Supreme Magus

Chapter 3006 Poisoned Well (Part 2)

3006 Poisoned Well (Part 2)

Strider kept moving without losing speed, dodging Death Bind and carrying Lith away from the throne with him.

ʼI was so close to killing four enemies with one move.ʼ Maergron sighed. ʼI have gotten myself a consolation prize, though.ʼ

While the Awakened caught their breath, the Redcap used the respite to drink the blood shed by his enemies. The Zouwuʼs, the Titaniaʼs, the Nagaʼs, and the weird blood of the mysterious creature.

ʼWait a second. Heʼs not a human, the Lich has no blood, and the Eldritchesʼ blood leaves behind no traces.ʼ During his fight with Bytra and Xenagrosh, the Shadow Dragon had been wounded multiple times.

Yet her black blood sizzled on contact with anything, burning matter away until there was nothing left.

ʼThis blood hasnʼt turned golden yet which means thereʼs only one possibility!ʼ

”You are the one with the freak blood!” Maergron stopped sucking Lithʼs blood and hurled out what he had already taken without trying to absorb it.

Despite the gory effect of spitting out so much blood, the Redcap had taken no damage, realizing the danger before it was too late.

”Guilty as charged.” Lith shrugged while healing his wounds. ”Since you like using various kinds of poison, it was only fair to return you the favor.”

ʼLithʼs plan has failed but it was worth a shot. Is there any way to know where heʼs hiding his Root?ʼ Strider asked via the mind link.

ʼThank the gods, no. Or the Faeʼs regenerative abilities would be utterly useless.ʼ Ryka replied, glad to see that he was alright. ʼI mean, no, sorry.ʼ

Fae and plant folk had no internal organs and only one vital spot. The Root, also called the heart, was a remnant of the original plant they had evolved from. For a Dryad it was a flower, for a Thorn a twig, and Treantlings had sprouts.

Redcaps like Maergron were one of the possible evolution of Thorns which meant that the fastest way to kill him was to destroy the piece of the bramble he was born as.

Before Strider could reply, a tier five spell erupted from the ground for each member of the team. A Raging Sun appeared from the ground in the middle of the group, breaking the formation by sending everyone flying in a different direction.

Zoreth was hit by the anti-Dragon spell, Frozen Wasteland, that trapped her in ice and made the temperature around her drop by dozens of degrees. It sapped the internal fire that fueled her strength and reduced her to a shivering mess.

A Burial Ground emerged from under Azhomʼs feet trapping the Lich in a cage made of the templeʼs stone after infusing it to the brim with darkness magic. Liches were still undead and darkness magic was their bane.

Ice, lightning, and darkness flooded the room without damaging the shelves or harming one of the many trinkets they held.

Maergron had used the Ears to have his spells ride the waves of surrounding world energy so that they reached their target without taking a physical manifestation until it was too late.

Awakened were reliant on their enhanced senses and Life Vision to anticipate a threat but the spells seemed to appear out of nowhere and the world energy blinded most mystical senses.

On top of that, thanks to his training in using Menadionʼs masterpiece, Maergron knew how to focus the usually widespread effects of tier five magic in a small area, increasing their destructive power by several folds.

Lith and Solus managed to dodge the spells aimed at them only thanks to the Eyes. As long as the artifact was focused solely on the Redcapʼs energy signature, the external interferences wouldnʼt affect its readings.

The problem was that they couldnʼt warn either Bytra or Zoreth, letting them take the blow in full. The Frozen Heart spell that hit the Raiju was comprised of water and darkness magic.

It drenched her and her allies in water so that the more powerful the lightning she conjured, the grislier wounds she would inflict upon them. At the same time, the darkness element attacked her Eldritch and Goblin side.

One became hungrier while the other weaker and easy prey to the former.

ʼAny brilliant ideas?ʼ Lith asked while escaping a Frozen Wasteland by the skin of his teeth.

ʼJust one.ʼ Solus dodged at the last second a Stormnado that was supposed to slice her to shreds. ʼTo make it work, we need perfect coordination and a bit of help.ʼ

ʼGot it!ʼ They bolted from one point of the room to another, rescuing their allies and using a mind link to share with them Solusʼ plan.

Luckily, what the members of the Hand of Fate knew about Maergronʼs secret weapon was enough to understand the plan without the need to expose the Ears.

ʼGuys, this is going to hurt, but itʼs our only chance.ʼ Strider said to the bright blue-cored Awakened on his team.

They were bound to have had a hard time fighting a normal bright violet core, let alone one with the speed of a Zouwu, the strength of a Titania, and a device that allowed him to anticipate the enemyʼs attacks.

ʼDonʼt worry, boss.ʼ Azhom replied. ʼGuys, feel free to use me as a shield. As long as my phylactery is intact, I cannot die.ʼ

ʼAnd where is it, exactly?ʼ Rhuta asked.

ʼRude! I never took you for someone with a slave kink nor did I suspect you looked at me that way.ʼ The Lich had hidden her phylactery outside the cave before entering the Garden.

The natural flow of world energy would trap detection spells on the inside, making it impossible to spot the phylactery while also keeping it close enough to retain her full strength.

ʼI donʼt!ʼ Rhuta blushed in embarrassment. ʼIf you have your phylactery with you, we canʼt help you protect it unless we know on which part of your body itʼs hidden. If you left it somewhere, the moment your body is destroyed youʼll go back to the phylactery.

ʼYou wonʼt die, sure, but you wonʼt be back here before the end of the fight. I, I mean, we need to know where it is to plan ahead.ʼ

ʼOh.ʼ Azhom replied. ʼI donʼt have it with me. Itʼs all I can tell you.ʼ

Everyone cursed at the news. A Lich was a Redcapʼs natural enemy but without the phylactery, it wouldnʼt take many hits to banish Azhom from the Garden until it was too late.

Once again, Strider charged in first, followed by Bytra as soon as she dried herself up. The Titania came next, Blinking to his back but this time at a safe distance. Ryka shrunk and compressed her body to offer a smaller target.

She lifted several blocks of stone with earth magic and threw them at the Redcap with all her strength.

The mind link alerted her allies of the trajectory of the projectiles and they made sure to block the easiest escape paths. The temple was made of rock that had been refined by the Garden through the centuries, becoming as hard as diamond.

The stone projectiles werenʼt enough to kill a Redcap but with the Titaniaʼs strength, one hit would be enough to block Maergronʼs movements long enough for Bytra and Strider to finish him.