Lee Sungmin wandered in the dark abyss of the seal Kim Jonghyun placed. Everywhere he looked, it was just utter and complete darkness.
He also knew that this space was simply a space artificially created to consume time.
It was unpleasant to feel around as his senses were still a mess, and the feeling of time ticking by slowly weighted on his mind.
Lee Sungmin looked around and lifted the spear he had swung several times in vain.
He had tried multiple times at this point to escape through force, but every time he released an attack into the darkness, all he could see was the space fluctuate and bend, only to go back to normal without a single scratch to be found.
[It’s a well-designed confinement seal. This is incredibly high level, and it’s made to break down your senses over time, but what’s more disturbing is that the seal itself is a higher level than the caster.], Heoju spoke to Lee Sungmin, examining the space.
But even Lee Sungmin knew that much.
Lee Sungmin couldn’t identify the hooded sorcerer who placed him in the seal, but from what he could tell, the individual was a high ranked Dark Wizard.
But the question remained…Why did he just lock Lee Sungmin up?
[Stupid, don’t ask the obvious. How can he do anything to you inside of the space, when even you can’t do anything from the inside?], Heoju spat out in a mocking tone.
It made some sense to Lee Sungmin, but he wasn’t totally convinced.
Nonetheless, he didn’t have the time nor effort to dwell on such things until he got out. Lee Sungmin clicked his tongue and reminded himself not to relax.
Lee Sungmin acknowledged that whatever Envirus was doing was his own business and it might not be right of him to interfere, but he couldn’t just sit still here like a duck.
He picked up his breath and gave strength to the hand holding the spear.
The spear vibrated with a small tremor. A golden and scarlet aura intertwined around the speartip and gleamed brightly in the dark area. Bloody Heavenly Demon Martial Arts : Blood Gale Nova (血腥新星)
The unique trait to the Blood Gale Nova technique taught to him by the Crazy Heavenly Demon was that the force of the power would multiply more and more, if you stored up the internal energy into the blood rings.
Of course, that didn’t mean he could endlessly charge up power for eternity, as if it exceeded his own threshold of power, he wouldn’t be able to control it at all.
Even when he used his own internal energy combined with the yokai power techniques, he did not have complete control over them, and the side effects could be disastrous. Qi Deviation which was the breaking down of the meridians was the most common and brutal side effect of one losing control over their own techniques and he had no intention of doing so.
But when he used those two techniques earlier, he was in the middle of battle. Now, he was not only dealing with something that wasn’t foreign to his own body like the yokai power, but something a bit easier to deal with. And this time he was completely standstill and able to focus his attention to the technique.
The strength of the blood gale nova started to intertwine with his golden internal energy fiercely as it wound up like a tightly wound spring at the end of the speartip.
It had been a long time since he had been extremely careful and attentive in performing his own martial art techniques instead of the yokai techniques. The huge swirl of internal energy wound tighter and tighter, as he started to feel the spear vibrate.
The spear would shake even more violently, if Lee Sungmin let go of the spear. This was all the power Lee Sungmin could handle in one blow.
Lee Sungmin felt estranged and in a trance from the attentiveness he was able to focus on the spear itself as he closed his eyes and let his body go through the motions by itself. He opened his eyes at the last moment of the movement and thrust his spear fiercely in a piercing motion.
Kwaaang!
There was a cracking sound like the sky had split in half.
At the end of the trajectory of the speartip, the stream of golden and scarlet aura exploded in a straight line through the darkness.
The space reverberated intensely and the fluctuations in the mana holding the space became cracked as a hole was opened up.
Lee Sungmin quickly threw himself into a gap he could see before it had the chance to close back up.
—
Envirus, who called the Wind Spirit, began to use the spirit’s magic in earnest against Arbeth. Envirus, who was loved by the Queen of Spirits, was free to contract with any spirits in the spirit realm.
Any person who has a contract in the spirit realm can only contract and summon the spirit they contracted with. However, Envirus contracted with the Spirit Queen herself, who ruled over all the spirits and was able to summon any spirit at will that was under the Spirit Queen.
But Arbeth, and his magic of extinction, was not too far behind in terms of skill and power behind Envirus.
He stood up to Envirus’ spirit magic, making up the difference with his mana pool that he was extracting from the magic circle encapsulating over the entire CIty of Endless Night.
In Kim Jonghyun’s view who was crouching shamelessly while being hidden, the fight between the two was almost even.
If Arbeth used a magic from another realm that was known as extinction magic, Envirus also had his unique spirit magic from the spirit realm.
While Envirus’ capacity as a wizard and technical skill may be higher, Arbeth, who was utilizing the mana pool from two outside sources, his contracted being, and the mana pooled from the City, was overpowering Envirus with sheer firepower.
Luckily for Envirus, he was able to hold off and match the firepower by calling upon several different spirits.
But there was fundamentally a difference in the amount of mana between the two.
A Dark Wizard is able to exchange more power from their contracted being, by selling their soul. Not only that, a demon’s mana was higher and better in quality than any mortal being, even if that being was Envirus.
In addition, although Arbeth and Envirus never thought they would never have a battle relying on the amount of mana they could utilize since they were both existences unparalleled to any other wizard in that regard, Arbeth was able to draw upon more mana at any given moment compared to Envirus.
Spirit magic was an interesting magic that wasn’t studied much in Eria as there was not much contact known to be made with the Spirit Realm. One thing Envirus learned while staying in the Spirit Realm, was that when summoning a spirit, the summoner would not lose their mana, as the spirit magic relied on the spirit’s own mana reserves.
But, nevertheless there was no such thing as freely borrowing power. Although the spirit was able to use their own mana from their spiritual body in the spirit realm, the summoner still had to use up their own mana to sustain the summoning.
‘It’s very efficient.’ , Kim Jonghyun noted to himself regarding Envirus’ spirit magic, as he was able to deduce that much just by watching the fight, and noticing the mana fluctuations from the two of them.
No matter how skilled a Wizard may be, there would always be a limit to their mana. It was the same even for Dark Wizards who sold their souls. But Arbeth had the loophole of using the mana from the City.
Although Arbeth could not push out Envirus, it was still a great situation. Arbeth’s goals would be met simply by stalling for time.
‘Hmm?’ , Kim Jonghyun’s eyebrows suddenly twitched as shock became etched across his face.
The seal he had placed so much effort into was destroyed.
‘This fast? I thought I’d last three hours if I was lucky, and maybe an hour if it was short.’
But Lee Sungmin’s power was incomprehensible; it seemed to Kim Jonghyun as he let out a bitter chuckle.
‘I can’t help it.’ , Kim Jonghyun thought to himself as he raised himself up.
Initially, Kim Jonghyun did not want to rush his plans like this, but if Lee Sungmin joined in now, everything would go awry.
Even Arbeth, who had reached the apex as a Dark Wizard, did not know that Kim Jonghyun was hiding.
“Kim Jonghyun?”, Arbeth looked at Kim Jonghyun who had suddenly appeared in confusion.
Arbeth smiled devilishly as he thought things were only getting better from here. His plan that he had decided on, was to stall for time since he couldn’t overpower Envirus’ spirit magic. But with Kim Jonghyun here things would be able to play out differently in Arbeth’s mind.
Kim Jonghyun in Arbeth’s eyes was even more incompetent than Frescan, but even a rat could make a difference here.
Arbeth was not the only one who noticed Kim Jonghyun’s presence. Envirus’ noticed the presence of the other Dark Wizard, and his facial expression stiffened with a bit of irritation.
He knew very well that he would be at a disadvantage if Kim Jonghyun joined in now.
‘When is Lee Sungmin coming?’ , Envirus started to think at a rapid pace in anxiousness as he raised his arms and the runic patterns writhed around.
Envirus acted fast and changed his target to hit both Arbeth and Kim Jonghyun with the wind spirit magic.
It was clear about the difference in skill between Arbeth and Kim Jonghyun just based on their reaction times to cast a shield. Arbeth was immediately able to cast a shield blocking and negating the magic entirely, while Kim Jonghyun got flustered as he was barely able to conjure one at the last second.
“You bastard! What have you been doing to get here so late?”, Arbeth shouted at Kim Jonghyun in irritation.
“As you said earlier, I was holding onto a rat and I failed to stop that wizard in front of us.”, Kim Jonghyun spoke in a subservient tone of voice.
“You bastard……!”, Arbeth gritted his teeth in anger and frustration at his incompetent members of the team.
“We have a problem. The seal that I spent a lot of time preparing beforehand was already broken, and the rat that I was tasked with holding down is coming here.”, Kim Jonghyun let out a gasp of breath from the impact of the spirit magic hitting his shield.
“What!?”
Arbeth’s face contorted in absolute rage, as he thought by Kim Jonghyun holding a failsafe plan with the seal, he would be able to tie down the other. But, as it turned out, Lee Sungmin broke through it already and Kim Jonghyun’s assistance was completely void.
In fact, instead of being in the planned out advantage the two of them were supposed to have, with Lee Sungmin coming, it wouldn’t just be a stalemate, but Envirus and Lee Sungmin would most likely hold a clear advantage.
[First of all, why don’t you expedite the process and use Aine?], Kim Jonghyun secretly sent a telepathic message to Arbeth.
[The Magic Circle is already complete, but it’ll take some time before it’s fully operational. In the meantime, I think we’ll have a good chance of winning if we take out Aine a bit beforehand.], Kim Jonghyun continued to speak.
[What…?!]
Arbeth was clearly against it, as he had no intention of letting the Chimera known as Aine get away from him and the Black Heart she possessed, just to fend off some rat with a spear coming by.
Furthermore, it would be seen as a complete embarrassment as a wizard, to have to rely on a chimera that was created through someone else’s lifework, to defeat someone like Envirus.
But, pride was a luxury he didn’t have anymore the moment he received another wizard’s help in Kim Jonghyun. Arbeth’s countenance contorted in shame and activated the magic circle.
Soon within the black barrier encapsulating the active magic circle that was sucking in the mana and fear from the city, a small gap opened within the space and the clueless and stoic Aine walked out.
“Fight!”, Arbeth roared at Aine, giving her a simple one word command.
The look in Aine’s emotionless eyes suddenly changed and wings suddenly sprouted from her back as she exploded out at Envirus. She reached out her hand and her nails extended into sharp daggers clawing at Envirus dangerously.
Envirus summoned another spirit and had the Wind spirit deal with Aine, as he summoned a Fire Spirit to keep the pressure on Arbeth.
He was able to keep up with the barrage by summoning these two spirits that were at some of the highest level spirits in the spirit realm, but the consumption of mana was too large to maintain for a long period of time, and Envirus was slowly being pushed into a disadvantage.
Du-Du-Duuuu!
The ground started to vibrate and the earth cracked as another spirit of Earth was called forward from Envirus to maintain the balance of the battle right now and tie up the third person, Kim Jonghyun.
The Earth spirit roared and its heavy body rushed toward Kim Jonghyun.
Then, Kim Jonghyun smirked ever so faintly and quickly moved his hands for a spell as if he had waited. The space behind Kim Jonghyun’s back opened wide, and a golem with a steel body walked out of the pit.
A well-made Golem could not possibly equal a spirit of the highest level but it would do well enough.
But it was just a distraction, as slowly more and more golems materialized and walked out of the pit of earth behind Kim Jonghyun.
Kim Jonghyun did not want to use much of his mana, so he intended to use the Golems as a consumable instead in this rigorous fight.
—-
As Lee Sungmin finally arrived, he looked at the battlefield and thought briefly how to describe it.
Simply put, it was a mess.
Spirit’s were running rampant and fighting endlessly and golems were being destroyed, as dark magic spells and fire collided.
Not only that, the chimera, Aine, was here and regenerating her endless wounds while fiercely trying to attack Envirus.
“You’re here!”, Envirus shouted out and smiled widely as he spotted Lee Sungmin.
Lee Sungmin nodded in response and made eye contact with Kim Jonghyun.
It may not be very meaningful to hide his identity still, but Kim Jonghyun was still hiding his face from Lee Sungmin.
“Stop him!”, Arbeth roared as he spotted Lee Sungmin’s appearance.
Aine, who was attacking Envirus at the forefront, turned around without hesitation at the new order and suddenly shot out at Lee Sungmin.
The magic circle that Arbeth was working on was finally completed as he was fending off the Fire spirit haphazardly to prepare it for a bigger attack to finish it off.
Arbeth shouted as he stretched out his hands toward the Fire Spirit.
“Get out!”, Arbeth shouted in anger at the Fire spirit
A blue light burst from the circle he created in the air and the temperature shot below freezing in less than a second.
The Fire spirit looked in shock as its body froze over and was encapsulated in a large ice cube and could not move a muscle.
Inside the large ice block, the Fire spirit’s eyes turned and looked at Envirus.
Kwa jang chang!
The ice block broke apart as the fire spirit’s time was up, and returned immediately to the spirit realm.
It would be impossible to re-summon for the time being as it needed to recover in the spirit realm and since it was forcibly destroyed in the human realm and sent back, Envirus took backlash and coughed up blood.
Black blood spurted from Envirus’ nostrils.
Crrrr…
As the spirit was recalled forcibly, the mana flowed backwards and Envirus struggled to hold up his old body from the backlash as he slightly staggered.
As Envirus was slightly dazed, the extinction magic from Arbeth raised its hands and chased after Envirus. Envirus unfolded a couple of blinks and moved the Wind Spirit to block off the chase.
“Help me!”, Envirus shouted out at Lee Sungmin with a slightly anxious look.
Kim Jonghyun glanced at Lee Sungmin’s reaction, who was tied up with Aine. He was wondering if the plan was to take care of Envirus first and then Lee Sungmin.
‘It’s not gonna be that easy.’ , Kim Jonghyun thought to himself as he noticed Arbeth’s plan of attack.
He was a bit worried for Lee Sungmin but he currently was following Arbeth’s plans. It took time to complete the large magic circle they were setting up beforehand, and it was even more tricky if they wanted to catch Envirus first before Lee Sungmin.
Kim Jonghyun flew high into the air as his golems and earth spirit clashed.
Aine was faithful to her orders as usual, and attacked Lee Sungmin relentlessly. Lee Sungmin twirled to spear and parried off her never-ending attacks.
It was the first time since the two had met since being in the north, and Aine was much stronger than before.
Of course her improvement was not nearly as much as Lee Sungmin’s though.
Even if they had the same type of heart inside their bodies, Lee Sungmin and Aine had been in different circumstances and different battles.
When her two fingernails were blocked by the twirling spear shaft, Aine immediately kicked up her legs and swung them in an arc at Lee Sungmin.
Aine’s legs changed into wriggling tentacles mid-air and tried to bind Lee Sungmin’s body.
Lee Sungmin caught on to her intentions and took a half step back as he wound up his two hands tightening their grip on the spear.
Pwoosh!
Aine’s body swelled up as it was pierced by the stabbing speartip, flew back and rolled on the ground a couple times.
But she didn’t die just from that. Aine staggered to her feet and rose as quickly as she could.
The stab wounds that made holes in her body were regenerated within seconds and it looked as if they were never there in the first place, as she stood back up.
Keeping her stoic expression, she jumped back at Lee Sungmin relentlessly like a machine.
Arbeth glanced at Lee Sungmin pushing back Aine and made a hand seal, suddenly the dead and evil mana shot down at the ground where he stood as he glanced back at Envirus.
The dead and evil mana covered the ground as the undead raised themselves once more as the ground cracked apart, and Lee Sungmin narrowed his eyes.