CHAPTER 37: CONFRONTATION WITH MAGIC (2)
As the wind blew, the clouds obeyed, allowing the air current to carry them according to his will.
The sun was already descending beyond the horizon, and the light was already thinning out a bit by bit, at the verge of disappearing.
As one particular cloud moved, a white figure was revealed from within.
The figure was definitely a man, and he was wearing a white colored cloak that was fluttering with the wind. His cloak was radiating with a magical energy so strong that it even caused the surrounding air to vibrate intensely.
The man was gazing at the huge mountain range below, intently. After a while, he pulled back the hood to reveal the face of a man at his late 20s. His features were average; however, his gaze exuded a very strong sense of power and authority that could make anyone who looks at him feels awe and respect.
For a while, the man was silent. The only sound around him was the howl of the wind.
The man looked downward at the mountain range beneath, and spoke: "mountain beast! Show yourself! I have come to negotiate with the beast king!"
Although he spoke in his normal voice, however, the moment he spoke these words… it was as if some mysterious power amplified his voice to the point of creating a shock wave. His words rumbled like thunder, completely disrupting the serenity of the mountain rage bellow.
His voice was so loud, that it caused every living thing in the mountain range to either hide, or escape in panic.
If there were any human in the area, then they would be very shocked to hear this voice.
This voice – was the same voice that people heard in their dreams.
For few seconds, nothing happened. Then, and with slight tremor in the mountain, a thick textured, black colored slimy liquid suddenly erupted from the mountain range caves and openings, as if it was magma.
The liquid gushed out profusely, forming a large lake around the base of the mountain in a matter of few minutes. However, the flow of the liquid was still far from over.
The black lake was still expanding at a terrifying rate, and the black liquid was still gushing out nonstop. Soon, a black colored lake that spanned for few kilometers was formed. Countless pores were opened at the surface, and Poisonous white smoke started emitting from them. All of the trees and other life forms that were swallowed by the lake melted immediately, and was absorbed by the lake.
After the flow stopped, thousands of slits started forming on the lake surface, then, and slowly, the slits started opening, revealing eyes that had black-colored sclera and shinning blood-colored pupils.
Thousands of eyes that varied in sizes from few meters to few hundreds of meters opened up at the same time. All of them simultaneously stared at the flying figure of the man.
The sight was exceedingly ominous. More ever, the lake was exuding an almost visible burble aura of death and destruction, causing the animals and beasts alike in the area to escape away in fright.
Up in the sky, the man's expression did not change. He waved his hand, and a force field of energy surrounded him.
Suddenly, a glint of red light flashed across all of the eyes in the lake, then, it was concentrated in the largest eyes in the middle, forming unstable ball of radiating red energy, then…!
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All of the eyes squinted, to the point of closing, and then they abruptly opened, causing the ball of light to explode, shooting a highly concentrated laser-like beam of energy toward the figure.
The speed of the energy was so fast, that it had cut through the air and reached the man in no time.
The man squinted his eyes, and he waved both of his hands, revealing his wrists.
Stunningly, he didn't have any artifact around his wrists; instead, he was casting spells directly, without any medium.
"Rank-5 spell – Hellfire bombardment!"
As the man spoke, massive amount of magic energy was emitted off his hands, causing multiple black-colored raging fire balls to materialize around him. The heat emitted from the black fire was so intense, that it caused the temperature in the surroundings to rise up at a terrible rate.
Bang!!
The red beam of energy collided with the shield that the man had casted earlier on, causing it to fluctuate violently. However, the force field still endured the energy attack, and did not shatter.
The man retracted his right hand, made a fist, and then punched out toward the energy beam.
BOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
The moment he did so, the shield surrounding him immediately exploded outwardly, producing a power so great that it caused the energy beam to explode and scatter about.
The explosion of the energy shield and the energy beam was so powerful, that it caused a sonic boom and a violent shock wave of a surging wind to spread out in a radius of few tenths of kilometers. The massive shock wave scattered the cloud in the area, and caused the surrounding temperature to rise.
The man was still hovering at his original position, unaffected at all.
Around him, the black fire balls increased in size many time, and were still suspended in the air around him.
"I have no doubt that you have absorbed the memories of many people. So, I assume you know what nuclear bombs are. Now, here is a tip for you, every one of these fire balls can produce a similar explosive power, and if I threw them at you, they'll turn this area to an ever burning lands of magma and toxic fire. However, since I don't want to ruin my planet in an irreversible way, I wish that you don't force me to cast them at you."
"I already know that not even an attack on this grade will kill you, as your main body is hiding deep inside the ground, but… I have no doubt that the injury this attack will inflict on you will be very troublesome for you to heal. So, do you still want to test my strength, to see if I'm worthy enough to exchange words with you…?"
The man spoke calmly, without using amplification on his voice. He had no doubt that the mountain beast could still pick up on his words.
[... … … f-i-n-e… mag-ician] [You… are… worth-y… enough] [… now, speak… your intentions…]
A deep, ancient, and cryptic voice sounded next to the man's ears. The voice seemed as if it was coming from another world, or time.
First, it sounded incoherent, as if the beast was trying to speak in this language for the first time. But then, and after each letter and word, it started making sense to the man.
"Convey to your king that if he wants the energy core of the global magic formation, then he must accept the following conditions. First, no beast above the second tier is allowed to attack the cities. Second, stop the annihilation campaign of the humans around the world. Third, the first and second conditions must not be breached for a period of a thousand year. Forth…
The man spoke several more conditions, while the eyes kept staring at him.
Finally, when the man was done talking, the ancient voice of the beasts sounded out next to his ears: "… Do you think… you're entitled… to make demands?"
"I know I'm. Otherwise, tell your king that if I'm pushed to the corner, then he better forget about ever getting the core. Now, stop talking none-sense, and deliver my message to your king." The man spoke with a face that was blank from any expression.
The thousands of eyes all shined with endless greed at the mention of the energy core. Then, they squinted, and released an invisible beam of mental energy at the man, as if trying to peer into the man's mind, to control him and force him to hand over the core.
The man in the sky snickered at the attempt, but still, he didn't dare to underestimate the attack.
The man immediately clapped his hands together, and muttered something in low voice, then, and as a blinding light radiated from between his hands, he opened them wide. Following which, an illusionary, violet skull surrounded him.
The skill opened its mouth wide, as if swallowing something.
Immediately, many cracks appeared in the skull, and the skull started twisting, as if it was in great agony. Then, the expression of the skull became dull, as if it was under control.
"Scatter for me!" the man spoke in a loud voice. And following which, the skull exploded into countless scattering sparks of violet light, and faded away.
"Are you going to give me the response, or are you continuing this childish game." The man resumed his posture, and scolded. However, under his sleeve, both of his hands were shaking violently.
It was obvious that he couldn't completely nullify the previous attack.
The eyes all squinted again, as if trying to read something from the man. However, after a while, they all relaxed again.
"The king… says that he can agree… on most of the conditions… However…" the beast spoke again, and toward the end of his words, an intense light glinted across the thousands of eyes. "… However… no one… can make… the king… wait…!"
"… If you want… time… then… win it... magician..."
Saying so, a fist-size ball of energy rose from the lake to the man. "… This is… the location… of the sky beast. Go, and fight him… without using the formation."
"Until you surrender… for every second… you survive against him… you'll earn… one year!"
"Now… this is the deal… accept it… or leave it…"
After saying these words, the black lake started seeping into the ground, and flowing back into the mountain. However, before the black mass completely disappear, few words drifted next to the man's ears.
"... You think... that by giving them... these flawed… and incomplete products... that you call... artifacts, you can save them...? ... In reality, ... you're only... prolonging their suffering. I have eaten... few millions of them... so far. and I... can tell you, that none.... of the ones… I had eaten… had the aptitude... to become… as strong as you. this action of yours… to delay… the inevitable… is pointless… "
Looking below, at the site were the black mass was, the man saw countless human skeletons, with artifacts still attached around the wrists of hundreds of them.
All of these artifacts were damaged to a great degree, so, the magic formation couldn't retrieve them.
Sigh!
After staying in his spot hovering for a while, the man let out a heavy burdened sigh. A look of sadness covered his face, as he started at the hills of human bones.
"A year for every second I hold on for…"
After letting out another sigh, a resolute look appeared at the man's face. Then, and after casting one final glance at the bones, he disappeared.
…