CHAPTER 126.

In the end, getting out without one final confrontation is impossible.

That was the first thought that entered her mind. There was no way they would let them escape with the divine artifact without putting up a fight. And while Amber could give it back, she refused. She had a lot to learn from it, and considering the trouble she had gone through to get it, it was something she was going to keep no matter what.

Besides, it’s not like they would let her go even if she gave it back at this point.

And so, Amber was filled with resolve. The resolve to get out of here and live. The resolve to fight through this and the resolve to not let things outside of her control ever again. And the resolve to get her Class Advancement from this. So, she acted.

Dozens of high level spells were fired and everyone teleported out of the way, and a moment later the spells struck. The spot where they had just been standing was blown to smithereens, the earth was torn asunder and the trees in the surroundings were felled.

Amber landed not too far away from Remmel and Aveline, the former had an awful expression while the latter just looked terrified.

The situation was bad. Perhaps if it was just the guards it would’ve been fine, but there was one guard that stood above all others. The head guard. The Archmage that had been chasing after them all this time. And he, more than anyone else, wanted her dead.

Amber looked up at the barriers above, more and more were appearing as the moment of judgment loomed, danger permeating the surroundings. And finally Amber turned to Remmel, getting some semblance of a plan already.

“Remmel, how many of those mana removing daggers do you have?” she asked, frowning. “And can you sense when he’s about to use the spell?”

“About three of them. And, no.” He dashed away from two spells.

Amber ate a lightning spell, simply blocking it with Cursewelder as the mages switched to aim at them.

“Aveline can you sense it?”

She hesitated. “I think I can.”

Amber nodded. “Then, tell Remmel when to use his daggers. Only tell him when he’s going to use his tier 4 spell, otherwise don’t bother. Also, stay on the lookout for anything else I ask of you.”

At that the ex noble tensed, but ultimately nodded. To some extent it was odd to Amber to have to depend on someone who had been her enemy before. But at the same time Aveline had proved a lot in these past few weeks and battles; she never had actual animosity towards Amber, and she was also really dependable.

Which made her trust the woman.

“Enough bickering!” the Archmage shouted, his staff up in the air. “You pathetic worms, I should’ve done this from the start.”

Aveline clenched onto her staff. “Use the dagger now!”

Remmel grunted and took out the black dagger that he threw towards the mage. The object flew at a great speed as the barriers in the sky began to shine, and teleport into the surroundings. In a split second the surroundings became filled with barriers.

“Deconstruction⁠—”

And the dagger hit⁠ the Archmage’s personal barrier and exploded. The explosion shattered the personal barrier and made the Archmage stumble, halting his spell.

Chance.

Amber teleported on top of him with the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash and with Cursewelder in hand she slashed down.

Her physical strength was enhanced to the max, Silver Flame edge was activated, tripling the sword’s sharpness, and a moment later it hit a barrier. That exploded. The sword went slightly into the mage’s shoulder as he grunted.

“You severely underestimate me, Amber,” he cursed, raising his staff.

And Amber immediately used Crimson Fuel and burned the mage’s own blood. He screamed and Amber in turn dug deeper, burning into his shoulder.

It’s best for me to stay close to him.

At that moment the rest of the mages aimed for her, trying to help their leader, but Amber paid that no mind as she focused on her Essence.

It passed through the sword and then she flared it⁠ using both of her slashing Essence skills, Wind Cleave and Fulminating Slash. The Archmage’s shoulder was blown off as he was blasted away, and Amber followed after him.

Or tried to.

“Repulse!”

One of the mages blasted her away, and when she teleported on top of the reeling Archmage it was too late. Amber arrived just to see a barrier in front of her. Her eyes momentarily widened and the barrier exploded, blasting her away with a burst of blood. She landed and clicked her tongue, her wounds healing a moment later as the Archmage touched his missing shoulder and⁠—

The bleeding stopped. It was still open but Amber could almost see a translucent material in place of the missing parts of his body. A barrier. The mages in the surroundings fired at her, but she hastily dodged. A lot of them were distracted dealing with Remmel and looking for Aveline who was invisible.

“You greatly underestimate what it takes to kill a me,” he grunted and raised his staff. “I’m surprised you still want to fight. Perhaps if you beg I’ll reconsider killing you.”

“That’s a lie.” She frowned. It gave the exact same feeling as when she had first met Sid’fril.

A mage blasted her and she blocked, receiving nothing but superficial damage because now she was enhancing her body’s toughness. However, Amber’s gaze didn’t leave the Archmage as he seemed to be in silence.

Before finally, he nodded, his frown deepening. ”That is correct. No matter how you beg, my hatred for you cannot be extinguished.”

And a moment later, a barrier appeared in front of her. Amber raised her sword to block and it exploded.

She grunted as it tore part of her hand and shoulder. Then as she slid back, two more barriers appeared and⁠— exploded. Amber was pushed and blasted, as more and more barriers appeared.

“Fuck.”

She teleported and⁠—

A barrier appeared, splitting off her leg. She suppressed a scream, and stumbled to the side.Her leg immediately began to regenerate but it was much slower than if she had access to the 2nd Rank of Recovery of Curses, which was in cooldown. If the skill leveled to 5th Rank perhaps it would be a different story, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.

Still, Amber didn’t let that bother her. While she couldn’t stay close to the Archmage to heal off of him, she had alternatives. And while this was a battle whose circumstances she didn’t like, she welcomed the battle itself. Because she was sure it would push her limits like never before.

Amber used normal Quick Dash towards a mage as his eyes widened and he teleported away. The Archmage grunted and blasted her away with a barrier, but as Amber landed she used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash and with a blue flaming hand she reached towards a mage.

His personal barrier broke and a barrier from the Archmage appeared behind her, blasting her and the mage she had just grabbed. The two of them landed rolling, and the guard was unconscious as she used his blood to heal her leg. Though, she made sure to hold onto the man just in case of getting blasted by kinetic energy via the repulse spell.

“You vile whore!” the head guard screamed. “You dare take hostages?”

Amber shrugged. “Relax, he’s merely unconscious, moreover you’re the one that blasted him.”

She didn’t actually plan to kill any of the other guards if she could help it. Objectively speaking they were merely serving the head guard who wanted her dead, and they themselves were simply doing their jobs. If she killed all of them, disregarding that, she would objectively be like the bandits and every other evil person she had reprimanded in the past.

That said, her noble actions seemed to make the Archmage even angrier.

“You…”

His anger reached a new high and Amber took the battlefield for a moment. The mages didn’t want to attack her because of their ally at her feet. Amber side-stepped a just-formed barrier, one that didn’t explode because of aforementioned reasons. And Amber used this precious time to think about how to get all of the guards. Meanwhile the Archmage kept trying to slice her in half with numerous barriers that missed. That trick only worked if she got caught out of teleport.

Amber frowned, thinking. If she used Storm of Destruction on a group, the likelihood of killing people was low since it wasn’t targeted at anyone, but the likelihood of bad injuries was quite high like it had happened before. The problem was the Essence consumption. Even if her core was extremely close to leveling up, it wouldn’t be enough to cast the spell multiple times. And while ⁠— from what she could tell ⁠— the Ring of Truth could only help cast and enhance a single spell at the cost of her life. Not multiple.

And while she could make her Essence spell bigger, without an actual formation of runes to aid her, that wasn’t possible. Meaning that she couldn’t make this battle easier for herself. She clicked her tongue and a moment later another barrier missed as the Archmage got even angrier.

“Is that all you are? A coward?!”

Amber frowned. “If I teleport to you you’ll just run, so aren’t you the coward?”

At that he grumbled and turned to the mages that seemed on guard towards her.

“Teleport me towards her.”

At that she tensed. What was he planning by doing that? She readied herself as the mages channeled their spell, as screams and explosions resounded in the background, and as her focus reached new heights. And a moment later, the Archmage was teleported with a white burst of light and he reached.

Amber immediately teleported away. So he plans on grabbing me to cut me up? It wasn’t happening. The Archmage teleported behind her and she flicked⁠— Fulmination Slash. An explosion of blue engulfed the man and she backed off away from his reach.

A barrier appeared behind her and a whisper came⁠—

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“Repulse.”

The barrier blasted her back and the rather unharmed Archmage received her by grabbing her forearm. Amber tried to swing using Cursewelder but her arm was cut off, she grunted and was forced to let go of the mage as her other arm was lacerated and she stumbled back. As she glared at him.

“You wanted me to come close, I’m close,” he said coldly.

Burn. Amber inwardly cast and the mage got caught, he grunted and her arms regenerated but a moment later he blasted her with barriers. Making her stumble back, and Amber re-evaluated her options. The mage appeared on top of her and blasted her as she managed to regenerate off his blood.

Right now all I can do is… She screamed, having her arm sliced off. Level up my skills to 5th Rank. And thankfully, she had just the right idea of what she wanted to do.

Amber used Inexorable Will and the mage froze as she teleported away for her Cursewelder. She grabbed it and the mage called from afar.

“Bad idea.”

Three barriers appeared and Amber went flying her armor completely tearing away at this point. Amber replaced the sword with five High Quality healing potions that she drank, given her newly acquired storage ring carried a lot of them. The kickback curse was immediate and served her to begin regenerating Curse Battery. A moment later, the mage blasted her away yet again and finally, her teleport came back up.

Amber went after another mage with the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash. They had all started to ignore her and focused on Remmel instead, and when she reached her arm was held as the Archmage simply stared at her.

“What are you hoping to achieve?” he asked her.

Amber smiled and extended her hand, summoning the Cursewelder and stabbed it into her body before the mage could react. His eyes widened as if he had just seen something completely ridiculous, but Amber simply grabbed onto his arm.

Burn.

Her wound immediately closed at great speed, as curses began to stack into Curse Battery, Cursed Rage Synergy being used to enhance Crimson Fuel, and heal her faster⁠—

[Cursed Rage Synergy has leveled up from 4th Rank level 9 to 4th Rank level 10.]

While Amber wasn’t sure if it would reach 5th Rank or not, it wasn’t her priority, her other skills were her priority. And she was working towards them. First was a skill that she desperately needed right now, and given all the abuse she had taken so far, she felt like she was close.

“Stop!”

The mage blasted her away, and Amber landed in pain, Curse Battery refilling itself as she got rid of the Cursewelder. She tried dashing towards the mage but a barrier blocked her and he smiled, sensing the burning sensation going away.

“So that only works from a certain proximity?”

“You figured me out,” Amber smiled.

Right now, she only has one priority and one priority only. Getting the skill that would allow her to turn the tide of battle completely to 5th Rank. The skill that would void a lot of her restrictions.

She raised her finger and poured a good amount of accumulated rage into her next attack.

Battery⁠—

An explosion of curses engulfed the mage as multiple barriers breaking resounded. Then a moment later five barriers appeared and exploded around her. She gritted her teeth from the sudden pain, and the Archmage appeared, some flames on his coat and slightly more bloodied than before.

“Shit⁠—”

Then the barrier around his body blasted and Amber was flung back as she landed in deep pain. The mage seemed also upset.

“I wanted to avoid this, but you leave me no choice.” He pointed his staff at himself. “Overdrive.”

His entire body shook for a moment, and Amber felt something off. But before she could react, a barrier cut her arm off. What⁠— another barrier formed, and cut off her other arm. She stumbled back, and her eyes widened at what the mage was doing.

He is burning his mana at the cost of casting spells faster. She had read about it. Of course, if that was the only drawback everyone would do it, but it would lower his mana reserve by well over half for months.

She tried to run, knowing what it meant and its duration but it didn’t matter⁠—

“Agh!”

Both of her legs were blown off, cut by barriers. Recovery of Curses immediately regenerated them with twice the speed due to its 4th Rank but it didn’t do much as the mage summoned a pointy barrier that he nailed into her heart. Her eyes widened and she coughed as she summoned a ring on her mouth.

A simple one. One with a spell to send people away, one that was carried by the mage of the Saints of Truth.

Repulse⁠—

“Dispel.” He flicked his staff.

The mana dissipated and the man dug the barrier deeper.

“If only cutting heads with barriers were easier.” he began, aiming at her neck. “Unfortunately, that is only possible with something like Arkara’s Staff, something that allows magic to ignore rules, to surpass what is possible. With it, I’ll end your friends after I kill you. It is a waste in your possession.”

At that moment a barrier began cutting into her neck.

“This ends now. Goodbye.”

Amber gasped and⁠— the much awaited notification came.

[⁠Recovery of Curses has reached 5th Rank ⁠— level 1.

And finally, it happened.

2nd Rank ⁠— Thrice a day, the skill can enter overdrive, doubling its effect for 45 minutes.

5th Rank ⁠— Critical injuries are healed with three times the speed and limbs can be reattached with great ease.

She used the 2nd Rank of Recovery of Curses for the 3rd time today and both barriers were ejected out of her body as she immediately dashed away and stabbed the Cursewelder into her abdomen. And even though the man tried to cut off her limbs they got glued back on as soon as the barrier left as she grinned.

Cursed Battery was back up.

But that certainly wasn’t enough to kill the mage, no, she needed something more. And she had an idea of the right thing.

She pointed⁠—

Battery.

The mage grunted as barriers exploded, and Amber immediately called, taking out a book from her ring. It was flat. It wasn’t the notebook that Asil had given her, no, it was Lubaum’s Lighting Storm spell.

She tossed it behind and called.

“Aveline, carve those runes into a spell circle into the battlefield. Don’t worry whether it works too much or not, just add runes following their intent, not logic,” she called.

The book disappeared and Amber smiled as she was blasted away by the mage.

“You just don’t die do you?!”

Amber turned back and smiled, as the mage raised his staff. But a moment later, a shadow appeared and⁠— kicked. Multiple barriers shattered and the Archmage was blasted away as he grunted, and Amber smiled, as she recognized the figure standing on the Archmage’s spot.

Frei.

“Did ya miss me? I’ve come to save everyone’s ass.”

She grinned and Amber noted that she had been crying, but before she could even mention that, Frei raised her hand as a black staff with a purple gem appeared. And Amber blinked⁠— it carried the faintest of Essence, a minimal amount, and that surprised her.

“Now it's time to end all of this.” She laughed as a white spell circle began to take place. And a moment later, it was already cast as she pointed it at the sky. “Silence.”

Amber blinked and black daggers rained from the sky a moment later. It was a single wave, but Amber heard grunts and the mages on the surroundings began to fall over, knocked unconscious forcefully by Frei’s spell.

It took less than five seconds for every single mage present to fall to her spell, which surprised Amber greatly. And it just went to show how big the difference between level 200 and 300 was.

“Requires the target to be 100 levels under me, but it’s nice otherwise,” she commented. “Now that only leaves…”

She flicked her staff as a barrier was shattered by her.

“That guy.”

Amber looked towards the Archmage, whose face was grim. It was clear the odds were stacked against him, yet she didn’t dare to underestimate him. Just like Frei, he had the ability to tear apart the environment and erase part of the map if necessary. Thankfully, right now it was multiple people against one.

Remmel pounced on the mage and a barrier blocked his attack, and Amber took the chance to use Curse Battery yet again when her “companion” was pushed back. In a moment the Archmage was blasted by numerous curses as he let out a loud grunt. He tried to use a barrier against Amber but Frei shattered it.

And she took a breath, this was a prime opportunity to end things. Amber was not going to let it go.

So she focused, looking for an opportunity.

“You look awful now, Xavier.”

“Frei, the traitorous bitch. If you’re after Arkara’s Staff again, the Cursebearer has it,” he spat. “Now stop getting in the way.”

Frei smiled. “Now, why would I lift a finger against my wonderful master and owner? That seems stupid.”

“What?”

At that the mage paused, and Amber took the chance.

“Destroy his barrier,” she commanded.

And then Amber teleported on top of him, Frei fired a bolt of darkness and his personal barrier exploded and Amber landed on him, grabbing onto his neck as the Cursewelder went deeper into her body, making her grunt in pain. She had used Cursed Battery so many times, it must have been close to leveling up.

At the same time, she couldn’t take chances, not with him. Not with someone level 300.

“You harlot⁠—”

Burn.

The surface area of contact was much worse, which made the mage scream and a moment later her battery. He seemed to be able to take curses pretty well, but what about up close and when it leveled?

“Battery!”

A loud bang engulfed both of them as Amber suppressed a scream, her hand was ripped out by the mage as he let out a loud scream of anger. But Amber just continued to burn as her open wound constantly closed and reopened, and not two seconds later Curse Battery came back up.

One more.

This time Amber chose to spam it and use its refund feature. If single hits weren’t enough then multiple should level up her skill.

“Battery.”

The Archmage rocked, trying to get her off.

“Battery.”

He cursed, seemingly sustaining the attack.

“Battery!”

But Amber kept going, inching closer towards ranking up her skill.

…

The mage wailed as numerous artifacts lit up around his body, necklaces, rings, bracelets, even ankle bands. And yet Amber kept going as the curses seemed to completely die off, doing almost nothing as the refunds stopped being effective— and finally her skill leveled.

[⁠Cursed Battery has reached 5th Rank ⁠— level 1.

5th Rank ⁠— The output of the curses will double.

Amber smiled as the skill immediately came off cooldown and she used it, letting go of the mage.

Curse Battery⁠—

In an instant, he was blasted by the last curse battery she had and Amber landed far away as purple flames and cuts littered the surroundings. But Amber immediately frowned, for she could sense it. The man was still alive. And he wasn’t half dead either, but alive.

She frowned and took out the Ring of Truth, pushing her mana into it and taking a deep breath as she took out Arkara’s Staff. And she pointed it forward as a bow of flames wrapped on it, then she made an arrow of blue fire as she let out a deep breath.

At that moment the smoke cleared and the mage stood there, his injuries gone as he tossed away two necklaces. The mage took a step forward and screamed. His mana exploded in all directions. He was using a berserker skill, and it was strong.

Meanwhile, her fire tainted red as she began to cast.

“Ring of Truth, to punish this heathen⁠—”

The mage pounced towards her, but Frei interfered and⁠— she was flung away with a large explosion of well over twenty barriers.

“I offer you half of my vitality⁠—”

Remmel appeared but he was blasted away and a moment later he teleported in front of her and before she could even blink the mage flicked and⁠—

Her arms regenerated as the Ring of Truth continued to shine, meanwhile the man grabbed the staff, off the air with her arm still attached. Frei pounced and he grunted.

“Disappear.”

Frei was blasted this time with an explosion of blood as she let out a pained scream, the environment torn, meanwhile Amber continued chanting, uncaring for the circumstances.

“So listen to me and make him vanish⁠—”

He interrupted, lifting the staff towards her. “You know, with the Staff of Arkara magic is boundless, and now I can do anything I want.”

But Amber finished.

“With my Primordial Blazing Bolt⁠.”

The red arrow was loosed at point blank and a roaring explosion shook the land. One made out of red. An infernal torrent engulfed everything in front not reaching the fainted guards but tearing the environment as the two of them were swallowed whole.

“Which means that a lot of things become trivial. Such as erasing spells I normally wouldn’t be able to do anything about.”

The fire extinguished with the Archmage’s words, Amber’s eyes widened as the staff was pointed at her.

“Or decapitation.”

And her head flew as blood splattered.