"Buckle up kid!" Sharon shouted, stamping her staff on the tower before taking flight. As impressive as that singular manifestation of magic was, my eyes narrowed on the more immediate threat. All but one of the incoming elite elementals was Q5, and that was only because the fifth was Q6. If that had been all, that would have been bad enough. However, just like how my eyes had assessed at the start, the entourage elementals were slightly different from the riff raff I'd been fighting.

I wasn't sure what the difference between a Primal and a regular elemental was, but size was definitely a factor. The Q6 Discharge elemental was easily the same size as all its compatriots together, putting it solidly in the school-bus-size department. From the barrage that Sharon had already deflected, the Discharge elemental was their long range hitter. Other than the big bastard, there were two other Air elementals with Condensation and Coruscation as their Refinement. Rounding out the bullies in the sky were a Rime Water Elemental and a Bleak one, whatever that correlated with. They didn't seem inclined to wait for Sharon to close the distance, so I gave them something to worry about. She'd said Eurus would take an attack as a challenge, but that likely meant the same for its lackeys.

Mana spun through me in two complex dances. One formed while the other prepared . It was a hefty investment, even as I cut the normal cost of the spells by half, that dropped my mana down to 60%. A miniature sandstorm coalesced on my back, ripping chunks from the reinforcements I'd provided for the Nash defenders even as more mana was transformed into sand. Fievil was kind enough to take over the restoration of those defenses while I fought against the raging rivers of using an Amplified at the same time as an Augmented .

For the first time, I felt pressure that went deeper than my muscles as Turbulent and Foundational Skills drank from my mana pool. No one was pulling at my body, but it might as well have been ripping in half. I could immediately tell something was off, an imbalance of some kind. My adrenaline filled mind danced through a number of things, chief among them was the fact that I should have tested the effects of holding a modified spell chain while triggering another. The fact that I could only connect with one Infused Item at a time hadn't changed, but I'd gotten very good at flicking between them for my purposes. This was pushing it. Hopeful it would help me find an answer, I held on to the Refinement boost my Hummingbird Charm granted me and ideas flew by almost too fast to consider. Thankfully, the answer had been hidden right at the beginning of my rambling: balance.

Another 10% of my mana formed a spell chain to match the one swirling around my right wrist. Hints of silver shone through the burnt umber of my mana as a bound itself there. Instantly, the tearing sensation eased off. It wasn't completely gone, but I could tell that the opposing Hemispheres of my soul were more in sync with the demand. An Amplified Skill and an Augmented Skill aren't weighed the same. Good information. Now we let go of this before I need to stress test my soul some more.

The results were worth it.

Two cannons of fragmented glass traveled through the sandstorm dancing around me. The number of matched perfectly with the number of charges provided and I wasn't sure it was a coincidence. With the glittering glass trailing swirls of sands, the elementals didn't have much place to dodge. The Discharge Elemental tried to strike me twice, but the bolts jumped to the mineral fragments as if they were magnetized. Considering friction caused static fields, I was sure a localized sandstorm carried quite the charge. The minerals went molten and the sand was christened into glass just in time to shear through the Condensation Elemental.

The creature looked like nothing more than a big jellyfish shaped soap bubble filled with smoke. The attack destroyed the containment bubble. A few blips of glass passed harmlessly through it, but the strange membrane seemingly could only sustain so many disruptions. A few hundred thousand more disruptions than that limit left it as nothing more than a hazy outline of smoke. For all its status under Eurus, it immediately tried to flee only to have its core struck like a bell by one of the chunks my Skill had ripped from our defenses. It didn't break, but its core cracked and started to fall towards the ground entirely unaffected by the winds that once held it aloft.

The Condensation Elemental wasn't the only one having a bad time. Both Water Elementals suffered from the lightning melted attack as their van-sized bodies shrunk under the pseudo-fire attack. The sand that hadn't been converted had little damage effect on the creatures, however the sand swirled into their bodies and they started to fall under their newfound weights. They can't keep foreign elements afloat! The Rime Elemental had unwillingly coated my sand attack in frost, turning its hazy form into a more defined humanoid upper body. The Bleak Water Elemental fervently worked to push out the muddy mess its starfish-like body had turned into.

While the Discharge and Coruscation Elementals mostly shrugged off my attack, my goal had been accomplished. I was their target, and Sharon zipped by overhead unburdened. She was hardly a spec as she flew towards Eurus, but I couldn't keep track of her for long before the entourage drew back my attention. A bolt of lightning that put the previous ones to shame was forming within the Discharge Elemental. The Coruscation Elemental, which was essentially a borderless lava lamp rendition, floated through the body of its companion. The blue sparks grew agitated, if that was even possible for lightning, each time they passed through one of the globs of its body.

Blobby tugged me to the side, the slime having reformed itself into its humanoid combat form at some point during my spellcasting, as a blade of muddy water twice my height flew from the Bleak Water. Instantly, the whole weather tower shook and swayed heavily to the side. A huge chunk was missing from its side, pulped by the attack.

"Shit! We can't let that bastard take us to the ground!" I said, turning to look at the defenders that rushed out of cover to repair the damage. I raised my voice, roaring over the storm even as I gathered mana to my Accessories. My soul wouldn't get a break while the creatures lived. "Nash Circles! Disrupt the Bleak Star!"

To the defender's credit, they didn't question why the random giant in their midst was giving orders. Maybe because they just saw you throw a sandstorm, duh? Instead, a cluster of wind blades, lightning bolts and frosting icicles flew from the weather tower instead of against it. More than one took jagged icicles in response to the brief exposure, but they were pulled out of sight quickly. The congealed water creature quivered under the onslaught, sacrificing two of its arms' magically juiced mass to send out more abrasive blows against the tower to deadly effect even as its whole body lost cohesion and started to rain down onto the hospital below. One of the defensive emplacements I'd created was cracked open like an egg, exposing the defenders to the full brunt of the sharp storm. I didn't get enough time to focus on their predicament as the ground lurched beneath me and it took me a second to realize that everything was tipping towards the east where the remaining elementals were leaving us even more exposed. One of the main pillars got destroyed!

"Oh this is going to suck for sure. Blobby, keep us upright! Fievil, I need you to protect Blobby with whatever you've got!" I screamed, sending my intent mentally and verbally as loudly as I could muster. Seconds felt like hours, but the slime spun into action. Literally. Blobby's humanoid form jumped into a frontflip roll before turning into its best rendition of a gooey booger to stretch over the railing and out of sight. Fievil growled into existence, the Arcane Sink following along as the Totem stretched it to its limits in order to operate through the tower's floor and in range of Blobby. They know what they are doing. Focus, Ronan!

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The ground started to pitch back to even, and that was all the thought I could leave for my earthy companions. The Discharge and Coruscation Elementals had their payload ready to go if the goosebumps trying to rise from under my two layers of armor were any indication.

", , ! !" I yelled, pressing my hand against the Hummingbird Charm to keep my intent centered. It wasn't full powered renditions of my signature attack, but all I needed were anchors for what I was preparing to receive. I'd discovered early on in my defensive efforts how effective was at deflecting attacks with non-physical components and that unlike it could be applied as needed to pretty much anything. Hence, my rockbrained version of a lightning rod.

The trio of spikes came to a point together and the floating plating flaked off their surface without actually removing the material itself. The whole thing stood taller than me, and the weight of the newly formed construct arrested the ascent my companions had been eking out of the tower support. I silently apologized for making their efforts harder, but braced as a beam of brilliance connected the Discharge Elemental and the weather tower. It was hard to see, even through the slightly smoky shading of my quartz visor, but I breathed a sigh of relief when the beam developed a dogleg kink. Instead of striking the hospital, taking the tower down at the base and likely snuffing out many of the people I knew were hunkered down within, it struck my construct. I braced as much as one can against the rage of nature, Striated Dermis locking up as a third and final layer of defense.

White consumed the world in a way I'd never experienced. It wasn't like the whitespace, in its finite infinity, but at the same time there wasn't a single iota of detail. Then the pain hit and I was immediately grounded as vibrosense went haywire. Each twitch of my body sent a spasm through my body as I threw my hands against the closest in the hopes of completing a grounding circuit. Sparks were already jumping from my if the crackle of the air was any indication.

It really didn't do anything as I started to spasm, the only thing keeping my mind together was my boosted Refinement but even that couldn't hold for long under the abuse of a Q6 level, combination attack from elementals. I was vaguely aware of something screaming into my mind, but something cut through all of that with blessed salvation.

Harmonic Sinews (87%) > (100 [ERR]%)

Harmonic Sinew (Diffracting Tissue)

>Your tendons have taken on new seismologically sensitive properties while being nourished by your Ichor and bonded to your Osseum.

>Corporeal Threshold. The ringing of the world answers to the song of your musculoskeletal instruments.

>Corporeal Tribulation. Retained potential energy can be unleashed as sound energy at a minor cost.

Dreg Accumulation: 39% > 19%

The whiplash of results left my mind spinning. Thankfully, my mind was cognizant enough to realize it was spinning and not smote. A warm buzzing crawled up and down my body as if I'd taken one too many doses of Sam's at once. My body, fortunate for everyone still on the weather tower, instinctively knew what to do even as I felt my Health trickle lower than the 53% it had been hovering at. A roar erupted hard enough that my vocal chords shredded and my mouth filled with ichor that was immediately blasted out in a cone of force. For a solid two seconds electricity-induced spasms were turned to kinetic mechanical energy with a little application of the trademarked Ronan hybrid engine.

When the energy was spent, and my Health flashed 44%, I was still blinded but alive. Except not entirely. Where before my vibrosense extended poorly into the spongy weather tower I could feel it reach at least two hundred feet almost to the base of the structure itself. Each person was now fully highlighted, albeit appearing like nothing more than fuzzy outlines that became fuzzier the greater their Quotient was in relationship to each other. The few still standing and the rock shrapnel that remained of my lightning rod and armor stood out in perfect relief to the surroundings.

After the strange dichotomy of blindness and 'sight' passed, I was able to make sense of the mess Fievil and Blobby were making of the Nash's tower. The slime was acting as a temporary support while Fievil filled the spaces with and to repair the trusses that once composed the tower. They worked in perfect harmony, even taking into account the need to push the reinforcements into the wooden structure so that it created a better bond between the organic and inorganic materials. That, in itself, wasn't surprising. What was strange was how I was able to see them at all. Both creatures, even Fievil who was really more of a ghost, appeared perfectly clear as well. Somehow they even retained their color unlike everything else, which was a strange concept since it was like the ripples I was perceiving had 'flavor'. Great, another synesthetic nightmare for me to deal with. On the plus side, being blind probably saved me from getting mentally laid out by Diffracting Tissue's supe'd up vibrosense.

Certainly looking to save my charbroiled self, a pair of satyrs rushed towards my still form. Disturbances in the air were the true ghosts with vibrosense upgraded like it was, but I was able to sense the release and speedy passage of attacks towards the elementals for the brief moments they were in range. The entourage! My attempt to sit up caused a cascade of sand to shake off my body from where my armor had protected most of the exterior of my body, but my abdominal muscles locked up instantly and groaned the whole time it took the healers to reach me.

"Master Vanguard!" One yelled, her voice carried hints of despair and fear.

"He's still breathing! Treat that burn around his neck. Make sure his airway is clear!" The second replied, confidence and fear balanced on a razor's edge.

That's new. Since when could I psychoanalyze people by the tone of their voice? I coughed, spitting Slurry Ichor phlegm the whole while the refreshing cool of Life magic flowed through me. Man, I guess I wasn't anywhere as well as I thought. After a full thirty seconds of healing, I was finally able to muster a few words even if my throat might as well have been the sahara. "The... el...mentals."

"You've driven them away, sir!" The confident voice announced, the fear all but banished as it was replaced by triumph and hope.

"Lig...ing..." I coughed, remembering the effect the combined Air elementals had been able to output.

"Their energy went into that attack! Our other Circles are taking them apart as we speak," the first voice said, matching the second's feelings upon hearing me speak.

"E..ur..us," I ground out, feeling a hint of strength return to my body even as pain wracked it when the microtears in my muscles healed. With a very deliberate application of Slurry Ichor, I raised my hand and tapped my eyeballs urgently.

Confusion, and a new touch of fear, swirled in the woman's voice as I felt her palm land softly over my eyes. "The Mother Shaman has engaged the hurricane."