Chapter 434: Unstable Enchantments

Julius had never really fought with someone before. Most of the time, he was the person who had to hold back so that his teammates could get involved. This was the first time he was the one barely keeping up.

Emil, the enemy Tier 5, and the alpha Frost Bear were all beyond him. To be honest, it was mostly Emil who was holding them at bay. Julius’s job was to be a pest and to cause as much damage as he could. Even that was only possible because of his new [Void Strike] skill.

He was putting so much pressure on his own body that it required frequent pulses of [Phoenix Renewal] to keep him going. Despite tearing his body apart, it barely gave him enough power to keep up. But that was enough.

[Void Strike] was showing its worth. The skill was able to partially penetrate the powerful defenses of the Tier 5s. The Frost Bear was able to handle most of the strikes with more ease, but that was to be expected considering how sturdy its weaker comrades were at Tier 4. The Tier 5 human, on the other hand, wasn’t handling them as well and was very clearly pissed off at Julius.

Julius could tell that the man wanted nothing more than to wipe him from the face of the continent, but wasn’t able to. Emil was constantly attacking with his massive warhammer, putting on so much offensive pressure that neither the bear nor the man was able to give enough attention to take out Julius.

It also didn’t help that Julius had [Void Step] and was able to escape whenever he wanted.

Speaking of [Void Step], Julius was forced to use it again when he felt a piece of the Tier 5s domain grab hold of him. Usually, this would have been a death sentence. The domain was too powerful and Julius would have been forced to explode a small section of his soul to escape, but now with [Void Step] he was able to get away with a mere step as long as he was quick enough.

His teleportation landed him right behind Emil, who was accumulating a concerning amount of damage. His arms were covered in burns, and his chest had a large gash from one of the Frost Bear’s blows.

However, Julius already had a plan to take care of that. He extended a piece of his aura and prodded the village chief with it.

Emil seemed confused by this, but he must have recognized Julius’s aura signature and allowed his aura to connect with Julius’s. That confusion quickly turned into one of disbelief and mirth when he felt Julius start to infuse life mana into him.

Julius knew that he wasn’t the primary force of this fight. Luckily, his skill set didn’t limit him to being just a sledgehammer, even though that was how he typically liked to fight. He had other abilities that allowed him to act as a proper supporter for others.

His recent addition of healing magic only helped expand his repertoire as well. He let out a small chuckle as he let his life mana run free and direct it toward Emil. He didn’t hold back his life mana; this wasn’t some weak Tier 2 or 3 whose body wasn’t able to handle the full brunt of his healing magic. This was a fully fledged Tier 5 and a pretty decent one at that.

He still managed to slap together a structure of life mana, but he mainly focused on feeding Emil pure life mana with a touch of his Phoenix Concept. To everyone’s surprise, including their opponent’s, Emil’s injuries slowly but surely started to stitch together.

However, what was even more important was that the fatigue the chief had been slowly showing throughout the fight had almost entirely vanished. Julius knew that the man could handle some scrapes and bruises, but stamina was more important, especially when Julius could already sense the enemy’s armor beginning to flag.

Whatever enchantment they were utilizing to keep up with Emil was starting to show signs of wear. They would not be able to keep it up indefinitely, and the moment he began to slow, that was when Emil should have the advantage.

The problem was still the bear. Julius didn’t know how intelligent the monster was, but it appeared that it understood that Julius was a bigger problem than meets the eye. Instead of attacking Emil once more, it had decided to go after Julius.

The enormous creature opened its maw, and Julius widened his eyes as he felt the potent collection of ice mana. A beam of deadly ice magic tore at his head. The speed was unbelievable, and it was only thanks to his early detection that he was able to get out of the way with a blast of kinetic energy.

The ice beam turned everything around it into an icy hell. The ground froze solid, and to his immense concern, he was able to sense that the bear was no longer in the same place it was before. It was already chasing down Julius, using the attack to hide its approach.

For such a large creature, it moved like lightning. Julius was about to use [Void Step] to get away, but to his disbelief, he felt the bear’s domain extend for the very first time. Julius hadn’t felt the Frost Bear’s domain extend out past its body this entire fight, so he had believed that the bear wasn’t able to.

He had believed wrong and was punished for it. Unlike the domain from the other man, this one was very ice-centric. The domain used Concepts of ice to slow his mana manipulation and his overall reaction. It was like trying to drag himself through a pit of quicksand. On top of this, the domain froze his body, trying to turn him into a popsicle.

Julius had to act quickly. Thankfully, he had some experience with fighting against the influence of a domain and immediately supercharged his soul. Then he exploded a small portion of it, and the explosion allowed him to get free of the domain’s oppressive nature narrowly.

It could not have happened sooner, either. He barely had enough time to mold some aura-woven mana around his body to protect himself. But it wasn’t enough. The bear crushed his torso, and he felt his internal organs get turned to mush as the gigantic paw plowed into him.

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Not even his improved kinetic control allowed him to siphon the force in time.

He grunted loudly as all of the wind got ripped from his lungs and half of his body got smashed to pulp. He hardly realized that he was flying through the air until he crashed into the cavern wall. The stone didn’t stand a chance, and he went straight through it without any resistance.

He felt his consciousness fade and his mind go completely numb. He knew that he was a complete mess. The lower half of his body was gone, and only a small part of his upper half was left. It was only thanks to his instincts that he had been able to protect his body with a last-minute defensive barrier to blunt the force he took when he smashed into the wall.