CHAPTER 43: STRENGTH

A sparkling bolt of electricity materialised in mid-air. It glowed, emitting a static hum before blasting through the air.

The mana bolt was a simple spell. It didn’t have the power to pierce its target in a physical sense, nor could it do any serious damage. At most, it could burn the skin of a normal person if directly struck.

Because of its low lethality, mages prefer using other spells like fireball, waterball, or something similar according to their elemental affinity. After all, these spells were stronger and more potent in battle when time was short.

However, Zephyr had chosen mana bolt as his primary spell because he knew how good it was when used in chain casting.

Although mana bolts are non-lethal, they could act as a vessel and carry another spell to the destination. It was also capable of flying in a straight line. Both were excellent qualities when precision was needed.

For a typical mage, casting two spells would take more time than casting one. They were like single-threaded computers, limited to how many spells they could cast simultaneously, depending on their rank.

However, for Zephyr, he could cast as many spells as he wanted—possibly converting all his mana to spells instantaneously—if he had all his cores engraved with runes.

So, casting mana-bolt with the lightning element modifier didn’t take him any extra time. His cores worked in tandem to achieve almost instantaneous chain casting.

Generally, lightning spells without a carrier spell, like mana bolt, would have consumed a lot of mana if they needed to strike an entity far away from the caster.

Zephyr bypassed this problem by using it with a mana bolt. With mana bolts, straight movement, and even targeting became easier.

He had known about the advantages of his multicore system when he selected mana bolt as his primary spell.

Now, he cast it with a lightning modifier towards Jack.

It flew in a straight, predictable way towards Jack.

This time, Zephyr didn’t want to kill him. The man had once saved his life from the ghoul. He just wished to paralyze him and make him leave. He tried to teach the man what defeat is and help him understand the power of a mage.

Thus, the spell flew straight towards the thighs of the burly man running forward.

At the same time, the earth spears emerged from below Zephyr’s foot, creating a wall of spikes a few meters in front of him, rather than striking Jack.

Jack was shocked.

He tried to stop his body.

He was just inches away from the sparkling bolt. And a few meters away, he could see the spike made of stone poking out.

The flying projectile was giving him the chill, while the barricade of stone spikes dissuaded him from going near it.

He never imagined a weak mage like Zephyr could do something like that.

Instantly casting two spells was said to be only doable by an intermediate mage. He had only heard of such mages in stories.

Was Zephyr such a mage?

Jack didn’t think so.

And yet, he was seeing him do something impossible for a beginner mage.

Gritting his teeth, he braced.

Immediately, the sparkling bolt collided with his body. It sent a sharp pain throughout it.

Fortunately, he was a warrior and didn’t succumb to the pain. The mana in his body struck back, returning control of his body to him.

Stumbling a step, he continued to dash forward with a grin.

"Oh!"

Zephyr watched it in amusement. He could sense the mana movement Jack was inducing.

"You awakened a mana heart. You are a warrior now."

He muttered with a smile.

Jack grinned and jumped up, trying to get over the barricade of stone.

Zephyr watched him soar into the sky with a chuckle.

"That was a bad idea." He muttered, taking a step back from where he stood.

Jumping to dodge the spike was a terrible idea. In the air, Jack was open to all attacks. He wouldn’t even be able to dodge.

"Then, goodbye it is."

Zephyr muttered, instantly releasing three mana bolts with lightning enhancement. This time, Zephyr added a bit more mana to the lightning modifier, making it even stronger.

Jack watched in dismay as three sparkling bolts flew towards him from the ground.

Zephyr senses him riling up all the mana in his body to resist.

However, the mana he had was not enough.

The moment the three spells struck him, his body lost control, trembling in the air. The electric current drilled through his body and reached his head, instantly making him lose consciousness.

Zephyr watched the body fall from the sky emotionlessly.

’That fall won’t kill him...probably.’

He muttered and turned away.

"Thud."

The body hit the ground.

Zephyr took a glance, ensured he was unconscious, and walked away. This time, his destination was the lighthouse.

He wanted to see if there were any light crystal fragments he could use.

After that, he planned to set out towards the islands. Not to save the villagers, but to see if he could loot anything useful. For example, something that can fix his left arm.

After all, Godspawns dropped many useful things. Their entire body was precious material that could be turned into elixirs.

Zephyr wanted to see if he could get his hands on it, even if it meant taking some unnecessary risk.

’Without great power comes no responsibility.’ He chuckled and walked down the hill, leisurely.

The one-armed mage was unwilling to succumb to fate.

—

A few minutes later, Jack woke up.

He shook his head and sat up on the ground. His neck and shoulders were aching.

’What happened?’ He wondered.

Then a flood of memories came to him.

He remembered the embarrassing defeat he had at the hands of Zephyr. When he remembered the threat he had made, he almost felt like dying.

He thought he was strong, but he was instantly proven wrong.

And Zephyr was kind enough not to kill him.

After spacing out for a moment, he stood up slowly.

At that time, he noticed the bonfire that was almost going out. A smell of burnt meat was coming from it.

He looked closer.

In it, he saw bones.

Bones of a person’s forearm.

’Who?’

Memories flooded his mind again. When Zephyr cast the last spell, he had seen the arms underneath.

’His arm! He was not grilling and eating food. He was burning his arm! Why?’

A short while later, Jack understood why.

Before, he was clouded by anger and couldn’t see it clearly. But now, looking at the ground, he could see marks of a battle.

Zephyr seemed to have battled someone else before he came. He could see something buried in the ground a few meters away.

’I thought he was relaxing.’

Jack smiled wryly.

He began to understand what Zephyr meant when he said the villagers didn’t care about his well-being. After all, he failed to notice the injury himself.

Hiding his complicated emotions, he looked at the bonfire once more before turning around.

Anyway, Zephyr had already left. There was no point in staying there anymore.

More importantly, he had his family to save. He had no time to waste.