Chapter 184 - Battle Against the Stone Beast Form

It’s a shame that I can only use other elements as a Summoner. It would be interesting to try creating a monstrous armor like that...

I'm pulled back to reality as I dodge a heavy impact that explodes right where I was seconds ago. Moving quickly to the side, I hurl a bolt of lightning at the Earth Mage. He raises his arm to defend, and my thunder is completely absorbed by his reinforced stone armor.

His armor is an electric insulator? Damn… it’s resistant to electricity. He developed something specifically for a Thunder Mage? The rock's properties have been modified to handle electricity.

I leap backward, avoiding fragments that fly toward me.

"Let's play, boy!" the mage shouts as he generates a massive boulder and hurls it in my direction.

I send a sphere of wind toward the boulder, but before my magic takes effect, he shatters the rock and rushes forward in his monstrous form, trying to strike me with all his might. I dodge at the last moment, and he slams the ground with a devastating impact, making the earth tremble.

They've really studied my element... whoever’s trying to kill me has invested heavily in this.

I keep running, evaluating my options.

If I use the power of the Lord of the Titans and summon those golems, they won’t be intelligent enough to handle enemies of this level. Moreover, embodying the elemental power of my eyes in golem form would temporarily disable my access to that element while the golem remains active. That would only make things worse.

Suddenly, the trees behind me explode under the impact of a massive spiked ball hurtling at high speed. I realize the Fire Mage is missing, likely waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

The massive spiked ball stops mid-air, revealing the Earth Mage in his Stone Beast Form.

"He can transform into a spiked ball?"

"Come on, Thunder Boy! We’ve studied your element for years, gathering all the kingdom’s knowledge about Thunder Mages. I am your natural enemy! Hahaha!" he taunts, advancing with a punch that sends me flying, even through my wind barrier.

The mage begins to transform again into a massive spiked ball, rolling toward me at terrifying speed.

"Fire Field!" I hear a voice shout behind me, and suddenly, I’m surrounded by towering flames that leave me no escape.

I look up to see the massive spiked ball about to crush me.

I’m cornered...

I take a deep breath and declare:

"In that case... I will raise my level a little more."

I extend my hand, and the ground beneath me starts to quake. At the last second, two enormous plant-made hands emerge from the earth, rising to shield me. The spiked ball collides with them, trying to crush them with its destructive force.

"Pay attention!" I shout, summoning a giant third hand of yellow energy that quickly strikes the ball, sending it flying away.

More plants begin sprouting around me, and I use their momentum to propel myself into the air, escaping the fire trap and gaining a vantage point above my enemies.

In mid-air, I clasp my hands together and invoke the spell with a powerful shout:

"Plant Art: Demeter's Forest"

The words echoed as massive, monstrous trees erupted from the ground, accompanied by a lush green field that flooded the muddy forest. It was a display of power, a tribute to an ancient goddess of Olympus. As soon as I landed on the ground, hundreds of roots emerged, ready to obey my command.

"This is my territory," I declared firmly.

The Fire Mage had hidden herself again, but from afar, I spotted the Earth Mage in his monstrous form, charging forward and crushing my trees as he approached. He halted a few meters away, disbelief written on his face.

"How? How can you have both plant and thunder elements?" he shouted.

I raised my hands, holding a metal sword in one and a yellow sword in the other.

"A Light Sword? What are you?" he asked, bewildered.

"A High Half-Elf," I replied, letting my sword glow with a bluish layer.

“Impossible! A High Elf is practically a mystical being. They haven’t reproduced with another species for millennia.”

"There's always an exception," I replied. “And this isn’t just a light-element sword... it's a light-element sword combined with thunder." I smiled, advancing toward him.

He morphed his arm into a blade and propelled himself forcefully at me. Our blades clashed, and I had to reinforce my arm with wind to withstand the monstrous impact. Using my elemental sword, I managed to wound him.

He quickly retreated, then noticed:

"My armor... you managed to break a piece of it, haha!" he laughed as his armor began to regenerate.

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I pointed my blue-glowing sword at him.

"That's the power of elemental combination," I declared, intensifying the power of my blade until it began to smolder with concentrated energy.

"You're worth every coin!" he shouted, transforming into a massive ball of spikes and rolling toward me.

I rushed to meet him but pulled back at the last moment. The spiked ball fired its projectiles, revealing it to be a trap. I created a wind barrier to defend myself, and he descended upon me, brandishing an axe in one hand and a stone blade in the other.

We exchanged blows, and I used my elemental sword to defend myself. Each strike dismantled part of his armor.

'BAM!' He morphed one hand into a hammer and slammed it into the ground, causing a devastating shockwave.

Taking advantage of the moment, I landed a lightning-boosted kick, followed by a slash with my blue blade. His axe shattered under the force of my sword, but he lunged with both hands, ready to grab me.

I deactivated the elemental sword and, in a swift motion, delivered a wind-reinforced palm strike. Though it didn’t damage his stone armor, the burst of wind propelled me away, saving me from his deadly grasp.

I hit the ground, now holding only the metal sword. I quickly stored it back in my storage bracelet and kept running.

"Are you giving up?" he laughed, landing heavily in front of me.

"I just wanted my hands free," I replied with a grin.

I made a quick gesture, sending a plant tentacle his way. He tried to defend himself, but the surrounding trees began to shoot high-speed roots, binding his hands, feet, and neck.

With a command, I bent the forest to my will. He struggled desperately to break free from the suffocating roots while I circled him, controlling the plants from a distance.

"This is my forest, this is my garden," I declared, stomping the ground forcefully. In response, a massive wooden fist, adorned with thorns, rose from the earth and struck him with full force, sending him flying away.

While he was falling through the air, the surrounding trees began firing high-speed spikes, as if they were alive, obeying my commands. Seizing the moment, I leaped forward, making the wood grow rapidly to strike him.

With a guttural roar, he propelled himself forward, transforming one of his arms into a colossal stone shield covered in spikes. The impact was brutal, shattering all the wood I had sent toward him as if they were mere twigs.

"Ahhh!" he roared, triggering a series of explosions as he advanced. I jumped to evade them in mid-air, but he adjusted his trajectory surprisingly well, launching himself with primal ferocity.

"Thunder..." I started to chant, but I was forced to quickly conjure a wind barrier. However, he broke through it with a brutal headbutt.

“Damn it!” I shouted, feeling the overwhelming impact. A sharp horn had sprouted from his forehead, piercing through my wind barrier and stabbing into my chest. I was thrown backward, spinning uncontrollably until I crashed among the forest trees.

'BAM!' The sound of his landing reverberated through the ground, and he immediately began rolling at high speed, transforming into a monstrous spiked ball that grew larger as it charged toward me like a living avalanche. I quickly got back on my feet, my body aching as I considered my options.

My elemental sword was effective against his stone armor, but he was approaching with crushing speed. If he hit me, it would be over.

"Plant Art: Green Guardian’s Gate!" I chanted, and a massive wooden gate erupted from the ground, sturdy spikes sprouting from its structure. The wood was dark brown, as hard as iron, inspired by a defensive technique from my grandfather, a master of the earth element. The gate bore a carved face, a fierce expression of protection.

‘BOOM!’ He collided with the gate at full force, shattering it to pieces, but his spiked form also broke apart on impact. I took advantage of the opening, feeling electricity surge through my right arm.

"Thunder Dash!" I chanted, and a burst of electric force propelled me forward in a blink, placing me directly in front of the earth mage, who was still reeling from the impact.

My entire arm emanated an intense blue energy, focusing all my mana. With a decisive motion, I delivered a brutal punch. "Thunder Art: Geodynamic Shock!" I roared, and my fist collided with his spiked armor, piercing through it with devastating force.

A massive flash of lightning followed, accompanied by a thunderous boom that echoed across the battlefield. The impact replicated tectonic energy, unleashing a wave of electricity that cracked his stone armor. The blow sent him flying backward, electricity enveloping his body, reducing his carapace to scattered fragments.

I was thrown back by the force of the explosion, but I quickly stood up, breathing heavily. I looked at my hand, two fingers broken from the impact of the punch, but the result was achieved. The earth mage fell heavily, parts of his armor missing, his body covered in cracks.

Before he could rise, I pressed on with my plan, determination burning in my eyes.

"Plant Art: Sacred Forest Flood!" I shouted with every ounce of strength, feeling mana surge fiercely through my body. The forest seemed to awaken from a deep slumber, responding instantly to my call. An ancient roar echoed through the air, and the ground beneath trembled as if the very earth was alive, ready to erupt in fury.

A colossal tsunami of roots erupted from all directions, like a green monster emerging from the depths of the forest. The roots intertwined into a twisted mass of wood, covered in thorns that glistened in the daylight, casting menacing shadows as they surged forward like a wild sea. This spell required the presence of Demeter’s Forest to be cast, and now the mage was completely at its mercy.

The mage panicked, his eyes widening as he realized he was caught in a trap. Desperately, he attempted to summon stone barriers to halt the relentless advance of the vegetation, but his defenses were mercilessly shattered. Each attempt was swiftly reduced to rubble as the wave of roots pressed on, unstoppable.

He was engulfed by the wave of wood and leaves, violently tossed around. The roots coiled around him like predatory serpents, tightening as he was slammed into trees along the way. Gusts of wind, born from the spell's momentum, lifted dry leaves into the air, creating a storm of vegetation that surrounded the battlefield.

"It’s not over yet!" I declared firmly, my voice resonating with the weight of a vow. My body pulsed with energy as I channeled all my mana upwards, concentrating the light element into a specific point.

In the sky, a massive drill began to form. It was like a pillar of pure light, its intense yellow glow blinding everything around it. The light spun at high speed, emitting a sharp, piercing sound, while wooden roots coiled around it like deadly thorns, reinforcing the spell with nature’s power. The fusion of the two elements resulted in a monstrous, spiked creation, primed for the final strike.

"FIRE!" I shouted, releasing the drill of light and wood. It surged forward like an unstoppable projectile, tearing through the air with a deafening hum. The drill left a trail of brightness in its wake, creating shockwaves in the air from its sheer speed.

The mage, realizing the imminent danger, rose in a panic, his wide eyes filled with utter terror. His breathing was ragged, his face etched with desperation as he frantically waved his hands, trying to raise a stone barrier in one last, desperate act of survival. But it was futile.

The drill of pure energy collided with brutal force, piercing through the stone barrier as if it were fragile paper, reducing it to mere fragments.

‘BOOOOOOOOOM!’

The sound of the impact was deafening, echoing throughout the forest like a shockwave that seemed to rip the very air apart. A blinding burst of light followed, illuminating the battlefield with an intense and almost blinding clarity. The surrounding trees swayed violently, as if shaken by an unstoppable gale, and the ground trembled with such intensity that it seemed on the verge of splitting apart.

A dense cloud of dust and stone shards rose from the point of impact, forming an opaque curtain that enveloped the entire area. The air grew heavy and suffocating as debris scattered, completely obscuring the spot where the mage had made his last desperate attempt at defense.

The sound still echoed through the field, reverberating in the aftermath, as the result of the attack became clear: shattered earth and scattered stone fragments were all that remained of the mage's defense.