Chapter 35: Battle of Master Manipulators
The fallen of the zombie dragon has caused the warriors to went on a rampage with Rentap in command. Rentap commands seem to be able to enhance his people strength.
It might be due to their increasing battle morale, but it could also be Rentap passive skills that can enhance whoever follows him.
The voice told Kim that each living being has their own personalized distinguishable mana. it's the reason why it's easy to find others with mana sense. It's like a fingerprint for mana.
Basically saying, each manas is unique and different. Thus, it's hard for them to mix with one another. Although it's possible to absorb others mana after killing it, the efficiency is not that high and most of it will be dispersed into nature.
However, it's actually possible for different mana to interact with one another. This is actually one of the basic aspects of being a manipulator. Manipulator mana inside other living beings as their own.
For example, some mana user could cause other's mana to actively flow inside a person body to help them regenerate. Some can cause mana to be dormant, blocking a person from wielding mana. There are cases of those who can absorb others mana without killing themselves but the mana will eventually be wasted if not used.
In Rentap case, he could resonate his mana to those who willingly follow him, making their mana to react with each other and enhance their body. For Rentap's case, the more people following him, the stronger they will become.
Kim clicked his tongue after the long explanation.
"Why must only his follower get stronger? I'm the one who gets him back to life"
Kim complained while stomping his right leg.
The Lich could only observe the behaviour of Kim. Although the rampaging warriors gave a heavy impact, she couldn't do anything since Kim still keep her in check.
Between them, there are dozen of mana skills has been prepared to counter each other. A single movement would mean an array of powerful mana attack launched in one time. It's the same case for Kim as well.
Kim didn't expect the lich would end up preparing mana to attack him instead of running away as to how he thought the Lich would. At first, the Lich only prepared teleportation skill by manipulating space around her.
Kim managed to notice the fluctuations of mana around him and prepared an earth coffin trap that would bury the lich to the ground even if it's a flick of her single finger.
The Lich then responded with a barrier that is big enough for her to escape before teleporting.
Before the Lich able to focus on her teleport skill, a barrier surrounded both Kim and the lich was made to block anyone from getting out.
The Lich flinched, but she didn't falter. She analysed Kim's barrier and managed to find small subtle holes. With high precision of mana manipulation, she made her mana delicate enough to be able to penetrate through Kim's barrier. They turned into huge 5 metres long needle which attacked Kim's barrier from the outside.
At the same time, some kind of red yellowish liquid substance floating out from the ground. The liquid then coagulated with each other which then formed 3 red balls made from molten lava.
Although the fireballs were as small as a human palm, it was hot enough to melt iron like butter.
The Lich then shoots the balls of magma. Kim could avoid it, but he was still maintaining his barrier. If he released the barrier now, then the needle made of pure mana will pierce through him.
But it was a different case for the fireballs. Although Kim could sense the destructive power of heat emanating from within those fireballs made of magma, somehow he didn't sense any danger at all.
Anyone would run between their tails trying to avoid the devastating heat from the fireballs.
Alpha Cerberus maybe be powerful, but a drop of the magma from those fireballs could melt an elephant in a sec. It's like the power of Alpha Cerberus fireballs and King Hydra's corrosive purple flame combine.
However, for Kim, he didn't sense any danger at all. In fact, he felt like his body is actually eager to get hit by the fireballs as if a deer voluntarily get inside a crocodile mouth. The fireballs of magma flew apart and dispersed. Each one of them has tendrils grow all around which connected to each other to form a spider web pattern.
The moment it hit Kim, the web of magma wrapped Kim all over, setting him ablaze.
From an ordinary person point of view, Kim only waited to be burnt to crisp, leaving nothing but ashes. But they will be shocked if they heard the Lich next words...
"This human is ridiculous, he's still alive. I wonder if he's even injured at all"
The Lich knew none of her attacks could affect Kim even for a bit. It will only buy her some time. So the Lich took the little bit of time to focus on her teleportation again and at the same, she prepared for another attack.
The Lich released her mana pressure which caused black clouds to gathered above her and Kim. The wind blew fiercely, and thunder rumbling with a deafening sound. The sudden change of atmosphere has caused the rampaging warriors to stop. Every attention was averted toward the black clouds. Even the fact that the zombie dragon was sliced in half by Rentap was forgotten.
Enggang squawked and whispered to Momo.
"Momo, prepare a barrier"
The undead monsters suddenly died, which caused Rentap to feel alarmed.
"Brothers, gathered your shield. And make a barrier!"
Within the red blazing magma trying to melt his body to the ground, Kim felt like he is taking a fresh shower. All the pores in his body open up, absorbing the mana coming from the magma. He felt like his mana capacity is growing the more he absorbed it.
"This Lich mana is powerful. If it was me from before I would get burnt in no time"
Unable to do anything while maintaining his barrier, Kim nodded his head up toward the black cloud. The Lich skills in manipulation have caught his interest. His eyes flickered with excitement as he discovered more things regarding mana.
"Hey old geezer, you never told me I can use mana in different ways at one time... look at that Lich, I barely able to maintain this barrier and she already preparing for another attack"
"Well, that's because I never need to. All I need is one attack"
Feeling that talking to the voice is useless, Kim decided to make an experiment himself. Although he could prepare earth coffin and made a barrier, that was only because he made the earth coffin first and then make the barrier. But he couldn't make the earth coffin and the barrier at the same time. Which is what the lich seems to be doing. Eating while doing work at the same time.
Kim only used one skill at a time. Then use it consecutively by changing from enhancement, to manipulation, to conjuring. Sometimes he would manipulate fire then change to earth. If he enhances his mind, he wouldn't enhance his body because it would make him lose focus. Besides, his body is already tempered by mana making it strong even without enhancement. And for conjuring skill, he only has the mental domain for now.
Now that he thought about it, why didn't he try to use more than one skill at one time? Won't his attack be more powerful? Why can't he enhance both his mind and body at the same? Or manipulate earth and fire to kill different kinds of monsters at one time.
He could create an earth barrier while shooting fireballs from afar. He could also enhance his mind at the same time to boost his observations while fighting. If he enhances his moving speed and thinking ability at the same time, he would see everything at a normal rate while moving everywhere.
"The future is vast"
However, that is only in the future and not the present. Kim tried all he could, but every time he tried to make a simple flame his barrier is on the verge of breaking. In which, a single moment of carelessness has made a hole at the barrier. Even though the hole would be covered up in a second, it was more than enough for the Lich to unleash a thunderstrike that split the sky in half.
The huge thunderstrike looks like a huge hammer of justice giving judgement to anyone beneath heaven. The blinding flash of light covered the entire sky. The rumbling sound could travel across the continent. Even those from surrounding south-east Asia countries could hear the devastating sound of the thunder which caused an ordinary person to faint.
If Sylva saw this, he would cough several mouthfuls of blood and roll backwards ten times due to shock. Even for a master manipulator like him, the power behind this thunder is inconceivable.
Within a split, a second the thunder fall into Kim hitting directly to his bone. The moment it hit the ground, cracks started to form, almost crumbling it to pieces. The shockwave travelled far which caused an earthquake of high magnitude hitting nearby countries.
The gathered warriors gritted their teeth trying to hold onto the barriers. Momo sweat profusely trying to maintain her barrier with full power. She almost used up all her mana she recovered from resting. Even Enggang is helping her with the barrier.
Kim gritted his teeth trying to disperse some of the power with the barrier he maintained till now. Luckily the barrier was already prepared so he had time to react properly. However, the thunder was unexpectedly strong and there was also the hole made from his careless attempt. So, some of the thunder powerful power hit him directly into his bone.
"Kid! Transfer the mana to the ground!"
With superhuman reflect, Kim tried to absorbed the thunder mana and transferred it to the ground. Dispersing the power further. There no fatal injuries, but some of his skin was burned, and he also felt numb all over. Even though the power has been reduced to half, he almost fainted which made him unable to maintain his barrier.
The Lich took this chance to teleport. She even had the time to froze Kim's leg along the land to keep him from disrupting her teleportation.
Everyone was in awe seeing the supreme power of the thunder. However, seeing Kim didn't even lose consciousness was even more unbelievable. What more amazing was, everything happened in a single breath of time and both sides didn't even move an inch.
This was the battle of mana between two master manipulators. However, compared to the Lich who had several more times of experience, Kim who just transcended to Master level would obviously lose.
The earth coffin trap finally triggered due to the Lich movement, but the target was already gone. Thinking that the Lich was already gone, Kim clicked his tongue.
"Gone too soon, there was more to learn..."
Before Kim managed to finish his sentence, he sensed a fluctuation of mana behind him which cause him to felt imminent danger.
"Momo!"
Ripples formed in the sky behind Momo. A skeletal hand, holding a scythe appeared out from the ripples. The scythe seems to emanate a strong deathly aura which could corrode an ordinary person body to dust with a single touch.
Momo who was still recovering wasn't able to sense anything.
"Such a waste for a cute girl like you to die this early. You remind me of myself when I was still a human. Anyway, die"
Before the scythe could touch Momo, a glorious squawked sounded. Although not loud, it was still domineering enough to cause the Lich to flinch for a second.
Within that split of a second, a tree suddenly grew from the ground creating a huge gap between the Lich and Momo. The tree continued to grow until the point that it was surrounded by clouds.
Kim took this chance to enhance his speed fully to suddenly appeared in front of the Lich. Kim then gathered all his mana into his left hand. His whole body was shining with brilliant white light. Along with nature. Although he wanted to study the Lich more, seeing Momo in danger has raged him.
"How dare you try to kill Momo"
The Lich could only curse her fate a hundred times as Kim punch straightly to her face.