Ellie, Zaos, Asselin and the bison were instantly jolted out of the illusion while Malia gawked at Ikaris in awe. She was the only one who had managed to keep track of what had just happened.
"H-How?" She stammered as she discreetly hid her fox tail from the other members of the group.
"We'll discuss this later." The youth shouted, snapping her out of her daze as he spotted other Crawlings charging at them like rabid hyenas.
"Holy moly!" Asselin cursed as he saw a horde even more massive than the previous ones charging at them. There were no Glenrings leading them, but their numbers more than made up for it.
"Run!" Zaos roared as he grabbed the stretcher from the bison's jaw to relieve it of its burden.
The Demonic Beast, no longer bothered by the shaking of the stretcher, cantered frantically, but his injuries were affecting his speed markedly. Ikaris, who was carrying Ellie, formed the rear guard and after glancing at his Stamina gauge proceeded to hop backwards while spamming Heart-Puncturing non-stop.
In the span of two days, the spell had become easier and easier to use. With his stamina 18 times greater than when he first arrived in this world, he was quickly approaching the point where the cost of the spell would become so trivial that he would become unstoppable.
His See-through vision was also getting better and better and Ikaris suddenly felt it click in his mind.
[See-Through Vision lvl 2: 1.00. Passive Effect: It is now possible to peer slightly through objects with proper focus.]
Delighted, the boy turned off the spell, and found that he could indeed see a few inches below the skin of his enemies when he concentrated intensely. He couldn't yet get a clear view of the Crawlings' hearts to cast Heart Puncturing, but it was only a matter of time before it became a reality.
"Heart-Puncturing. Heart-Puncturing..."
Every second, several undersized Crawlers would drop like flies and the teenager was amazed at how easily he decimated them. Most would not die instantly when their hearts were punctured, but it would fatally cripple them.
However, there was a downside to this slaughter. Ikaris' legs were growing increasingly heavy and his breathing was becoming shorter and wheezier until his vision started to blur as well.
At some point, the teenager went into automatic mode, his mind flitting back and forth between wakefulness and unconsciousness. It wasn't until Malia shook him out of his trance that he realized they were out of danger.
They had left the jungle.
A blinding sun shone on his face, the sunlight and the silence making him momentarily forget the monsters lurking in the bushes behind them.
His body was drenched in sweat as if he had plunged into a lake, and his heart was beating so fast it felt like he was about to have a stroke. His diaphragm had long since cramped and he was unable to breathe.
It was when Malia saw him suffocating that she was alerted to his worrying condition. Seeing the number of Crawlings lying in their wake, she understood why.
'How is he doing it? It's been less than a week since he started magic...' She couldn't help but wonder with a mixture of envy and worry. She couldn't even figure out how these monsters had been killed.
She noticed, on the other hand, that it was mostly just the young Crawlers. Older monsters were almost never targeted by Ikaris' magic.
'His spell only works on those who have no magical defenses.' She inferred as she felt a little more confident. If such a fearsome and mysterious spell worked on everyone it would be terrifying.
When the boy felt fit to move again he thanked Malia with a grateful nod and the group set off again. Ellie had felt him slow down and had taken the initiative to get off his back to run the last few meters. Now that there were only a few hundred meters left she wanted to run the rest on foot.
"Why have the Crawlers stopped following us?" Ikaris asked as he ran with a circumspect frown.
"We just entered the Kingdom of Hadrakin's territory." Asselin explained proudly. It was his homeland after all. Even though he had fled, he was attached to his country. "The other reason is that the Crawlings don't like bright lights. It's okay in the jungle with the canopy, but the sun is too strong here."
Ikaris said nothing, but he had to admit that the sun was a little too bright for his taste. He felt a fierce urge to take shelter in a shady spot.
"The sun isn't enough to stop them." Magnus clarified telepathically. "Hadrakin is a Rank 3 Kingdom. It has a population of about 100 million and an army numbering almost 8 million, including 90,000 Sorcerers and a million Novices. The Glenrings won't attack so easily until they have an overwhelming numerical superiority. They will first focus on the surrounding Duchies, Counties and Baronies before focusing on this kingdom.
"By the way, the spell you invented is formidable. I can't imagine what it will become once your Secondary Sparks has evolved a few times. But remember, the more complex a spell is, the more difficult it is to improve. Compared to your other spells, this one progresses much more slowly I presume, right?"
Ikaris checked his status and indeed, the Vampire Emperor was right.
[Heart Puncturing: 0.01>0.19 points]
The progression might seem ridiculous compared to his See-Through vision, but one should not forget that the teenager could already cast this spell when the value was only 0.005 and his Stamina was 1...
With his current Stamina, it was not an overstatement to say that he could spam this spell hundreds of times in a row before collapsing from fatigue. With his Vitality, as long as he ate enough he could repeat this feat almost every hour. He just did.
Against normal creatures, Ikaris had already become an invincible existence.
"Wow!"
Ellie's awestruck squeal on his back pulled him out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw a towering wall at least thirty meters high. It was nothing compared to the Great Wall, but it was still very impressive when seen from up close.
The most striking feature of this wall was that the stone was unusually smooth, as if its surface had been relentlessly polished until there was not the slightest roughness. Seeing where the boy's gaze was drawn, Asselin disclosed,
"The work of Creation Sorcerers who specialize in construction. The Crawlers can climb walls, so we made sure we didn't make it easy for them."
As their group moved closer, they noticed the many armored soldiers lined up standoffishly along the ramparts. There was at least a 2500 strong regiment just on the stretch of wall they could see.
For the first time in ages, the group felt safe, but this soon gave rise to new concerns.
"How do we get in? I don't see any doors and I don't think they're going to throw a rope at us..." Ikaris said as he saw the icy stares the Hadrakin soldiers were shooting at them.
"It's not us they're looking at, it's the monsters lurking in the jungle behind us." Zaos laughed. "As for the big gate, just ask. It shouldn't be too far from here."
The soon-to-be Body Sorcerer was a regular here, and as he showed his badge to a soldier posted on the wall, the soldier nodded his head before reporting something to a messenger. The latter vanished behind the wall, but a few moments later he returned with a very muscular old man clad in armor.
The old man was a hulking figure standing at least two meters tall and wore pure gold plate armor that covered his whole body except for his balding head. To compensate, he sported a very long white beard and a "very" long sword.
Over his bulky armor, ridiculous as it was, he had donned a garish yellow mage's coat with a long white fur collar. The garment was studded with medals and insignia of all kinds, a silent ode to all the accomplishments throughout his lengthy career. Of course, the Hadrakin coat of arms, an eagle with spread wings wielding a sickle, could be found on his back, breastplate and shoulder pads.
"Magus Orym Torfiel. One of Hadrakin's three most powerful Sorcerers." Zaos briefed them with a distinct relief showing on his face. "Thank God they're taking the Great Wall's fall seriously."
Conversely, Asselin's face went dead when he recognized the old man. Before the elder could look in their direction, he hurriedly pulled on his hood.
Unfortunately, it was all in vain. For an elderly voice quivering with anger reached his ears,
"Asselin Solostar! So this is the Barren Bush where you and your parents were hiding. Where are they?!"
