Chapter 150: Harvester

Earlier

The four remaining nobles of House Tantalus stared at their companion’s lifeless body as it sank into the bog’s stale waters. They struggled to comprehend how their comrade had dropped dead out of the blue.

But the culprit, Percy, didn’t much care about their thoughts, watching Micky dive towards them at a dizzying speed, his plumage lit up in amber and green.

“Watch out! It’s the bird!” the only woman in the group yelled.

But she was a little too late. By the time the rest had managed to draw some mana out, the crow had already reached his first target, carving six nasty gashes through the man’s back, ripping his very soul to shreds.

The rest hastily threw their half-baked spells at Micky, trying to knock him out of the sky. Sadly for them, they hit nothing but empty air, the crow already fading in the distance.

“After it!” another man shouted – their leader most likely.

Micky was their target after all – the very reason their family had sent them to this place. Of course, Percy could already tell from their rattled expressions that they had expected a regular Green beast. Not… whatever Micky was. And, unfortunately for them, this wasn’t their only mistake today.

Percy followed the group in silence, crouching through the dense undergrowth. The fools had yet to notice him, busy chasing his familiar as they were. What they had failed to realize, however, was that the crow wasn’t the one being hunted.

They were.

The crow intentionally slowed down to keep them on its trail. Like that, one bird and four mages slowly trekked through the swamp, as Micky guided them right where he and Percy wanted them.

“Uggghhhh!” “Eeekk!”

Two of them shouted as the muddy ground gave way beneath their feet. It collapsed, causing them to drop into a pair of pitfalls reaching up to their waist, a flood of grimy water rushing at them from all directions, trying to drown them.

Naturally, the traps weren’t mundane – they had been crafted by Nesha, using her budding understanding of the “pocket” rune. This rune was far from the only one necessary to craft a spatial amulet, as the magical trinkets were complex devices involving multiple enchantments.

However, it was arguably the most important one. As the name implied, it was responsible for the pocket dimension that was the bread and butter of the artifacts. All the other enchantments were auxiliary, meant for holding everything together and giving the amulets other features of convenience, such as letting them open or close at will.

Sadly, Nesha hadn’t had access to the other runes, nor the time to master them. Suffice to say, she wouldn’t be making Percy a new amulet anytime soon. That said, carving a few crude versions of the “pocket” rune on some flat slabs of stone hadn’t been too difficult.

‘If only she could close them at will, it would have made everything simpler…’ Percy smiled bitterly.

Currently, Nesha could only remotely trigger the traps, to impair their opponents. In the future, she might be able to do even more useful things with them, such as directly splitting her enemies’ bodies in half. A project to work towards.

Glancing around, Percy soon found his companion hidden behind a nearby tree. He nodded at her, signalling her to disengage. She’d already done more than enough. Staying here any longer could be dangerous, as her personal magic could still use some work.

“Help us!” one of the trapped nobles yelled at their last member.

He was clawing against the mud, trying to swim out of the trap. Unfortunately for him, the vacuum around him was still drawing a powerful current, making it much harder to extricate himself.

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As for the last noble, he rushed back to his companions, looking like he was about to drag them out of the traps, when Micky dove at him to stop him. The mage was forced to unleash a hastily prepared flamethrower spell he’d kept at the ready, doing his best to fend the bird off.

The crow would clearly need some time to get through the man’s defences, but neither he nor Percy worried too much. They could already see the guy’s reserves dwindling far more quickly than the bird’s, without getting him much in return.

‘Finally, it’s time to put my new toy to the test.’ Percy grinned, clenching his construct tightly.

The downside of his latest spell was that it took a lot of time to prepare, which meant he wouldn’t be able to repair it in the middle of the fight, if it broke. On the flip side, it was far more durable than anything else he’d crafted out of mana over the years, which meant it hadn’t been too difficult to retrieve it earlier and to continue using it.

Percy watched his familiar methodically force his opponent away from the others, waiting for them to free themselves. Naturally, he could have taken advantage of their impairment to finish them off, but he’d chosen not to do that.

He wanted to use this opportunity to test his magic, to continue improving. House Tantalus would keep sending stronger and stronger people at them, as would the rest of Remior. Neither he nor Micky had the luxury of halting their growth and stagnating.

Only once the nobles were out did Percy rush at them, Synchronization at full power. They seemed intent on chasing after Micky and their comrade, but Percy wouldn’t give them the chance.

Closing the gap to the woman, he swung the invisible weapon at her, forcing her to unleash a burst of air mana to dodge it.

Percy didn’t wait for either of them to respond, before pivoting on his feet, already delivering a second strike at the other mage.

The latter barely had the chance to manifest a stone sabre in his hand, clumsily parrying the blow. Percy felt his weapon bend from the impact, as the powerful shockwave rippled through his body.

But it held!

For the first time, his construct had endured a full on collision against a Yellow spell and its owner’s physical strength at once, without a single crack forming!

Not giving Percy a chance to celebrate, the guy was already swinging at him with a second sabre, as a rocky spike emerged from behind him. As for the air mage, she hadn’t remained idle either, already charging a miniature tornado between her palms, clearly planning on unleashing it upon him.

Having glimpsed his opponent’s intention via Soul Vision, Percy circled around him with some well-placed footwork, dodging the stone spike and the man’s slash both, as he tried to deliver another attack of his own at the man’s temple. At the same time, he made his way behind him, to use him as a cover from his companion’s magic.

And it worked like a charm, the air mage pausing her spell in hesitation. As ruthless as House Tantalus’s nobles were, they still clearly had some compassion towards one another.

‘Or maybe she just doesn’t want to get into trouble for injuring him…’

The man raised his first sabre to block once more, but Percy didn’t stop there, as the two continued to exchange blow after blow.

His opponent tried to throw many external attacks into the mix, but Percy applied more pressure at him to keep them at a minimum, while using his Soul Vision to dodge whatever slipped through the cracks. Meanwhile, he maintained his position behind the guy, making the air mage’s life impossible.

“How annoying!” the earth mage spat at some point, as he delivered a powerful slash against Percy, forcing him back.

He looked like he was about to pounce on him, but Percy smirked. Shifting the force to one leg, he changed to Takeo’s stance while robbing his weapon of its substance.

Next, he lunged upon the earth mage even faster than before, reaching him first, his construct no longer inhibited by inertia or air resistance.

The guy couldn’t actually see the invisible weapon, but he could still vaguely predict its trajectory by watching Percy’s movements. His eyes widened in shock as he observed the change in Percy’s style, hurriedly raising his sabre to block the weapon closing into his temple.

But he was in for a nasty surprise this time. Naturally, the incorporeal construct phased right through the stone spells, delivering a powerful impact on the man’s soul, causing it to shake violently. Stumbling backward, he looked like he was about to collapse, but Percy didn’t let him.

“Where do you think you’re going? You’re my meat shield, remember?” Percy grinned, grabbing him by the collar.

The woman clicked her tongue in annoyance, apparently contemplating whether to ignore her companion’s well-being, unleashing her spell indiscriminately at them both.

That said, Percy had no intention of waiting for her to make her mind up. Tossing the “hostage” at her, he ran right behind him, leaping above the body at the last second.

Descending upon the air mage, he swung his weapon at her.

Backed to a corner, she unleashed a burst of mana like before, trying to dodge to the side.

However, she’d gravely miscalculated this time. While she indeed managed to evade the shaft of Percy’s weapon, having roughly estimated its location, his latest construct was not a quarterstaff…

Having deliberately used the blunt ends against the earth mage, Percy had intentionally misled them both into reaching this false conclusion.

What his opponent couldn’t have expected, was the weapon’s long, crescent blade, cleaving her soul right in half!

[Congratulations! Your spells have merged: Quarterstaff – Crude + Parting Gift – Crude -> Soul Harvester – Refined!]

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