168 No Greater Danger Than Underestimating Your Opponent
Hummmm!
A humming sound. A cloud of brilliance. And a distinct shape of a flower.
A fire lotus bloomed in the middle of the night.
This fire lotus was so brilliant that it drew away the darkness encroaching on the nearby area completely. It started burning the very air it came in contact with, creating waves of haze in the surroundings.
“Aaaaaaargh!”
The snake sisters and Tohir screamed in unison when they suddenly found themselves getting engulfed by flames. The fire-element mana they had been surrounded with was aggressive and invasive at the same time. It tried to melt their skin the moment it came in contact.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The green vines sprouted from the ground and latched onto these three rankers like octopus legs. They pulled them away from their previous positions and brought them onto a ground covered in green vines.
The green vines then interlocked and created a dome-shaped prison with four Spiders inside. The Green Prison spell that had been used to cage Eren was being used once more to save her and her party members from Eren’s devouring flames.
It looked like a mini green island had been formed inside the fire world. The green vines fought off the fire-element mana inside the Igni Lotus.
“How… how the fuck can a Meta ranker cast a spell like this? This is beyond a normal human’s capabilities.”
Vinah spoke up after seeing the flames of destruction all around her. Eren’s flames were starting to affect the ground too. They were evaporating the moisture in the earth and were creating patches of land that looked like it had been subjected to drought.
Eren freed himself easily when he found out that the green vines that were trying to hold him down did not have the strength behind them anymore. Lagartha’s concentration on her mana supply had been divided into caging Eren and saving herself and her party members. Thus, she couldn’t hold Eren down with the same ferocity as before.
Igni Chains
Igni Wave
Igni Shards
Eren cast his fire-element spells one after the other and destroyed the cage that was surrounding him in a few strikes. His fire-element spells had a natural advantage inside the domain of fire created by him. They all received a natural buff.
Eren stretched his arms when he came out of his cage. He then raised his arms and controlled the flames inside his fire domain. He wanted to see the faces of his enemies after all.
The vision cleared for both Eren and his opponents when the flames disappeared from the middle of the battle zone. It was as if a small air bubble had been created inside a sea of fire.
‘This fiend…!’
Lagartha and her party members were riddled with trepidation and fear as they watched their opponent approach them one step at a time. He had his two axes drawn. Since he wasn’t affected by his flames, the red blood on his body was still a bit wet. It was shining due to him being surrounded by so much orange-red brilliance.
Lagartha was just about to pass out from exhaustion when she saw Eren approaching him. She had carried out two Green Prison spells back to back. Thus, she found it difficult to digest that a single man was able to sustain so many spells to this extent.
“Listen here, Spiders. Stop thinking about survival. It’s a do-or-die situation. You know what that means, right?”
Lagartha said and took out a potion vial. The content inside shined with a sinister green hue and gave off a distinct mana signature. This was a forbidden remedy that could only be used in emergencies.
Its name was Core Turmoil.
The working of the potion was simple. It would agitate the user’s mana core and make it unstable. In exchange, the user would get enhanced body stats as well as spell boosts for a limited amount of time.
Core Turmoil was one of the well-known potions among rankers for its impressive boost post-consumption. Of course, the potion had its side effects attached to it. The user’s mana core would become unstable the longer they tried to retain the potion’s effects.
Some users of the forbidden spell would find out that their ranking status had regressed after getting out of the boost the potion provided. Still, they could be said to have it easy. Most users of the potion would find out that their mana cores had been damaged.
Some rankers even had their mana cores turn benign, making them no different than mortals. There were many cases of users of the potion getting their mana core destroyed by imploding.
Such cases ended in death.
That’s why consumption of the potion wasn’t a light matter. The rankers would think things through before consuming forbidden potions like this.
However, Lagartha had come to realize that there was no better use of the potion for her and her party members than fighting Eren.
Eren had stoic expressions when he saw his opponents trying to pull off something else against him. He had it this time. It didn’t matter how much control he had over the current situation, he wasn’t planning to let his enemies gain ground on him willingly.
All four Spiders retrieved their potion vials and were about to drink them. But suddenly, the Igni Chains sprouted from this air before snatching their vials from their hands. The spell’s speed and execution were so flawless that the Spiders couldn’t offer any resistance to their vials getting snatched.
‘There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.’
Eren saw the dismayed faces of the Spiders and chuckled to himself. Their faces were screaming injustice. As if it were his duty to give them one last chance at survival.
“Let’s end this charade.”
Eren left his position after saying that. Inside his fire domain, he felt like he was in complete control. Although the fire domain didn’t truly provide a boost to his lightning-element movement spell, the feeling of having control allowed him to tap into the true potential of the spell all the same.
Bzzt. Swoosh. Chop.