Out of the small army of a hundred, now only sixty remained. A dozen of them were Mana Vortex Magi, the vast majority were Mana Liquefaction Magi, and only a handful were at the Mana Foundation Rank.
The strange thing was, despite the carnage Adam had sown on the battlefield, these Magi simply refused to leave. Considering the number of mutilated corpses and the amount of blood that had ford a shallow pond on the grassy plain, these n should have fled.
If a single person was capable of wreaking such havoc all by himself, then by all intents and purposes, the surviving Magi should have given up and retreated.
Yet, they did not.
Just as Adam was about to dive into a new round of bloody slaughter, sothing clicked inside his mind. He relaxed his shoulders and stood straight, observing all the Magi that had surrounded him.
Their eyes blazed with bloodlust, and their auras were feral. If one didn’t know any better, they’d assu that these surviving Magi were the cornered folks and not Adam.
At last, he realized this discrepancy. Adam’s lips curled into a sly grin as he turned to Tensei Arakuro and said:
"You’re a devious little bugger, aren’t you? Did you just use... enchantnt magic on them?"
Tensei’s eyes flashed with a peculiar light. Though he did not answer, Adam already knew that it was the truth.
The young master of the Arakuro Clan pointed the tip of his sword at Adam and commanded, "Brothers, attack! Kill this outsider!"
"OHHHH!!"
The Magi felt strength and courage course through their veins. Everyone attacked all at once. Though these n were fired up, they weren’t stupid enough to recklessly charge into battle, especially when they were facing a monster like Adam.
Out of the dozen Mana Vortex Magi still present, Tensei and his two guards chose not to engage at the mont. The other nine Mana Vortex Magi, however, charged at Adam while leading six-to-seven Magi.
Just like that, smaller groups had ford, and they all attacked Adam from all sides.
Poison-tipped arrows, mana-coated daggers, and elental projectiles ruthlessly rained down on him from all around. There was no way to run. There was no way to evade.
The madman had one option and one option only...
Standing at the center of the bloody chaos, Adam bent over ever so slightly, gathering mana into his legs and securing a strong foothold. His lips curled into a wide, unnatural grin that twisted his face into a grotesque shape.
His grip around the Blades of Fulgrim tightened and he imbued the twin blades with a terryfing amount of mana. Then, he activated the weapons’ enchatnt, allowing the blades to be engulfed in blazing flas.
It was ti to take his magic combat to the next level.
Blades of Doom: Great Barrier!
The twin blades chained to his wrists whirled into motion, slicing through the air in blinding arcs and leaving fiery trails. The chains clattered and flashed with each swing as he spun them around himself, forming a flawless barrier of steel and flas.
The incoming projectiles struck the spinning blades and shattered harmlessly, their force scattering into the fiery tempest that surrounded him.
Despite being relentlessly attacked from all sides, not a single attack had managed to penetrate the Great Barrier.
All the while, Adam’s crazed laughter spilled out uncontrollably from within the barrier. The more ti passed, the louder his voice beca. The Magi standing outside shuddered in terror.
What was supposed to be a surefire way of dealing with Adam had now turned into sothing that fueled his madness.
Standing at the periter, Tensei had a dark look on his face. With every second that passed, the frown on his face darkened. Even the two Mana Vortex-level guards standing beside him couldn’t help but glance at one another with a grimace.
"Just what kind of a monster is this?" Tensei muttered in a low voice. "It’s almost about to be a minute, and he’s still keeping up. Why is he wasting so much mana and stamina with this when he could just cast a... spell..."
Towards the end, his voice trailed off as he suddenly realized sothing.
"You two," he asked, "has this man used even a single spell from the beginning of the battle?"
The two guards in black glanced at one another, and a mont later they shook their heads and answered simultaneously, "No, young master."
Tensei frowned even more intensely. "What’s the matter with him? Can he not use spells?"
One of the two guards spoke up, "If that’s the case, then we just need to relentlessly attack him from all sides. Sooner or later, his mana reserves will dry up."
The other guard had a more pragmatic opinion. "I’m sure he knows that as well. If such is the case, then... he might take drastic asures very soon. We need to capitalize on that window and kill him!"
Tensei nodded with a solemn look on his face. "Yes," he murmured. "This is a battle of attrition."
But even as those words escaped his lips, he couldn’t believe the absurdity of it all. Sixty n were going against a single man and implenting a battle of attrition.
How ridiculous!
But Adam would never give them that opportunity.
As the final seconds of the minute passed, the Great Barrier faltered, its fiery glow dimming as though Adam had ceased defending from within the do.
Tensei’s eyes flashed with a cruel light, his grip around his sword tightening. "This is it!"
And the next mont...
A shadowy figure burst through the fading flas, shooting straight towards one of the Mana Vortex Magi like a blazing spear.
The Magus in question was horrified. Considering what had happened to the previous Magus who dared to directly block Adam’s attack, he promptly retreated.
As the nearby Magi staggered in shock, one of Tensei’s guards dissolved into a shadowy blur and reappeared behind Adam. With a vicious swing, his sword sliced cleanly through flesh, the blade weaving the youth’s head in a single, effortless motion.
But sothing felt wrong...
The guard felt no resistance whatsoever. When he focused on the decapitated head, his heart sank.
The figure that burst from the dying do of flas wasn’t Adam at all. The corpse at his feet belonged to one of Adam’s earliest victims!
As for Adam’s real location...
The guard’s instincts flared as he quickly turned around in fear and alarm, screaming desperately, "Young Master, watch out!"
But it was too late.
Adam appeared behind Tensei and the other guard like a ghost, Blades of Fulgrim gripped tightly in his hands, ready to cleave through flesh and steel alike.
With a maniacal grin etched on his face, Adam swung his blades!
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