15 Tactics
Rem, the monkey, jumped off while the others leaped away in different positions.
His team just happened to be a ragtag compilation of random members that Ji forced to do his bidding.
Nathan did not notice this, but the bird with red wings and a black body saw the purple mist at the top of the dome. When the bird cast a simple wind spell, he saw it getting dispersed.
Then it tried to use a [Fireball]. But when it hit the mist, the ball of flame immediately dispersed.
Realizing that the mist is extremely potent, the bird perched helplessly in a branch in front of the open area.
Once Rem landed directly in front of the opening, he backed in a tree around 15 meters away from the opening.
His brown fur let him meld along with the bark of the tree; if it weren't for its red bloodshot eyes, it could've hidden without needing spells.
Nathan locked eyes with the monkey as they stood off.
Suddenly, a blue spell circle appeared under Rem's feet as he began to chant. The same sound that seems to transcend dimensions resounded on his mouth.
Then, the temperature began to shift. Crystals of ice started to form in the air as if condensing and freezing the water vapor. Once the spell is completed, shards of ice the size of a grape floated mid-air.
As Nathan saw this, he couldn't help but gulp. Besides his [Flame Burst], this is the first spell he saw that actually formed a complex shape and number.
He and Vin had been trying to change the form of their spells and only succeeded in [Earth Spike]. But unlike this hail kind of spell that the monkey used, their spell seems basic as common sense.
Unsure of what to do, Nathan began to cast [Fire Burst] in the opening. A red circle appeared, completely sealing the opening.
When Rem saw this, he tilted his head towards the right.
When the lizard saw this, it invoked [Earth Manipulation] twice, blocking the red spell circle.
Rem took the opportunity to launch the ice shards towards Nathan.
Seeing this, Nathan grinned, his [Fire Burst] can melt and pierce the earth and even increase its potency due to the blasting pieces of rocks.
Just as the geyser of flames come out, a rat dug out of the ground with its crimson eyes as green glow covered its little paw along with the bird on the branch.
The [Gale] invoked by the rat and bird attempted to redirect the sprouting flames towards the trees.
Unfortunately for the beast, the trees seem to become sturdy as iron and did not even leave the smallest of burns.
Seeing the result, the rat immediately glowed brown as it tried to dig away. But before it could run, Nathan cast an [Earth Spike] below it.
With its quick response and flexible body, the rat was able to shift the [Earth Spike] with [Earth Manipulation], leaving him with a deep wound in the middle of its left limbs.
Being only a level two beast, while the wound isn't immediately fatal, there's no way to heal the injury in the shortest time. The rat still has a bit before it bleeds out.
Using its strengthened will and the power of berserk, the rat began to strongly glow brown to undo the maze-like earth barriers that Nathan strategically placed.
Nathan saw this, but he couldn't finish the rat off. The monkey and the lizard are giving it a hard time while needing to remain vigilant to other attackers.
Ice kept raining towards different areas, while [Earth Spikes] spawned from the ground. This placed Nathan in an even more disadvantageous position as his mana usage averages at almost 2% every 5 seconds.
If one cycle of breathing could take as long as 3-6 seconds. Without a way to measure the time, Nathan could feel that it'd take at Vin at least around 330 breathes or 22 minutes.
Clearly, this isn't sustainable.
After using up all its mana, the rat finally passed away, reducing the pressure for Nathan.
But before Nathan could feel relieved, he saw covert movements inside the dome with the use of his [Arcane Track].
The snake stealthily slithered inside the dome while the others kept Nathan busy.
The monkey kept throwing ice, the lizard kept launching spikes, and the bird kept hurling fireballs.
Unlike Ji, which already had obsidian colored skin, this snake is one with red and white stripes and is around 4 meters long.
Once it felt Nathan's gaze landing on it, the snake dispelled its cloak as it began to rush out.
Nathan invoked a large block in front of him to block the other animals for a while as he placed his attention on the snake.
With this, the snake began to move erratically as it glowed green with [Wind Steps].
Nathan had to kill the snake fast as he understood that the blind spot he made for himself may cause him, Vin.
However, to Nathan's dismay, the bird already flew inside with a red spell circle in front of its beak. Another [Fireball] came out.
Slightly panicked, Nathan threw a [Fireball] back at the bird to cancel out the bird's flames.
Then, losing his balance, his body shifted to the right as an [Earth Spike] took over his last position.
"Shit!" Nathan screamed as he fell over.
When the bird saw this, it gawked as it cast another [Fireball] towards Nathan.
When Vin sensed the danger Nathan was in, he decided to forcefully abort his breakthrough. 286 breaths left, but he didn't have the time for this.
Just as he was about to make his move, a shard of ice hit the bird from its rear while another shrill scream sounded from the monkey who's currently climbing the maze.
Nathan got hit in the stomach as his clothes began to burn, as he was about to cast [Gale] to blow away the weak embers, an idea popped in his head.
[Earth Manipulation] is basically a terraforming skill that moves the earth as if it was all blocks. [Gale] is controlling the wind, but just like [Earth Manipulation], it is highly flexible and has a lot of spells that can branch off of it. While he has not made any standardized spell for water manipulation, it was possible with his experience in the river. How about fire?
Right now, all of his spells involve manipulation of something that exists. [Fireball] is the only spell he has that creates something else out of mana. Before thinking of creating other elements from mana, how about controlling fire first?
As he thought of all this, only a second has passed, this kind of inspiration in the middle of the battle. It can only be described as an epiphany.
Then, to manipulate fire, his eyes glowed red as the embers in his clothes began to seep out and turn into a small fire the size of candlelight. He began to expand the flames with a red glow in his hands as the fire danced around him.
As the fire danced around Nathan, he immediately began to think of a whip. A red spell circle formed in his right hand as he quickly constructed a handle made of mana with a second circle attached to the tip. [Fire Whip] is formed.
[Fire Dance]
Fire Element Invocation Spell. Controls existing flames as if one is moving the source of the fire.
[Fire Whip]
Fire Element Spell. Requires two different spells, one is forming the handle, and one is creating a rope made of flames. A weapon made from fire by simulating the physics of a whip.
The spell [Fire Whip] required more control than his other spells as it required him to chant and invoke at the same time. Chanting forms the spell circle as the mage describes a phenomenon. At the same time, Invoking requires the complete creativity of the mage as most invocation spells break the laws of physics from the last universe.
For the first time, a spell that is actually magical befell Nathan's hands. An epiphany without the help of a white orb. This made him ecstatic that he neglected where the ice came from and whipped the eagle.
Just as the bird was falling, another [Fireball] was sent over to Nathan.
Holding his [Fire Whip], the flames began to move as if it were a serpent devouring the [Fireball] and extending its length.
With a simple whipping motion, Nathan strikes at the falling bird and burst it like a watermelon.
Vin felt amazed at this scene and realized that his friend is protecting him at all costs. He has seen Nathan battle for the last few days, where Nathan applied some game tactics to an unbelievable degree. Tower defense, RPG, RTS, and all sorts of styles have been used by Nathan.
And while he's not the brightest of the people, he's definitely easy to inspire. As long as Nathan had a base to start with, he can innovate the things he could do.
Besides, looking at the source of the ice shard, Vin relaxed completely.
