CHAPTER 203: NECROMANCY? (3)

Adrian rocketed back toward the battlefield, his suit cutting through the wind like a blade of retribution.

But now, Adrian’s mind was honed by the epiphany that had struck him.

’It all makes sense,’ he thought, piecing together the fragments of observation and logic. ’And if I’m right, the core of it all is a power source, siphoning mana from... somewhere. Whatever it is, I’ll have to isolate it.’

His plan formed as he approached. ’Time to stop holding back.’

Those magic grenades in his [Inventory] were precious because they were limited in how much he could acquire.

The forest’s stronger inhabitants were dwindling, and for his grand vision of a Magi-Tech civilization to come true, he had to minimize how much he weaponized magic crystals.

But the knowledge that this was a chance to end it once and for all, and a chance to obtain more crystals in return, strengthened Adrian’s resolve.

’I’m left with no other choice,’ he muttered inwardly. And then, like a god unleashing plagues upon the unworthy, or a storm breaking its chains, he willed his [Inventory] open.

Hundreds of grenades materialized in the air around him, most of which were 7-Star or 8-Star equivalents, with few 9-Star grenades mixed among them.

Adrian pushed the regret to the recesses of his mind, focusing on the task. With a surge of will, he yanked the pins from each grenade simultaneously, the metallic clicks lost in the roar of battle below.

They plummeted like falling stars, a deadly rain streaking toward the heart of the horde.

~BOOOBOOM BOOOM BOOOOM BOOOOM!!!!~

The explosions detonated in a cataclysmic chain, a symphony of destruction that lit the forest in blinding flashes.

The ground heaved as shockwaves rippled outward, uprooting trees far away and carving furrows in the earth.

Dust and debris billowed skyward in a mushroom cloud, the air thick with the acrid scent of obliterated darkness and scorched soil.

High above, Adrian hovered untouched, his suit’s thrusters holding him steady against the updraft.

The blast’s periphery tugged at him like insistent hands, but he was far enough removed, a spectator to his own engineered Armageddon.

Below, the land was a ravaged scar; a vast crater where the forest once stood, edges glowing with residual heat, wisps of black smoke curling from the devastation like the last breaths of the damned.

Considering the explosion’s sheer magnitude, it had eradicated the beasts entirely. Their cores were not spared; pulverized into nothingness by the blasts, denying any chance of regeneration.

When the dust finally settled, drifting away on the wind like defeated ghosts, Adrian couldn’t help but smirk behind his mask.

’Perfect. I couldn’t have asked for better,’ he thought, his eyes scanning the desolation through enhanced visors.

All the 9-Star monsters had been obliterated, reduced to dissipating dark smoke that mingled with the haze.

But one entity remained, clinging to life amid the ruins: the Transcendent wraith. It was a shadow of its former terror, its monolithic form rent and tattered, swirling abyss fractured into leaking tendrils of mist.

Its regeneration kicked in with desperate speed, knitting wounds with threads of shadow. Yet it was alive — barely — and that was the key.

Adrian’s heart quickened with vindication. Since the entirety of the monsters hadn’t been wiped out, the formation he suspected wouldn’t activate.

His hypothesis held: the array only summoned a new wave when the last defender fell, a fail-safe to perpetuate the cycle.

True to form, no rumble shook the ground, no surge prickled his [Omnisense]. Only the solitary, regenerating wraith haunted the clearing.

Adrian descended slowly, like a descending deity surveying his conquered domain, thrusters singing softly as he touched down on the crater’s edge.

He ignored the wraith for now as it posed no immediate threat in its crippled state and focused on locating the formation.

His [Omnisense] extended like invisible feelers, probing the scarred earth for anomalies. There, beneath a central mound of upturned soil, where the energy signatures had peaked before each summoning.

He activated [Analysis] on the spot.

[Analyzing...]

[Object: Necromantic Formation Array]

[Rank: Unknown]

[Element: Darkness/Death]

[Properties: Self-sustaining summon loop. Draws from an external power source for escalation.]

[Remark: Intricate rune matrix; tampering risks backlash or detonation.]

The formation was buried about ten feet deep, a complex web of etched runes glowing faintly with mana.

Symbols twisted in patterns that hurt to look at, all converged on a central nexus where the power pulsed strongest.

Adrian knelt, his gauntleted hands digging carefully, enhanced strength parting the soil like butter.

As he uncovered it, the array’s sophistication revealed itself: layers upon layers, some runes phasing in and out of visibility, others linked by ethereal threads that hummed with latent danger.

It was a masterpiece of dark artistry, far beyond anything he was capable of.

But his prize lay at the heart: a massive magic crystal, the size of a human head, throbbing with an otherworldly luminescence.

Unlike the beast crystals, he knew this one seemed to contain more mana, and on using [Analysis], Adrian obtained no results.

He didn’t need [Analysis] to know its value.

’If I can harvest it intact, it could revolutionize my Magi-Tech. But one wrong move, and it might implode.’

Usually, to take down the formation, one could choose to destroy it, an option Adrian had already ruled out to secure the magic crystal intact.

Another option was to draw a superior formation, but Adrian was incapable of that, leaving him with the final option. Mana weaving. Something only he was capable of doing from everyone he knew.

He began to weave invisible mana threads, probing the runes like a surgeon with a scalpel, severing connections one by one.

Disrupt a sigil here, reroute a thread there, careful not to trigger the failsafes that would detonate the crystal.

Sweat beaded on his brow as he worked, his mind a whirlwind of calculations.

Meanwhile, the wraith soon stirred, its regeneration accelerating.

It reformed with a guttural hiss, tendrils lashing out in fury, a weakened beam of oblivion streaking toward him. But with no horde to divide his attention, Adrian fended it off effortlessly.

A casual Vortex Counter redirected the beam back at it, blasting a chunk from its form. As it charged, he sidestepped with Phantom Steps, delivering a mana-infused palm strike to its side without looking up from the array.

The blow staggered it, buying time. Another assault was met with a defensive whirl, spun harmlessly away.

’Pathetic now,’ he thought, multitasking with inhuman focus. ’You’re just buying me time.’

Link by link, the array dimmed. Finally, with a delicate twist of mana, Adrian isolated the crystal, severing its ties to the runes.

The formation flickered out, runes crumbling to inert dust. In that instant, the wraith-lord let out a final, echoing wail, its form dissolving into harmless mist like the rest of its kind.

[Congratulations! You have killed a magical creature!]

[Magical Crystal harvested successfully!]

[You have obtained a Magical Crystal!]

***

Elsewhere, a boy sat cross-legged on a cold floor.

Before him sprawled an elaborate formation, mirror to the one Adrian had dismantled. His eyes were closed in deep concentration, sweat matting his dark hair, as he channeled the ritual’s power across the distance.

Suddenly, he convulsed, a violent cough erupting from his lips. Blood splattered the runes, and the formation sputtered, its light fading to nothing as the connection severed.

Pain wracked his body as he met the backlash of the disruption.