Sulphur & Lightning Chapter 7: 006 - The Respect Earned in Battle

Read chapter 7 of Sulphur & Lightning by anaugustauthor on NovelPedia.

He had been rather befuddled by the suddenness with which she lined up attacks in his blind spot, but after examining the possibilities, he had landed on the most likely one: charms. Sorcery involved the use of spells, arrays and other special forms of speech to manipulate the mana that pervaded the world for the use of the practitioner. Its applications and forms were innumerable, and Goblins were hailed across the realm for their attainments in the art, their greatest sorcerers putting to shame even the Elves from time to time. One of these forms was the use of charms. Since it was not always possible to cast spells in the middle of battles (and for a million other considerations), the use of charms was an obvious need for sorcerers. It was, in essence, a pre-made spell put into a physical token and activated by use of the practitioner’s mana. It had many limits, but it was quite effective within its scope. It was these tools that the heiress had used to initiate those surprise attacks. Using her spells and trusting him to anticipate them, she discreetly channelled her mana through her already active spell to activate the charm and land clinical hit after clinical hit. This realisation was met with only some relief, though. The issue wasn’t that she used this tool, but the finesse with which she did. Knowing quite well his sensitivity to her attacks, she timed the activation of the charms such that it would not be detected during their initialisation or release (activation strictly refers to infusing mana into the charm, while release refers to when the stored spell itself is activated). All this she did while using regular spells, firing her arrows precisely and manipulating her mana to disrupt his healing. Elijah sighed in acknowledgement of her talents. This level of control and coolness was rare at such a level, and she too had only gone through a single growth phase. As he mulled this over in his mind, another salvo of attacks came forth, and he continued his routine of close evasions. This time, though only a few blows connected, it was obvious that the various tactics she had employed were working to great effect. He was like a rat being played around with while the steadily closing jaws of a reptilian predator made to close down and finish him off. The last attack of this round was a bullet-like arrow that made to strike him right in the glabella. Dodging was impossible in this situation, and he was forced to pluck it mid-air and completely arrest its flight. The arrowhead was made of silver and, despite the distance from his face, made the skin between his eyes prickle uncomfortably. That spoke volumes of its level of refinement. In fact, since the bolt’s surface had been carved with arrays to improve power and accuracy, the silver in these circuits reacted violently to his Lycan anatomy and began a deteriorative reaction, giving off noxious fumes as it disintegrated and also caused injuries to him. Elijah observed the process almost with disinterest, as though it wasn’t his own palm that was being burnt through slowly. After an excruciating wait, he finally let the bolt fall to the ground with a clattering sound. The array circuits had been mostly corroded. There was an audible sigh from the Lycan as he looked at the tired heiress (her constant attacks and coordination had been quite the drain on her stamina). Elijah was in no rush, though, and allowed her to catch her breath and replenish herself with a small mana stone. After giving her some time, he made a respectful bow in her direction, an action which clearly surprised the heiress. “I underestimated you, young mistress,” he said sincerely. “I apologise.” There was a respect in his voice that had not been there before. This respect was the rarest and perhaps most valuable in this realm of Reigina. The honour of titles and influence were one thing, the acknowledgement of an opponent you had crossed swords with was another. “With that said…” Volcanic ash descend