Men Vs Apocalypse - Chapter 32

“If you are hiding, then all I have to do is to blast the whole area.” Ken swiped his fingers on the ground, and wrote “” on the sand. As he was about to complete his last stroke, multiple black spears swoop towards him causing him not able to complete the incantation.

He dodged all of them and sent a fireball towards the direction those spears came from. All he hope that he hit since the shroud fog blinded his vision.

The fireball exploded sooner than expected and Ken could feel the impact, meaning it should hit the target in time. Ken did not stop and quickly went back to written spell on the ground but only to be met with more spears.

This time it protruded out of the ground and aiming to immobilise him, Ken was furious and lower his two palms down. Fire instantly generated out from his palms causing a sheet of flame to protect him while destroying the spears.

“Mythic Burning Hands!” One of the bison mages exclaimed as they saw Ken commanded his magic with ease. They knew the foreigners had magic they never seen before, causing them losses that were unimaginable when they tried to bring the prophesied children home

. Ken on the other hand was once the Chosen Champion. They believed that he can kill those foreigners to avenge their fallen or even kidnap them for the glory of Agni.

“Such a cheap trick and so weak.” Ken said in his muffled bandage. With a sudden burst of speed, he returned back to the written spell and complete his incantations. The entire area spanning tens of metres that was surrounded with the black fog instantly burst into flames.

At that point, Ken rewritten the ‘Rising Flame Upburst’ spell and the area that was already burning hot in flames received another dose of Ken’s magical touch. If Ken was not wearing bandages as his mask, the bison mages will probably the smug look on his face.

All of a sudden a lightning bolt caught Ken off guard and it even broke through his personal magical barrier. The pain he felt as the lightning burns the skin and paralysed him a little, making him unable to breath.

Spikes and spears jut out of the ground again and it finally caught onto Ken’s legs and torso. Blood was spilled all around the area as the speartips gashed him. All the pain he felt was nothing compared to the fury of retaliation he wished to make once he was able to overcome his shock.

The flames that were burning furiously disappeared in an instant when he was unable to move. A sweeping cold ice energy enveloped the area can caused the temperature to drop drastically.

Apart from being stabbed and shock, Ken’s entire body was covered with the condensation of ice. There he saw a sturdy dome made of ice in the middle of the burnt charred ground he casted his spell at. That was where the source of ice that was coming from. They were hiding in that ice dome to remove the flames.

“Impossible! A third level magic Ice Dome should not be able to withstand a seventh level magic Rising Flame Upburst and twice! What is this magic that can wipe out my spell!?” He coughed out a little blood as he said it and this made his mouth even drier breathing in more of the ice vapours.

“Ice Clan of Shiva is collaborating with the foreigners? All the more we should help Ken!”

“Yea, there is no way the foreigners have the ability of ice, and such powerful ice magic …could it be a Chosen Champion of Shiva is accompanying them?” The surviving bison mages decided to cooperate and they started to chant their incantations. The immobilisation did injured Ken but it was not enough to kill him.

Besides, his enemies did not continue with their attacks. “If they had relentlessly attack me, they would not stand a chance against me either.” Ken sneered and spoke the incantations to cast ‘Ashes From Flame’ no matter how dry his mouth started to get.

That spell allow him to forcefully remove all aliment status that was on him and uses his magic to close all his wounds. There were consequences for using ‘Ashes from Flame’ since the body strenuously destroy part of a magical circuit to heal the body but Ken knows that this does not bother him at all. He was finally able to find a challenge from these opponents of his.

The bison mages did a group cast by complementing their incantations with each other and summoned a large magic circle above the ice dome. The magic circle rotates a little before a large fiery snake-like body comes crashing down onto the ice dome.

The burning phantom of a snake creeps and wraps its body around the ice dome. The ice dome was melting at a very fast pace. The bison mage who initiated the spell curled his lips and activated the second part of the spell. The phantom snake of fire wraps around the dome even tighter and ignites itself causing the area to burst into flames again.

Ken gave no quarters to the foreigners and rushed into the melted ice dome with a maniacal laughter. The bison mages were celebrating a little. “I believe that was one of the best ‘Firesnake’ spell we ever did!”

“And that will also be your last.” A female voice gently whispered in their head. Numerous ice knives flew and stabbed the bison mages from behind. Most of the knives managed to plunge into the necks of the bison mages.

Some died instantly while others were gagging in their own blood. Once a knife was in contact with the bison mage, coldness eludes their body. A pulse of electric discharge was later sent via the knife, frying each and every bison mage.

Ken was not aware of the circumstances happening to his clansmen and bashed the melting ice dome to see the faces of the foreigners who cause so much trouble to him. However, it seems they left a surprise for him in the ice dome as well.

A taste of his own medicine, a ‘thank you’ parcel that was filled with packets of C4 explosive which can be remotely detonated. It was too late to activate a magical barrier and Ken had to eat the explosion. The blast impact was strong enough to push some of the dead bison mages a few metres further.

Meanwhile, the Sen and the rest were hiding behind the dead bisons as cover. “Sen, that plan was brilliant!” Mailee nearly squeaked in excitement.

Sen thought back of the impromptu plan. He somehow knew that if Ken with such extensive firepower could not pinpoint a target, he might as well blow the whole area up. Since he possessed powers to annihilate entire village in a single night, what was creating a blast spanning hundred metre radius to him?

Sen knew his position with the aid of the mini map. They first created an ‘Ice Dome’ with the help of Mailee and Feng strengthened it as much as he could knock. Raizan 3D printed a suitcase filled with C4 explosives and a remote detonator. Knowing Ken’s aggressive stance, Sen purposely baited Ken with a few shroud spears and set up a shroud wall where he was going to throw the spears.

Ken really did what Sen had expected and the fireball that hit the shroud wall was decimated by the fireball. Sen knows that Ken will think they will retreat further back into the fog assuming Sen will have an advantage in the shroud.

However, Sen stalled Ken as much as he can before Raizan was able to finish his C4 explosives. Mailee later used some power from the stolen Fate Crystal of Shiva and use its energies to place a delayed incantation Spatial Freeze spell in the strengthened ice dome. Sen tried to delay Ken a little before they exited out of the Shroud fog.

They got out in the nick of time before the ‘Rising Flame Upburst’ burns the entire area. With the direction Sen pointed, Raizan shot a disillusion spell enchanted along with the lightning bolt as a disguise through the flame attack.

The lightning bolt was enhanced by the flames that it passed through. It served as an attack and most importantly a distraction for the next step of the plan. There was also a possibility the bolt can immobilise Ken with the lightning bolt especially after he expended his magic circuits to cast not one but two intense high level spells. The bolt attack became an opening for the disillusion spell to kick in its effect, reducing Ken’s perception

Once Raizan shot his bolt of lightning, Mailee casted ‘Misty Steps’ on everyone which allowed them to move with some form of invisibility to avoid the detection of their enemies. ‘Misty Steps’ was one of the reason why Mailee was able to travel alone and unassisted to avoid the majority of the dangerous encounters she found herself in. Raizan then casted ‘Refreshing Flash’ on the team which gave the team a tremendous burst of speed. They circled around Ken and situated themselves behind bison mages.

“Strike when they finish casting, that is when most mages are the most vulnerable, including me.” Raizan whispered. As the bison mages were chanting their incantations to cast their ‘Firesnake’ group invocation, Raizan casted ‘Higher Identification’ on Mailee and she was able to see the exposed parts of the mages armour.

She prepped the ‘Ice Knives’ while Feng casts ‘Copy’ on the Ice Knives, reducing the magical energy expenditure of Mailee while doubling the firepower. Sen later casted Shroud Strings that connects the knives to Raizan’s gauntlets. Raizan realised what Sen was doing and gave a wide sadistic grin.

Ken trembled as he slowly stood up and roar from the burns he got from the attack. All his bandages turned into ashes and all that was left was a scarred naked body. The charred ground became crater and the ground was still burning from the explosion.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Ken tried to climb out of the crater but the moment his head was out of the crater, a ice plump javelin was fired from Mailee and lodged into Ken’s shoulder. He yelled in pain and dropped into the crater again.

“You are not the only one that can be relentless.” Sen summoned a rain of shroud spears and they drilled into the direction of Ken. The spears went into his legs, arms, torso, neck, palms, forehead and nearly every other part possible.

“Do not underestimate your opponent Sen, he is after all was a Chosen Champion of a god according to Mailee.” Raizan did a ‘T’ signal with his right index and middle finger in the air. A blue static lightning cross came crashing down onto Ken.

“If he is not dead from these attacks, I guess he was really blessed by his god.” Feng shrugged as he peeked over the crater and saw the mess of a body in it.