Then Moon began channeling mana for his most devastating spell. Crimson-gold flas slowly erged from his staff, the concentrated heat power radiating outward in near-visible waves that made even the experienced Heretic leader’s expression shift from confidence to worry.
The air around Moon’s staff began distorting from the intense thermal energy as Ignite reached full charge, the Epic-rank skill building toward its devastating 250% damage multiplier.
The Heretic leader recognized the threat imdiately. His eyes widened as he realized whatever spell the human was preparing possessed catastrophic potential.
"KRATH! VOR’SHETH NAL!" the leader scread urgently, commanding his warriors to scatter and attack before the spell could be released.
But Moon had already chosen his targets, the five Heretics who’d moved into searching positions, the ones actively looking for Yara’s group.
He released Ignite directly into their cluster.
BOOM!
The explosion was absolutely catastrophic for those caught in its radius. The group of five Heretics who’d been actively searching for Yara’s position were nearly all struck at point-blank range, having been positioned relatively close to each other when the detonation occurred.
Four of them were consud instantly by the superheated blast. Their bodies didn’t just burn—they were reduced to ash and charred bone fragnts in less than a second, the 250% damage multiplier from Moon’s Epic-rank Ignite skill creating temperatures that exceeded normal fire capabilities by orders of magnitude.
One Heretic had managed to leap backward just as Moon released the spell, avoiding the point-blank epicenter by re ters.
But that partial escape only made his fate infinitely worse than the others.
Instead of dying instantly and rcifully like his companions, his exposed skin began lting at an alarming rate. The flesh liquefied and sloughed off bone as the residual heat and burn effect from Ignite worked through his body. He collapsed screaming, slowly dying from injuries so horrific that no warrior would wish them upon even their worst enemies.
The other Heretics who had scattered in different directions—thinking they might also be targeted and consud by that devastating spell—watched with expressions filled with absolute horror.
This wasn’t just a powerful attack. This was sothing to fear more profoundly than death itself. The lingering agony, the complete annihilation of comrades, the sheer destructive magnitude...
Several Heretic warriors actually took involuntary steps backward despite their zealous ideology, their survival instincts ringing bells in their brains.
Selene, positioned to Moon’s side, was equally shocked by the spell’s devastating effectiveness. She imdiately channeled water and wind elents to create cooling barriers around herself, protecting against the intense heatwave that radiated outward from the attack’s epicenter.
This was the first ti she had seen Moon cast that spell.
’How did he beco this strong so quickly?’ Selene thought with genuine amazent mixed with slight disbelief. ’He’s improving at such an alarming rate... Just what exactly did he experience before we t? And what kind of class does he actually possess to generate this level of power?’
The first ti she’d partnered with Moon as a newly awakened individual, she’d witnessed his initial attempts at basic magic. His first water sphere spell had been almost endearingly clumsy. He’d struggled visibly to maintain the spell’s cohesion and shape.
But he’d improved steadily, relentlessly, with determination that neared obsession. And now, barely any ti later, he was casting powerful spells that literally vaporized multiple level twenty-four enemies simultaneously.
She could barely reconcile that the struggling beginner and this devastating combatant were the sa person.
’I knew he was different, but I didn’t expect him to be so different...’ Selene looked at Moon with a profound expression, her gaze trying to unveil his hidden secrets.
Yara and her Savi warriors didn’t give the shocked Heretics any chance to recover or regroup. They imdiately launched their ambush attacks from the flanking positions they’d achieved during Moon’s distraction.
The four warriors burst from concealnt with weapons raised, charging toward the disoriented Heretics with battle cries.
Yara initiated the engagent from range with an arrow that ca within centiters of claiming a life imdiately.
Whoosh!
The arrow flew at an alarming speed, plunging deep into the shoulder of one Heretic warrior who’d been frozen in horror watching his companions burn. He winced from the sudden pain, his face contorting with the shock of impact.
Rather than trying to extract the arrow completely, which would have caused massive bleeding and potential death, the Heretic warrior gripped the arrow shaft firmly and twisted it violently, snapping off the exterior portion while deliberately leaving the arrowhead embedded deep in his shoulder tissue.
The remaining fragnt would act as a crude plug, blocking the wound and preventing more bleeding while he continued fighting.
He threw the broken arrow shaft contemptuously onto the jungle floor, then turned toward the approaching Savi warriors with eyes blazing with rage.
His comrades had just been incinerated. His shoulder was impaled, and their mission had been ambushed by the very prey they’d been hunting.
With a roaring battle cry, the wounded Heretic charged directly at the nearest Savi warrior, his weapon raised despite his injury, choosing aggressive offense over defensive caution.
The remaining Heretics, now down to eight functional combatants from their original sixteen, began rallying around their leader, who was shouting commands to reform their scattered formation.
Moon surveyed the battlefield with cold tactical assessnt.
Five enemies had been killed instantly. Whilst one was dying slowly from afflicted burns. Eight still combat-capable but shaken and partially surrounded.
The odds had dramatically turned in their favor. "Press the advantage!" Moon called out. "Don’t let them regroup!"
Moon began channeling his next spell, already selecting targets to eliminate. Although the ambush strategy hadn’t unfolded perfectly as planned, it had provided them with crucial information about Heretic awareness and coordination.
"Selene, wake up. It’s ti to slaughter the prey," Moon’s voice called out sharply, breaking through Selene’s montary stunned daze.
Selene snapped back to full combat focus imdiately, a fierce grin spreading across her face. She’d clearly been motivated and energized by witnessing Moon’s earlier devastating attack. "Let’s get to work."
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