LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 298: Madness
The bright shine resulting from the unfurling of life's strongest mage could be seen from kilometers away, like a beacon of divine light activating in the depth of the ocean's abyss, just for a little while, just for a few moments, it seemed like the eternal night receded.
This empty plain was not terribly far from the academy of Toordefer, so close to the center of Tamaris, from thereon, the battle's ending was decided in just under five minutes, the loud blasts of flames echoed in the night, traversing woods and plateaus, bouncing around into the steep peaks.
As spells were fired off within the zone, their radius of destruction suppressed by the edges, preventing flames from spreading into the surroundings, beyond their intended target, defending from the relentless and frenzied assault of The Death Dealer whilst slowly whittling down her opponents own defences.
Rosemary had since long noticed a clear discrepancy with Maliah as a whole, not just herself, but her equipment as well, her previous idea had been wrong, the assassins strikes and movements were indeed enhanced with mana reinforcement, but it was so deeply ingrained into her very being that it was nearly indistinguishable, managing to cut into the Fin-Limier's body had allowed for this realisation. Explore more stories with My Virtual Library Empire
It would appear that somehow, Maliah was performing a most rigorous and perfect apex at all times, without ever stopping, and even Rosemary's best efforts could not disrupt it, as though it was a thing her body did naturally just like breathing or pumping blood.
Getting really focused, the assassin was a veritable wretched pest that just wouldn't be stopped, like a cockroach deciding to demonstrate its ability to fly after being struck with the strength of hundred men, she just jumped and spun around, weaving and tearing through flames like paper, lashing out at anything that seemed to be moving wrong.
All the while, just laughing uncontrollably, Rosemary felt pretty certain that she had heard the assassin choke on her saliva multiple times by now, breathing into the volcanic smoke and ash conjured within the zone like it was no problem.
The volcano witch narrowed her eyes, the thing about the mad woman's equipment, was that it seemed like an extension of her, sharing into her absurd state of constant augmentation, this was why her cloak was not burning like it should, and why it regenerated whenever it did.
However, the more she remained within the zone, the hotter it was getting, the pressure increasing bit by bit as it adapted to better scorch the enemy, and the longer Maliah remained within, the greater the weakening effect accompanied with the zone was becoming, flames were simultaneously overcoming the resistance all the while, said resistance were going down.
Rosemary was confident, The Death Dealer seemed unwilling to just back out and exit the zone, something she could do very easily even if it's caster tried to stop it, but the assassin would rather bash her head on a wall until it broke rather than solve a simple puzzle, even if in full knowledge of the whole situation to boot, she had decided something, and would persevere until the last moment.
And so, she did, putting up an outstanding fight within a zone that made the inside of an active volcano feel like a trip to the frozen sea, twisting around, dozens of weapons came from the hiding of her cloak, her signature daggers, spears, javelins, crossbows, bows, axes and the likes, fleshy items that boosted her resistances, every was coming from seemingly nowhere and disappearing back into it.
Some weapons bearing special capabilities that were granted by something Rosemary could not strictly identify, The Death Dealer was a bundle of surprise and mysteries, her abilities and skills odd and varied.
Her defences against magic simply out of charts, for the volcano witch, reinforcing her body was almost a bad idea as her opponent seemed to cut through mana more easily than flesh and bones alone, having to be very precise and specific to avoid getting pieced up with injuries that were harder to heal than usual.
Bringing her hands forward, denying another approach by Maliah with a shot of liquid lava, a finger was missing on each of the caster's hands, a thumb and pinky finger respectively, cuts and stabs littered her body, most of which shallow and covered by gentle flames that prevented the unnatural blood loss following attacks from the Fin-Limier.
Face appearing as though she had wrestled with a bear, The Death Dealer was certainly stronger than had been imagined, if she was truly focusing on the kill instead of manically attacking head-on, the fight would be at a stalemate, but Maliah did not like stalemates, instead of slithering back into stealth and acting like a proper assassin, she just acted like a rabid dog that had just spotted an unattended-to toddler.
The comparison bore credit as she tried to bite into Rosemary, only pulling a few strands of hair, which she promptly ate with much delight.
Feeling the zone growing potent enough to leave flames biting into her, Maliah rolled her eyes, shrugged her shoulders, ran her tongue against the teeth, bits of fiery red hair stuck in between.
"Rosymary! Do you know what the best way to get fed in a poor family with many children is?" she suddenly asked, not paying attention to the fact that she had now definitely caught fire, and that it would not go out as easily.
"I am an only child"
"Oh you disgust me!- But anyway you filthy woman, it is the same thing as getting ahead of the competition in any other scenario… Not distinguish yourself, but kill them and make yourself the default option! It worked for me, right after that, there was a lot of meat just for me" she dusted her smouldering shoulder.
"What I mean to say is… I like only a few things in life, murder and eating food, like any other girl my age really teehee, and you see, the big bone, or whatever his name is, he offers all of this in unlimited amounts"
Rosemary just stared at her.
"And who told you that?" she played along, the longer she just stood there, the more chances of turning her into charcoal.
"Who else? Loimos obviously, great dude, I am pretty certain he wants to kill me, but who doesn't? Just wanted to say Rosy, when we are all turned into cadavers that can walk, I am still going to stab you, that zone thing, not a big enjoyer" she chuckled, now mostly on fire, spinning on her heels and rushing straight out of the zone, a swift flaming shadow disappearing into the woods.
'That still doesn't tell me what is happening' lamenting over the fact that everything felt like an overly convoluted distraction, Rosemary maintained her zone for a while longer, not quite trusted the assassin on retreating, not quite trusting this woman to put the fire that was clinging to her out.
Those that could just stop mid-fight to start blabbering for no particular reason were simply another breed, either fools, foolish fools or the most insane person you have ever met.
Maliah's sentences were barely connected to one another, the beginning and the end had nothing to do with one another.
It was a wonder how she had managed to live for so long and reach this level, but then again, it was probably this very fact that had brought her out of the misery of peasant life, this uncontrollable lust of blood and death, ingrained into her very being from birth, it was no wonder that she would be charmed by the offer of The Prince Of Death.
It was why she had been the very first living to be offered a present by Loimos, because even back then, when he had been a weak skeleton, the stench of death simply hung onto Maliah like a newborn baby to its mother's breast.