Supreme Magus

Chapter 4337: Summoner Stone (Part 1)

Whenever one of Uragar’s spells hit a member of Lith’s group, the cursed book considered it a lucky bonus. Whenever one of his allies was struck down, he merely considered it collateral damage.

’Disengage and regroup!’ Lith ordered via the mind link.

Under the hail of spells, the cannonade of elemental blasts, and the attacks of constructs and Upyr alike, the chaos of the battlefield had turned into a blazing inferno.

He was afraid of what might happen in any of them remained isolated and surrounded by enemies. Yet even his paranoia couldn’t predict what Salanoth was doing under the cover of Uragar’s fury.

’These stupid magical formations blocked my best abilities and still do, but someone was so kind to open a hole in the array’s rune matrix. It created a structural weak point from which I can infiltrate the magical formations and replace their original missing runes with my own.

’Normally, it would be impossible, but the lack of an imprint makes arrays vulnerable to the external influence of someone who knows what they are doing. I’m a living legacy. My mind and body are made of runes.

’I can take over this old junk and manipulate it like I would another layer of my pseudo cores.’ The Ring of Space was confident of her abilities, and the more she infiltrated the rune grid that comprised the Warehouse’s arrays, the greater the control she gained over the battlefield.

’Remarkable!’ She thought. ’Teneb was no dimensional mage, but he used what the Black Throne taught him about the various specializations to create something far beyond the dimensional magic knowledge of his time.

’One of the arrays tracks the position of the Golems and directs their movements, while another allows the Scouts to mark the enemies and assign them a priority level based on the damage they cause as the battle unfolds.

’The combined effect of the Scouts’ marking system and array’s tracking abilities gives all the other constructs the best next thing to spatial awareness. As long as the two arrays can communicate, the Golems can shoot at their enemies and follow their movements regardless of distance or cloaking items.

’Moreover, since each enemy’s threat level is constantly evaluated, the constructs give the impression of having limited intelligence, and their protocols are not as rigid as they would otherwise be.

’These arrays are the reason the Golems can adapt their strategy based on the enemy’s actions and tip the scales of the battle to their advantage despite being one-trick ponies.’ Salanoth’s assessment of the Invincible King’s skills was on point.

The assessment of her own capabilities, however, was not. Overriding the dimensional arrays was easy for someone like her who had been crafted to be the ultimate dimensional ring and whose dimensional runes far outclassed the arrays’.

Once she was done with the dimensional formations and moved on to the others, she found herself to be helpless. The runes of the arrays didn’t match those of her pseudo cores and rejected them violently.

It wasn’t just a matter of her runes belonging to a different era and being more complex, but also due to Teneb’s careful preparations. The non-dimensional arrays refused the imprint in Salanoth’s mana and poisoned it with the Cursed Carrion magical formation.

The anti-cursed objects array still coated the entire Warehouse, sparing only the area that Lith’s Zero spells had cleansed. Every further attempt to spread her influence outside that small space ended with Salanoth drinking more of that acrid poison.

’Fuck Teneb and his ridiculous paranoia!’ She snarled. ’It doesn’t matter. This is more than enough. I’m going to show everyone what I can do and squash Verhen like a bug.’

”Don’t attack the constructs and they’ll leave you alone!” She actually yelled. ”Focus on Verhen and his friends. The enemy of my enemy is my ally.”

Nalrond recognized Salanoth and pressed the biggest violet crystal on the black sphere, yet nothing happened. The second and third attempts ended in failure as well.

”Are you sure?” Uragar stopped the onslaught, and suddenly all the Golems ignored him, training their weapons at the members of Lith’s group instead.

”I’m in control now.” The Ring of Space replied with a cruel laughter. ”As long as you morons behave, I’ll lead you to the easiest victory of your life.”

”Fuck me sideways.” Lith’s group said as one.

The Upyr shared no mind link due to the earlier mana poisoning, and being forced to speak out loud had exposed their plan. The problem was that there was nothing anyone could do about it.

The Scouts kept marking the Upyrs as threats, but Salanoth blocked their mana pulses and provided the arrays’ mainframe with altered data. The Golems had become unwitting allies of the Upyrs, more than doubling the pressure on Lith’s group.

To make matters worse, Akhton had remained in the backline until that moment to cover Jorl’s back from the tide of Golems that had chased the Upyrs out of the vault. With the constructs under Salanoth’s control, the Bastet joined his companions.

Akhton’s equipment was the perfect size for a bright violet-cored Divine Beast, and he had no qualms about using the massive edge of his spear, Ashen Dread, to force those smaller than him to choose between being cut in half or throwing themselves at the Golem army waiting outside the safe zone.

’Can’t we Warp away?’ Morok asked as he spun his hammers in front of him and shot elemental beams from his eyes to block as many elemental blasts as he could. ’What about the Home Stone?’

’It’s too late for that.’ Lith explained. ’Zero cleared this area from the dimensional-sealing and space-compressing arrays, but the cursed ring has somehow restored them.

’My connection with the Home Stone outside has been severed again. I could use Swirling Wind to clear a small area, but I doubt our enemies will be so gracious that they’ll let us cross over without a complimentary stab in the back.

’Moreover, if Swirling Wind suffers even a minor displacement, the dimensional door will collapse, and anyone who is still passing through will die.’

’I have a plan!’ Nalrond chimed in. ’Just use Swirling Wind and-’

The focused fire of the Soldier Golems struck in the middle of the group, generating a powerful explosion and sending those lighter than a Divine Beast flying. Everyone was now surrounded by a Golem unit and had to face at least one Upyr.

”Hello, Lady Verhen. I’m curious to see how much you share with your cousin aside from your resemblance.” Jorl landed in a two-foot stomp right where Solus had been until a split second before.

She saved her life only by riding the remaining shockwave of the explosion to roll away. The Ears of Menadion had read the flow of the Storm Griffon’s mana and allowed her to anticipate his trajectory.

Jorl was so strong that the impact with the ground opened a dozen-meter deep crater and caused a localized earthquake that reached the surface.

Solus got back on her feet with a kip up and hurled a jet stream of Void and Blight Flames to force the Storm Griffon to retreat. Contrary to her expectations, Jorl dived against the silvery fire and dodged the black one, refusing to lose his advantage.