Shatia predicted the direction of each of the numerous lightning attacks and dodged them one after another. As her body was still that of a child, she had to compensate for the lack of physical strength with her flight magic, but she managed to easily dodge some attacks and those that could not be dodged she defended with a magic barrier.
For Shatia, dodging the attacks of the Skeleton Sorcerers was like child’s play. The real problem was…
“This.”
While avoiding the lightning strike, Shatia waved her finger and fired a bolt of lightning in the same manner. The attack hit one of the Skeletons who fell to the ground and did not move again. Shatia had repeated this action several times, however, the number of Skeleton Sorcerers did not seem to decrease. At first, there were about 20 Skeletons, but over time, they had increased to almost 40, and their number seemed to keep rising.
“Good heavens, no matter how many of them I beat, there seems no end to it…”
Shatia frowned as she saw that the number of enemies did not decrease no matter how many she defeated.
At this rate, the villagers will notice her absence. Shatia analysed the situation and decided it was best not to waste any more time. Shatia rose to the sky, but it was not an escape manoeuvre, she took shelter in the heights to take a break.
“What should I do now? I don’t want to exhaust my magic with a single attack, but if I continue like this, their numbers will surely exhaust me”.
Shatia pondered this as she crossed her arms in the sky and looked down at the Skeleton Sorcerers.
The easiest way would be to nip the problem in the bud, but she didn’t know the location of the individual who controlled the Skeletons. Seeing that she couldn’t go ahead with that plan, Shatia placed her hand on her chin and closed her eyes.
Moments later, Shatia tilted her head and looked down as her silver hair fluttered in the wind. Then she realized that the Skeleton Sorcerers were gone.
“Hmm?”
Shatia descended abruptly from the sky and began to search for the Skeletons. She found them all gathered on some rocks, the Skeleton Sorcerers raised their staffs and began to infuse them with magic power. Seeing this, Shatia felt a cold sweat run down her forehead.
The next moment, the area was enveloped in blinding light. For an instant, the world was silent, followed by a violent sound as if lightning had struck. And when the light faded, a huge ball of lightning could be seen on top of the Skeleton Sorcerers’ staffs.
Fused magic. A method where several magicians cast the same spell to create more powerful magic. The more wizards there were, the more powerful the magic was. This meant that a spell cast by more than 30 Skeleton Sorcerers would undoubtedly be extremely powerful.
The lightning ball was launched towards Shatia. Fortunately, its speed was low, so Shatia could dodge it if she wanted to. However, it was not a good idea for an attack like that to land anywhere. In the worst-case scenario, the attack would reach the village and destroy it. With that in mind, Shatia created a huge magic barrier and received the attack head-on.
“Guh! Aaaahh!”
When the magic barrier and the lightning ball collided, a tremendous burden was placed on Shatia’s body. As expected from the fused magic of 40 individuals, the power was massive. Shatia gradually began to be pulled back. The strength of the magic barrier also began to gradually weaken, and one could hear the barrier breaking down. But Shatia endured. Then she began to compress and neutralize the lightning ball.
“Haa!”
She enveloped that magic power with an even stronger magic power to disintegrate the magic elements that formed it. Little by little, the lightning ball lost strength and became smaller, until finally, it disappeared with a thud. After confirming this, Shatia sighed with relief but seemed to be exhausted.
“Fuu… You guys can do some really interesting stuff, you know?”
“Gigigi!“
As expected, the Skeleton Sorcerers also exhausted all their magic power and could not move from their place. They all seemed to be afraid that their powerful attack had been neutralized. Then, Shatia opened her hand and a small magic ball appeared in it.
“Well, now it’s my turn.”
With a smile, Shatia put even more magic power into the magic ball until it became gigantic, even larger than the lightning ball of a moment ago. Then she swung her arm and threw that huge magic ball in the direction of the Skeleton Sorcerers.
Each of the Skeletons created a magic barrier to protect themselves, but to no avail, their barriers were destroyed when they collided with the magic ball and in the end, the Skeleton Sorcerers were wiped out completely.
“I would love to think that you were obliterated… But I guess you don’t accept defeat so easily, do you?”
The rocks and gravel in the area had been blown away and a small crater had formed on the site. But from the surrounding area, parts of the Skeleton Sorcerers began to crawl out of the grass and fall from the trees, then they began to gather until they were all back on their feet, just as before.
Seeing this, Shatia let out a sigh of exhaustion. Then, the Skeleton Sorcerers suddenly formed a corridor and a single giant skeleton appeared from it.
“Oh my, there’s a Skeleton Lord too.”
“Guuu!“
The Skeleton Lord, like the rest of the Skeletons, was made of black bones. But unlike the rest, the Skeleton Lord wore armor that exuded a dense, dark aura. It also had a huge staff and its eyes glowed as brightly as those of a Demon. It was a special kind of Skeleton that belonged to the highest hierarchy. Shatia stared at it and squinted.
“You don’t seem to be giving the orders here. Are you taking over the Skeletons temporarily?”
At first, Shatia thought that the Skeleton Lord was the one commanding the skeletons, but this monster, although strong, was incapable of giving such complex orders, so she concluded that the Skeleton Lord was being manipulated as well. While thinking about this, an idea crossed Shatia’s mind and she smiled widely.
“That means if I defeat you I can find out who is behind all this”.
“Guoooo!“
As soon as Shatia said that, the Skeleton Lord let out a shriek and raised its staff. Its penetrating eyes changed and began to emit a strange purple glow. Then a sharp magic wave was released at great speed. Shatia received it and lost her stance a little, but not enough to make her fall. Shatia regained her balance almost immediately and launched an attack identical to that of the Skeleton Lord.
“Wow! What an enthusiastic way to greet someone!”
The Skeleton Lord raised its hand and stopped the magic wave that Shatia had thrown. She was surprised when she saw this.
This enemy was different than the Skeleton Sorcerers. But like the rest of the Skeletons, its staff was its most important possession. It was probably impregnated with some kind of special magic, which increased the magic power of the Skeleton.
That means I must destroy that staff first, Shatia thought. However, while Shatia was analyzing the situation the Skeleton Lord made its move.
“Gaaaaaaah!“
With eyes as red as fire itself and with a thunderous roar, the Skeleton Lord raised its staff and released a blinding flash. Moments later, a blast of countless purple lightning bolts was thrown in Shatia’s direction. The girl immediately raised a magic barrier to protect herself, but one of the bolts managed to slip through and hit her on the shoulder. Fortunately, only her clothes were torn, but Shatia bit her lip slightly when she saw that.
“Damn it, my dear mother gave me these clothes, if she sees this, she will surely be mad at me”.
For Shatia, who was more afraid of being scolded later by her mother than of an injury, the damage to her clothes was the most worrying. It is not possible to reattach the clothes with magic, so if they were to tear, it would be irreversible. Shatia distanced herself from the Skeleton Lord while holding the broken part of her garment.
“This is going to be expensive, isn’t it? Do you think…”
“Gooo!“
“Ha, don’t worry. I’ll get the compensation when I find your leader.”
Shatia raised her free hand and formed three water spheres. As the spheres floated around her, Shatia approached the Skeleton Lord and fired the first sphere. The Skeleton Lord again raised his staff and once again fired the lightning bolts at Shatia. However, Shatia blocked them with the second water ball and threw the last water ball at the Skeleton Lord.
“Fire magic would work better, but I don’t want to burn down the forest.”
Shatia muttered as she looked at the Skeleton Lord who had been thrown to some rocks by the attack, then she raised her hand again and threw another water ball at the Skeleton. The water splashed all over the area.
“Well, let me tell you something interesting. The three balls of water that I just shot contain a very special spell”. Shatia said calmly.
Then she landed and looked at the Skeleton Sorcerers around her. The Skeletons had their sticks high up and cautiously surrounded Shatia to prevent her escape. Despite this, Shatia, instead of trying to escape, started talking calmly.
“Water magic is one of the most flexible of all magic. The greatest advantage is that you can manipulate the shape of the water with complete freedom.”
Shatia began to explain the qualities of water magic as if she were teaching a class, while she held out her hand. The Skeleton Sorcerers seemed impressed at first, but then, they ignored the rest of the words and put their magic power into their canes to defeat their enemy, Shatia.
At this point, the Skeleton Lord had already risen from the rocks and, like the Skeleton Sorcerers, it also raised its staff and infused it with magic.
“The balls of water that I used a few moments ago splashed and seeped into the surrounding soil. Now, does anyone have any idea what this means? I’ll give you a hint, you must be careful where you step.”
“Guuu?“
The only Skeleton that seemed to understand the warning was the Skeleton Lord. It immediately lowered its staff and jumped from its spot and took refuge in the rocks. Immediately after that, water suddenly appeared from the ground in the form of stakes, penetrating the skeletons and creating a field of needles.
“Guaaaa!”
“Oh my, it looks like the Skeleton Lord reacted in time. As expected of you. But let me warn you. The water splashed on your armor too.”
“Guu?“
Shatia flicked her finger slightly as she said that. At that moment, the Skeleton Lord was pierced by the needles created by the water in its armor and it shrieked in pain.
The Skeletons that had been impaled by the field of needles were also screaming in pain. In reality, it was not that they were in pain, but that they were now basically unable to hold their bodies together because of the severe damage that the bones had received. Shatia walked among the miserable figures of these Skeletons and approached the Skeleton Lord on the rock.
“Fuu. Now we can finally have a real conversation. Well, I don’t know if I can communicate with a Skeleton, but for now, you…”
“Guuu…“
Convinced that the match was over when she saw the state of the Skeleton Sorcerers, Shatia jumped on the rock and spoke to the Skeleton Lord. Her face reflected a refreshed expression as if she had just found the perfect specimen for her experiments. Then she smiled innocently as a child her age would.
“Could you take me to your leader? I’m sure you can do that, Mr. Skeleton Lord.”
Having completely lost its chance to win, the Skeleton Lord could only nod weakly. In the world of monsters, the strong devour the weak… and this time, Shatia was the strongest.