Somehow, the runes of the enchantments woven in the fabric were capable of channeling Raagu’s mana.
She had no need to manifest any rune that was already present on her mage robe, she just had to circulate the proper elemental energy and the artifact would do the rest. Conjuring runes was akin to writing words using mana as ink.
The robe, in turn, acted as a printer with a pre-set series of characters that needed mana to be traced with mechanical perfection.
Much to Lith’s dismay, that was all he could get since the cloaking spells of the artifact hindered the Eyes and he had more important things to do. The Throndar wasn’t afraid of the puny humans and wanted to teach them a lesson for invading his turf.
The gleaming metal of the Wayfinder and the powerful white crystal would be a fine addition to his resources, maybe even enough to craft proper armor for his massive body.
‘Those fuckers are Awakened and bright violet cores at that but they are land dwellers.’ He thought. ‘All their fancy spells and equipment are useless here.’
Lith shot both a Final Eclipse and a Raging Sun at the Emperor Beast, but to no avail. The creature kept his body enveloped in thick streams of water that made up for his lack of equipment.
Even the scorching flames of a tier five spell were instantly doused by the ocean which also neutralized the darkness element before it could reach the Throndar’s skin.
‘I could try a tier five Spirit Magic spell, but the bastard keeps his distance. I bet that the moment he recognizes the emerald light, he will dive down and my mana will be lost.’ Lith thought and he was right.
The Emperor Beast limited himself to howling orders and attacking from a distance. He knew that he had no chance of victory against a violet-cored Awakened in direct combat, but the indirect path was open.
The Throndar used his enormous mass to raise tidal waves every time he emerged. Then, he boosted their size and speed with water and air magic and sent them crashing against the Wayfinder.
Sure, the elemental sealing arrays would neutralize his mana as soon as it entered their range, but they could do nothing against the sheer volume of water and the kinetic energy it had accumulated until that point.
“You’ll never believe what happened to me!” An annoying voice said from the emerald light of a Warp Steps. “Somehow, I found myself sleeping with the fish and then snacking with them. Too bad that I was the main course!”
Water spurted from the Steps and the attire of the Lich King was now adorned with several magical beasts still biting at his limbs. They were twisting their bodies in the attempt to rip what little of flesh he had left and crack his bones.
A mere shrug turned the predators into prey as Inxialot leeched the life force and flesh off the magical beasts. Their bodies became mummified for an instant and then only the skeletons remained.
As for the King of Liches, he was back to his human appearance. Sort of.
He now looked like a handsome man in his fifties, about 1.78 meters (5’10”) tall, with greying brown hair streaked blue, red, and black all over. The many holes in his tunic showed more of his physique than the etiquette of any race that employed clothes allowed.
Part of his body was covered by dull scales that belonged to the fish he had fed upon, others were enveloped in a chitinous shell from the crustaceans, and small tentacles whipped off his chin akin to a living beard.
“Just to be sure, is this some kind of welcome committee or are we under attack?” He asked.
“We’re under attack.” Raagu handed him the cat in order to freely move her arm and further hasten her cast speed.
“Thank the gods. Otherwise I would have been in the embarrassing position to ask how to distinguish between the buffet and our hosts.” A wave of his Inxialot’s hands activated his tier five Spirit Spell, Something Banshee Something.
Its name was as unimaginative as its effects were complex. Air magic released a stream of shockwaves from his mouth and hands, producing an effect similar to the shriek of a Banshee.
The main difference was that each sonic blast had the same frequency so that whenever two or more shockwaves overlapped, the perfect constructive interference increased their destructive power.
On top of that, Inxialot oriented his arms in front and to the sides of his head so as to form a triangle pattern. When the shockwaves met in the middle of each triangle that formed as the Wayfinder moved forward, the water element changed their path.
Fire magic altered the water’s temperature and split the shockwaves among three different water currents. Instead of clashing and canceling each other, the three currents spiraled in the water until the constructive interference was restored, fusing them into a single shockwave.
Earth magic conjured a temporary echo chamber that amplified the newborn shockwave’s power and light magic gave it substance. On top of that, sound moved faster in water than in the air so Something Banshee Something affected the area where the Train was, where it had been, and where it was going to be.
The marine creatures were disoriented, stunned, and blasted away from the Wayfinder as the sonic blasts hit them in an unrelenting onslaught. Those who survived were so confused that they couldn’t understand the orders of the Baraham anymore.
The magical beasts either ran away or mistook allies for enemies and started to tear each other apart.
The sides of four cargo wagons of the Wayfinder flipped vertically open and as many DoLoreans shaped like muscle cars bolted out of them. Lith recognized in the undercarriage several minigun-looking that were actually comprised of dozens of magic wands bound together.
There were four of them one for each side and the pilot only controlled the one on the front while the soldier on the passenger seat aimed the other three. Combined bolts of lightning stunned the target despite the water mass, blasts of ice sealed their movements, and darkness projectiles sealed the job.
The DoLoreans moved nimbly through the air, going everywhere they were needed and shooting without a care since the passengers of the Wayfinder were protected by the elemental sealing arrays.
Away from the dimensional seal, the soldiers had solely to put their hands out of the windows to release barrels of black metal from their dimensional rings. They sunk quickly, reaching a depth of several dozen meters before exploding.
The shockwaves released deformed the sea surface for a second and blasted away everything in their path. Even those away from the explosion were not safe from its secondary effects.
“Now you can go.” Raagu lifted the emerald barrier around Lith and he took off.
The Emperor Beasts had poor vision, needing echolocation to pinpoint his enemies and soldiers alike. Even from the distance, Inxialot’s spell and the depth charges had jammed their senses and the Throndar was no different.
When he noticed the sun turning dark before its time it was already too late.
