Total Annihilation

"Oh, a challenge? A challenge, is it?" The taller Sage Gotham's acolyte sneered. "Well, we're not afraid to bloody our hands. Unlike you, who was too scared to show yourself on the previous battlefield, we are ready to die here and now if it means even one of us survives!" -He gave Leylin a menacing glare as he pointed his staff at him. It began to glow with dark purple light and it hummed with Mana Energy.

"Do not mistake my indifference for weakness." Leylin warned him as his emerald eyes flashed red. "Though I find it amusing that you have prepared yourselves to die. So you shall." With a disturbingly kind smile, he snapped his fingers.

Following a sudden tremble that nearly threatened to rob the acolytes of their balance, six giant vines barbed with poisonous thorns surged from the bog and pointed themselves at the acolytes as if they had a mind of their own.

"Briar Root." Leylin's voice was filled with killing intent. "A mid-level vine spell designed to counter enemy cavalry and summons. I will allow you to use that silver talisman on your left hand, smaller acolyte of Sage Gotham's Hut."

The acolyte who had been the one to activate that other magic artifact to escape, was frozen in fear. How did he know of the second item he was prepared to use? Had he detected it using only his energy waves?!

Leylin chuckled, as the giant vines positioned themselves in front of him as if shielding their Master, bearing their sword-like thorns toward his enemies. "Please, do not hold back. If I am to sully my hands dealing with you mongrels, I might as well get some enjoyment out of it."

"As you wish… don't regret this later! Junoa, summon that to our aid!" -The leader commanded his subordinate, while he himself began the incantations in the Byron language of a powerful offensive spell.

Junoa withdrew a silver whistle from his robes and blew on it. The piercing noise from the whistle sounded. From afar a growl from a beast was heard. It was oppressive, bloodthirsty, and seemed to come from mid-air.

The growl sounded and a massive black figure pressed down from the top of the trees, hovering in the air above the marsh.

It was a giant creature with purple and black light emitting from its body. Also, it was the size of a horse, and two wings like that of a bat's grew from its sides. At the end of the wings, there were barbed talons. The mouth was extremely pointed and was filled with razor-sharp, white teeth. A pair of bright, yellow eyes seemed to burn like flames in the middle of the night.

"Ah, Moonlight Mayfly. Not bad for a contracted beast. Unlike a true summon though, it would demand a tribute from the caster in order to obey their orders…" -Leylin was nonchalantly analyzing the opponent's magic, as the leader acolyte was nearly finished with his incantation.

"Junoa, send in your creature! I am almost done here!" -The leader called.

"Alright, Shen!" -The smaller and thinner acolyte nodded, and he transmitted his orders to the flying beast.

As if on cue, the beast was given orders by its master to lunge at Leylin. Unperturbed, he merely crossed his arms. By the time the Mayfly was about to gnaw at the Farlier heir's body, the four Briar Roots coordinated to form a wall to protect Leylin.

This seemingly displeased their Master, as he clicked his tongue. "It would seem this spell formula requires some tweaking to reach perfection. Why are you going on the defensive against such a low-level creature? Turn that fly into mincemeat." Leylin commanded using a bit of Mana Energy, and his vines obeyed.

At the wishes of their caster, the vines lashed out in unison. They tightened around the beast mid-flight, like a boa constrictor. The beast struggled mightily, thrashing around in the air, its wings flailing against the vines, its talons scraping against the Briar Thorns.

"That's the end of that." Leylin shrugged.

The beast was helplessly skewered multiple times by the sharp thorns on the vines, as they penetrated the Moonlight Mayfly's defenses like they were nothing. Its purple energy sprayed in an arc as it crashed to the ground, lifeless.

The fly let loose a thunderous scream, as it was further eviscerated into nothing but bloody bits of flesh, and its body then turned into a fine purple mist.

"How unsightly." He said, gesturing toward the fallen body. "They had no idea of what they were attempting. A fool sends out such a weak creature and hopes to face me with such confidence. The only thing he has accomplished is that he only delays the inevitable."

"We ain't done! Take this, bastard! Umbral Shrapnel!" Shen, the acolyte leader, finally completed his sigil and cast his spell. Judging by the name and the color of its sigil, this was magic of the Darkness element.

A volleyball-sized sphere of unbridled Negative Energy was shot from the green sun on the leader's staff, and it was launched with Leylin as its sole target, ignoring his Briar Thorns completely.

'Umbral Shrapnel, huh?' Leylin looked on impassively while the vines then formed two giant arms, each one easily dwarfing the dead beast.

[It is a dark-based offensive spell that calls upon the shadows and darkness to fragment and explode all around an opposing target, ripping it apart and creating a sharp shockwave of fragmented shadows that tear through most physical barriers, but do not stop unless a direct counter is used. After the initial explosion, the fragmented shadows of the Umbral Shrapnel will then continue in all directions that the spell was cast, piercing and ripping their target apart.] -Aralis provided.

As Leylin then began to utter the incantations of another spell, the two Briar arms slammed their fists down onto the ground with enough force to shake the swamp. They moved to intercept the sphere of darkness before it could reach Leylin.

"Not good enough!" -Janoa shouted, as he finished another spell of his own. Given the little Mana Energy at his disposal, and the limited time he had, he chose to go for a support spell.

A dense blueish mist settled around him and then shot at the sphere his comrade had cast.

This was the spell named Shadow Enchantment, and it would enhance an offensive elemental spell to do more damage against an enemy. It was a supportive darkness spell that can be used to greatly enhance an offensive darkness spell by increasing the damage of its attack, thus making it more deadly against the enemy.

The ball of darkness collided with the arms made out of Briar Roots. The magic appeared to be drilling its way past the twitching vines, and they were desperately moving to trigger the Shrapnel effect using their thorns to slash at the sphere. But it was useless. The Shadow Enchantment had lent the Umbral Shrapnel enough power to resist the attacks, so it would not detonate before it met its intended target.

At this point, the vines had already given up, and the sphere had managed to spend its buff aura to nullify the arcane energy keeping the Briar Roots alive. Leylin's spell became undone, and he was now exposed to the attack.

"Interesting. You are quite the simpletons, but have learned how to work together. Were you not so weak, I might have offered you to become my unconditional slaves. Alas, I have an ancient remnant to claim, so our little game must end now."

Leylin grinned in satisfaction, much to the acolytes' dread. He used both hands to expand a rectangular-shaped sigil which was golden in color over the immediate sky above them.

"NO! IMPOSSIBLE! Holy Flow can never be learned by acolytes that are from a Dark-aligned academy!" -Janoa yelled as a few tears wet his cheeks.

"Light Element… magic?!" -Shen fell to his knees in defeat.

"Indeed." -Leylin chuckled, as his spell finally set on the field. A giant water-like current of holy magic poured from the sigil, showering both his dead Briar Roots and the Umbral Shrapnel ball, one meter before it hit Leylin.

The Umbral Shrapnel ball was annihilated, as were the two acolytes. The only thing remaining was Leylin and the two dead Briar Roots. He looked down at the vines and sighed.

He began the incantations for another spell. The vines burst into flames, turning to black smoke and then dissolving into the air.

|=|=|=|=|=|=|=|

Back at the earlier clearing in the marshes, the three-man group of Merlin, Bosain, and Roth, were finished giving the proper honors to an empty grave that was supposed to hold Shaya's ashes.

It was then that a tall and broad figure appeared from within the dark trees.

Not saying a single word, Bosain marched up to Leylin with a face distorted by anger, and charging his fist with as much Spiritual Force as he could, he threw a sucker punch at him.

However, to his dismay, his fist was easily caught by Leylin's strong hand. He even applied a bit of pressure so that a few crackling of bones could be heard, and Bosain was forced to move away.

"I suppose I deserved that for letting you carry the brunt of the initial attack. But we're even now. Those two who escaped are no longer in this world to trouble us." -Leylin did his trademark gentlemanly bow, and then he repeated it in front of Shaya's empty grave as a sign of respect.

His teammates were taken aback. They simply did not know how to react to this. Was Leylin just that magnanimous, or was he a genius manipulator? Neither wanted to know the real answer to that question.

"Anyway, enough of that. Let's focus on what brought us here in the first place, shall we?" Leylin broke the tension by bringing out a map from his robes. Unlike Merlin's which was tattered, his was in perfect condition. No one would ask him why he had not used it previously.

From the geographical drawing, the map depicted the Zither Moon Mountain Plains. Moreover, among the signs of the dark forest, there was a thin red line that extended from the Zither Moon Town entrance to the depths of the mountain. It stopped at another marking which showed a cliff. Moreover, at the bottom of the cliff, there was the name 'Dylan Gardens'.

"Did the purpose of the other party coincide with our exploration?" Roth asked suddenly.

Merlin nodded vigorously, suddenly turning impatient. "Damn it, I don't know how many leads this remnant owner created. Let's hurry, I don't wish to see a remnant that has already been scoured clean!"

Leylin inwardly saw the light. What the Great Magus Serholm left behind was an inheritance. He definitely wished for someone to discover and continue his legacy. Hence, he left behind many leads.

At this moment, Leylin could already confirm that the clues Merlin had procured, actually belonged to the inheritance of the Great Magus Serholm.

As there was a possibility that someone else might be there before them, the four of them proceeded with their journey, their hearts heavy and their complexions reflected their uneasiness.

However, they moved quickly, and in a few hours' time, they had already entered the depths of the Zither Moon Mountain Plains.

At this moment, the mountain was extremely different from when they had first stepped into it.

The change in the vegetation here was extreme. If the Zither Moon Mountain Plains border had normal plants growing, right now, what they saw in front of them were some relatively bizarre species of plants.

The most common plants were a species of big shrubs that were white in color and their leaves had a strange spiral form.

Every time a gust of wind blew, the sea of shrubs would move with the wind, producing a sound similar to playing the piano keys.

The piano-like sounds were extremely chaotic. Merlin became impatient, feeling a need to recklessly charge forth. But a strong hand prevented him from doing so as it pulled him back.

"Careful! This is the Piano Key Bush. The noise it makes can attract regular humans. Even an acolyte could be somewhat affected." Leylin warned. "Earlier, the missing people from the Zither Moon Town could very well have been attracted to these sounds, entering an illusion and dying in horrible ways…"

'Stupid monkey. If only I did not have a use for you, I would gladly leave you to die.'

Afterward, Leylin produced a few potions from his satchel and distributed them to Merlin and the rest.

"This is a tranquilizing potion that I have brewed, drink it and you will be able to resist such negative effects."

Merlin and Roth looked at the test tube in their hands and drank its contents after tasting a little of it. As for Bosain, he shook his head to refuse, directly returning the potion to Leylin.

"I don't need it." He said as he shot a hateful glance at his companion.

Leylin shrugged his shoulders and led the way at the front. He hid a dangerous smirk from the rest.

During the later parts of the exploration, there were traps with poisonous gases and ambushes. This was the reason an expert Potioneering acolyte was needed — to counteract them.

This was also the reason why Merlin asked Leylin to come, as he deep down knew his abilities were eclipsed by Leylin's on all accounts. He wanted to be sure that his party could get to those remnants.