Low-Fantasy Occultist Isekai-Chapter 120 - 116
Nick searched the blood-soaked battleground for an ideal target to test his [Vacuum Sphere]. The wind whipped in erratic bursts as bodies continued to slide toward him, offering a near-limitless reservoir of stolen vitality. Waves of hot air, laced with the metallic tang of blood, brushed against his face, and he had to forcibly stop himself from smiling. Find a target before your new experimental spell blows up in your face.
Arthur's battle with the Guardian was too dangerous for him to intervene. Eugene and the Hunt leader were too fast. Any attempt to target the antlered fae was just as likely to hit his father, particularly with such an untested spell. The shield wall was where the conflict was the densest, but it appeared to be holding fine on its own.
Everywhere else, pockets of skirmishes and smaller duels pitted soldier against knight, adventurer against fae.
Nick latched onto a formation near the rear of the fae lines. A cluster of at least half a dozen mage types hovered around an oval distortion in the air, one of several gates they had used to invade. From behind that shimmering portal, reinforcements occasionally trickled in—far less numerous than at the beginning, but still something he needed to address. The resurrection effect was bad enough. They were doomed if the fae could pull fresh forces at any time.
The mages stood at a safe distance from the fighting, shielded by layers of semi-visible shields. They continuously hurled spells into the heart of the human shield wall, claiming lives and forcing men to divert their defensive skills to protect themselves, giving the knights more chances to break through.
They seemed content to remain at the back, refusing to budge from their favorable position. Occasionally, an arrow or projectile skill from the human side would soar toward them, but the shields absorbed or deflected each.
"They're too well-fortified," he murmured, trying to collect his thoughts. The constant surge of power wasn't making it easy. "If I try to get closer, I'll be overwhelmed by their combined spells. I'll have to make this work even from this distance…" He had poured an immense amount of mana into shaping the miniature maelstroms, and they contained so much compressed air that he knew they would explode violently at the first contact. Normally, he wouldn't have dared let them out of his effective range.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on ƒreewebɳovel.com.
Six hundred feet was what [Wind God's Third Eye] granted him to keep affecting the winds, which was less than half the distance between him and his target, but Nick felt a surge of boldness. I can't rely on always having sensory feedback to shape my magic.
Gesturing with his wand to the closest orb to bring it closer, he braced himself. His living batteries moaned faintly, but Nick ignored them as the stolen vitality in his core fueled his eagerness. Carefully, he aimed.
"Go," he commanded, releasing the [Vacuum Sphere] with a flick. As though fired by a cannon, the orb tore forward, and a sonic boom erupted as it broke the sound barrier. The force of that recoil flung Nick backward, making him stagger in surprise, while dust and debris exploded away from him in a circular shockwave.
Nick watched without the benefit of his senses as the sphere slammed into the fae's shimmering wards. For an instant, the shields glowed a furious incandescent blue, struggling to contain the compressed air. Then they collapsed like shattered glass, and the sphere's full fury ignited in a concussive burst.
An instant later, a boom shook the earth. A crater, easily twenty feet wide, tore open the ground. Chunks of rock and soil shot into the sky, raining debris onto nearby combatants. As the dust settled, Nick caught a glimpse of the destruction with a mix of satisfaction and astonishment.
Several of the fae mages had been knocked off their feet and were crumpled beneath pieces of debris. Others had narrowly escaped fatal blows by pure luck, but they lay stunned, limbs twisted at odd angles. Some were already scrambling to their feet, blood pouring from various wounds.
They're still alive? he thought, half-impressed by their durability. The shields must have been stronger than I thought.
Without giving them time to counterattack, Nick raised his wand again. In a sweeping motion, he unleashed the rest of his Vacuum Spheres one after another. They soared forward in a thunderous barrage, trailing a sonic boom. The shockwaves pounded Nick's eardrums, sending tremors up his legs. His living batteries shrieked in a messed-up chorus, battered by the rolling blasts of turbulence radiating from his position, as he didn't bother defending them.
Plumes of dust and rock shot into the sky in an almost continuous cascade. Rather than forming a single crater, Nick angled the repeated strikes so that he could hit every inch of nearby land. Like a chain reaction, each sphere burst into howling winds, scattering dirt and fae flesh alike.
A handful of the more agile fae or those with advanced movement spells tried to dash away, but the fifth or sixth sphere found them, blasting apart limbs or armor. The incredible pressure rendered normal defenses moot as it hit every angle at the same time, leaving half-shredded bodies tumbling across the cratered ground.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Nick had already started preparing for the coming retaliation. The more devastation he rained upon them, the fewer potent fae mages remained to harass the human lines. But wiping out that cluster also meant the rest of the fae would realize he posed a monumental threat and pivot resources to stop him. Sure enough, as the last of his stored [Vacuum Spheres] exploded, Nick felt a collective surge of hostile mana flicker across his senses, and he consciously pushed the System notifications aside for later.
He looked up, bracing himself. A distant group of fae had finished dealing with their human opponents, and their eyes locked on him, burning with unadulterated malice. Some brought staves forward, while others began weaving glyphs in the air or chanting with barely suppressed rage. Nick caught glimpses of numerous elements around them: dark lightning, jagged spears of crystal, and roiling waves of iridescent mana.
He let out a short bark of laughter, though sweat dribbled down his temple. His situation wasn't funny, but he couldn't help it. I have never seen this much variety! I will have to explore my memories once I'm back home. There is much to learn here.
He felt their spells swell in unison, and he knew he had to do something, or he'd be obliterated. Draining a fresh surge of stolen life force, he layered [Force Barrier] after [Force Barrier] in front of himself, creating an interlocking web of translucent planes. His captives howled, funneling obscene amounts of energy into him, which he poured directly into the defensive matrix, never allowing the mana to settle within himself.
Then, the fae's combined offensive struck. Bolts of crackling lightning hammered his barriers; a roaring wave of obsidian shards and swirling water crashed against them. One barrier collapsed under the tremendous strain, then another. But each time, Nick's stolen wellspring of energy allowed him to conjure a replacement instantly. He gritted his teeth and kept casting. Heat scorched his eyes, the reek of ozone and burnt flesh commingled in his nostrils.
As Nick looked down, he was horrified to discover that it was his own body emitting smoke. Glowing blue lines were visible beneath his skin, and it was clear he had significantly overused his mana system. Yet, the vitality he continuously absorbed kept him on his feet, allowing him to regenerate his flesh even as it cooked.
A surge of adrenaline swept through his body like a hot wire, washing away any pain. He allowed the fae to expend themselves for a few crucial seconds, letting them pour all their hate and lethal artistry into tearing him down. Over and over, he pushed fresh power into layer upon layer of [Force Barrier], each fracturing under the onslaught, replaced by the next before the destructive spells could advance.
Time to return the favor, Nick decided, once the dust began to dissipate. He glimpsed his enemy between the cracks in his crumbling barriers and began completing his retaliation.
He could sense more corpses in his immediate vicinity, newly dropped knights or unfortunate adventurers. He commanded the air to drag those still-warm bodies closer without turning, shoring up his strategic reserve even further. The moment he stabilized his defenses, he began crafting new [Vacuum Spheres].
His next barrage was slower to form, as each sphere required a carefully woven matrix of wind and pressure, and such fine work required more care than he could readily give. But he had the advantage of near-limitless power, and while the fae hammered away to no avail, Nick fed off their companions like a parasite.
By the time his opponents realized he was charging up another salvo, Nick had six fresh spheres hovering at the ready.
He grinned. With a wave of his wand, he launched them across the battlefield. The thunderclap that followed felt almost routine now. One sphere slammed into hastily cast shields and disintegrated them in a searing flash. The blasts that came after pulverized any hope of resistance the fae might have had.
Screams filled the air as vacuum spheres shredded bodies, equipment, and even the pitiful spells they tried to use to counter his barrage. Thick black smoke and red mist swirled in the aftermath until silence finally reigned over this part of the battlefield.
A flurry of System messages scrolled through Nick's vision.
CONGRATULATIONS
You have defeated:
Remoar, Tree Whisperer (lv 41)
Ki'Valys, Stormcaller (lv 36)
Aruiel, Weaver (lv 33)
etc…
+212,000 Experience
Nick felt the surge crash into him like lightning. The sheer volume of his new experience made his entire body tingle, and the System immediately blessed him.
LEVEL UP!
LEVEL UP!
He gasped as his stats shifted, forcibly adjusting to accommodate his newly attained Level 35. In his mind's eye, the numbers soared, providing him with an immediate, tangible sense of increased power. The battlefield felt distant for a moment, overshadowed by the euphoria—and relief—of this meteoric rise.
Yet the lull in combat lasted barely a few heartbeats. He had executed a long-range attack that had crippled or killed a major chunk of the fae's backline mages. With them gone, the human shield wall would doubtless gain breathing room, and indeed, the roars of men soon reached him as they began to push forward.
Wiping a streak of grime from his brow, Nick scanned the devastated crater zone. Bodies—some half-vaporized, some dismembered—lay strewn among battered staves and broken wards. Wisps of magical residue twined upward, dissipating into the sky.
If Nick were a normal mage, this would have been an incredible accomplishment, and everyone would have understood if he pulled back now. He had no intention to do so, and not just because his whole body was still running extremely high from all the extra vitality.
No doubt, the entirety of the fae force had registered his presence by now. If they had any semblance of a command structure, they would respond soon—perhaps by dispatching a fearsome champion or even commanding the Guardian himself to eliminate him. Nick braced for that possibility, fully aware that going head-to-head with the Guardian was beyond his abilities. Luckily, the old man is keeping him busy.
At the thought of Arthur, he reflexively looked around. The Guardian's towering silhouette and Arthur's lightning-wreathed form clashed amid arcs of swirling power. Even from afar, Nick sensed the magnitude of that fight overshadowed everything else.
That was why he was so surprised when a pulse of pure power swept through the battlefield. A second followed, and then a third.
The distortions the fae had emerged from wavered, their edges becoming tinged with red. More and more power spilled from them, but by now, Nick was able to recognize it.
One final, massive pulse destabilized the distortions, unleashing a tremendous wave of golden flames. Two figures tumbled from the central one before it could fully collapse, and Nick easily recognized the first.
It was Marthas, but he looked much different. His eyes were impossible to see, such was their glow, while runes all over his naked chest kept emitting golden flames.
Across from him was the most stunning creature Nick had ever seen. She was grace itself, delicately touching down without a stumble.
He knew immediately that they had found their true enemy.
