbued arrows from Elias Farsight, who’d been watching the battle a few kilometers away on top of a small hill, accurately struck her back and head.

The moment the arrows broke the mana shield enveloping the Wandering Sage’s body, the undead reached her. Like an enraged beast protecting its master, the undead punched the Wandering Sage’s face with its entire might.

The Wandering Sage flew hundreds of meters to the left, along with Lady Alice, who’d been holding onto the mechanical arms.

Lady Alice didn’t let go of the mechanical arms. Using them to restrict the Wandering Sage, she ordered the undead to attack once again.

Thankfully, Elias Farsight didn’t miss the opportunity either. He kept firing arrows, breaking the mana shield of the Wandering Sage momentarily.

By now, the elemental spells cast by the Wandering Sage had disappeared completely.

Blackie and Arcturus, now free, also joined the fight.

Lady Alice finally let go of the mechanical arms. After receiving a vial of healing potion from Blackie, she quickly recovered from her injuries.

The battle continued, and the Wandering Sage continuously accumulated injuries on her golem body.

She looked fine on the outside, but her insides had been damaged significantly by Louvienne Antasha.

Even her main core had started malfunctioning, and one of the auxiliary cores had stopped responding.

Her intricate system was screaming at her that at this rate, she would end up losing against these damn bastards.

“Tch.”

In the end, the Wandering Sage decided to flee from battle.

It was humiliating, that’s true, but survival was her priority right now.

That damn witch had used up a lot of life force in this battle. She’d practically consumed the large majority of her remaining life just to win against her.

The next time they fought, she wouldn’t be able to use that undead as freely.

“I’ll remember this!”

Like a third-rate villain leaving behind a threat before fleeing, she uttered those words before putting her everything into escaping.

The magic formations on her back activated, and she flew northwest at a tremendous speed.

“Hahaha! Fleeing like a coward!” laughed Blackie. “It suits you!”

“You think we’ll let you!?” said Arcturus.

Of course, the Scylla and the Dragon, the lord of the skies, would never allow the Wandering Sage to escape just like that.

They realized that the Wandering Sage was severely injured.

Although she had seemed impervious to attacks previously, she must have sustained so much damage that even Blackie and Arcturus would be capable of dealing with her on their own.

If one or two attacks weren’t enough to break through her defense, then they would just keep bombarding her with them until her body broke.

“Why are you still chasing me!” said the Wandering Sage angrily.

“Why do you think?! You’ve stolen those items! Of course, we’ll chase after you!” roared Blackie.

It was the most humiliating moment of her life.

She couldn’t believe she had to run away from a mere Scylla and a hatchling like this.

Had that undead not damaged her cores, she would have faced these snake and lizard head-on.

The Wandering Sage took out the bloodstone fragments. Although it felt regretful, she decided that now wasn’t the time to hold onto them.

Decisively, she tossed both bloodstone fragments into the flowing river below.

She may have lost them today, but she was eternal—she would have the chance to retrieve her lost items eventually.

Those bloodstone fragments were hers, and she would never let another person keep them for long.

She would come back for them someday. Definitely.

Seeing this, Blackie and Arcturus immediately halted their pursuit. They wanted to beat the Wandering Sage to a pulp and take revenge for what she’d done, but retrieving those items was of utmost importance.

The Silen River was connected to the Mullgray Sea. If they didn’t look for the bloodstone fragments now, they might lose them forever.

After a few seconds of hesitation, the two of them stopped following after the Wandering Sage. They swooped down and desperately searched the river.

Just to be sure, the Wandering Sage fired several spells into the Silen River, disrupting its flow, making it even harder for Blackie and Arcturus to search for the items.

“I’ll remember this! Mark my words!”

After looking at Blackie and Arcturus one last time, the Wandering Sage flew northwest, toward the direction of Kalavinka Port.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

Since she’d lost the bloodstone fragments, she might as well take that kid and bring him to the old man of the Principality.