Supreme Magus novel Chapter 689

A small army of Teks, Thorns, and Koas unleashed a barrage of spells against the intruders as soon as they had a clear line of fire. Thorns were creatures born from the Awakening of bushes, or in the case of an underground environment, of moss.

Their bodies were short, barely reaching one meter (3’3") of height. They looked like octopuses made of mold, with glowing yellow eyes and odd protuberances on their backs that almost resembled wings.

Koas, instead were fish type magical beast, about 1.5 (5’) meters tall. They had big green eyes and humanoid bodies covered in silvery scales as hard as metal. Their razor-sharp claws and teeth made them formidable opponents in close-quarter combat.

All of them had been born and bred in an environment that only allowed to the most aggressive of them to survive, so their first reaction was always to try and eat each other. The bloodbath between the different species ended only when the elevator’s doors opened, revealing its cargo of soft, tender meat.

Once again, the entire structure was made of metal, making earth magic impossible to use. The Teks attacked with a hail of ice shards, while the Thorns released their darkness infused spores to weaken their prey enough to feed upon them.

The Koas preferred a much simpler approach, releasing their bolts of lightning against everyone but themselves. Unfortunately, both Teks and Thorns were immune to lightning, so electricity was a threat only to the expedition group.

Between the sudden crisis and the fear that the mechanical elevator had caused them, the humans had no time to prepare their spells. Phloria stepped in front of Quylla while injecting mana into her Skinwalker armor.

The few projectiles that hit Phloria before her conjured tower shield could take form didn’t even put a dent in the silvery layer covering her skin. The soldiers reacted in unison, each one stepping forward to protect the civilians while activating their energy shields and using their wands to return fire.

They had learned from the previous attack that in such a confined space, darkness was the best choice. The projectiles were slow, but the creatures had no camaraderie and would hinder each other’s movements in their attempts of dodging the darkness bolts.

Lith and Morok Blinked almost at the same time. Before the first blood could be shed, they appeared respectively on the left and the right side of their assailants. Morok crossed his blades right in front of his eyes as he whispered: "Infiro."

The two short words emitted a red light that scorched everything on its path, while Lith released a stream of blue flames from his hands from the opposite direction, leaving the creatures no way out but to move toward the black bullets.

The red light and the blue flames burned the Thorns while heating the Teks’ exoskeletons and Koas’ scales to the point that they ended up cooking rather than protecting their internal organs.

Lith would have liked to use Origin Flames, but ever since they had activated the elevator, Solus had spotted magical cameras, warning him that they were being watched.

"What the heck was that?" Lith asked while using the army signal to alert the others about enemy spies. To a casual onlooker, they would just appear as a nervous gesture.

"I thought your weapons didn’t have energy-based attacks."

"And you were right about that. The spell was mine, my weapons simply absorbed the flames and released only its heat. I’m not as confident as you are in controlling my spells." Morok nodded in understanding.

"This is all metal, there’s no way to start a fire." Lith said, noticing that aside from Yondra, the Professors had only shielded themselves. If not for the soldiers, most of the Assistants would have died.

The two Rangers continued babbling for a while, giving Phloria the time to decide their next move while keeping the enemy focused on them. She retrieved the metal key from behind the glass before stepping outside the elevator.