Chapter 17: 17 – Mage

The three Voidborne barely noticed the ground rumbling before it was too late. At the last moment, they looked down in confusion.

The two large Voidborne and Vaeri had not even clashed yet when the dirt and stone beneath them began to break apart, a twisting mass of roots revealed!

There were over a hundred roots, and though they weren’t very thick, the sheer number of them made up for it.

A majority of them shot up underneath and around the mage Voidborne, who Ruith deemed to be the most dangerous of the three. The young man had been preparing another spell, but was forced to focus on defense now.

He tried to jump back, but a swarm of roots wrapped around his limbs locking the Voidborne into place. The other two fared no better, although there were less roots. The two large men would be locked in place for a shorter time, but that was enough for Vaeri.

She targeted the man on the left as he struggled desperately, his eyes widening in fear. The roots started to rip, but Vaeri’s dagger sliced through the air, directly at the man's neck. However, at the last moment, he was just barely able to twist his neck to the side.

Vaeri clicked her tongue in displeasure, slightly changing the trajectory of the dagger. It sank deep into the man's shoulder, burying itself up to the hilt. 

“AGHH!” 

The man roared in pain, his muscles bulging and he finally tore away from his restraints. 

But of course, Ruith wasn’t just standing idly by.

‘Just 60% of my total mana gone.’

The two bigger Voidborne had broken free, but had not moved yet. The mage was still firmly caught though.

A further 30% of his mana vanished, and he used as much mana from the trees under his control as he could. The ground rumbled for the second time, a patch completely shattering behind each of the Voidborne. Roots writhed under the ground, shooting through the destroyed stone and taking form.

Three Root Pierce’s for each of the humanoid monsters, but these ones were much more powerful and thick than what had been possible for him with a black mana core. Their roots twisted around each other, forming into a point. 

At that moment, right before his attacks connected, Ruith saw the black scales that were barely visible, ripple. And in the next split second, they had expanded over each of the Voidbornes entire bodies. They now covered their faces, though the scales in these places seemed to be lighter and weaker than the ones he assumed were under their clothes.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

All of Ruith’s attacks connected. The two large Voidborne were hit right in the middle of their backs, which bent at an uncomfortable angle. They were thrown several meters into the air, unable to move for a moment due to the damage their spines had just received. However, this meant that Ruith’s attacks had failed. Instead of going through them, it simply hit them as though the roots weren’t sharp at all.

The mage however, was in a much worse condition. The young man was still held in place by the roots, and was forced to take the entire brunt of Ruith’s Root Pierce. 

KRRR!

CRACK!

The scales on the mage’s back began to shatter, and it would be barely a second before he was pierced through. Though, the blunt force alone was definitely enough to cause major damage.

The young Voidborne grit his teeth, veins rising up all over his body. Ruith had not yet made his Mana Sight go away, and saw that the man’s mana had spread all over his body.

‘Hm? What’s he planning?’

Ruith got his answer soon enough.

WHOOM!

White hot fire erupted from every single inch of the Voidborne’s body. It was as though he had become a raging inferno!

Ruith’s roots sizzled, and the force of the explosion pushed them away a bit, allowing the man to finally move around once again. As soon as he was able to do that, he pointed a finger towards the human that had forced him to use this spell.

‘Shit!’ Ruith screamed within his mind.

It almost looked like a tiny beam of sunlight had headed towards the boy’s chest. He raised his arms to protect himself just in time.

Right before the tiny beam of light reached his skin, it exploded.

BOOM!

Ruith shot back through the air over fifty feet, slamming into the ground on his back. He felt the stone crack beneath him.

“That is…not…fair…” Ruith mumbled out in between breaths.

He struggled to move for a few seconds, his entire body aching. It seemed this spell wasn’t powerful enough to outright kill him, simply remove him from the fight for a bit.

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However, the sleeves of his shirt were scorched off, his forearms covered in black burns.

“Damn it…well, two can play that game!”

The Voidborne had attacked him with something he could barely notice, so he would do the same.

Ruith stumbled to his feet, looking at the battle. The two large men had fallen to the ground, and struggled to get up while Vaeri shot straight at them, not intending to give them any time to recuperate. The mage’s fire had just burnt the last of Ruith’s roots to a crisp, their ash floating away in the dying light.

The mage now stood naked, his clothes burned away.

‘10% of my total mana left now, that will be enough.’

Ruith didn’t try to get closer to the fight. Vaeri could handle herself for now. Instead, he subtly sent a bit of his mana into the ground. This time, instead of taking control of a tree, he took control of a patch of grass behind the mage.

One tiny grass root was completely filled with his remaining mana, and he added in the miniscule amount of mana that this little patch of grass possessed. The mana was more than enough to reinforce this tiny root hundreds of times over, making it stronger than steel and sharper than a needle.

The mage raised a hand to shoot a spell at Vaeri. The scales of his body had reduced to just a few patches, and his face was pale. It had obviously taken a lot out of him to survive Ruith’s attack.

Ruith commanded the root to grow forward at an insane speed, its size making it absurdly easy to manipulate. However, he had to be precise. He knew that there would be a tiny spot where his Root Pierce had punctured the skin of the mage, giving Ruith’s tiny root full access to the inside of his body.

Ruith smirked once again.

The grass root went straight into the spot where the skin was broken on the mage’s back, snaking throughout his body in under a second.

The young Voidborne didn’t even notice anything as his heart found itself with a tiny hole going through it. Ruith even made the root dive in and out of the still beating heart a few times, just to be sure there was no chance of him surviving.

The mage didn’t even notice anything until his mana sputtered out.

His eyebrows knitted together in confusion. And then he felt a tiny bit of pain. And then nothing.

The body of the fire wielding Voidborne crumpled to the ground, limp and lifeless.

Ruith let out a breath. 

‘Thankfully that worked, what would I have done otherwise…’

100% of his mana was now gone, but he still couldn’t rest. The two larger Voidborne were still alive, though it seems that activating their scales had taken a lot out of them. And with what seemed to be the group’s most powerful member dead, they were now halfheartedly swinging their massive swords.

Ruith sprinted over to assist Vaeri. Even if he had no mana, his body was still pretty powerful. The two barely registered him coming, and one of the mana couldn’t dodge the punch that was aimed at his jaw.

CRACK!

The sound of bone cracking resounded from the Voidborne’s jaw. However, Ruith also hissed in pain.

‘Ah, shit, my forearms…oh well.’ He had forgotten about his burn injuries.

Before the Voidborne could recover, Ruith kicked the man's knee in with as much power as he could muster. A second crack resounded through the surroundings.

“AGHH!!”

The man roared in pain and anger. He fell to the ground, unable to even wield his heavy sword now.

Ruith let loose a barrage of kicks at the man on the ground. Though his body was tough, his position was simply too disadvantageous. The boy's boot connected with his chin finally, knocking the man unconscious. 

He turned back around to Vaeri and her remaining opponent, just to see her dagger plunge deep between the Voidborne’s eyes. The body slumped to the ground.

“Holy shit, finally…” Vaeri said in exhaustion. She was about to sit onto the ground before Ruith stopped her.

“Hold on, finish that one off,” he said, pointing towards the unconscious Voidborne.

Vaeri nodded and went over, slitting the man's throat.

‘Huh, it’s a little weird.’ Ruith thought to himself. ‘They’re so human-like…I guess they’re still Voidborne in the end though.’

As the last of the sunlight disappeared, Ruith and Vaeri fell down to the ground, completely drained both physically and mentally.

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