Chapter 5
The Mana era of humanity has endured for the last ten thousand years. For the entire length of that time, humanity has been at war with monsters. The capital city of every major empire in the world is constantly at threat of a siege by monster waves. Despite this, humanity knows very little about monsters. The sheer amount of monster species and the rate at which they mutate are just two of the most obvious reasons. The same species of monsters could also have vastly different characteristics, personalities, or even skills. The Monster’s existence itself is irregular.
However, there is one thing that all monsters have in common regardless of their powers, species, size, or intelligence.
Monsters are strengthened by the moon.
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The students were shocked to see Sir Windshear receive such a deadly wound. Several students started to run towards the academy. Battlemage in training they may be, but they were still not a real soldier yet.
Yulin was shaking, rage and fear both overwhelmed her. Sir Windshear was their idol, a paragon of Eastern mage, a real hero, a teacher. She has personally witnessed him control the wind to twist off an orc’s head. She saw him create an air vacuum over the entire goblin village and clean them all up in a neat fashion. He was a symbol of strength in her mind. The thought of him losing paralyzed her.
“Senior sister! Snap out of it! We need to retreat! The witch is probably watching. She will send reinforcement or come in person if Sir Windshear is in such a condition. But before that, we need to get all the students to retreat to the academy ground.” Beth shook Yulin’s shoulders
“Right, there are still people that depend on me. They might die if I don't control the situation.” Yulin’s head was a mess, but she still gave the order. The entire troop quickly retested towards the academy's back gate.
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In the sky above the forest.
Sir Windshear used basic healing magic on himself, but it was not enough to regrow lost limbs. He had been keeping vigilance against that portal attack from earlier, but that was the least of his problems now.
Moonlight slowly cast over the land. The beast’s madness and bloodlust from a moment ago are nowhere to be seen. It laid its massive meat blob of a body on the ground while bowing all of its head.
Sir Windshear took this opportunity to heal himself further.
“What the hell is it doing? Is it praying?” Cade, who was familiar with the faith, said that incredulously. Jace’s group was dumbfounded.
The monster's 4 foreheads touched the ground and it looked up at the moon. When the moonlight touched the chimera, its skin broke away like eggshells. From that shell, a hulking beast blocked out the sky.
It was more than 4 times the size of the chimera. If the chimera was the size of an elephant, this new form was the size of a 4 story house. The meat blob on its torso was gone. Now its body was sleek, muscular, and powerful. The heads and legs are largely unchanged, only much bigger.
“Now would be a good time for you to help, Lady Harlet.” Sir Windshear spoke to the air.
“Fine! But you will get a pay cut for making me work!” a beautiful voice rang in the air.
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The fog that surrounds the academy and the dark forest moves and gathers near Sir Windshear, forming a fog portal. A handsome lady with a blue suit, high heels, and a big witch hat steps out from the portal.
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Jace’s group had retreated to the vicinity of the academy's main building, the tall blue tower.
Hundreds of students can be seen sitting on the ground or standing around watching the giant screen projected into the side of the blue tower. Many of these students are either wounded or are simply magic researchers with low combat powers. The rest of the combat-ready students seem to have been deployed to the surrounding forest edge.
The mana net is showing the scene of the beast transforming with the moonlight and then the handsome lady stepping out of the portal.
“LADY HARLET WILL TAKE THE FIELD?!?!?!?” squealing from many female students can be heard.
“The Smiling Witch” many students started to pray.
Jace can see many students get down on their knees and pray. A living God can have such effects on people. Everyone in this world knows who she is. The Smiling Witch, one of the 6 witches of this world, owner and founder of Greylight Academy.
Mana-enhanced bodies can live for a long time. A normal person can live for 200-300 years. A powerful mage can live for a thousand, but the 6 witches are more ancient than that. Some rumors even claimed that they were the survivors of the Mana Flood Wars. That would make them more than ten thousand years old
Jace was excited to see her fight. In truth, he has been disappointed in Sir Windshear. He was strong without a doubt, one deadly wound suffered from a sneak attack did not diminish his strength, and yet, the power that he saw wasn't nearly enough. The power he needed was not only at that level. He needed absolute strength. He needed to become so strong that he could sweep away a thousand of that chimera with his finger. And even then, that is probably not enough to face his true enemies. What he needed to face was powers that were beyond this reality.
He currently has access to only one offensive spell, while powerful, the side effect is so harsh that he can not use it more than once in a fight. He has ideas to lower the power output of the spell, but that might not be enough to kill monsters. The only way to know for sure is to test it out.
Other areas of the academy are still struggling with the formation of the monster wave. Jace planned to go test his new idea after his quest was done.
“Oh, that guy is going to do something dumb soon.” Cade sitting on the ground whispered to Beth and Kim, nodding in the direction of Jace.
“What? How do you know?” Kim said
“Jace was alone in the dark forest when he rescued us. That guy has quite a reckless personality” Beth said, the smile on her face in contrast with her complaint.
On the screen, Lady Harlet waves her big blue hat like a fan and the clouds in the sky seem to block out the moonlight. The beast immediately reacted, its body was slowly getting smaller. The chimera 3 heads spew giant flames, ice, and acid at the woman in the sky. What used to be a short-range attack before, now covers the entire area. The snake's head ominously hid behind its body, waiting for a chance to strike.
The chimera felt something below itself. Only to realize the roots of the pulverized forest were growing around his body. The beast tries to jump away, but the roots of the mana tree enhanced further by a powerful witch’s mana is not something that it can casually shake off. It stopped the breath attacks to focus on shredding the roots growing on itself.
While the beast was busy ripping the roots off its body, the ground below it broke apart and its gigantic body fell into the crack. The beast desperately tried to claw its way out, but the earth could not support the weight of its body, falling away like grains of sand under the beast’s claws. Then it opens a portal, thinking to escape through it, but it is unable to fit inside because its body has simply grown too large. The beast was stuck inside the crack of the earth.
Then, the fog around the forest gathered, and poured down into the crack in the earth. The fog had turned into water pushing the beast down, and then it froze. The beast seemed not to be affected too much, it was still trying to climb out of the crack.
“He is durable. Then I just have to be a bit rough. Watch and learn kid, this is why I told you to not only focus on one thing” Lady Harlet giggled, looking back at Sir Windshear
A giant fireball appeared above the monster, a crimson-red ball that scorched the surrounding tree roots. Then it turned white, the surrounding trees and roots instantly turning to ash. This action repeats itself several times at a rapid pace. The beast froze, then scorched, then froze again. The monster’s tough body was undergoing extreme temperature change at a rapid pace.
The scream of the chimera can be heard, it was taking damage, but not enough to even break the skin.
The snake head was frantically chasing Lady Harlet through the sky. The lady was casually floating, dodging multiple portals that appeared and the occasional snake head that popped out of it.
“Rougher I guess?” A bright laugh like a young girl.
Lady Harlet snapped her finger and the earth inside the crack moved. The earth was moving back and forth, hitting the body of the beast stuck inside like the maw of a giant predator chewing its prey.
The beast’s body was frozen by ice, scorched by fire, and crushed by earth. This combination of attacks repeated over and over, until slowly, cracks began to form on its body and eventually were broken to pieces. The chimera did not even have the chance to scream. The giant body was broken, shattered, and quickly swallowed by the earth.
“You should learn to use all the elements, boy. That's why you are so weak.” Lady Harlet disappeared into the fog but left mocking comments with Sir Windshear
“..............not all of us are such incandescent beings, Lady Harlet……” Julius Lee felt incompetent in front of her. He bowed deeply to the air
Cheers erupted from the courtyard of the school.
Jace realized he was mistaken, humanity’s peak was not Sir Windshear. The planet’s guidance was referring to the witch. That is the wall he needed to surpass.
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Humanity’s Peak
Quest Complete