God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 1137: Sorcerous Mechanisms.

The wind whipped against Cain’s face as Ruby carried them across the desolate landscape at a steady pace. Lyos kept pace overhead, his silver scales catching the dim light filtering through the ash-laden sky, tracing along a steaming crack in the ground.

The terrain gradually shifted from the scorched wasteland around the naga nest to something more typical of the brown an dreary badlands—rocky, barren, but not quite as apocalyptic.

Cain kept {Beholder’s Eye} active as they traveled, monitoring the position of the{Slaughter-beak Lightning Falcon}. The creature had emerged from its burrow shortly after they’d started moving, apparently agitated by something.

It took him a moment to realize what had disturbed it.

The massacre he’d inflicted on the {Firesand Nagas} had sent shockwaves through the local ecosystem. Predators and prey alike had scattered from the area, fleeing the sudden eruption of violence. The Lightning Falcon, which had probably been waiting for nightfall to hunt, had been forced out of its den by the chaos.

And now it was looking directly at them.

It was completely out for blood, having noticed them with unerring precision. It was clear that the beast was incredibly intelligent, judging from the way it was not only able to pinpoint their exact location, but also the true culprits.

’It can read mana signatures.’

While the general ambient mana was relatively the same across the board, the mana of various living beings, even down to separate individual entities was different.

However, a little bit of variance was not that noticable. Only the most sensitive creatures to these feature of mana could sense such differences in mana signatures.

And this being was one of them.

And excited look appeared in Cain’s eyes.

Then his eyes narrowed as the Lightning Falcon’s beak began to glow. White electricity crackled around the oversized maw, building in intensity with each passing second. The air around the creature visibly distorted as massive amounts of energy concentrated in a single point.

"Hold on," Cain called out, raising his hand.

The Lightning Falcon opened its beak.

A beam of compressed energy erupted from the creature’s maw, screaming across the distance between them faster than sound. No. Faster than light itself.

The attack was precision and chaos wrapped in a beam of superheated, supercharged plasma. Pure, concentrated destruction aimed directly at Cain’s position.

The world turned dark for a split moment as the ground beneath the attack was reduced to dust and rubble.

Cain didn’t hesitate.

A whisper fell from his tongue.

"Aegis."

The skill activated the moment he called its name, responding to his will with gratifying speed. A barrier materialized in front of their group—translucent, shimmering with rainbow hues that shifted and flowed like oil on water. The shield was massive, easily large enough to cover all of them.

The energy beam slammed into the barrier with tremendous force.

Cain immediately felt the drain on his mana pool.

’It is manageable.’ he thought to himself. Then he frowned.

The consumption was actually quite reasonable given the power of the attack being blocked— but it was constant. The beam kept pushing against the shield, trying to force its way through, and maintaining the barrier required a steady stream of mana.

But the shield itself didn’t even crack.

The barrier absorbed the attack completely, dispersing the energy harmlessly across its surface and then towards the sides.

Cain could feel the sorcerous mechanism through his connection to the gloves. The shield was not just a defensive phenomenon. Rather, the minute details were far more intricate.

His eyes widened as he muttered to himself.

"Incredible."

There were hundreds of individual tiny magic circles created upon the activation of the spell. Each magic circle’s function was straightforward, making it so that there was little to no room for energy loss.

Each magic circle was responsible for creating each mana "prism" that made up the bulk of the shield, efficiently guiding away all the energy away from its surface.

Each one was like a canal redirecting the individual streams within a river, turning a world scathing attack into a soft trickle.

Given how absurdly high his magic stat had become, that meant the barrier was essentially unbreakable by anything short of a Tier 4 attack.

The Lightning Falcon cut off its beam after a few seconds, apparently realizing the futility of the assault. But instead of retreating or trying a different approach, the creature did something that made Cain’s impression of the arachne avian change significantly.

It launched itself into the sky, the movement was so fast that Cain almost missed it despite his enhanced perception.

One moment the creature was on the ground, the next it was a blur of motion rocketing upward. The sonic boom from its acceleration hit them a second later, a physical wall of compressed air that rattled his bones.

"Damn," Ignis muttered, her eyes tracking the creature’s ascent. "That thing’s quick."

"It’s a suicidal bird?" Was the first thought that came to mind. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

However the next moment, he realized that was not the case as his mind raced through the implications.

The Lightning Falcon wasn’t running away—if it wanted to flee, it would have gone horizontal, not vertical. Going up meant it was repositioning for a better angle of attack.

Most likely, it was planning to dive bomb them from above.

It was getting far too excited here.

Of course, Cain had nothing against that.

A diving attack would carry far more kinetic energy than a ground-based assault, and the angle would make it harder to defend against. The creature was adapting its tactics rather quickly. It’s speed also gave it a fair edge. From what he was guessing, that beak would be very difficult to destroy.

But that realization also told Cain something important about the gloves he was wearing.

He’d felt something when he activated {Aegis}.

A strange feeling of connection and resonance, a coordination between the skill and his own abilities. The barrier hadn’t stopped at blocking the attack; it had integrated seamlessly with his mana circulation, drawing power without disrupting his other active skills.

That shouldn’t have been possible. Normally, using multiple high-cost skills simultaneously required careful mana management. Each skill drew from the same pool, and they often interfered with each other’s mana flow patterns. Maintaining a defensive barrier while preparing offensive spells was notoriously difficult, requiring incredible concentration and sheer guts as a single misalignment could very well lead to a very terrible accident.

But with the gloves, it had been effortless.

The realization clicked into place smoothly...