Sylas hadn't come across many lightning users. Other than the Guiz—if he disregarded the Glassinox—there were just the creatures of the Dustpark Dungeon. But he had noticed the same thing from them all.
They all struggled to control their lightning.
Although the laws of the wider galaxy weren't exactly identical to that of Earth, some constants shifting, some fundamental formulas being warped, it could be said that the general gist of everything was the same. Lightning still flowed from regions of higher concentration to regions of lower concentration, it was still heavily influenced by charge and easily pulled toward positive energy, flowing out from negative.
In order to control lightning, most Lightning Mancers had to use a whole assortment of tricks. But it was just unfortunate for them that none that Sylas had come across had a method more effective than Glass.
Glass Aether was the perfect fusion of Ice Aether, Poison Aether, and Earth Aether. Because of this, it could take advantage of the polarity properties of hydrogen dioxide, and the grounding abilities of the, well… ground.
Poison Aether seemed to be the odd one out in the bunch, not playing much of a role. But the more Sylas understood Runes, the more he understood just how untrue this was.
What exactly was Poison Aether?
To a layman human, poison was just something that killed you. It was separated from venom in that it could be inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the skin, while the latter had to be injected into the bloodstream through a wound.
But in this world, the difference was meaningless as it was encompassed by the singular word of poison.
As many Poison Runes as Sylas had studied, he had an obvious definition.
Poison Aether was an Aether that spread like a cancer, capable of disrupting the structure and function of anything it came into contact with. This was the most fundamental description of what Aether was.
From here, they began to deviate. Some of them consumed the Aether of others and acted to obstruct. Some corrupted the Aether it came into contact with and took it over or forced it to act in ways it otherwise wouldn't. Some used a combination of the two.
Glassvolt poison, however… well, it was the bridge between Ice and Earth, forcing a fusion of the two that would normally not occur by breaking down aspects of the two that would clash or disrupt the flow of one another.
It controlled.
When the poison aspects of his Glassvolt Aether were in full effect, it turned everything it touched to Glass. It was just that Sylas rarely used this ability because he didn't feel like he ever had to.
Right now, though…
'Why not?'
Sylas' Scorpion Warlord Armor deepened in color and then…
Chi. Chi. Chi.
Panels of Glass began to coat his tail, and then covered the whole of his armor like sheets of real metal. The silvery blue and dark violet played against one another in a beautiful dance as the Scorpion Warlord tail rose into the skies.
"Now." Sylas said calmly.
The army of Serpentes that Sylas had slowly been building up finally got their chance to act.
They roared, a familiar Rune of Frostbane taking shape.
One after another, tall, but narrow walls began to appear across the battlefield.
The mages in the distance that had begun to summon creatures as the others continued to summon lightning, sent their lightning wolves and bears on ahead, only for them to be obstructed by an ever-growing maze of narrow walls.
These walls didn't seem to bother them very much. When directed by the mages, they would just wrap around them. Those that the mages didn't exert full control over smashed through many of them instead.
By now, the Serpentes that Sylas had summoned were truly far too weak for this battlefield. At best, they could just form these small obstructions and slow the forward progress of the creatures.
But from the very start, this strategy of Sylas' was only meant to do exactly that.
He was just one man, constantly facing off against thousands of enemies. It was only natural that he face this sort of hardship. If he could make it just the slightest bit easier, why not?
That said… by now, the buffs from his city had also climbed to a full 110%. The Serpentes might still be weak by comparison to the enemies, but what about him?
Sylas took only a calm, shallow breath before his tail swayed.
A beam of silvery blue light left it just as a lightning bear raised its paw to slash down another wall. It was already halfway through the growing maze and there didn't seem to be more than a kilometer between itself and the city Sylas was protecting to his back.
But then a Glassvolt Rune formed to Vitality Mastery pierced into the wall.
All of a sudden, the lightning being gathered in the skies rampaged out of control and a bolt fell from above.
It all happened so fast that the lightning bear's claw hadn't even fully descended when the wall of what seemed to be glowing snow became a fortress of crystalline Glass instead.
BANG!
Its paw shattered on impact, and most of its Lightning Aether was immediately sapped out of its body.
Sylas' tail flickered again and another beam jetted out, and then another.
His Serpentes began to form walls faster and faster, and all Sylas did was form another Rune and send it out. All the Aether was being gathered by the mages up ahead for him, and because of the special abilities of the Scorpion Warlord Tail, all of the Poison Runes it manifested were formed to the same level of Mastery as the Scorpion Warlord Armor itself, so it cost Sylas no Wisdom to continue drawing them like this.
It was a completely one-sided slaughter.
Every time Sylas thought that the Waves couldn't possibly get easier… they did.
And then, the tenth and final came.