Chapter 44: True Magic
Right before the moment of impact, the Neanderthal’s eyes widened like saucers at the sudden turn of events that unfolded after Uhtred stretched out his hand.
The stone javelin, which should have torn through Uhtred’s palm without even slowing down, was deflected instead.
Its trajectory curved in a slight arc as Uhtred’s hand redirected it.
The change in trajectory had been very sloppy, as the stone still tore a deep gash across Uhtred’s open palm, even streaking down his outstretched arm.
But it was unmistakable... the projectile had been diverted somehow.
"You wield earth magic?!" The Neanderthal roared in surprise in his own tongue, and Uhtred’s language device translated the exclamation in his mind.
He sucked in a deep breath from the pain of the cut across his palm. However, that pained grimace morphed into a shit-eating grin in an instant.
"I understand it now."
Uhtred looked straight at the Neanderthal in challenge.
"Metal is born from earth, so why should controlling earth be any harder for me when I already know how to use metal magic?"
The logic made sense when Uhtred said it out loud, but his words only went to make the Neanderthal frown even further.
Yes, metal was born from earth, but to the Neanderthal’s own knowledge, even among his people, those who possessed dual affinity for earth and metal usually already knew from the onset that they possessed such an affinity.
The way Uhtred had said it made it seem as if he was simply learning about this in the heat of the moment. An idea that simply made the Neanderthal warrior’s unease grow even more.
A wide smile was on Uhtred’s face as he landed on the ground again and got into a defensive position, his eyes locked fully on the Neanderthal with something like excitement in them.
It was as if he had entered into some sort of hyper-focused state of immersion where there was nothing but him and the Neanderthal warrior.
In that moment, seeing that look that bore no fear, that look that was simply focused in the moment, as if the young human had entered into a zone of his own, a silent conviction settled in the Neanderthal warrior’s mind.
His eyes briefly flicked over to the border of Zone 0, where the other humans were watching with bated breath, tense expressions, and utter surprise. Even to them, Uhtred’s level of adaptability time and time again was not normal by any metric.
The Neanderthal warrior should have ended his life already. It was something that was so blatant and easy to see even for them.
Of course, none of them possessed any inspect skill or inspect lens to see the exact levels of Uhtred and the Neanderthal warrior, but even they could still sense that the Neanderthal was higher-leveled than Uhtred.
Seeing the look of surprise and shock on the faces of the other humans in regards to Uhtred, the Neanderthal warrior’s conviction became even firmer. Among humans, Uhtred seemed to be an anomaly to them too.
"I thank the blessings of the elders that led me to you on my first encounter with your kind," he muttered under his breath.
"I shall not fail to kill you with this opportunity that has been bestowed upon me," the look in his eyes changed entirely, and even Uhtred felt it.
The aura about the Neaderthal had become extremely dangerous, like a beast that was about to unleash everything it had without any regard for its own life.
The smile on Uhtred’s face faltered slightly as that aura brought him down from the peak of the high he was currently in. However, he still remained in the zone, eyes fully focused, ready for the next attack.
It was as though he saw any attack that the Neanderthal would make as an opportunity to learn more about the usage of magic.
And the Neanderthal himself had noticed that fact, and that was exactly why the next attack was nothing like the others.
The new attack that the Neanderthal began to weave this time did not just affect the earth itself. Up until now, all of his spells had only activated by using an existing physical medium, either traveling through the ground to create spikes, or through metal as a disruptive tremor.
This time, however, the Neanderthal warrior’s spell did not rely on any physical medium at all.
He was casting magic in its true form, borne out of nothing but raw cosmic essence itself.
As the Neanderthal began to weave his spell into being, the sudden, oppressive change in the air sent Uhtred’s hair rising on end.
Every cell in his body screamed that he needed to act fast and disrupt the process, but in that moment, a near-suicidal curiosity gripped him.
He deeply wanted to see the end result of this form of magic. Even though he knew he was the recipient of the attack, he watched with full attention, his senses spread out to observe every single step of the process.
A soft, shimmering amber light gathered in the air between them, so mesmerizing that Uhtred found himself momentarily entranced...
But the beauty was deceptive.
In the same breath that it captivated his eyes, it radiated an extremely dangerous and terrifying pressure that filled him with a sense of true, imminent danger.
Without hesitation, he stopped simply observing and directly started imitating what he felt the Neanderthal warrior doing to the cosmic essence in their surroundings on the fly.
The Neanderthal warrior’s eyes trembled as he caught Uhtred’s sudden shift, but he pushed forward regardless.
A heavy strain lined his rugged face, making it clear that this technique was demanding a massive amount of effort.
A dense cloud of raw earth essence began to manifest in front of him. It started as a fist-sized cluster that hardened rapidly, and then, very slowly, began to swell in size.
It expanded until it was as wide as the Neanderthal’s chest, and then stretched further until it spanned the length of two full arms.
In time, a ten-foot wide wall of earth expanded on both sides of him. The surface was smooth and glossy, compacted with a great amount of effort till it was as tough as quartz.
Dozens, then scores, then hundreds of sharp angles began to morph along its surface, preparing to branch out into lethal points aimed at directly at Uhtred.
What the fuck?!
