Chapter 19: Self-charging spell
The moment the Lightbolts appeared, Xylos quickly analyzed it. After a few minutes, the <Lightbolt(target)> spell appeared. The undead army haven't arrived yet but the group started preparing; Vivi chanted something and the area around the group was raised to a higher elevation. Then, the light bolts entered the ground leaving a barely visible white glow on the ground.
The transition caught Xylos off guard as he studied the spell again. Everything was the same as the Lightbolt spell except a few parameters such as "trigger on contact", "explosion radius", and "charge mana" was added to it. The first two were straight forward but the last parameter was interesting; the "charge mana" would continuously absorb mana from the surrounding and increase the power of the spell until it was triggered. It was similar to the Mana Battery component that he created but disposable and doesn't require the rest of the system to work.
It was something that he hasn't seen before. Most of the "Mana Functions" that he gathered so far were based on the movement of Mana when the spell was performed; everything after that is based on the content of the spell. Comparing the regular Lightbolt spell and the modified one, Xylos was able to extract the Mana Function for the "Charge Mana" component.
"I'll show you what a cannon folder can do!" Xylos roared inwardly as he started up the development console.
<LightBolt2(TargetSet).Start>
Foreach [Target] in [TargetSet]
ChargeMana();
Lightbolt.Source = ChargeMana();
Lightbolt(Target);
tarSet2 = GetNearbyTargets(Target);
if [tarSet2.contains(Target.type)] return Lightbolt2(tarSet2) else ChargeMana();
<LightBolt2(TargetSet).End>
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Sharles looked at the undead army before him. They were finally able to locate a life source that could extend the lives of his people for at least a decade. He always wondered why the King kept trying to keep the people in the Udety alive. At least 50% of them were braindead and would only be a matter of time before they degraded into monsters attacking anything with a speck of life.
Nonetheless, it still bothered him how the King started using sentient beings as a life source. In the past all they would do it hunt nearby monsters and animals. But as more and more of the population degraded he started targeting humanoids.
He didn't bother to think about it any longer, the Forest Giant was up ahead along with what seemed like 3 people with a strong life force. He thought that if he could subdue those three, maybe the life of the people in the city would be extended for a couple more decades.
He noticed that the distance between him and the group of people was decreasing at a steady pace. Along with the giant, the group was staying in place. He ordered a skeleton to scout ahead, while the rest of the army stood in place. When the skeleton moved 200 meters ahead a ray of light shot out and engulfed everything within a 20-meter radius in pure white light.
The area ahead was trapped.
"Ready spears!" Shales shouted, "Launch!"
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Vivi watch as one of the scouts of the army was engulfed by a Lightbolt mine; This indicated that the enemy was smart enough to check for traps. Thus, the army could be lead by a medium or high undead. Moments later, about 80 dark spears flew into the air and randomly triggered some of the mines in the ground. Then, a barrage of arrows flew toward them.
Levin focused for a moment before shooting out a blast of air and deflected all the incoming arrows. The undead army then paused a considerable distance away and said in a clear voice, "Surrender or..." but before it can finish, a Lightbolt flew at one fo the skeletons.
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Sharles watched as a Lighbolt flew at one of the skeletons at the front. It was dim and lacked any substance.
"A beginner mage?" Sharles pondered, as the Lightbolt collided with one of the skeletons and disappeared without causing any damage. The other two mages were much stronger; it looked like a pair of mentors taking an apprentice out for some field exercise. It was a long time since he saw a group like that; most of the remaining humanoid races in the area went into hiding after one of its villages was attacked.
He might be able to get them to reveal where they came from if he could capture them alive and bring them to the City. He promptly changed the order, "Attack but try not to kill them, cripple them if you can."
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"What was that?" Carly said as he looked at Xylos who was slumped on the ground after the spell.
The cost to cast the Spell at the first target was 1000 MC. He thought he could use the Mana Charge function to reduce the cost but it only decreased the mana cost from 1000 to 500. He was hesitant about using it since it would consume his MC but looking at how the other two effortlessly handled the initial onslaught, he knew it was okay to go all out. He really wanted to go beyond being considered cannon fodder.
Vivi looked at Xylos and shooked her head. The cannon fod...Xylos probably tried to replicate the Lightbolt spell. She was surprised that he managed to do in one try, but there is a good chance he might have suffered from backlash for casting an incomplete spell. At least he tried, she was pretty sure he won't be useful with only that shield of his.
"Get ready," Levin said as wind elements start to converge around his body. The squad that got hit by the Lightbolt took the lead. The squad leader took out a tower shield from the back and handed it to the skeleton that was hit with the Lightbolt; then that skeleton proceeded to push the tower shield like a minesweeping device. It only took a few steps before the tower shield encountered one of the mines and then something incomprehensible happened.
The skeleton was knocked back by the explosion but after it exploded, it triggered all the remaining Light Mines which then turned into a beam of white light and beamed toward the skeleton that triggered it. Then, several Lightbolts flew toward all the nearby units from it; they were also faint like the first Lightbolt but this time the quantity increased; this repeated a couple of times until it was clear was happening.
When the Lightbolt hit one of the skeletons, that skeleton would spawn a Lightbolt for each of the nearby undead; if it couldn't find a target the ground near the enemy would start glowing.
The Lightboltss spread through the army like acid; the bolt started off weak and dim but as it repeated itself on every nearby target, it became stronger and stronger. Even the dirt, plants, and trees around the area also started glowing with a white light further increasing the power of the spell. It only took a moment before the first skeleton was purified by the Lightbolts and disappeared.
Levin watched the result with a smile, "Congratulations, you've been promoted from cannon fodder tier-1 to cannon fodder tier-2."
Xylos lampooned inwardly, but he happily observed the results with satisfaction.
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Sharles looked at what was happening and started running away as fast as he can; the entire army was drowned in a brilliant white glow. Most of the looked unharmed by the weak Lightbolts, but he knew it was only a matter of time before his army got wiped out.
Every time the spell spread it would increase in power. It was incomprehensible; every spell that he encountered before would be limited in mana and with enough force countering the spell it would lose its power and disappear.
He needed to go back and warn the King. As he turned, to run back one of the weak Lightbolt struck him in the back; he was scared witless for a moment but after checking that nothing odd was happening to his body, he let out a sigh of relief and continued retreating...