Chapter 224: Trollsfury potion

Three orbs of mana rapidly flew towards Percy, each a separate colour.

‘Do they all do different things, or is that just how this weird mana type looks?’

Suffice to say, he hadn’t the slightest idea what would happen if he got hit, but it didn’t really matter. Whatever it was, he couldn’t afford to let a Green’s spell touch him. Certainly not without his armour.

Somehow

, he’d have to dodge every single attack.

Leaping out of the way, he evaded the bolts. The red and blue ones were the easiest, being a little farther away. Though he did nearly get glanced by the yellow one. If it hadn’t been for the potion drawing even more strength out of his body, the battle would have ended already. Though such power wasn’t without its cost…

Steadying his footing, Percy ignored his aching muscles. He did the same with his heart thrumming against his chest, or the violent storm rolling within every vein. Even the tiniest movement placed a huge strain on him, but he couldn’t help it. He needed to use every advantage he could to stand a chance.

His eyes fell back on Jason – who was already about to launch his next attack – when a series of cracking sounds came from behind him. It was as if somebody was digging at a dried patch of dirt with an oversized shovel. Unable to turn around, he observed the situation with his Mana Sense instead. Three blobs of Green mana were attached to the ground, swiftly pulling it towards him, trying to rip it from the earth.

‘What the hell is this?!’

Percy didn’t get the chance to dwell on it for long, however, as Jason sent a few more bolts after him, forcing him to sidestep again. The same scenario repeated itself too. Wherever the mana landed, it stuck to the ground, slowly pulling it up.

Suddenly, Jason grinned, his cold smile sending a chill down Percy’s spine. At the same time, his core flared up, a large amount of mana disappearing from within.

Percy raised an eyebrow, unable to guess what his opponent was up to. While his Greater Foresight still warned him of the mana’s trajectory, it remained completely silent about its effects. Not that strange, considering he had no understanding of this affinity whatsoever. Luckily – or perhaps, unluckily – he got his answer soon enough…

The chunks of dirt were torn out with even greater force, flying towards Percy. Sidestepping them wasn’t that difficult, but that was just the start of his troubles. They didn’t fly very far, before slowing down, eventually coming to a halt mid-air, a few dozen metres away. Next, they snapped back at him like stretched rubber bands, seemingly determined to hit him.

‘How is he doing this?’

Percy wondered, as Jason resumed sending orbs of mana at him too, trying to overwhelm him.

It was a well-known fact that Greens had greater control over their mana. Not to mention a top talent like Jason. Still, the way he seemed to individually command so many disjoint objects simultaneously was quite bizarre, to say the least.

‘Unless he isn’t… Are they chasing me on their own?’

Struggling to avoid over a dozen objects shooting at him from every direction, Percy decided to go on the defensive, until he knew what he was dealing with. Putting some distance from Jason, he zigged and zagged through the trees, using them as cover while trying to figure out what his opponent was doing.

The patches of dirt continued to rain at him, though plenty of them crashed against the trees, exploding into dust clouds. Still, that didn’t seem to deter them in the slightest, as the loose pebbles resumed their flight towards him the very next second, stubbornly homing into him.

‘Yeah… No way he’s controlling over a hundred objects separately. He’s definitely enchanted them to do this by themselves. The only question is, how?!’

Either way, a pebble or two wouldn’t do too much damage if they hit him, but they would still distract him enough to possibly spell his doom. Percy had no choice but to keep running through the woods, all the while trying to decipher the inner workings of Jason’s strange affinity.

At some point, Percy noticed something rather peculiar. Glancing behind him, he saw a series of small craters, lining up into a trail. And, thinking back, this was exactly the path he’d just taken over the last couple of minutes.

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‘Hmmm? He seems to go out of his way to only target the spots I’ve stepped on. Is that a requirement for them to chase me?’

An idea flashed through his mind. Pretending he was about to land in a certain location, Percy tried to bait Jason into launching another projectile towards him. It worked like a charm too. Twisting his body mid-air, Percy avoided the bolt while ensuring he never set foot on that spot.

Watching the orange bolt sink into the ground, Percy’s lips curled upwards after seeing it remain still several seconds later. Apparently, Jason’s spell worked by tapping into some invisible connection between himself and objects he’d previously touched, sending them after him.

‘This must be related to the way he tracked us down…’

he thought, though his smile soon turned into a grimace.

‘This doesn’t really help me, does it? I can’t just stop touching things…’

The more projectiles Jason shot at him, the more Percy was forced to dodge. That, in turn, meant he’d step on more places, giving Jason even more ammunition.

A vicious cycle

. Especially so, considering that the man appeared to conserve his mana quite well. He was never going to run out at this rate, and Percy couldn’t possibly escape either. Not to mention…

‘Shit, I can’t afford to waste any more time. The potion won’t last much longer…’

Percy’s greatest problem was that he still didn’t completely understand Jason’s affinity. Approaching him before his eyes fully adapted to his attacks would be suicidal. Yet, delaying wasn’t an option either.

Making his mind up, Percy pushed even more mana into his channels, taking advantage of the potion’s effect to overload Synchronization further. A reckless move, seeing how much trouble he already had keeping his body together.

“Ugghhh…” Percy let out a pained groan, his knee nearly buckling as he dodged another bolt at an awkward angle.

But he didn’t pay that any heed, focused on flooding his body with even more raw power. His muscles pressed his organs inwards, as his joints threatened to come apart every time they bent or stretched. The cuts along his skin widened too, rivers of blood soaking his clothes. The life mana desperately tried to close them, of course, but it couldn’t possibly keep up with the damage.

Knowing he’d only run out of time even faster this way, Percy gritted his teeth, rushing back towards his opponent. More projectiles flew at him – some magical, some mundane. He dodged whatever he could, while batting the rest into dust with his scythe’s shaft. Picking up speed, he ran towards his prey with determination, his eyes locked onto Jason’s.

The Green mage raised an eyebrow at that sight, though he didn’t appear particularly worried. Drawing more mana from his core, he tuned his own assault up to eleven, trying to stop Percy in his tracks. He did so by launching even more colourful bolts, one after the other. The objects he’d previously enchanted seemed to grow quicker too.

‘Sending them after me costs mana…’

Percy already knew that, but that wasn’t everything.

‘He can speed them up, but that consumes even more.’

Parrying the pebbles got harder and harder as the number of objects stabbing at him increased. At some point, Percy had to start ignoring the smaller ones, enduring the pain as many of them pierced into his skin, drawing even more blood. Another realization soon hit him, however…

‘There are fewer of them than there should be!’

By now, Jason had unleashed hundreds of projectiles at him, each having collided against something several times already. Had they all kept chasing him, he would have long drowned into an avalanche of dirt and rock.

Smashing another stone into fragments, Percy paid closer attention to them, as well as his opponent’s core. Jason’s expenditure instantly flared up, the Green glow soon dimming from many of the smaller shards.

‘The more objects he controls, the faster they sap at his mana!’

As obscure as Jason’s affinity was, it clearly operated within strict rules, and under certain limits. The man couldn’t keep all the objects enchanted indefinitely, or his core would be dried out in seconds. He had to constantly decide which of the objects would help him the most, letting go of the least useful ones.

Suddenly, a narrow shard – sharp as a knife – pierced through Percy’s eye.

Yet, it did no damage

. It wasn’t a real stone – just a projection, brought about by his Greater Foresight. At last, his spell had begun to affect the mundane projectiles too, his understanding of the affinity having climbed to a new level!

Resuming his advance, Percy allowed shadows of the Grim Dance to mix with the rest, estimating the results of his own movements. This allowed him to gauge which attacks he should evade, and which he was better off parrying.

His scythes spun soundlessly through the air, materializing only when they were about to land on a piece of stone, shattering it into sand. His steps grew more elegant too, as he strode forward, pivoting, hopping and weaving with greater confidence than ever before.

Jason couldn’t help but frown upon seeing him close the distance between them, though he didn’t seem particularly worried just yet.

‘Let’s see how much longer you can keep your composure…’

Percy smiled coldly, before hurling the first of his scythes at him with next to no warning.

He kept the second to defend himself, but that didn’t mean this was all he had to attack with. By now, he’d accumulated a ton of fused mana, a thick shroud of teal with hints of crimson enveloping his body. Grabbing a chunk of it with his free hand, he flicked it at his opponent, sending a rain of throwing stars right behind the Soul Harvester.

Jason’s lips curled upwards, however, as he stood in the same spot, showing no intention of moving an inch, up until the very moment the projectiles were right upon him…