Chapter 212: Chapter 167: The Coming Storm
Holy Judgment wasn’t a particularly strong Privilege Magic. Not only was there a simple way to counter it, but while it dealt true damage that ignored defenses, its base value was simply too low. Even ignoring defenses, it couldn’t cause much harm.
But this spell had one advantage: it could also destroy physical matter, and its area of effect was massive!
So massive that, from here, it could cover the entirety of Roton Fortress!
He had no intention of defeating Isaac in a direct confrontation; the difference in raw power was obvious. But if he launched a sneak attack on the fortress, he might have a chance of success.
Unfortunately...
He’d been found out...
However, that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst part was that at the exact same moment, all the buffs on him vanished!
This meant one of his teammates had already been taken out!
He was worried about his teammate, but the terrifying pressure of facing Isaac meant he couldn’t afford to be distracted. When he saw the golden rays of light being deflected by the Spatial Shield around Isaac, he immediately changed his strategy.
He continued to channel the Privilege Magic as best he could, while simultaneously summoning one Light Mirror after another to completely encircle Isaac. And then...
A focused Flash Bomb went off!
It didn’t matter if it could hurt Isaac; all that mattered was restraining him!
That would give him enough time to cast Holy Judgment!
"Tsk~ So well-prepared, are we?" Isaac’s voice, tinged with a hint of resignation, came from within the sphere of light formed by the mirrors. Despite his tone, however, he still sounded utterly confident.
Immersed in the boundless light, Isaac slowly extended his right hand, pointing his index finger at the blond-haired youth. Behind him, Demon Claw Harmon mirrored the action.
The next moment, a flowing, scarlet sigil appeared between Isaac’s eyebrows. Scarlet Magic Power surged forth, rapidly converging in front of his and Harmon’s fingers. In just a breath’s time, a massive scarlet Energy Ball, nearly two meters in diameter, had formed.
SHATTER~
The dazzling Light Mirrors shattered. Then, the next moment...
WHOOSH~
With a slight twitch of Isaac’s finger, the massive Energy Ball instantly compressed to the size of a pinprick before erupting in a torrent of energy that shot toward the blond-haired youth!
Sensing the terrifying energy, the blond-haired youth’s pupils constricted. Without a second thought, he abandoned the nearly-complete Holy Judgment and instantly threw up a golden barrier!
BOOM!
A violent roar echoed across the plains. Even the sturdy man, locked in a fierce battle with Lorna, couldn’t help but glance over. He relaxed slightly upon seeing the dazzling golden radiance.
TSSSK!
But that single moment of distraction was all Lorna needed. With a horizontal slash, the Dragon Flame Sword in her hand cut through the sturdy man’s armor, leaving a shallow burn on his chest.
Unfortunately, an injury of this degree was nothing to the sturdy man. He didn’t even need to bother casting a spell. A simple sweep of Holy Light would instantly heal such a burn...
Hm?
’It didn’t heal?’
The sturdy man stared at the burn on his chest in astonishment. His gaze toward Lorna turned grave.
’Even her Dragon Flame is from a Pure-blooded Giant Dragon?’
’Just how rich is this Dragon Witch?!’
Lorna met the sturdy man’s astonished gaze without a word, simply raising her sword and charging.
Meanwhile, the blond-haired youth behind the golden barrier hadn’t even had a moment to breathe before another terrifying torrent of energy blasted toward him!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
A fifth shot never came. Before Isaac’s relentless Magic Cannon, the blond-haired youth could only put everything into his defense. He might have been able to handle one or two blasts, but he stood no chance against four in a row.
His golden barrier shattered on the third blast. The fourth obliterated him completely.
"KANE!!!"
The massive commotion from the Magic Cannon naturally drew everyone’s attention. Seeing his companion blasted to pieces by Isaac, the sturdy man roared in fury. He completely ignored Lorna’s incoming Dragon Flame Sword and, shrouded in Holy Light, charged at Isaac!
However, he was met by Isaac’s cold eyes, and...
A relentless torrent of Magic Power!
Though the sturdy man lacked a Light Shield as powerful as Kane’s, his body, empowered by Holy Light, was unexpectedly resilient. It took Isaac a full four blasts to finally eliminate him.
’My firepower is still a bit lacking, I see.’ Isaac mused, looking down at his fingers.
Meanwhile, Angel, who had trapped the blue-haired woman in a Time Corridor, couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh when she saw Isaac kill the other two.
She would have preferred not to harm people from the Teaching Country; they were some of the few genuinely good people in this world. It was a shame.
Angel waved her hand. The blue-haired woman trapped in the Time Corridor faltered, her expression dazed, before collapsing to the ground. In an instant, her vibrant blue hair turned to withered silver strands.
Angel had stolen her time.
And with that, the battle was over... or was it?
Of course not.
Isaac’s ritual was a winner-take-all affair. If others wanted a share of the prize, they had to come and kill him and his allies. Cooperation was out of the question, as not even Isaac could interfere with the energy collection process now.
Of course, that was also because he had never intended to interfere in the first place, and thus hadn’t designed such a feature.
In any case, as soon as the trio from the Teaching Country was wiped out, Isaac simultaneously sensed enemies approaching from three different directions. He made a quick assessment of their strength.
Isaac sent Lorna toward the small village to the south. Based on the conceptual information he received, the enemy was a party of Adventurers. However, their team included a Witch, making them the elite of the elite among High Level Adventurers.
It would be a difficult fight for Lorna at her current level, but she could also summon her Saint Master and Dragon Blood Demons, so it wasn’t an impossible task. It would be a good chance for her to gain some combat experience.
Isaac assigned the eastern front to Angel. The Transcendents approaching from that direction weren’t particularly strong—just one Tier Two Arcanist and one Tier Two Knight—but they were accompanied by five hundred Artificial Humans.
Angel’s Time Magic was perfect for overwhelming weaker foes; numbers meant nothing against it.
As for Isaac himself, he headed north, where a group of Adventurers was approaching.
Yes, a whole group of them!
For creatures like Adventurers to gather in such large numbers was highly unusual. It suggested they were more than they seemed, making them a job for Isaac, the strongest of the three.
With their assignments clear, the three of them went their separate ways.
Soon, Isaac arrived at a point one thousand meters north of Roton Fortress. He could already see a clamoring horde of people rushing toward his position.
A flicker of doubt crossed Isaac’s eyes at the sight. ’Why do they look like a disorganized mob?’ he wondered. ’Could so many Adventurers have just been thrown together at the last minute?’
’What’s the point?’
He was confused and couldn’t understand it, but that didn’t mean he’d hold back.
Watching the crowd approach, Isaac raised his finger. Torrents of Magic Power erupted one after another, blasting the group into utter chaos.
In moments, all that remained on the ground were scattered body parts and a field of massive craters.
The battle was over.
Isaac scratched his head. It had been surprisingly easy.
’But I suppose that’s a good thing, right?’
Isaac quickly put the thought aside and turned his attention to the others. After briefly checking on their situations, he began to stroll around the fortress’s perimeter.
He continued to familiarize himself with the terrain while setting up a few defensive measures. He didn’t care if they would actually be useful or not; he set them up anyway, treating it as practice.
Over the next few days, several more waves of enemies arrived, but Isaac and his companions dealt with them all with lightning speed, creating no significant disturbances.
It seemed their overwhelming power had intimidated everyone else, because for a time, Roton Fortress fell quiet, almost as if the danger had passed.
But Isaac knew this was merely the calm before the storm.
For one thing, the other contenders had likely realized they stood no chance unless they pooled their strength. For another, the campaigns led by Smith and Philo were now officially underway.
The sudden turn of events was bound to cause some chaos, but once things settled down, everything would get back on track.
Isaac was perfectly happy with this development. He could just wait them out.
And so, a month passed in the blink of an eye...
While things had been peaceful at Roton Fortress for the past month, the outside world was in an uproar.
First, there were Philo and Remington. In just one short month, they had conquered nearly half of the Itra Kingdom!
Their speed was simply astounding.
Of course, this was largely thanks to Philo’s immense power. In this world, it is the strong who are the deciding factor in any war.
However, their advance stopped there. Not only did they need to reinforce their defenses, but Philo also needed time to gather Faith.
Smith, on the other hand, had far fewer restraints. He led two thousand Great Sword Ghosts on a rampage across the Itra Kingdom, utterly unopposed!
As mentioned, the strong are the deciding factor in war. Unfortunately for the current Itra Kingdom, every single one of the two thousand Great Sword Ghosts was a powerhouse.
Of course, Isaac hadn’t been idle at the fortress. He took the opportunity to perform a small modification surgery on himself, specifically on the skin of his hands.
Isaac replaced his original skin with the scales of a Deep Sea Demon Dragon—scales of a deep, mysterious blue.
The Deep Sea Demon Dragon wasn’t a true Dragon. It was a powerful Deep Sea Demon that possessed immense Magic Power. Its greatest strength was converting this vast power into torrents of various elements to overwhelm its enemies.
One of the reasons it could so fluidly convert elements and unleash its Magic Power without restraint was its scales, which possessed extremely high magical conductivity. For a Wizard like Isaac, who also favored overwhelming firepower, this trait was a perfect fit.
He chose to modify only his hands because, as a human, he was accustomed to using them—especially his right hand—for his work. Modifying them would therefore provide an added psychological boost, slightly improving his spellcasting.
Beyond that, however, there were no other benefits. After all, when a Legendary Mage performed modification surgery on themself, the focus was always on the Concept. This meant that even if Isaac had only modified a single finger or toe, the effect would still permeate his entire body, just as it did for the Deep Sea Demon Dragon.
To assimilate the strengths of countless others and evolve into a unique, High-level Magic Life—this was the path of a Legendary Mage!
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