493 Demon Lord Versus Grand Mage [Pt 1]
"[Grand Miasma Missiles]"
Starting with a flurry of Advanced-Level Spells, Lubick launched the purple mines in Elrich's direction.
Each Miasma Missile was packed with enough power to explode and devastate a considerably wide radius.
Having so many of them rain down on his target was overkill, but Lubick didn't care.
With widened eyes like one on the verge of insanity, he awaited Elrich's response.
"Not good enough."
In that instant, a barrage of Mana Missiles of the same quality appeared and clashed with the Miasma Missiles.
>SHUUUUUUUUU<
As a result of the impact between the two, an implosion occurred. The Mana and Miasma elements dissipated.
"I'll let you know now that you can't win if you keep throwing Spells like that around." Elrich smiled.
He pointed his staff at Lubick, and then a blast of purple electricity burst out of it.
"Tch!"
Using a severing Spell, Lubick split the incoming energy apart, so none of its destructive charges touched him.
"Very well." The Demon Lord was pressed for time.
The way he fought was as a Mage, so he always avoided direct confrontations. That didn't mean he was terrible at it, Lubick just figured there were more efficient ways to do battle.
"[Golem Max Summoning]."
Instantly, a large Magic Circle appeared, and it began pouring out highly powerful Golems.
Unexpectedly, though...
>SHIIINNNGGG<
... The same was occurring on Elrich's end of the battlefield.
"W-wha—?!" Lubick wanted to burst out with a surprised yelp, but he stopped himself midway.
A similar Magic Circle had formed in front of Elrich Lendertwale, and it spat out the same quality of Golems.
The Golems on both ends charged and clashed—dealing equal damage until they expired.
'How is he doing this? Original Magic, maybe?'
Not once, but twice now, Elrich had been able to completely offer equal resistance to Lubick's Magic.
It didn't make any sense that they would know the same kinds of Spells, and even if they did, how could the Grand Mage control the output to be exactly the same as him?
'It has to be Original Magic. So he's using that at the get-go...' Lubick cautiously smiled.
It was quite tricky, but wasn't this a good thing?
'He has shown his cards while mine remain hidden. With this, I'll be able to emerge victorious!'
Lubick's wicked grin caused the Grand Mage of the Royal Court to look a bit puzzled, and then words finally emerged.
"Do you want to know a secret?" Elrich Lendertwale smiled.
"What?"
"Well, it's not exactly a secret, but not many people know of this fact..."
'What the hell is he talking about?' Lubick wondered if the Grand Mage was trying to buy time by engaging in a useless conversation.
'Using his Original Magic so much has exhausted him, no doubt. I can take this chance to—'
"I don't have Original Magic. I mean, I never cultivated one."
"U-uh?!"
Lubick was beyond surprised by the Grand Mage's words.
There was the possibility that what he just said was a lie, but the man's straight face made that seem far-fetched.
"You think I'm countering your attacks with Original Magic, right? I'm not. It's the effect of a Magic Item—this Grimoire in front of me." Elrich pointed at the floating book in front of him.
"Original Magic takes too much time and effort to master. It's also too lopsided—focusing on one particular field. I prefer something more widespread."
Apparently, the Grand Mage preferred being a jack of all trades, so he refused to concentrate his efforts on developing Original Magic—an admirable effort on his end.
The results?
"These items you see on me aren't mere accessories, you know? Each of them is packed with certain special effects, and their unique abilities help me out in battle."
From offensive measures to defense, perception, traps, summoning, etc. Elrich Lendertwale's specialty was in all those fields thanks to the time he spent on making items rather than building his Original Magic.
"I've lived for quite some time. Not as long as you, but enough in human time to develop many things. So, there's your answer."
As long as Lubick wasn't creative in his attacks, he would never be able to bring down Elrich.
No matter the situation that would go down, the Grand Mage had prepared for it. His tools were geared toward responding to each situation as they saw fit.
If one could refer to that as his own Original Magic, they would be partly right.
Elrich grinned to himself, waiting for the next thing the Demon Lord would show him.
His Grimoire had the [Analyze] effect, while his staff had the [Link] and [Activation] effects.
That meant that while the Grimoire recorded the Spells of his targets—translating them to a contingency he could cast—his Staff would implement the information and cast the Spell.
Of course, he would supply the Mana, but Elrich had equipped several Mana Boosters, so he wasn't worried about the volume of his energy.
"It's been a while since I fought, so this quite exciting."
Lubick's face displayed veins at this point. He was pissed beyond words, and Elrich's snarky comments weren't making things any better.
"Fine, then. You know what? I'm done. I'll just end this now."
A spark of purple light and ominous red mist converged on Lubick's palm. The sparks grew larger, and the mist kept propagating.
"[Original Magic: The Demon Realm]"
Instantly, the entire area was enveloped in purplish black fog, and the clouds above crackled with purple lightning.
The darkness around, along with the red-like smoke that wafted in the air, was akin to a particular place in the world where only Demons were allowed to live in.
"T-this is...?!" Elrich murmured in surprise.
His environment was being protected by a Mana Field, but the surrounding Miasma was eating into the haven like a virus.
It was only a matter of time before the defensive field was completely taken down.
"That's right. I made my version of our territory. It's the nature of my Original Magic."
In simple terms, Lubick had just transformed the territory into home turf. Not only were his powers much more than normal, but his opponent also suffered a constant debuff.
It was the ultimate Original Magic to utilize against non-Demons.
"Let's see how you escape this time."
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