Chapter 2655 Taken (Part 1)
The arrow released the tier five War Mage spell, Raging Sun, that conjured an explosion of purple flames akin to a volcanic eruption.
The Raging Sun blew up Morok"s right side of the body despite the Adamant Wyrmguard armor he wore and if not for him curling up around Quylla to defend her, the heat from the blast would have charred her lungs.
The Tyrant plunged to the ground while unleas.h.i.+ng elemental rays from his four remaining eyes, trying to intercept the rest of the projectiles.
Friya and Nalrond weren"t doing well either. After the initial shock from the enemy Warping past the dimensional sealing arrays, the elves had quickly adapted to Friya"s skills and had surrounded Nalrond.
"They need our help!" Aalejah weaved several spells together inside her Yggdrasill staff, conjuring an emerald barrier that protected her, Quylla, and the fallen Morok from further damage.
Another spell located the bits of flesh and bones of the Tyrant and Spirit Blinked them on his body where a third spell started to patch them together.
"Duly noted." Ajatar charged forward in his four-legged Drake form while using advanced gravity fusion to increase his weight and body density at the same time so as to not damage his joints.
Each one of his steps made the ground quake, throwing the elven archers off balance even from a distance and making them miss many of their shots. One of Faluel"s heads took a deep breath, using Invigoration on herself, Quylla, and Morok at the same time.
The other six blasted as many different tier four spells, each one based on the air element. The ice, flood, and bolts of lightning were all accompanied by a strong gust of wind that carried the acidic venom secreted by her fangs.
Those who dodged the spells or Blinked away found themselves covered in a corrosive substance that burned through their skin and armor, poisoning their blood the moment it reached an open wound.
Aalejah stood behind the ma.s.sive b.u.t.t of the Hydra, using the protection from Faluel"s Davross-covered body to safely use both fake and true magic for her spells. The elf inwardly cursed herself for lacking the violet core and the body casting that came with it.
As for Lith, with his body set ablaze by Origin Flames, it had taken him a couple of flaps of his wings to gain the sky. Solus had saved herself from the initial a.s.sault by going back into her ring and coming out only once it was over.
She had used that time to cast spells and arrays that she now dropped on her enemies below while standing on the Tiamat"s head.
"The bright blue core of the elves also limits the speed of their flight spells." She said. "If you keep your distance and rain spells from above, the best they can achieve by chasing you is spread their numbers even thinn-"
A Spirit Warp appeared, far away enough to be outside Full Guard"s area of effect but close enough to not make the air magic-propelled darts coming out of it impossible to dodge after being noticed by Full Guard.
More Shattering Winters struck Lith"s back, neutralizing the mystical flames and stopping his movements in mid-air.
Lith activated the Spirit Barrier imbued in his armor, stopping the onslaught, but a small figure as fast as he was had just appeared from a Warp. M"Rael unleashed the tier five Spirit Spell, Guard Crusher, along with the tier five War Mage spell, Frozen Wasteland.
The first conjured a swarm of high-density fast-spinning emerald constructs the size of a wooden stake that attacked the Spirit Barrier from every side. Their diamond-hard tips focused the pressure on a single point, forcing Lith"s barrier to disperse its mana to not shatter.
At the same time, an emerald stake the size of a truck struck in front of Lith"s chest. The coordinated onslaught overloaded the barrier, making it crumble for a split second.
Enough for Frozen Wasteland to reach the now-exposed Tiamat, draining the humidity in his surroundings with air magic and unleas.h.i.+ng a cold wave with water magic. The two effects synergized in a loop that instantly dropped the temperature of the colossal creature by dozens of degrees.
It was an anti-Dragon spell devised by the World Tree to get rid of any Dragon, especially Leegaain, who might get too much a fancy to their secrets.
Solus jumped out of Lith"s head, darting toward M"Rael like a bullet, but he was ready.
Instead of trying to block the Sage Staff, he turned the Sage Crown into a wooden blade and used it to deflect the blow while revealing the object that he had been carrying tucked under his left arm.
"Wait a second!" Solus thought.
The Eyes of Menadion were a.n.a.lyzing the enemy blade quickly. Too quickly for it to be normal, even with the partial a.n.a.lysis that Lith had performed during his visit to the Parliament.
Thanks to the multiple brains powering the artifact, Solus had an easy time deciphering enough of the Sage Crown"s power core to discover the truth.
"That"s not just similar to our Sage Staff, it"s almost the same thing. If not for those d.a.m.ned cloaking runes, I could be sure but there are too many similarities for-"
The cloaking runes had been the Yggdrasill"s second mistake in their attempt to warn Lith. They had no idea what Lith"s and Solus" cloaking runes used because they were a secret so the Tree had been forced to use their own.
Old runes, the worst they could use without M"Rael becoming suspicious, but still good enough to foil a scan for quite a bit in Solus" absence. The realization that something was very wrong came too late.
Her train of thought derailed not because someone had stolen her secrets but because she recognized the wooden box engraved with silver runes of power. A blue mana crystal the size of a tennis ball was embedded on its lid, fueling a complex series of humming arrays carved on the surface of the Removal Unit.
The same ancient artifact that Nalear had used to split them and that Silverwing had employed to put the relations.h.i.+p between Lith and Solus to the test.
Blue strings of energy came out of the box, wrapping themselves around the stone ring at Lith"s finger and dragging it inside the Removal Unit while he was still too weakened to react.
Solus fought like a lioness, but she had no spell at the ready for a one-on-one fight. She had prepared area of effect spells to deal with the enemy army while Lith acted as her mobile fortress.
On top of that, M"Rael had no interest in fighting. He only dodged and retreated, buying time for the lid to close on the ring, breaking the bond between Lith and Solus for the third time in their lives.
The sudden void in their very core shocked them both, paralyzing them more than any spell of physical restraint could.
Yet it wasn"t over.
The box opened right after severing the bond between the tower and its owner and more blue strings came out of it. Except that this time they carried the stone ring to M"Rael"s hand who immediately imprinted it.