When the female goblin was about to change her direction again, another fireball had come to meet her from her left side. This time she stopped for good and decided to confront the fireballs by forming ice shards.
Her daggers and a large part of her hand were sealed inside the shards. The edges of the shards were sharp– making them look like some sort of weapon. The goblin's appearance looked intimidating as her hands and feet were covered in dark blue ice.
'Swoosh!'
The goblin used her movement spell to get close to the fireball near her before slashing at it horizontally using her right shard. The fireball was split into two as a result of the dark blue mana invading its newly created edges. But it soon generated a conflicted mana pulse and gave birth to two fire snakes from both the split pieces of fireballs.
These flame hatchlings were smaller and seemed nimble than their original variations. They tried to attack the goblin using their exceptional agility with their mouths open wide.
But the lady goblin wasn't having it. She slashed at both the approaching snakes with her shards and attacked their source with her round kick. The series of movements was performed quickly, making it look like a single action.
The lady goblin screeched in joy when she realized that her attack was successful this time. The fireball and the two flame hatchlings were disappearing into thin air. But just when she was about to resume her clash with the butcher, she felt something dangerous approaching her.
The goblin looked around and saw that three fireballs were closing in on her from three different directions at a rapid pace. The trapped woman tried to get away from the triangle of the trap. But alas, the fireballs had already covered a substantial distance when she was busy fighting with the flame hatchlings.
Eren was observing the female goblin and controlling his spell fusion from afar. Previously, he was busy fending for his life. But the battle for survival had been turned into an opportunity to research and develop new strategies based on his newfound powers.
Eren watched as the female goblin was cornered by his fireballs. They each produced a bunch of flame hatchlings. But instead of attacking the female goblin wraith, the flame hatchlings were merged and created a net of flames around her.
'Screee!'
The female goblin screeched and slashed at the thin net of flames around her. She had realized that there was a danger in the net. But the flame hatchlings weren't easy to destroy this time. They connected and resumed their previous shape after allowing the shards to pass through them.
The dark blue mana that had slipped into the net of flames wasn't enough this time to make it disappear or create an opening. That was because Eren didn't try to restrict his use of mana as he had done with his first fireballs.
Eren had used the first fireball as a decoy. He allowed the wraith to destroy it easier to let her guard down. But with the net of flames, he allowed it to tap into his mana reserve as much as it needed.
Eren retrieved another bottle of mana and drank it as he watched the female goblin trying in vain to slash at the flame of the net and break free from it.
"Screeeee!"
The female goblin finally couldn't take it and decided to break the siege by running directly at it. The ground beneath her feet was frozen solid as she was seen concentrating on her movement spell. Seeing this, Eren had a smile on his face. He tweaked his spell again from afar and resumed watching the show.
Swoosh!
The female goblin disappeared from her position and the net of flames was suddenly stretched in a particular direction. But instead of allowing the object to pass through, the net of flames held on as if it had gained solid-like abilities.
"Screeee!"
The female goblin screeched as the net of flames was stuck to her body. Soon, the net was contracted and it covered her body entirely. Her rotten flesh was sizzled and smoke came out as the net of flames started burning it from all over.
The female goblin tried to struggle by waving her hands all around. Then she started self-harming by using her shards to get rid of the net of flames and her skin along with it.
Eren caressed his chin as he watched the goblin wraith struggle. He started performing calculations and deductions in the air. It took him a while to get satisfied with his research.
Snap!
Eren snapped his finger and the net of flames suddenly changed its behaviour. It started producing more flames and covered the goblin's every part in it. The wraith was turned into a humanoid torch as the net of flames was slowly becoming indistinguishable.
Swoosh!
Eren threw another Solid Spark on the goblin's fallen, charred body as its apparition was trying to emerge from it. As a result, it disappeared post the lightning element spell's detonation.
'Hmm! This variation of fusion spell is limited in its application when used against normal rankers. It only worked on the goblin wraith because she didn't have much mental acuity. She let the fireballs get near her after falling for my trick.
But the same might not happen with intelligent rankers. They would have various ways to evade the fireball attack. Plus, their artefacts and defensive spells would lessen the damage they face by the net of flames after its detonation.'
Eren deduced the drawbacks of his fusion spell after watching the goblin wraith's struggle. But he smiled after he thought about the one plus point it had:
'But… once the opponent falls into the net of flames, I can close in on them and deliver a mortal blow as they are busy getting free from it. Hehe! This is great.'
The second dose of Potion of Serenity had been too fruitful for the butcher even with its reduced effect. And he was all smiles because of it.
