Myth Of A Dragon - 63 Death

“It also seems you’re quite confident in your skills, kid. Allow me.” The old man slowly said as four black orbs started forming in the space above each of his hands. With a wave, all eight charged towards Zeke blindly.

Seeing the surge of mana coming towards him, Zeke immediately coated his sword with faint mana of fire element as he hacked down the orbs that were supposed to hit him while deflecting the others to the wall behind him. When the deflected orbs hit the wall, a bang sound could be heard as Zeke felt the shockwave hit his back. Fortunately, he already slashed all the black orbs coming towards him before the shockwave happened, or else he’d definitely suffer one or two should he lose balance before defending.

‘Such a strong power in a simple move!’

Zeke thought. He knew that these black orbs are of Dark Element, and it was one of the most common ways to attack as a Dark Magician specializing in long-range barrage. Although Zeke knew of it, he hadn’t learned it through the system yet so he wasn’t confident in doing the same spell. Besides, based on the previous attack, the old man should be a Tier 3 considering the purity of his mana is much higher than Zeke. With all these thoughts combined, Zeke knew he was in for a hard battle as he quickly charged forward. He intended to force the old man to fight him in close quarters as he guessed that this man should be more proficient in long-range magic than close quarters.

Seeing Zeke madly charge towards him, the old man sneered and seemed to realize what Zeke was planning.

“Good thinking, kid. However, do you think I am not prepared against this? Do you take me for a dumb old man?” The old man gritted his teeth as a faint black barrier formed a meter around the old man. Unlike earlier, the barrier of the old man as thrice as thick as his disciple’s.

However, Zeke acutely noticed that something’s wrong with the old man’s expression. Instead of the usual indifference, the old man looked like he was hesitant at something. Zeke was trying to make sense of the old man’s expression but the system’s words immediately after confirmed his suspicions.

*Zeke, your body have been inflicted by some sort of poison. The moment you fully entered the room, an illusory smoke seeped inside your body through the pores. At first, it was faint and barely noticeable, but at this point, your body should be weakening greatly if not for your immunity in poison.*

Zeke felt chills after hearing the system. An invisible and odorless poison is the bane of every single human as they wouldn’t even know what hit them before they succumb to the poison. This is especially scary when utilized in assassinations as the prey wouldn’t even know what or where he/she should be careful about.

‘Do you know what kind of poison is this, System?’

*Yes, Zeke. Give me a moment as I search through Mr. Pandora’s books.*

While Zeke and the system conversed inside his mind, Zeke was busy blocking and deflecting the barrage of black orbs while also charging forward little by little. Since the black orbs contain massive strength themselves, Zeke found it hard to move forward as the momentum of the black orbs keep pushing him back. However, with Zeke’s acute senses, he noticed a strand of blood come out of the old man’s mouth.

*Zeke, I found a poison that has the same description as the one you’re supposed to be inflicted with. It didn’t have an official name but only a name coined by people who survived it. Its coined name is the Formless Poison, and its origins are also mysterious. Some said it was from a highly poisonous frog, others say it was born and made by nature itself, while others also claim it was an artificial poison made by some individuals. This Formless Poison is very tyrannical as it specifically targets the person’s mana core. The more the person will mana out of their mana core, the more the poison would damage the inner organs. This means that when mana come out of the inflicted person’s mana core, some of the mana will separate from the whole and be consumed by the poison. When consumed, the supposedly meek and obedient mana would in turn rampage around the body of the user, heavily damaging the organs and foundation of the magician. The strange part was that there was no known medicine that could cure this Formless Poison, and once someone gets inflicted by it, one could only do one thing to dissolve the poison: by making their body void of mana. This will make it so the poison couldn’t reproduce and multiply while slowly dying off. This also means that Formless Poison is the bane of every magician, who all uses and commands magic. Thanks to your immune body, you managed not to get inflicted by it. However, I sense that this poison isn’t as strong as how the book made it to be. My guess is that this poison is just like an ‘infant’ in terms of maturity. This poison is very weak, but it was enough to ravage the insides of the old man after releasing more of his mana to attack you.*

Hearing this, Zeke immediately rejoiced as he now had a definite plan to follow. Since the old man was basically damaging himself the more they fight, then Zeke just needed to stall for a bit before striking a lethal attack.

“Gah! Just DIE!”

While Zeke was deflecting off, a scream could be heard as the old man’s black orbs suddenly became bigger and stronger. Zeke knew the old man’s patience is going thin as he rejoiced in having the Formless Poison to deal with the old man. Right now, he couldn’t even get close due to the old man’s barrage, and while he could hold off his ground temporarily, he would be the one to tire himself up as the old man’s mana reserves are so deep and the spells he cast only cost a sliver of mana. If it was a battle of attrition, Zeke could probably win by a small margin, but if the old man were to get serious, Zeke knew he had no chance. Right now, he was already heavily defending casual spells from the old man. If he were to cast bigger and more advanced spells, Zeke knew he and his sword would stand no chance. Zeke didn’t even bother thinking about fighting as a magician. Although the difference in mana pool is not far, the old man’s mana purity is higher, thus defeating Zeke’s when both simultaneously attack.

Zeke became even more determined to trouble the old man as he knew the old man’s suffering a great deal of damage from the poison. Taking advantage of this, Zeke flashed to the side using [Spatial King’s Domain] as he hurled fireballs after fireballs while deflecting the stray black orbs. The old man got caught off-guard as the fireballs hit his barrier. Although it did no real damage, it consumed some of the old man’s mana, damaging his inner organs even more. The old man realized that Zeke already knew of the poison but instead of being relieved, he was even more baffled.

“ARGGGGGGGGGGGH!”

The old man became even more crazed as he continuously suffered internal damage the more he attacked Zeke. The number of orbs being formed in his palms lessened but each of the orb contained more mana than the previous barrage.

The old man realized that he couldn’t afford to be stingy regarding his mana consumption when facing this boy in front of him. He knew bombarding him with basic spells isn’t gonna work, but he hesitated in truly expending much of his mana towards Zeke. Hesitating, he could only decrease the amount of Dark Orbs while increasing the mana contained inside, basically trading quantity for quality.

Zeke realized this, but instead of grimacing, he felt it would be much more bearable. For Zeke, attacking faster is more tiring than him exerting his full strength. Also, with the decreased amount of orbs going at him, Zeke’s burden would lessen and his chances of getting closer would increase if factors like dodging or deflecting is included.

Another minute had passed by and Zeke was already only a few meters away from the old man. By now, the old man had already coughed a few mouthfuls of blood, staining his magnificent robe red.

“ARGGGHH! I’M DONE PLAYING WITH YOU MONGREL!”

The old man howled once more as he stood up and muttered incomprehensive words. Suddenly, black chains emerged from the ground underneath him as it charged towards Zeke, who was still fending off the last dark orbs shot by the old man.

Sensing the chains approaching him, Zeke immediately cast [Void Negation]. When the chains got near Zeke, it suddenly dissolved into dust as Zeke charged forward.

The old man was shocked that his Dark Bindings didn’t work but he was experienced enough to not get flustered. He immediately jumped back and observed Zeke. He assumed that with Zeke using such a fraudulent trick, it must’ve some limitations. The old man decided to create some distance between him and Zeke as his foot got covered by black-colored mana as he slid backward.

When Zeke saw this, he immediately followed. Faint electric sparks surrounded by wind appeared around his legs as he dashed towards the sliding old man.

‘Is he crazy? Why did he use ma… oh.’ The old man thought inwardly. At first, he thought Zeke knew about the lingering poison in the surroundings which damaged even a Tier 3 Demon Magician like him. However, after seeing Zeke brazenly cast a spell, he couldn’t help but realize that perhaps Zeke still hasn’t felt the poison yet. This greatly pleased the old man as he thought of baiting him more and more even while being damaged himself. He knew he should be much stronger than Zeke so in terms of battling a war of attrition, it will be Zeke that succumbs to the poison first.

‘Wait… isn’t he using fire mana earlier? How come I’m seeing electricity in his feet? And it seems there’s also… wind?!’

The old man suddenly noticed the oddity. Earlier, he could feel that the boy in front of him released faint Fire-attributed mana to coat his sword which made slashing through the orbs possible. However, the boy in front of him also cast Lightning and perhaps even a Wind Element spell simultaneously. Just what is this? Is this some sort of joke?

While the old man was gazing at Zeke with unconcealed shock, Zeke continued his charge. Since the opponent knew of his multiple elements now, he no longer felt the need to limit himself. Still from a few meters away, Zeke slashed with his sword, releasing a Fire-attributed wave of mana coming towards the old man.

Seeing this, the old man sneered. He had absolute confidence with his barrier which can even block attacks from people slightly stronger than him. If the attack is from the kid in front of him, the old man didn’t put up much guard.

As soon as it clashed against the Darkray Barrier, the whole barrier trembled while a crack appeared on the part where the sword collided. The shocked old man didn’t know how Zeke managed to crack the barrier, but after a few seconds, the old man widened his eyes as he looked at Zeke. His gaze contained multiple emotions, particularly that of shock, disbelief, and anger.

“What the fuck is this? Even light?!”

The old man cursed. He checked and examined his barrier only to sense Light-attributed mana from outside. He initially didn’t see it due to the fire mana but now that he examined it closer, he sensed that it wasn’t the fire-attributed mana that hit his barrier, but the bane of Dark Magicians like him – the element of light. Although he was still shocked inwardly, he knew he couldn’t indulge in it right now as the kid who left him surprises is his enemy and that he’s currently charging again towards him. With the man’s newfound discovery, he didn’t dare take Zeke’s sword strike head-on. He gritted his teeth and, after a few more seconds, decided to stop hesitating as determination filled his crazed facial expression.

Four black javelins materialized as it launched towards Zeke. When Zeke saw this, he dodged two while blocking the remaining two with his now light-imbued sword. However, after blocking the third javelin, Zeke got caught off guard as the old man suddenly materialized in front of Zeke, striking him with his palm covered with Dark-attributed mana. Zeke hadn’t expected this as he was sent tumbling back with a palm imprint on his chest. A direct strike from a Tier 3 was plenty enough to destroy Zeke’s defenses as he felt his inner organs tremble from the impact. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, Zeke didn’t even have time to rest as another four javelins came flying towards Zeke in different directions. Not daring to underestimate it again, Zeke dodged while a faint white barrier enveloped Zeke’s figure as he then again received a direct palm from the old man who was also coughing up blood. Fortunately, due to the extra protection from the [Light Shield], Zeke wasn’t as injured as the first strike. He only staggered backwards by three steps as he felt a heavy sensation on his chest. He stared at the old man with vigilance as he still didn’t know how the old man could do this.

Seeing Zeke with almost little to no damage, the old man got enraged. He had utilized a technique where he could switch with one of his attacks to deal a heavy blow on Zeke but it didn’t occur to him that Zeke was actually so tenacious that his two sneak attacks were almost ineffective.

Knowing that the old man couldn’t finish off Zeke by using half-assed moves, the man didn’t hesitate anymore as he willed a large amount of mana to coat himself. Although the poison would act even more inside his body, he felt that if he could get rid of Zeke instantly, he would have time to deal with the poison inside his body. It was a big gamble that the old man took as he knew he couldn’t get rid of Zeke without risking himself.

The sudden surge of mana alerted Zeke as he was now looking at the figure of the old man shrouded with black mana. Then, to Zeke’s surprise, the old man suddenly disappeared from his view as even his presence also got concealed. Zeke grimaced as he looked intently around his surroundings while keeping his sword in a defensive position.

However, even after a few seconds have passed, Zeke still couldn’t sense the old man. He thought the old man escaped but the next event caught him off-guard. He heard a slight whistle coming from behind him as Zeke swung his sword in hopes of hitting the old man. When his sword passed through the area where Zeke heard the whistle, he didn’t feel any obstruction as he knew his attack missed. Before Zeke could even reset his stance, he felt a tinge of pain on his neck. He looked down, only to see a jet black tip of the spear piercing through Zeke’s neck. Then, the spear suddenly rotated wildly as Zeke’s head flew off while his body knelt before completely plopping down. Blood gushed as a figure appeared not too long after Zeke’s death. The black figure receded the Dark mana covering his whole body as the familiar face of the old man could be seen.

“Fucking pest.”