Chapter 259: Is That All?
Whoosh!
A lightning-fast shadow sliced through the monsters and tore one pinned in the middle cleanly in half before vanishing.
Hypnosis and Legilimency were useless here, but the Wampus cat's claws could shred steel, and its speed broke the sound barrier. It slipped through the battlefield with ease, smashing apart one monster body after another.
On the other side, Fawkes beat his bare wings and laboured in the air. Even so, each fireball he spat forced the monsters back.
Near rebirth, his power had faded sharply, but his flames were still something these creatures had to respect.
Unfortunately, Fawkes had only one tail feather left. His strength had fallen to its lowest point. He could still use flame-travel, but he needed several seconds for the fire to engulf his passengers.
The woman would never give them that kind of time.
In the room's center, regret flashed through Evans's eyes. He turned into a silver-white arc again, slipping past a streak of light the woman hurled at him.
"Why would you choose the power of such a weak thing as a Diricawl?" Her voice sounded irritable. Swatting at a mosquito and missing left her in a foul mood.
Evans ignored the jab and studied the battle in earnest.
Beyond Fawkes and Tim, two more magical creatures had joined from the suitcase.
Karl's venom did nothing here, and Evans didn't need much shielding himself, so Karl's presence felt muted. He drifted near Fawkes to guard against sudden lunges.
What surprised Evans most was Little Cloak at the edge of the fight.
When he called for help, he hadn't expected Little Cloak to leap in. The little fellow had never been brave, and it knew its own limits very well.
Yet not only had it come out, but it was doing real work.
At least more than Karl, who sulked because he could only act as a shield.
"Hu—"
The tiny black cloak floated along the battlefield's rim, its hood brim trembling. With each tremor, the black mist around it seemed to stream ceaselessly into its body.
In just that short time, the mist near it had thinned a great deal.
Judging from the swish of its hems, the black mist was the perfect tonic for it, and it was very happily feeding.
That happiness wouldn't last long.
Little Cloak still wasn't strong. Even with the new organ inside its body that could store magic, it couldn't pull in the airborne mist very fast. But it was enough to make it a target for the monsters—and enough to draw the woman's gaze at last to the little thing she'd ignored until now.
"A Lethifold? How could you possibly tame one?" She pressed Evans hard, surprise sharpening her voice as the little cloak devoured her mist. "Merlin and Lethifolds were mortal enemies. A creature at the very pinnacle of the Dark can't be brought to heel."
She could tell this one was clearly a juvenile—but even a juvenile member of the Lethifolds should carry its own pride and instincts.
To dark creatures, a nature-affinity wizard was like the last beam of light in the night. Even shattered to pieces, they would try to swallow that light whole.
So why would a Lethifold—obviously a dark creature—listen to a wizard who looked like Merlin's heir?
Also, wasn't this juvenile eating a bit too much?
Watching the little Lethifold still gulping down her black mist, the woman's expression turned odd.
She could not let it keep feeding.
That mist was one of her power sources and nourishment for her ascended subjects to repair their bodies. If this continued much longer, it would threaten her side of the fight.
With that, she flicked her hand. Several monsters on the edge of the melee understood at once and charged for Little Cloak.
They never reached it. The little scrap vanished in midair without a trace.
The woman frowned slightly.
She knew this was one of the Lethifold's abilities. If their internal magic was sufficient, they could turn everything about themselves into nothingness at will.
But that power cost a great deal of magic. A juvenile shouldn't be able to hold it for long—
Even as she thought that, Little Cloak popped out of thin air, took several great gulps of the black mist, and vanished again, leaving the pursuers staring in confusion.
The woman's eyes went blank for a moment, then sparked with anger.
Damn it, how is this Lethifold still eating?
How could a species this powerful produce such a glutton?
Seeing her irritation rise, Evans tried to counterattack and couldn't help a small, hidden breath of relief.
At first, he'd had little hope for this fight. Dozens of endlessly reviving monsters plus an ancient witch's phantom that couldn't be broken—this overreached even him.
The Diricawl-style flash didn't drain him much, but without a breakthrough, he'd be whittled down here all the same.
Yet the commotion Little Cloak caused gave him a thread of hope.
Maybe this woman wasn't so untouchable after all.
Perhaps sensing the impolite turn of his thoughts, the woman's face went cold. A chill of killing intent crept into her voice.
"You don't think the Dark Wizard King of Egypt is only this much, do you?"
Power swelled from every side. Evans jerked his head up as the broad chamber shifted. The central dais rose, shaping itself into a splendid throne.
Then Evans watched, stunned.
The black mist that filled the room converged toward the center. On the throne, the woman's phantom body rapidly solidified. In seconds, she was no longer an illusion, but something like a living person, staring at him with glacial eyes.
"I had intended to use this body only when he arrived," she said, staring down at her own hands, her voice edged with something like grief. "I did not expect to spend it now."
She raised her hand and swept it down.
Evans felt danger that defied words. He became a silver-white arc in an instant, flashing aside.
Lightning crashed from the air a heartbeat later, shattering the floor and drowning everything around in a storm of light.