Chapter 327

326. The Hawk, the Wolf, and the Sea Serpent (3)

The blade dances. In the gap where the dark greatsword sweeps through the air, the wolf and the priest no longer exchanged words.

– Clang!

A clear metallic sound rang out. The creature’s means of attack were its claws and fangs, but having become an apostle under the Demon’s Blessing, the weight and intensity of each strike surpassed the ordinary.

– Crack!

The blade caught in the claw-like, distorted grip, producing a terrible grinding noise. Perhaps it came from his wrist. Or maybe the creature’s. Receiving a heavy shock that sent his body reeling, Fernandez bit his lip.

– Whoosh!

Suddenly, black flames erupted behind his head. With his empty left hand, he skillfully wove a beastman’s gesture. He couldn’t use a Complex Great Spell. The ley lines and atmosphere of this land were currently rejecting his magical power.

It felt as if the entire world was persistently driving a magical wedge into him. Of course, he was even accustomed to such methods of magical combat. But the scale was extraordinary. Even Faijashi in his prime would have found it difficult to calculate all this distortion and weave spells in real-time.

So, he wove a simple spell. Just one. The pattern drawn by the beastman in the air was [Three].

– Clang!

Deflecting the wildly swinging arm, he focused almost entirely on defense, continuously weaving spells. Anyone watching would call it an impossible feat.

Contrary to popular belief, mages are skilled in physical combat. The most refined magical battles involve incapacitating the opponent before their spell is complete. Wildcasters’ magical battles often start with throwing daggers and ambushing.

But when it comes to the actual exchange of great magic, no one mixes physical combat with spellcasting. Weaving beastman gestures to knot magical power is an extremely delicate art, akin to a surgeon’s operation, and even the slightest mistake in the process can lead to fatal backlash.

In such cases, it was common for heads or organs to explode due to spell failure. Therefore, the title of “mage-swordsman” is nothing more than a fairy tale, or applies only to swordsmen wielding powerful relics.

But if there were a Wildcaster who, even in old age after a lifetime of wandering, could perfectly weave gestures at any moment—

– Craaash!!

A twenty-year-old body. Even wearing Diemonica’s flesh, surpassing human limits in cognitive ability, physical control, and reflexes, and having honed swordsmanship to a certain pinnacle.

If there were someone who had evenly built a certain level of mastery in both physical combat and magic, those seemingly opposite disciplines. If such a miracle, or perhaps delusion, were real.

– Whoosh!

While weaving three gestures, fifteen sword strikes were exchanged. Fernandez guided Karadskar’s strike to his chest and forcefully deflected it.

With a crunch, his right hand bent in an odd direction. He had minimized the impact and bounced back, but the creature’s attack was already on par with a battering ram, and even with Diemonica’s durability, he couldn’t remain unscathed.

But it allowed him to create distance. Fernandez, slammed into the ground, bounced back and rolled away. Before he could regain his footing, Karadskar’s massive body leaped into the air, descending upon him.

In terms of time, mere seconds. No, split into several moments. Bouncing back from the chest-directed attack to create space, and the beast’s agility catching up to his flying body.

Against the backdrop of the full moon, casting a vast shadow, the creature’s claws aimed for his head and chest once more. Time seemed to slow. The creature’s fangs gleamed. It was reveling in victory, grinning.

– Whoosh.

Fernandez, lying on the ground, stretched his left arm toward the charging beast. A mere three-count gesture. Its meaning: three, construction, wings. The completed spell’s name: Three Heads, Six Arms.

One by one, like wings unfolding. A withered hand appeared behind his back. Simultaneously, the distorted heads of an old man faintly projected above his shoulders. The wolf seemed to tilt its head in confusion.

But the wolf knew, whatever Fernandez’s actions meant, it was already too late. Its claws would tear apart the fragile human body and savor the blood. It planned to rip out the heart and devour it alive.

That was the plan, but….

– Clang!!

Suddenly, black chains shot toward the sky. For that moment, perception couldn’t keep up with reality. The wolf, genuinely startled, tried to pull its arm back. But a solid chain was already tightly wrapped around its right arm.

“Kazad’s Black Shackles.”

Fernandez whispered softly, one arm extended. The wolf bared its fangs and growled, swinging its left arm. The force from the leap was gone, but the distance was enough, and its single arm could easily cleave a person in two.

– Crash!

Fernandez quickly twisted his body to evade. The wolf, even as Fernandez dodged, tracked his movements. Crunch, its right arm seemed ready to burst. Fernandez stepped back, twisting the gesture in the opposite direction.

Simultaneously, the other hands stretching behind him began weaving different gestures. In a situation where great magic couldn’t be used, Three Heads, Six Arms was almost a wasteful auxiliary spell. But in magical combat, a different perspective was needed.

Six arms, and each arm could weave a different spell. That was the true meaning of this spell. The wolf, realizing the danger, roared in fury, but the chains held firm.

– Whoosh!

The battle continued, a dance of blades, magic, and chains, under the watchful gaze of the moon.





Being able to use spells means, for example, that six mages can simultaneously cast small-scale spells.

“Corruption.”

A very simple spell, not even a signature spell, the kind you’d find in a common magic textbook. Each one is a ‘low-level magic’ that can’t fully contain the concept within it, and the magical power within it can’t fully project the phenomenon.

-*Snap!*

“Flint.”

A finger flicks, and a spark flies. In reality, it’s just a small flash that can’t burn anything.

-*Clang!*

“Blade Wind.”

Even if it’s a sharply honed wind, the pressure can only cut through a single layer of human skin. It’s a spell that can’t even leave a red scratch on a demon’s hide, let alone tear it.

But it continues. Endlessly, like the steam-spewing internal combustion engines of the Empire’s factories with their interlocking gears. Six arms, each moving in opposite directions and taking on completely different forms, continue their bizarre ensemble.

“Decay.”

“Anvil.”

“Dark Arrow.”

“Offering.”

“Spirit Form.”

“Minor Banishment.”

The spells chain together like a word game. Each one insignificant. Even spells that don’t deliver any effective damage.

A year ago, there was a spell used on Tutankhamun Gartep of Ptah to track Mumto. A spell that packed ‘low-level magic’ and triggered it all at once. ‘Faijashi’s Ring of Malice.’ But what Fernandez is using now is a spell with a completely different mechanism and foundation.

Truly meaningless. A sequence of small-scale spells that can’t even leave a mark on either the spirit or the body, scattering the moment they touch.

-*Boom! Boom! Boom!*

So, the wolf ignored Fernandez’s spells. Flashy and dazzling, but crude. The moment they touched his body, the spells shattered into fragments of magical power and scattered.

Thus, the only thing he needed to worry about right now was the chain binding his right arm. Unlike those weak spells, this was real magic. A signature spell focused solely on binding the enemy, with no additional functions.

Given time, he could destroy it, but the wolf’s temper wouldn’t allow it. The beast soon bared its fangs and bit into its own shoulder. *Crunch, crack.* With a strange tearing sound, the shoulder was ripped off.

-*Awooooo!!*

The wolf howled at the moon. The pain of losing an arm and the anger it caused. The suppressed shame and savagery that had to be contained, even for a short moment, burst forth.

-*Crack!*

And the countless spells covering its body shattered at the howl, scattering into fragments of magical power.

[Your tricks! Are over!!]

The wolf stammered out. Its mind, already half-consumed by madness, couldn’t form more complex words. Soon, it twisted its body and lunged at Fernandez.

-*Clang!*

Fernandez extended his sword again to block the attack. He was half-knocked back as he retreated. But this time, there was no more time. The wolf charged in, not even giving him the brief moment to form a spell, slashing with its claws and biting with its fangs.

-*Clang! Clang! Crack!*

“Collapse.”

“Trigger.”

“Accelerate.”

-*Kaaang!*

Now holding his dangling right hand with his left, Fernandez swung his sword with both hands to block the wolf’s attacks. The hands stretched out behind him continued to pour out meaningless spells without pause.

Every time the wolf’s claws swung, and every time his sword clashed in mid-air to counter it, the spells he poured out shattered and scattered. Like dust, mixing with raindrops and wind, scattering and gradually fading away.

[Useless! It’s all—!!]

“Wedge.”

-*Zap!*

A spark flew past the wolf. The wolf snorted and stretched out its arm. Now it doesn’t even touch me. This means the little spellcaster has weakened. Looking down at the wounded prey, drool dripped thickly.

I want to swallow its heart—.

“Fernandez’s—”

-*Zap! Zap! Zzzap!*

The sparks that flew past the wolf spread out in all directions like an electric current. Faint and small, fragments of spells so trivial they were almost meaningless. No, just small vortices of magical flow that couldn’t even form a concept.

-*Zzzzap!!*

Towards the magical fragments scattered in all directions. Magical power that could no longer maintain the form of a spell, shattered and scattered like dust, flowing over it. Like wildfire running over oil, like lightning streaking across the sky!

-*Zap…!*

The wolf’s arm, which had been aiming for his heart like a flash of lightning, suddenly stopped. The full moon above, scattering madness across the celestial sphere. The wind raging below, even the raindrops.

As if frozen.

“Fragment Knot.”

The shattered spells, the fragmented spells, scattering into the air as they fade.

A simple wedge spell crossing through them becomes a spark.

In that brief moment, a direction was formed in the air above.

Instead of the tangled magical flow beneath the ground, which made it impossible to cast spells, an artificial magical flow was created in the air above, rippling like a vortex for a brief moment.

The reason great magic couldn’t be used was because the magical power seeping from the twisted ley lines constantly struck the spell knots with widespread magical wedges—

-*Indeed. If you lose in a magic battle, the name of the Crimson Tower will ring out. Haha, uhahaha!*

Conversely, if you only interpret the phenomenon. The magical wedges being driven in merely signify a magic battle, just a large and irrational magic battle.

At this moment, when the entire world is waging a magic battle against him. For just that brief moment. The moment his magical power flows like an electric current….

“Be bold.”

In the world, you will have trouble, but be bold. I have overcome the world.

Whispering a verse from the Vaitas scripture, Fernandez smirked with blood-stained lips. This was a dark mage-style joke.

-*Thud!*

Towards the incapacitated and collapsed Karadskar, Fernandez, bearing the backlash of the spell throughout his body, staggered and slowly walked forward.

The spells that had fulfilled their role and shattered scattered again like dust. The Bronze Throne, unable to withstand the spell overload, broke off from his wrist and fell. It couldn’t be repaired and used again. Fernandez chuckled.

Chapter 328