Chapter 93
A wave of incredibly hot flame flew at Veksian. He prepared to teleport, but Richard's melody acquired a special note and froze his mind for a split second. Veksian was saved only by the fact that all his spells were embedded with will and they worked without the participation of the mind.
Teleporting several kilometers into the air, Veksian saw a wave of blue flame literally erasing trees and melting the ground. In a few seconds, a square kilometer of forest was burned to the ground. He smiled, activating the ring, at the same moment he was dressed in a sealed black outfit. It resembled obsidian, but was devoid of any shine. The eyes in the helmet shone with the dark blue color of his affinity and he teleported again.
"Your good fortune is that I can't use Archmage Ronan's artifacts, otherwise you would already be dead." Veksian said as he dealt dozens of blows.
Zagrint's blades appeared in many places and killed eight more spirits. Richard winced at the few new scars on his face and stopped playing for a second. Veksian meanwhile attacked him, trying to take advantage of weakness. The blades' strikes became much stronger and faster, Richard's spirits began to cope with the blows worse. Particularly unsuccessful ones even began to push them away from him.
Richard turned to Mellis and put his hand on her, he smiled at her kindly and confidently, trying to show that he was in control while they were both under hundreds of blows. The blade of the sword came out of thin air and was barely stopped by the new spirit that came out of Richard, but he didn't even pay attention to it.
Richard took a deep breath and started playing flute, his fingers moving so fast it felt like he had 6 hands. The melody that came out at that moment was something else, unlike anything he had played today. A soft blue light illuminated the forest, it seemed sacred, connected to the world itself, something that softly complemented it in some unknown way.
The thunderous blows of Veksian, the bright flashes of blue flame, the slashes of thin wind, the falling trees and stones, could not hide the magnificence of the melody.
There was an incredible battle in the background, but everything retreated smoothly. Mellis was able to breathe a sigh of relief and calm down for the first time. She closed her eyes and felt that the cursed power that flowed through her body began to evaporate without a trace. She felt better, it seemed to her that her very soul began to heal in the light of the melody. Her body began to glow blue, the black world in her eyes faded and she saw it as Richard saw it. It was something completely different, impossible for her mind to comprehend. The world around her was music, where every note had meaning. Some she understood herself, others because of Richard's influence, but most of the notes confused her, causing her to lose touch with reality.
Veksian paid close attention to Richard's actions. He stood near the reincarnator, surrounded by dozens of spirits. His flute playing was beyond human skill. Blue light surrounded them with a halo, slowly beginning to concentrate in Mellis. Veksian felt a strange feeling coming from her, it was like a cleansing, but it was not as cruel and did not cleanse the curse for real.
Once again dodging a thin slash of wind, Veksian activated his helmet and tried to analyze the magic. But like the previous times, it gave him no information. Not knowing what to do with it, Veksian decided to try something new. He cast a level 8 spell, "Forced Teleportation". Magic power surrounded the bard, but to Veksian's great surprise, the spell did not work. Richard was able to change the spell in some unknown way, it simply dissolved into space.
After lamenting the shortcomings of his Mana Affinity, Veskian took the next step, deciding to deal with the spirit holding the Perfect Wind. Two of his blades appeared from different directions around the spirit. One was blocked by the sword in his hands, while the other missed by a few centimeters due to the instant acceleration of the wind. The next few attacks in quick succession were blocked by the dense wind, but the pure kinetic force in each of them drove the spirit into a trap.
Veksian smiled, feeling a small victory, a moment before the final blow, he felt the vibrations of the spiritual plane. Teleporting. In his previous place, several wind spirits came out. Feeling a little disappointed, Veksian dealt several dozen blows, instantly dispersing all the spirits.
Veksian barely took a breath and continued the fight. The spirit holding Perfect Wind flew closer to the bard, using the protection of the other spirits. But none of that mattered. Veksian hardened his spirit and used one of the strongest sword art techniques, "Impulse Release".
Zagrint's Right Blade appeared behind the bard, he was not much faster. One of the spirits blocked it with a flute as always and that's when the Explosion happened .
The spiritual ability that Veksian cultivated was incredibly trivial and weak. With each strike, his swords struck harder and faster, accumulating "momentum". The more he could create and maintain it through a continuous barrage of strikes, the stronger he was. This gave him a nice boost in the speed and power of his blades, and the ability to release the momentum in an instant, delivering the finishing blow. But this ability was at best suitable for fighting [Epic] ranks, not [Legendary].
What made her much stronger than her level was the impossibility of dodging all of his attacks. Thanks to the teleportation, they were literally endless, Veksian was building up momentum at an incredible speed, not giving the enemy a chance to rest, or even collect their thoughts. The second significant point was [Zagrynt Twin Blades], it amplifies any spiritual ability affecting the blades.
As he released all the momentum he had stored in his right blade, the spirit flute shattered. The shockwave expanded and slammed into Richard and Mellis, shattering the ground and causing an earthquake. At the last moment, one of the spirits used an unknown artifact to create a mana barrier that absorbed most of the blast wave, but cracked in the process.
Before Richard could react, the Blade of Zagrint had broken the barrier and was dangerously close to Richard, only to be stopped a millimeter away flute in the spirit's hands. Veksian clicked his tongue in displeasure and smiled cheerfully as he noticed that Mellis had stopped glowing blue.
Richard looked up at him and began to play another melody. Veksian's mind began to be assaulted by images, stories of the Perfect Wind. Various battles and spirits floated into his head, telling of old exploits. He barely managed to dodge the next slashes of wind and waves of blue flames, as his mind took a particularly strong blow.
The image of a great tree stretching into the sky, surrounded by an aura of life, was etched into his mind. The greatness of [Guardian of World] Vicca, , left an indelible impression on him, distracting him from the battle for a few seconds.
After looking through his memories, he realized that he had unconsciously started teleporting to different places, avoiding all of Perfect Wind's attacks. Smiling, Veksian attacked back, several dozen blows rained down on the bard, killing several more spirits. While he was experiencing various visions.
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The spirit holding the Perfect Wind in his hands raised it in front of him, the will emanating from the spirit was reflected from the world, creating several words.
"Fire Tornado."
The sword in the hands of the spirit showed its true form. The illusion dissipated, in place of the unremarkable sword, a thin, elven blade of mithril silver appeared. The blade began to heat up, turning red, flashes of fiery red wind began to burst out of it. With each passing second they became stronger and stronger. The red wind began to swirl around Richard and Melliss, forming the beginning of a tornado.
Veksian teleported far into the air before the tornado began to expand and engulf the area. The tornado quickly rose 200 meters in height, beginning to take on the color of blue flames. It melted the earth, and the heat and wind emanating from it even dispersed the clouds. The tornado grew larger and stronger, for the first time in a long time Veksian was in a stupor.
He certainly used a deadly attack, almost killing Mellis, but it was beyond the pale. With such a flame, there would be nothing left of her body that could be resurrected. Using the magic of the helmet, he looked into the center of the tornado. Inside, Mellis and Richard stood completely unharmed. They were protected by the wind and the unknown magic of the bard.
Richard shifted his gaze, looking directly at Veksian. He took his lips off the flute for a moment and spoke.
"Conceptual Magic of Melody Soul "Bound by Soul."
Richard's words echoed off of Mir, he touched his lips to the flute, playing a new melody, it was ephemeral, too strange to understand.
Veksian hadn't felt such a return from using Word Magic in a long time. He was sure that this was Richard's last move.
But Veksian didn't rush to stop him right away, he had time until the magic started to work. He suspected that this was why Richard created the fiery tornado, to protect himself from it.
The protective runes on the armor activated, and a tier 9 spell crystal appeared in Veksian's hand. This spell was created by the Archmage of Flame, Ronan. After using it, fiery mana enveloped Veksian, granting him significant protection from fire, but alas, not from the wind. After a final thought, he teleported into the storm.
Only now did he realize that his teleportation was limited to about 1.5 km. Even more than before, he needed to be in the flames to attack.
Once inside, Veksian was blown away by a strong wind and sucked into a tornado. The flames did not harm him, but he felt that the spell would not last long.
Zagrint's blades flashed and crashed into space, attacking the bard. He was protected by spirits, but this time Veksian used techniques to the maximum of his capabilities. He attacked 1.5 times faster, killing spirits like flies. But they appeared from inside the bard at the same speed. No matter how Veksian tried to deceive Richard, or harm him, it was useless. He even attacked him from the ground, releasing the accumulated momentum of the left blade. The ground under their feet was destroyed for tens of meters, but Richard and Mellis stood unharmed in the air on a golden platform.
At the moment of her appearance, Veksian's helmet showed him a notification about the discovery of Soul Magic. Golden structures and light expanded from Richard, creating a geometric ball of many golden platforms. The golden figure that was in the air distorted and changed into others that he did not quite understand. Many unknown runes began to appear on it, which emitted an unpleasant feeling that tormented him to the depths of his soul.
Veskian frowned and teleported to the edge of the tornado, every second he teleported to this place, having a perfect view of the unknown magic, despite the strong wind that carried him away. With each passing second, the feeling tormenting him only became worse, he could not understand this unknown anxiety. It gnawed at his determination and confidence in victory, only now Veskian thought about the possibility of his defeat.
He admitted to himself that he wanted a great battle and did not want to actually kill Richard. He was a good man with a steely resolve who truly earned his respect. But it left him no choice.
Arcane affinity of the Elusive Space was his personal and unique power. Thanks to it, he earned the title of the strongest space mage to ever exist on Radiant, surpassing even the gods. His mana affinity made his teleportation and almost all space magic unblockable, incredibly strong and effective to the point of madness. There were only a few things that he was "bad" at in space magic. These were forced teleportation, sealing space, and spells inside living beings.
Veksian raised the Zagrint Blade, surrounded it with the Elusive Space mana and cast a spell. The blade cut through the space, revealing a visible breach, blue-violet in color. Another similar breach appeared inside Richard, his eyes widened in shock. [The Zagrint Blade] passed through it and cut Richard in half, from his left shoulder to his right hip.
Richard's body parts fell onto the golden platform, covering it in blood. His eyes were empty and his hands stopped moving. Veksian teleported to it and used a holy artifact, sealing Richard's soul inside his body, stopping its destruction.
"I hope you can still be saved." Veksian said, not really believing it, such wounds from the Blades of Zagrint were most likely impossible to repair.
Shaking his head, Veksian turned his attention to his surroundings. Richard's spirits had dissipated, Perfect Wind had fallen onto the golden platform, and the fire tornado had also begun to subside. All of Richard's magic had begun to dissipate. Taking out another spell crystal, Veksian activated it, granting Mellis immunity to fire.
Whatever magic had protected her was dissipating, just like Richard's golden construct. The uneasy feeling inside began to subside, Veksian actually began to calm down, watching as golden flakes flew around.
...
He realized that he had been deceived. Some magic had clouded his senses and mind, he had stuck his nose into the zone with unknown magic like a stupid boy.
As soon as Veksian realized this, the golden flakes in the surroundings spread into a web, clinging to him and the space itself. Many golden threads clung to him, he wanted to teleport, but an unknown magic was able to delay the teleportation for a second. He managed to swing his swords only once, as he was almost caught.
Veksian stopped the teleportation, feeling that it would be a mistake. The golden threads were attracting more and more golden flakes, growing thicker, while Veksian tried to change the spell. Whatever it was, it had affected his soul, binding him to this place, if he simply teleported, he would abandon his soul and kill himself.
Turning his head, Veksian saw the golden flakes being sucked into Richard's dead body. It rose into the air, glowing golden, the hundreds of white scars from the fight instantly healing, and the body knitting together at the cut. Veksian was surprised, but did not see the point. The delayed magic could heal his body, but not his soul.
So he thought until Richard's eyes opened, revealing the unmistakable light of a soul. With a slight movement, he removed his torn leather armor, revealing an ugly scar that split his body in half. Richard winced in considerable pain, looking at Veksian, he took a deep breath and spoke.
"That was dangerously close, I underestimated you. If you were an Archmage, or a Weapon Master, I would have lost. I should also pay more attention to using soul energy to become an Archmage." Richard said, bending down and picking up the blue flute from the golden platform.
The golden threads that entangled Veksian began to change into golden chains that were stuck in space. The unpleasant feeling that Veksian had felt before emanated from them like an incredibly strong light. Now he understood that it was a natural reaction to the strongest soul magic. Being defeated, he only had one question.
"How did you defeat me?"
"From the very beginning of the battle, I used the Conceptual Magic 'Soul Melody', secretly weakening your Soul Defense and strengthening my subsequent spells." Richard said as he picked up Mellis in his arms.
"How come you're not an Archmage yet?!" Veksian asked, replaying the battle in his head and seeing the many influences Richard had on his actions.
"My spells have the power of an Archmage, but I don't meet the requirement because I don't use my own soul energy." Richard replied.
"But how?! Where did you get such power if you didn't use your soul energy for Conceptual Magic?!"
"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Good luck, I hope the next time we meet you'll be an Archmage, or a Master of Weapons." Richard said, holding out his hand to the Perfect Wind.
It flew into his hand without any problems. The next second, the mithril blade turned into a nondescript sword. Holding Mellis in his hands, Richard looked back at the sealed Veksian, who silently followed them with his gaze. There was no evil in him, only slight regret and shame from the failed task.
Richard shook his head and said a few incredibly quiet words. Clothes appeared on top of him, and his and Mellis' appearance changed greatly. Taking the Perfect Wind in his hand, Richard flew, and after a few meters, he completely disappeared from Veksian's perception.
How do you like the battle on the legendary level?
