Chapter 35: A Magic Demonstration
"You're saying you want to teach them magic?" Serie tilted her head, her gaze fixed on Rhodes. After the initial excitement of their reunion had faded, Rhodes had pulled her aside to make his request.
"Do as you wish," she said. Serie didn't really mind. Teaching one was the same as teaching two. Besides, the spells she and Rhodes were using now were modified versions, no longer strictly elven magic. Kraft, however, was another matter. Rhodes would have to convince him himself. But it probably wouldn't be a problem. He had been away from the Great Elven Forest for hundreds of years and had never returned; he had likely long since forgotten about those old, antiquated rules.
"But what was that spell you used to severely wound the demon?"
Serie remembered arriving at the cliff to find the demon grievously injured, half of its body blown away. The only reason it was still alive was due to some peculiar constitution. "I suspect that demon had modified its own body. Otherwise, it would have been turned to ash by an injury that severe." Seeing as it could use magic to control the corpses of magical beasts, it wasn't a stretch to think it might have performed some kind of undead modification on itself.
"That's a definite possibility," Rhodes nodded in agreement, then described the spell he had used to wound the demon.
"Absorb light and then explode?" Serie found it hard to comprehend. "Can you show me?"
Rhodes was a little hesitant. He was still in the process of figuring out the spell himself; he hadn't fully mastered it. Most importantly, he only knew how to cast it, not how to control or contain it. The spell was quite destructive.
After he explained his concerns to her, she simply said, "Then let's go somewhere further away to test it." Serie had not forgotten her goal: to teach Rhodes magic so that he could create even more powerful spells. Now, hearing that he had created such a potent spell on his own, she couldn't suppress her excitement.
Rhodes nodded and went to tell Norne and Eirik. If he was going to make a lot of noise, they were bound to be startled. It was best to give them a heads-up. To his surprise, they wanted to watch. They had never seen the true, terrifying power of magic. In his spar with them, he had held back, not using any large-scale destructive spells.
Rhodes agreed, but he hadn't expected Kraft and Somme to be drawn in as well.
"You all really have nothing better to do," Rhodes said with a sigh, looking at the expectant faces surrounding him.
"It's not often young Rhodes shows us his skills. I have to be here for it," Somme said with a grin.
And so, the group made their way to a large, open clearing outside the village. They were still within the bounds of Glimmerwood, so they didn't have to worry about magical beasts, only the occasional wild animal. But for the group assembled here, any animal foolish enough to show itself would simply be an extra ingredient for dinner.
Rhodes stood in the center of the clearing and told the others to stand back. Then, he began to manipulate his mana.
A series of magic circles appeared in his palm. The situation with the demon had been urgent; he hadn't had time to properly refine the spell. But he had been pleased with its power. Now, he intended to cast the full, completed version.
Rhodes focused all his attention on controlling the flow of energy. Serie could clearly feel the mana around him begin to churn with a frenzied energy.
In the next second, their vision went black.
To be precise, the light in that space had been stolen away. The darkness lasted only a moment, not even half a second. Norne and Eirik thought their eyes were playing tricks on them. Somme, however, sensed that something was wrong. He rubbed his eyes and, on instinct, took two steps back.
The ones who felt the darkness most keenly were Kraft and Serie. Their faces were grim. The former's was a warrior's intuition, the latter's was from observing the sudden shift in the flow of mana.
"Such terrifying power," Kraft said in awe. His warrior instincts had kicked in, and his body had unconsciously adopted a fighting stance, every muscle tensed.
"Yes. It seems Rhodes has created a very frightening spell."
Serie discreetly cast two layers of defensive magic on herself and quietly formed a magic circle in her hand, ready to erect a barrier if things went wrong.
As they spoke, Rhodes finally finished gathering his power. With no life-or-death situation pressing him, he could take his time. The small point of light from before had grown into a fist-sized orb, its power multiplied several times over.
The white orb floated quietly in his palm, then began to spin, emitting a high-pitched hum and sending out visible waves of light. Norne and Eirik's eyes widened, and they instinctively took a few steps back, hiding behind Somme. This, of course, made Somme puff out his chest in annoyance (though it would have been more effective if he had a beard to stroke).
Of the two who hadn't retreated, Kraft had adopted a defensive stance, and Serie had silently erected a magic barrier in front of herself. They had never seen such a powerful wave of energy. Just watching from a distance made their hearts pound in their chests.
"Here it comes!"
Rhodes thrust his hands forward, sending the orb of light flying several dozen meters away. He then immediately threw up a magic barrier of his own, identical to Serie's.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion ripped through the air, and a brilliant pillar of light shot up into the sky. A violent shockwave of energy expanded outwards, ripping up everything in its path. At the center of the explosion, everything was reduced to ash, revealing the black earth beneath. Even the trees on the periphery were shaking violently, leaves and broken branches raining down.
When the light faded, they were all shocked to find a massive, scorched crater, tens of meters in diameter, in the center of the clearing.
"Th-that..." Eirik's mouth hung open, at a loss for words. He didn't dare to imagine what would have happened if a spell like that had been unleashed in their village.
"Such powerful magic," Norne said, staring at the crater, his mind racing. If humans could learn such powerful magic, they could stand tall and proud in this world, no longer forced to live in hiding.
In that moment, a fierce determination took root in Norne's heart. No matter the cost, he would have Rhodes teach him this magic, and then he would pass it down to his descendants. Generation after generation, this magic would be inherited and developed, and it would surely create a brighter future for humanity.
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yo guys trying something new for Every 150 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter