A CONCLUSION

"Ouch! Shit! Motherfucker!" she cried.

As the light kept eating at her she kept screaming obscenities. With gritted teeth she looked at her skin and saw that it was cracked, particularly where the stitches ran. It looked as if they were coming loose, giving her the sensation that her body was being unravelled.

While enduring the agony of the spell she saw the man rush forward and swing his sword. Fortunately the spell ended just before he swung sword, causing the pain to greatly diminish and allowing her to regain her clarity. She activated {Ghostwalk}, making the sword pass through and giving her the opportunity to put distance between them.

"That fucking hurt you son of a bitch!" she yelled at him.

"I did not know that undead could feel pain," the man responded calmly, a tone which contrasted his fiery eyes. "Good. That means you will feel every bit of the hurt I am about to inflict upon you."

He touched the flat of his blade and cast a spell on it. Then the blade turned white and began to emit a bright light. Unlike the other spells that the man had cast, she knew of this one. 5th Order spell [Enchant Weapon], it allowed a sorcerer to imbue a weapon with an elemental attribute. The one that this man chose was light, an element that was harmful to the undead.

You're not a holy knight? She wanted to cry out in incredulity. Then why do you have so many fucking light spells?

Then the man attacked once more, swinging his sword with blinding speed, literally. Now that the blade was glowing, it was so bright she could not look directly at it. Even so, she managed to get out of the way. The man jumped after her and swung the sword again but she resisted by setting up a [Force Wall]. Unfortunately, now that the man's weapon had been imbued with magic it shattered the barrier in one hit. This caused her to panic and quickly used {Blink} to get away before it could reach her.

After this she cast another spell. 2nd Order magic [Blind]. This was a spell she had learned quite a while back but had never found any use for it, which made her forget of its existence until this moment. It was only when she was thinking of a way to slow down her opponent that she recalled that she had actually inscribed this spell. If she could blind him then he would not be so nimble anymore, that was the plan she came up with after remembering she had this spell.

The spell hit the man, causing his next swing to go wide, hitting a tree and cutting through the trunk. The chopped down tree fell down. Too bad it did not fall on the man but in the opposite direction. Still, she saw an opportunity here and decided to take it.

For the second time she threw a [Thunderbolt] at the man. In his visually impaired state he did not see it coming. In fact, he was not even facing her. The spell caught him in the back, sending him fly forward and against another tree, knocking it over.

Seeing this, Sage prepared another spell.

If it had been before the man cast that light spell on her she would have taken this opportunity to flee via [Dimension Door]. But now she was pissed. The bastard fucking hurt her and even though the spell's effect had vanished she could still feel the pain. Also, her skin was still cracked and it did not seem like it would mend anytime soon. Because of this she was intent on hurting him back.

So she sent a [Fireball] his way, then she cast [Ice spear], after that she used [Incinerate] and finally she deployed the area magic [Firestorm]. The first three spells all landed on the man while the fourth spell covered the entire area, engulfing the trees in its range with black flames. Unlike normal fire these flames were difficult to put out. Even after the spell dissipated the trees would still keep burning and the fire would spread until it became a conflagration.

Not that Sage cared about that, all she wanted to do was make the arsehole pay for what he had done.

The fire had already begun spreading, so she cast [Flight] to avoid it. Then she looked down at the swirling mass of flames that was the [Firestorm]. There seemed to be no movement inside.

Still, she was under no illusion that she had killed the man. After all, the bastard was a mage of the 6th Order with a Grade 2 physique. If he died from a bunch of 4th and 5th Order spells so easily he would be the most incompetent moron ever.

Sure enough, when the [Firestorm] died away it revealed the bastard. His armour had been scorched black but he appeared to be fine. She looked closer and saw what appeared to be an energy barrier shimmering on his body. Sure enough he had the means to defend against her spell, there appeared to be a few burn marks on his skin, however, a moment later those burns disappeared when a light engulfed him.

Sage stared at the phenomenon; a type of magic she would never be able to learn and even if she did it would have the opposite effect on her.

Fucking unfair! She wanted to cry.

The fact that her injuries remained with her while he could just magic his away made her want to cry foul. This situation put her at a huge disadvantage.

I've gotta get out of here, she decided.

Now that she returned some of the suffering he had inflicted upon her she was no longer eager to stay. Setting up a [Dimension Door], she quickly jumped through it, appearing in an area covered in denser trees than the one she had just left. She took this moment to catch herself and take a breather.

That fight had used up a lot of mana. Not like the previous nights adventures, but the expenditure was still sizable, draining nearly half her reserves. But then again, the previous night she was a 4th Order mage, meaning the expenditure now was probably more. If she had not advanced earlier she would have already depleted her mana.

Counting herself lucky that Bori only summoned her after she reached the 5th Order, she prepared to move on.

Time to find the geezer and the skeleton.

She did not know which direction she sent them, but she reckoned she could track them down using her bond with Bori.

Closing her eyes and feeling the link, she immediately found them and started moving in a certain direction.

However, just then she caught something in the corner of her vision.

It was a figure moving at an incredibly fast pace, kicking up dust in its wake. The wind violently blew where it passed, causing trees to sway vigorously. It took mere seconds for the figure to reach below the spot where she hovered. Without pausing it jumped up towards her, surprising managing to reach her despite being over ten metres in the air. She reacted by casting [Force Wall]. Even so, the figure brandished its sword and cut through the barrier in a single slash. But, by then she had already {Blink}ed away.

How the hell did he find me? She thought as she ascended to a higher altitude.

Did he have some sort of tracking magic? If that was the case he would be able to find her if she escaped again.

Just my luck, she cursed.

She climbed even higher to prevent the man from reaching her. However, this could not be a permanent solution. The most she could achieve by doing this was a stalemate, which would be broken the moment she ran out of mana and tumbled to the ground.

How do I get rid of him then? She asked herself.

However, she did not have time to contemplate this before she felt an invisible force grab a hold of her and drag her down. So surprised was she that she did not have a chance to react.

Gravity? Fuck! She exclaimed.

This was a 5th Order spell that increased the gravity of a single individual. It was one that was also in Bori's library, however she had chosen not to learn it yet because it had not seemed that useful. Now it was being used against her. Now that she was in the clutches of the spell she was unable to resist, causing her to barrel straight towards the ground.

The arsehole with the scorched armour was waiting just below with his glowing sword ready to strike. When she got within range he brandished his weapon, but she countered him by shifting to the side and then going into {Ghostwalk} mode when she saw that she could not fully avoid the swing.

What happened next was beyond her expectation.

Despite having turned intangible the greatsword still managed to cut her, cleaving straight through her right arm. She felt a burning sensation as her arm was sent flying. Black blood spurted in the process and she could not resist the urge to cry.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, just as she hit the ground. She felt a few bones break but did not have time to think about that.

Rolling on the ground, she clutched the stump where her arm had been and continued to howl. Tears streamed down her face as she groaned painfully. It was unbearable to the point where she could not think about anything else.

Holy fuck! I'm dying! She thought as she rolled around.

But she could not continue with this act. Quickly remembering that the person who had done this to her was still present, she {Blink}ed and appeared a few metres away, still lying on the ground. Then she turned to look at the bastard, expecting his attack at any moment.

However, the man was not persuing her. He was grunting in pain while clutching at his neck. Eyes drawn where he clasped, she saw signs a black smeared liquid, her blood. It seemed to be causing the son of a bitch pain as he tried to alleviate it with spells. However, they did not seem to have any the intended effect. He kept groaning and clutching his throat, trying to wipe it away with his gauntlet. However, the pain was still there, distracting him from coming after her.

When Sage saw this she took it for the opportunity it was and {Blink}ed to where her arm had fallen. When she picked it up the lost appendage began to squirm around. Even though it was not connected to her anymore she was still able to control it somehow.

After she grabbed her arm she opened a [Dimension Door] once again and rolled through it.

After the Door closed she let go of the arm and lay on the ground enduring the pain. Minutes passed but the bastard did not appear, probably being held up by whatever her blood had done to him.

Poison?

It did not really matter if it was. She was just glad to have finally gotten rid of the bastard.