Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1292: How To Properly Get Rid of Enemies



Emeradis.

Before dusk had fallen, thousands of Cavern had been slain by the competent Mages of the great nation, but of course, millions still remained.

It agitated all the Mages across Emeradis that had the disaster from earlier not happened, they would have been able to hold their own against the swarms of the dark creatures easily. The battle between two exceedingly powerful entities that shook the world hours ago, had disturbed the peace, wrecked powerful cities and killed important powerhouses - crucial Mages with fundamental or extremely rare Mage Patches.

Before the Mages had recovered from this blow, they had been assaulted by throngs of enemies with great numbers on their side.

This kind of invasion required the expertise and firepower of Arch-Mages.

Mages had their own ranking of power and skill outside the measure of Cores and Stages: Apprentice, Prime Mage, Master Mage, Grandmaster Mage and Realm Source.

The Realm Source was only theoretical, however. None had ever actually reached it, not even the progenitor of Magecraft himself, Arch-Mage Remos, whose legends died in the Second Grand War.

In Emeradis, there were roughly 1,200 Arch-Mages and among them, 11 were considered to be the cream of the crop. Even the Monarch of Emeradis, its ruler, had once posited that these 11 could potentially reach the Realm Source rank if nurtured well.

Unfortunately, two of these Arch-Mages had died during Skullius and Replicus' battle, which wounded Emeradis' pride greatly.

"Lady Stern-Mage! We are ready!"

In one of the most powerful remaining cities in Emeradis, Bane, six thousand Mages had gathered in its massive, lovely square.

They all had shaved heads with thick robes on their bodies that might as well have been luxurious, knitted blankets. Mana streamed out of all of them uniformly, calm and controlled. The Mages looked upwards at the soft blue dome barrier around the city, maintained by an automated array branded into the city's foundation.

The barrier was cracking.

How could it not?

It was being assaulted by a vast, black mass with spots of ruby red!

Of course, this black mass was a swarm of Cavern so dense that it blocked out the view of everything beyond the city. The Cavern covered all sides, bombarding the dome barrier with all sorts of attacks, most of which actually succeeded in weakening it because they were cast without the need of mana.

A gangly woman, bald and square-faced stood in the middle of the formation of the Mages.

She was given the title Stern-Mage, as she was one of the 9 remaining Arch-Mages with powers beyond any other.

She had been sent to this city to help defend it at costs. Unlike what Pelian became, Emeradis was determined to not lose ground against the Cavern nomatter the cost.

"Begin!" the woman commanded the six thousand Mages.

They obeyed at once. They formed a twenty-fold ring around the Stern-Mage and began to rush around the woman in rhythmic steps while channelling their mana towards one specific Patch of Magecraft.

There were common Patches of Magecraft, like Transmutation, for instance, which allowed one to change the state of existence of a target.

The Embubblement Patch was also a common Patch, though more advanced that

Transmutation.

This Patch allowed its user to temporarily reinforce the nature of their mana or another's by varying degrees. The reinforcement of the mana could go one of two ways: the condensing of mana into a higher quality or into a higher form, like Aura or Nitros.

A single individual couldn't use the Embubblement Patch for the latter, however. They needed assistance.

This was exactly what the Mages were doing for their Stern-Mage.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The woman, adorned in a gold and silver robe that hid even her feet, brought her hands together and took in a deep breath.

Her name was Weyven Irlis, and she had mastered her own form of Ascended Magic, like Arch-Mage Ryte's Binding Patch and its derivative spells like Shocked Time.

Mana burst from the thousands of Mages around her and coiled at her feet. It changed shade and density, becoming far more potent with each passing second. By the time it acquired the distinct properties of Nitros, Stern-Mage Weyven was ready to use it all at once.

Mana, Aura and Nitros could be used to cast skills and spells. Nitros could even be used to cast Territories, but Mages often shunned the use of Majestic Territories. They preferred the distinct, iconic individuality of their spells.

Weyven gathered the massive, surging Nitros.

'It's barely enough,' she thought. 'But it will have to do.'

Indeed, the augmented mana she was received was too little, the enemies too many. An atrocious kind of output - maybe three times higher than the one she was currently being enabled with - was required to wipe the Cavern at once, which was Weyven's goal.

This estimated output she had thought she would need... was suddenly reached and exceeded a moment later.

...!!!

The thousands of Mages were shocked when their mana reserves suddenly exploded, and the efficiency of their Embubblement Patch spell quintupled!

All of sudden, the great city of Bane shook and Stern-Mage Weyven roared as stunning power flooded through her!

Where was this power coming from?

What was happening?

Well, Weyven had sensed the suspect - the cause. It was a glowing individual floating high in the skies, close to the barrier; they were inside the city, somehow. The light they expelled was great, shielding their features from common sight.

Weyven couldn't sense how or why, but she knew it was this unusual person's influence that had suddenly quintupled her output from what it had been before!

...And she wouldn't waste the chance.

With a single gesture - a double snap with her fingers - her Ascended Magic, Common Displacement, was activated.

All of a sudden, the great mass of Cavern turned hysterical.

Some screeched, bled and died. Some imploded. Some turned mad and drove themselves into

the ground, flailing and twitching. Some had their abilities backfire on them, killing or maiming them severely.

Three thirds of the swarm of Cavern died while the rest were incapacitated. The visual was terrifying, especially when the expected result with such a massive amount of Nitros being consumed, was an effect that seemed so...abstract and uncanny.

Stern-Mage Weyven grinned. The effect was as she had hoped. She had vanquished 2 million

enemies at once.

"Oh, that is quite an interesting Patch you got there," a voice suddenly said from beside her.

She turned quickly, her face drained of colour.

"What the-!" she cried as she jumped back

"Relax. I'm an ally," the new arrival said.

Stern-Mage Weyven glanced at the sky. The radiant individual from before was still floating

below the barrier.

The person standing beside her was a very short woman with an oval-shaped face and similarly-shaped eyes. She looked rather... untrustworthy, especially with her coy smile. She was decked in a beautiful armour swimming in stars, a half cape draping behind it.

Oddly, this woman's feet never touched the ground. She was floating gracefully. She gave Weyven a smile. Everyone tensed. The thousands of Mages around prepared to

attack.

"As I was saying, your magic is interesting. It does especially well against crowds. If I may, your spell just now - with a random sequence, matrix, rather - swapped common features in the swarm of enemies, didn't it? It swapped their cells, their brains, their abilities, their souls, which led to some of them dying instantly. Splendid!" Kintar said with a little clap. Her eyes narrowed and Stern-Mage Weyven grew more wary.

"This spell has a reaaaaal big flaw though," Kintar continued as she pointed outside the barrier where more than a few tens of thousands of enemies were still attempting to destroy the barrier and enter the city. "If it's used against a swarm of enemies with similar racial properties, there will more than likely be survivors because some of them share genetic traits that even if swapped, won't incapacitate them. That isn't even factoring their resilience."

Stern-Mage Weyven had had enough.

"Identity yourself or we will kill you where you stand," she said coldly. The other Mages readied offensive spells.

Kintar gave them all a wider, more sinister smile.

"Very well. But at least let me show you how to PROPERLY get rid of a horde of enemies," she

said.

She turned towards the persistent Cavern and lazily raised a finger. Before it, a great revolving wheel of luminous, pulsing mana, no doubt of the golden quality, appeared. Six great runes of different colours were branded into six partitions within the wheel.

At the sight of wheel and the runes, all the Mages, including Weyven marvelled.

No...

This was...

But this was...!

Before they could say what this was, Kintar activated an application of magic beyond them all.

"Absolute Magic, Infinitesimal Division," she called.

As all the Cavern, dead and living came undone like poorly made knots and vanished as

though they had never existed to begin with, all the Mages who watched came to a chilling

conclusion.

There were in the presence of a Realm Source Mage!