Chapter 1010 Tournament 3, Facing Soaring Heights (2)
"Since barriers are external, and cover a large area to boot, they aren't directly connected to the magic item creating them. Which means the devices can only handle what it was 'coded' to."
"But what if there is a method stopping external forces from interrupting the flow?" Ilmadia asked.
"That would still cost mana, and weaken the barrier as a result. I think it's unlikely the barriers are advanced enough to actually stop my tampering, though."
'For them to be capable of that, they had to have something on the level of a Magic Crystal as their core. But that wasn't likely to be the case.' Eldrian thought.
Eldrian highly doubted Soaring Height could get their hands on Magic Crystals so easily. This wasn't a case of money, but also of influence. Magic Crystals were too valuable to be sold to random players.
Even he had trouble getting his hand on Magic Crystals. Even with all his connections in Taurus.
Sure, he could and has managed to secure one or two. One from Ashliel, the so-called divine. Though that was more a gift from her than a resource from the kingdom. Which he had then lost during the siege of Elomir. Though that had helped save the city, so he didn't mind too much. He also hasn't asked for a replacement Magic Crystal. Eldrian understood the kingdom wasn't really in the position to produce Magic Crystals on demand.
The other one had been to secure from the kingdom for the fort he had won from the vampires through his duel against Levana. Which amounted more to the kingdom repairing the reclaimed fort than giving Eldrian a Magic Crystal.
Other than that, he hadn't gotten any other Magic Crystals. Luckily, with Creation, he could make his own now. Though that took time, and money (aka mana crystals), and also drained him a lot. The process was extremely demanding, after all.
Still, it was a source of something otherwise impossible to find. So it was totally worth using Creation as often as he could afford to.
All this to say, there was no way the barriers Soaring Heights was using were supported by Magic Crystals. If they had been, Eldrian would also have noticed the ambient mana flowing towards the castle of Soaring Heights as the Magic Crystals recollected spent mana.
And, thus, he could combat the mana flow. Perhaps even infiltrate it to sabotage the items. At the same time he did this, the barriers would weaken. Which would allow him or the others to destroy them with the more direct method if needed.
Moving to see what he would be capable of, Eldrian flew out of the forest. Flying right up to the barriers. Causing the players inside the castle to panic and send a barrage of attacks at him. All of which Eldrian dodged with ease.
Some barking got the players to calm down and stop wasting ammo. Still, this made them extremely uncomfortable. After all, Eldrian was in range. And they were told to do nothing. They understood that he was too fast, but it still caused their morale to fall.
"Don't worry!" One of the leaders of Soaring Heights shouted. "He can't get past the barriers. It's a waste to try and attack."
"Besides," another added, "we win as long as we stay put. After all, we're ranked higher than them!"
'Oh, right, that's how it works.' Eldrian mumbled. Though not really worried about it. If he had to, he could brute force his way inside. The two options he had explained to his friends weren't the only options.
Well, they were technically his only options to destroy the barriers. But Eldrian could simply slip past the barriers if all he wanted to do was claim victory.
He didn't because a part of him felt slighted by this guild's use of money to basically "buy" the tournament. Eldrian wasn't sure if he had a right to feel like this, but he did. And that was what motivated him to want to make them pay a little reparations to all the other guilds they had defeated by throwing money at them.
'Also, doesn't seem like they realized the danger of allowing someone close to the barriers themselves.' Eldrian thought.
The closer he was, the easier finding the flow and tapping into it would be. Them deciding to ignore him, so as to not waste their mana, arrows, and ammo, would allow him to place his full attention on destroying the barriers.
As he was starting to tamper with the mana flow, Eldrian realized that perhaps their reasoning wasn't flawed. He was the only player who could do what he was doing.
There was no reason for the defending guild to think that by not doing anything they would make things easier for Eldrian. 'They are probably thinking I am trying to taunt them to leave their castle, like Judith had done to other guilds.'
Honestly, if they did, Eldrian wouldn't mind. That would also secure victory for his guild.
A few minutes later, Eldrian grumbled. He was finding this harder than expected. The barriers were working together. The one he was tampering with was being supported by the others. Which meant he couldn't take on one at a time, but instead had to face all ten at once.
"Ugh, if only Vivian was here." Eldrian sighed. She would have been able to cut right through the mana flow. Severing it right then and there.
Eldrian, instead, had to disrupt the flow by attempting to either take over control of the mana, or overwhelm the flow with a spell or something. The latter wasn't really an option. Eldrian didn't have enough mana, even with his insane MP pool.
Finally, ten minutes later, the first barrier cracked.
'Took a while. But seems this worked perfectly.' Eldrian thought. In the end, he followed the flow of mana right back to the devices controlling the barriers. Where he then worked on distant enchanting (which was guaranteed to fail) to cause the devices to malfunction.
Basically, he simply tried to corrupt the magic items. A physical method of this was to cut through the engraved runes. Eldrian did something similar, only to the internal flow of the devices' mana flow.
The sound of shattered glass filled the air, and one device supporting the barrier turned dark. This realization sent the bored other devices. Causing them to overload on after the other. And each time one stopped working, it became easier and easier to do audience into a ruckus. Meanwhile, Soaring Heights lost their cool and sent a soldo of attacks at Eldrian.
Forced to take evasive maneuvers, Eldrian continued corrupting the other devices. Causing them to overload on after the other. And each time one stopped working, it became easier and easier to do the same to the others.
The second barrier fell a minute later. The third just a few seconds after. Just three minutes after the first barrier had collapsed, all the barriers were gone.
"No way..." This sentiment was shared by both the defending Soaring Heights players and the audience. Before they could recollect themselves, Phoenix's attacks flew at the castle.
Dozen of stunned players died right there, and Eldrian used the chaos to slip into the castle. Decimating those inside. Just three minutes later, Oier (Jade's father) declared Phoenix's complete victory.
—
[What happened?]
[How the heck did he destroy the barriers?]
[Is that even possible? Is it a bug?]
[Nah, that's just Eldrian.]
[Seems I was right to place all my bets on them!]
[Oh, right. With Soaring Heights defeated, there's only one other guild that might beat them.]
[Nah, if Eldrian is fighting, then they don't stand a chance.]
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