‘Meh! I fought that overhyped lizard. This thing ain’t enough to keep me from killing that guy.’
Eren thought to himself before disappearing from his position. He had already destroyed a spirit beast when he fought the assassin.
He knew that focusing on the spirit beast was useless for the most part. He needed to attack the ranker as well for him to win the battle. That was because a spirit beast was near immortal as long as its caster was still alive and kicking.
In the next moment, the red lightning panther and its master got surrounded by loads and loads of Eren’s summoned beasts.
Eren raised his hands before commanding them to attack all at once. He then started casting other spells.
The red lightning panther purred before attacking the nearest summoned creature with all its might. It manifested red lightning claws in the shape of three blades and tore through the wind-element elephant. It used its tail as a whip to electrocute the lightning hounds. And it bit the firebirds by leaping into the air, injecting its red lightning mana into its mana body and destroying them in one go.
The red lightning Panther did all this in a fraction of a second. The series of actions was done so seamlessly that they could be taken as a single move. The panther kept on repeating the same thing to various of Eren’s summoned creatures.
Whenever the red lightning Panther moved, it left a trail of red lightning streaks behind. The streaks would vanish only after they took care of the enemies that had been entrapped in them.
The spirit beast started destroying the summoned creatures, courtesy of its higher rank, elevated body stats, exceptional innate spells, and superior agility. It should also be noted that the spirit beast had its own growth while it was being contracted by Gian. It had access to all its innate abilities, making it a force to be reckoned with among the Rank-2 beasts.
Eren tried to attack Gian using his guerrilla tactics. But the spirit beast managed to fend him off by using his long-range spells in the form of Red Lightning Claws and Red Lightning Whips. Because of this, the battlemage was pressed to come up with a breakthrough strategy to defeat Gian while he was down.
One time, Eren chose to ignore the spirit beast’s attacks and walked forward. However, the beast’s red lightning mana was potent enough for him to change his approach soon after tasting its effects.
Eren felt like his blood would boil and his skin would rupture after being subjected to the Panther’s red lightning mana. The red lightning mana represented the destruction aspect of lightning. Something Eren was not familiar with yet.
‘This won’t do. I need to do something drastic.’
Eren thought to himself as he took out a vial of potion from his storage. The solution inside the liquid looked calm and tranquil despite Eren’s erratic movements. It was clear that the vial itself had been enchanted with runic details to keep the solution inside steady.
‘Time to test these things.’
The battlemage thought to himself as he uncorked the vial and stirred the contents within it. A peculiar process began inside the solution as he imbued it with his mana. He then got close enough to the spirit beast before throwing the vial in its direction. He repeated the same process where Gian was located as well, dropping another vial of potion in his direction.
The contents of the vials started changing colors when they were uncorked. The solution became unstable as they approached their respective locations.
Swoosh. Bzzt. Boom.
The surrounding area was filled with two distinct mana pulses followed by a blazing light. The sound of detonations followed right afterward.
The vials Eren threw at his opponents were potion bombs. The potion bomb thrown at the red lightning Panther was a mana disruptor and compressed fire-element explosive combined into one. The potion bomb that was hurled at Gian was a tactical bomb made from the shrapnels of runic shards.
Both of these potion bombs were Rank-2. The runic inscriptions on the vials allowed a Meta-ranker like Eren to use them. Eren had received these potions along with some others after clearing the Hexers’ testing grounds. He had decided to use the trump cards he could rely on against Gian.
The mana disruptor bomb interfered with the red lightning panther’s mana body and made it lose its definite form. It then injected fire-element mana into it, further increasing its instability.
The red lightning panther whined in pain and agony when the potion bomb hit him. Grabbing this chance, Eren’s firebirds and lightning hounds attacked the spirit beast all at once. The summoned creatures started exploding on the panther with their suicide attacks.
Meanwhile, Gian was subjected to his own form of misery after Eren dropped a literal bomb on him. The explosion released the shrapnel it contained and Gian became their primary target. He had lost protection from his spirit beast and was in no condition to defend himself properly. As a result, the shrapnel managed to break through his already fragile mana defense layer and penetrate deep into his body.
Some of the shrapnel managed to pass through Gian’s body, creating small visible holes in Gian’s body. They injured him so much that his pain sensors were overloaded, stopping him from even screaming in pain.
Eren was very shocked by the potion bomb’s result. He had first thought of using it only as a backup. But he criticized himself for not using it sooner in the battle.
He also found it strange that he was so comfortable using a potion bomb like this. He felt like this was not his first time using something like this, which would normally be labeled as playing dirty.
‘Hmm. You finally did something I can approve of with all my heart.’
Eren was pulled into a near-stagnant world when Aleph started speaking. The battle had come to a halt anyway after Eren used the potion bombs on his opponent.
Eren found it odd that Alehe was such a strong supporter of using potion bombs. He had thought that he was some god-like figure who was above using dirty tricks on his opponents. Apparently, he thought wrong.
‘You approve of me using an escape route? Taking out a gun in a knife fight? And I thought you were some bigshot who got stuck to me because of my trip to the pantheon of infinities.’
Eren could also understand some of Aleph’s intentions every time he started talking to him. Through the process of sharing thoughts, he got to know that Aleph’s presence in his life was related to the ethereal place his subconscious had access to.
Aleph ignored Eren’s statement about the pantheon of infinities. For some reason, he found it offensive that Eren thought that using potion bombs was dirty in any battle. He cleared his throat and said his next words solemnly.
‘Remember this well Eren. An explosion is the source of all life and its demise. The world begins with an explosion and ends with an explosion. The cells in your body are born because of explosions of old cells’ nuclei and they end in a cell nucleus explosion.
A potion bomb is representative of the eternal cycle of life and death. The brilliance it emanates- The sound it creates- The shockwaves it spreads forth. Hehehe. All of that is an art form– various components fusing to create a symphony.
That’s why they say that true art is an explosion.’
Eren had a grim expression on his face as he listened to Eren’s speech about using potion bombs. Only now did Eren realize that Aleph had a natural bias toward using sudden potion-induced explosions as a way to fight his opponents.
‘You know that you sound like a madman when you say things like these, right?’
Aleph started laughing in Eren’s head after listening to Eren’s opinions of him. He chuckled before adding up.
‘Hehe. There’s a fine line between genius and insanity. The trick is to walk that line and never commit to either side.
Anyway, since I was woken by your use of the potion bombs, I might as well offer you something for entertaining me like this.
I would have given you a fraction of my elemental attainments. But they are not something you can digest at your current level. But that guy changes things for you. Do you want to have this fellow named Gian’s red lightning aspect for yourself?’
Eren raised his eyebrows when he heard Aleph’s proposal. He wasn’t sure how Aleph was able to pull off something like that. However, he didn’t see any apparent downside to the proposal. So he said yes right away.
‘Alright. Let me act as a medium through which you can digest that man’s elemental attainments. For it to work, you must make his experiences your own. But that step will come later. Just do what I say for now.’
