Every one of them stopped in their tracks the moment her body slowly fell to the ground. They could not even tell whether she was still or not let alone how or when Hao Xuan had attacked.
Arthur's gaze had not left Hao Xuan from the beginning but he caught what happened. The movement was so quick that it was blur even to his eyes.
He squinted hard but all he or anyone else for that matter could see was a faint outline of Hao Xuan's figure against the light in the background. It was not enough to see his exact appearance, only the posture.
In the back Olav and Gamil who were the closest to the stairs slowly made their move and tried to get back. Malina and Leona were both on the other side of the hall so they didn't even bother.
Their eyes were locked onto Hao Xuan's figure that was almost half a meter taller than before. Faint cracking and popping sounds came from his direction which Arthur accurately guessed was caused by his bones and joints expanding. .
A low "grrr" sound could be heard coming from Hao Xuan with every other breath.
Without touching her wand Malina waved her hands several times and finally managed to silently cast a simple spell. It connected everyone in the room so they could communicate with one another but it was far too limited to allow open communication.
Only the person that Malina was currently looking at could speak while all the others could only listen in.
Her gaze fell on Gamil's pudgy figure first and foremost.
'What the hell is going on here? What happened to him?!'
Malina looked towards Leona for an explanation.
'I don't know, my illusion t didn't work. I was in another place and there was someone else there too and he said to keep our weapons down. That he won't attack if he doesn't feel threatened by us.'
Olav was next, 'Who said that? What ar-'
Malina noticed Arthur signaling her and looked towards him.
'Enough! We need to get out of here first then we can discuss what went wrong. Can any of you use your abilities?'
A synchronous "no" from everyone but Malina herself.
'I can only cast the most basic spells and it takes way too much willpower and mana. I can't seem to gather any mana at all. The moment even a droplet's worth is gathered it goes out of control.'
'Yeah, it's the same for me.'
'Me too.'
'Forget spiritual energy I can't even muster any strength. My body feels weak beyond belief.'
'Isn't this because of master's law?' Olav pointed out and they realized he might be right.
'Law of Chaos! That must be it!'
'Then what can we do? As long as we are near him there is nothing we can do!'
'Then just move back. Each law has a territory in which it spreads its influence which means all we have to do is put enough distance between us and then it won't affect us anymore, right?'
'Move where? It looks like the entire training hall falls within its territory!'
Arthur glanced towards the only way out of the hall.
'Olav and Gamil, they are nearest to the stairs so they should be able to make it! When I distract him both of you run!'
Arthur was about to stand up when Malina's panicked voice sounded within his head.
'NO STOP!' and he did.
Slowly, almost mechanically, his eyes moved back towards the front and his pupils shrunk to the size of pinholes. Hao Xuan was standing half a meter away from him now.
'I didn't even notice him move!'
'We can't do this, he's too fast.'
'No wait, if there is a territory then that means effects of the law should not be as severe near the outer boundary right? Maybe that's why I can use some spells? If that's the case Olav should be able to use some basic curses too. Try it!'
On Malina's suggestion Olav gently rubbed the side of his quarterstaff and with as little movement as possible, cast the most basic curse that he knew.
'Gravitas!' to make Hao Xuan's body heavier.
As suspected, the curse was cast successfully but the moment it came into contact with Hao Xuan's body it shattered into pieces.
'It's not working! My curse doesn't work on him!'
'Try it on me then,' Arthur ordered and Olav obliged.
A second curse, 'Vis Robur!'
Arthur felt his body lighten and more than half of his strength returned in one ago.
'It worked!'
Olav cast another curse this time on one of the other Orcs and it worked for him too. After a few more tries he was finally done.
'It works on everyone but him. None of the curses work on him anymore.'
'Alright, this is good enough,' Arthur commented, 'I'll attack while the rest of you get out. Olav, use that curse on me you were trying out the other day, the one on the rats.'
