CHAPTER 61: ATTACK

After flying up into the sky, the necromancer looked at Zephyr with a blank expression.

The young mage was using clear strategies with well-timed execution to gain the upper hand. He did not look like a novice.

If he hadn’t known any better, he would have thought Zephyr was an experienced battle mage.

’Damn it.’ He silently cursed.

Zephyr read his lips, and a smile slowly returned to his face.

"Now, are you running away from your problems? Don’t do that. I have learned the hard way that it will not work." Zephyr spoke loudly, letting the man flying above hear his every word.

The longer the mage stayed in the air, the better it was for him. After all, he had spent almost two-thirds of his mana reserve to launch the attack.

He wouldn’t be able to continue attacking at the same pace.

However, he couldn’t show weakness in front of the necromancer. That was why he was projecting strength through confidence.

Any action of his that can make the necromancer second-guess himself and stop him from immediately attacking was good. It would buy him enough time to drain mana from Gale’s sword strapped to his back.

"Flying uses a lot of mana, right. Why don’t you come down and have a chat with me? It would be better for you to conserve mana, right?" Zephyr asked.

The necromancer’s frown deepened.

The sparkling lightning he saw while jumping off the floor filled him with dread. Even if he was on the ground, the defensive mana covering his body protected him from taking damage.

However, what would have happened if the boy had released more than one lightning spell, or if it were a continuous spell that could stun a person?

Both options could waste a tremendous amount of his mana. Therefore, it was not worth the struggle.

He was limited by time and mana. He didn’t have any to waste on Zephyr.

"Damn it." He cursed.

Then he steeled himself and decided to kill Zephyr without holding back.

For that, he flew to the ends of the temple island, wasting quite a bit of mana.

Zephyr gritted his teeth and dashed forward, trying to keep up with the necromancer.

Breathing heavily, he ran over the slippery surface of the temple, almost falling on his ass a couple of times.

However, the necromancer was faster.

’He will get out of the Jammer’s range any second now.’

’It’s time to test out experimental phase two.’ Zephyr commented in his mind and stopped.

’It would have been better if I could have pinned him down here. A stalemate where he thinks he can’t win would have been preferable. But, since he is trying to command the undeads again, there is no option but to try something different.’

Zephyr heard the necromancer laugh maniacally from the sky.

He noticed Zephyr desperately chasing him.

Any second now, he would fly off the range of the command jammer, and he would be able to take control of the undeads.

The stream of mana flowing above Zephyr’s head won’t threaten him anymore.

A few seconds later, as he expected, he left behind Zephyr and flew over to the other side of the temple island and released his command signal.

Immediately, a pulse of mana travelled from his body, flying across vast distances to every undead on the island chain.

They lifted their heads and looked towards the origin of the signal.

Their lifeless, bloodshot eyes blinked emotionlessly as the necromancer gained control.

The necromancer smiled, sensing his connection with the undead, and released a second command signal. It was a complex command that asked all the undead to target and kill Zephyr.

At the exact moment, Zephyr turned the dark mana over his head into a similar pulse of mana.

As stinging pain tore through his mind, he carefully controlled the mana to release a similar, but precise pulse, with a very high magnitude.

The necromancer was trying to conserve mana. So, he didn’t send a strong command signal.

Using this fact as a loophole, Zephyr converted all the dark mana flowing above his head into a mana pulse that could cover the entire island chain.

This was phase two he was preparing for.

The necromancer thought Zephyr was trying to block his command again and laughed.

However, the pulse was short, and it failed to block anything.

Sensing the command signal, all the undeads turned around and stared at the island.

Then, together, they raised their hands...

Necromancer frowned.

What are they doing?

It was not the order he gave.

As he stared at them in confusion, he saw the undeads push their hands, weapons and all, into their unprotected head. Simultaneously, all the undead everywhere around them killed themselves.

Black blood and brain matter flew out of their bodies, covering the land they stood on as their bodies fell.

"Ah!"

The necromancer choked.

What happened?

He failed to understand what just happened.

He turned around in desperation and looked at Zephyr, his eyes asking for an answer.

Zephyr, still bleeding from his nose, stared back. The corners of his lips were slightly raised.

Neither the taste and the scent of blood, nor the pain could stop him from smiling this time.

It was a plan he thought would never work.

...and yet, it did.

Joy burst out of his body as his lips curled upward further to a full smile.

"You have been hacked, bitch." He muttered with a wink.

The necromancer couldn’t hear him, nor could he read his lips. Still, the casual smile sent him reeling back.

’No, it couldn’t be.’

His body uncontrollably fell, losing control over his flight spell.

Watching him fall, Zephyr realised it would be his only opportunity to strike by surprise. Fortunately, he had gathered about 1000 cores worth of mana from the sword.

It would be enough to cast a railgun spell.

Instantly, he channeled the mana to the spell array he built in his mindscape.

A mana bolt enhanced with 30 light and 30 lightning element modifiers flew out of his palm.

The necromancer was far away, but still within his striking distance.

The mana bolt flew forward in a straight line, attracting the lightning flowing on the clouds above.

At the final moment before it struck, the necromancer noticed the air hum as the bolt carrying blinding lightning and light struck his exposed body.