Chapter 56
Azek sensed the veil of the mana net again.
There were all sorts of spells landing everywhere on the battlefield.
A small, inconspicuous wind blade suddenly dove into the mana heart of the eel like monster.
And he sensed it.
Since the start, he had been trying to find the opportunity to get to the mana hearts of the monsters and bind them with a thin veil of excited mana.
The last assault, where the monster ignored its defense, provided him with one.
He gently wrapped the spell around the mana heart, and the excited mana burned the core from inside.
But he didn't cancel the spell.
And amidst the hailstorm of all sorts of spells, he felt it.
In the front of monster there was a wind blade laced with explosion magic.
It lodged itself into the core and tried to explode it.
But there was no black mana inside to cause the damage.
It had already been burned.
The heart had completely exhausted its source.
He slowly traced the wind blade to its location with the magic net.
It was difficult to exactly pinpoint. But not impossible.
And after he traced it back,
Parcival stood there at the end.
Although he tried to hide it, Azek sensed it.
There was confusion in his eyes, looking like he was trying to comprehend why it didn't work.
He got goosebumps.
He had had suspicions until now.
But they had become reality.
And now, in the middle of a fight defining their life or death, he shot a small signal toward Ryan.
Ryan, who was in the middle of launching a wide-area spell, closed his eyes and opened them a second later.
Azek understood.
There were two monsters still on the battlefield, and they were the priority now.
They had taken care of the tricky one, but nobody knew what the rest had in store.
He prepared spells and waited for an opportunity to track the mana hearts.
Spell after spell stacked in rapid succession, giving the monsters no chance to retaliate.
But intelligent monsters were given that name specifically because of their ability to pull off tricks that ordinary monsters didn't exhibit.
One was a five-meter-tall gorilla. The other was a porcupine-like monster that, since the start of the battle, had stayed closed in its shell.
This was not good news.
Ryan got ready.
The mages pulled back their mana.
The spell descended with practiced ease.
Suddenly, the porcupine jerked its head upward, creating a large mana shield.
The lightning storm and the shield clashed and collapsed.
Ryan's expression stiffened.
But Azek got the opportunity.
A small strand of mana slowly made its way to the inside of their core. The amount of mana was very small but enough to mark their position.
The three-second duration of the lightning storm gave Azek enough time to slowly layer the spell while the monsters' defenses were down.
But even after being hit by such a tremendous amount of mana, there was not much damage. The earlier wounds were the only advantage they had built up.
Azek launched bullet after bullet again.
The gorilla was an easy target due to its massive frame, but the porcupine-like monster was a huge headache. Its shell was sturdy enough to block the excited mana by sixty percent, so it didn't cause much damage. The other mages' damage was even more pitiful.
Only the internal option remained. Azek felt the pinch but still sacrificed a lot of mana crystals to cast the spell inside the mana heart.
Right now, he couldn't care less about the cost.
If Parcival got another chance and the core blew up, only ashes would remain. Even their corpses wouldn't be intact.
A connection formed steadily inside the heart. Azek continued casting bullets while manipulating the small threads.
A moment later, many wind blades landed on the monsters.
The gorilla was at its wit's end. It bent and clapped both mangled arms together. Its hands were beyond recognition.
A weak ripple spread.
A moment later, bloody gashes appeared on bodies everywhere.
It had been almost always interrupted before launching an attack, only taking damage one-sidedly. Now its last attempt had been similar to the eel monster's, where its defense was completely ignored.
It raised its arms and tried to clap again.
Boom.
Psss.
Metal rods lodged into its arms, and lightning coursed through its body.
Ryan didn't give it another chance.
The porcupine monster looked up from its shell.
A circle formed in front of it in an instant.
Booooooom.
A deafening sound could be heard throughout the battlefield.
When everyone looked at the place where the explosion had happened, Ryan stood there.
Lightning wrapped around a large metal spear, holding it in place barely.
But it did not stop there.
Metal spears continued launching in rapid succession.
"Attack with everything," he commanded and started a full head-on exchange with the monster.
The gorilla, impaled to the ground, tried to launch another attack, but the mages got to it before it could even start. Azek focused and layered the spell rapidly, consuming black mana.
Azek felt a large fluctuation.
When he looked toward Parcival, an impending sense of doom washed over him.
He crushed mana crystals and cast the largest spell he could conjure without backlash.
There was no time left.
Wind blades tore across the distance in a second and relentlessly assaulted both monsters.
Everyone felt the mana fluctuation. It looked as if Parcival was burning through all his mana.
To the mages, it seemed that he was giving his all.
Spells of the largest scale began forming throughout the battlefield, as if not to be outdone by a student.
Azek glanced in his direction again.
Parcival bit his lip.
Black blood started dripping down.
Azek saw it.
He was trying to cast a spell at the cost of his life.
Azek felt the dread in his bones again. This time, a much greater sense of fear gripped his heart.
He let go of the spell.
Black mana continued burning inside the monster's core.
Parcival had a blood circle appearing in front of him.
It was too late.