Serum

Dirk watched from amidst the battlefield. 

He saw everything, from the death of two Marshals to the entrance of the General and the Church’s Tier 7 Light Mage. 

But he never once acted out in order to help. And in all honesty, there wasn’t much he could do against the golems. 

He might be able to hinder them somewhat, and there was no way he could be hurt by such predictable and slow giants. But killing them was another matter entirely unless he knew their weakness. 

However, he could in fact barely see what seemed to be their core. There was a complex amalgamation of Earth mana within their bodies, and despite their bodies being entirely solid and unmoving, that core could frequently change positions. 

It was odd, like an animal that could freely change the position of its heart. But he didn’t question it much. Such a high level application of magic wasn’t unexpected from a Key Artifact. 

However, it seemed that Umangot was easily able to pick out these weaknesses. 

Because after he stepped out, he cast a series of spells that precisely targeted these cores. 

Umangot didn’t even need to cast anything in order to create something. Magic came as easily as breathing to him, and that made it almost like instant casting. 

In one moment, he was just sitting high in the sky. But in the next, Dirk saw 5 massive metal spikes appear around him. Each one was horribly compressed with dense metal mana, making his neck tingle. 

The spikes were then spun like a drill, and with a grunt, Umangot launched them toward the golems. 

Each of those spikes seemed to have been launched from a cannon as they made contact with the golems’ bodies and pierced through like a knife through butter. 

But their collision created the horrible sounds of screeching metal, making everyone cover their ears and monsters scream out in discomfort. 

It was only for a moment though, because the next, four of the golems slowly collapsed on themselves, their cores accurately pierced and destroyed, the massive spikes sticking out of their bodies like spears. 

But one remained standing. It was the alpha, the entirely metal golem that had been hardly injured by any of the Marshals, and the one responsible for the first Marshal's death. 

Umangot narrowed his eyes, realizing that, while he could destroy the golem as much as he wanted, the complexity of the enchantments within the golem made it incredibly resilient. How a mere Tier 5 was able to construct such a monstrosity was beyond him. 

He raised his hand, intending to finish the job. But before he could cast a spell, the Acolyte Bannsfog stepped up. 

“Allow me, General. Save your energy for the real enemy.”

“...Very well.”

He nodded as Bannsfog cast a few other spells. Neither of these spells were aimed at the golem. Rather, they targeted the other Marshals. 

“Assist me!”

“Yes!”

All the Marshals reentered the battlefield as the light of the Acolyte blessed their bodies with newfound strength. 

Umangot allowed them to collectively bring down the metal golem, deciding that it was a good thing for them to redeem themselves for the death of their two brothers. That way, they could ease their minds and boost the morale of the army. 

But the cheers didn’t reach Umangot. He was too focused on his true enemy. 

He faced off against the Artifact that continued to stand tall atop its castle. 

It didn’t react to the death of its golems. Unlike him, it didn’t hold any sort of emotions, at least not that it acted on. 

But he could tell that it was focused, seeing him as an enemy. Umangot sensed the hostility, but that didn’t mean he understood why. 

Why was this thing attacking, and why now of all times? Umangot felt suspicious of the entire situation, especially because Feller had only recently been called back. It was the worst time for anything big to happen, and yet here this Artifact was. 

But those were matters he couldn’t focus on right now. 

Because right as he was about to cast some more spells, the Artifact’s metal castle suddenly collapsed. 

The entire structure morphed, folding in on itself and reforming around its body. 

Like that, Umangot watched as another golem was created. Except, unlike the plain golems that were only 60 meters tall, this one was identical to the Artifact’s suit of armor, and it was an even more colossal 100 meters tall. 

Umangot could tell that this Artifact wasn’t obscenely powerful. However, what it lacked in power was more than compensated for in sheer complexity. Its knowledge of the Earth element seemed unrivaled as it created a construct that could move no differently from its own body. 

Then, it launched an attack. 

Across the giant armor, thousands of spell circles appeared, using its body as a conduit to launch from. 

And then, the same spikes that Umangot previously created were launched, except in much greater numbers. 

With a flurry of his sleeves, Umangot responded with several thousand spells of his own. Expect, all these spells created large flat disks which he used to intercept the spikes. 

And each one met its mark. It was like the Artifact was shooting targets out of the sky, each disk nullifying the spikes and sending them limply to the floor where they killed hundreds of unlucky monsters. 

Umangot responded right after, his hand grabbing out toward the ground and his fist clasping as if grabbing something. 

“Come, my Domain of Conquest!”

*Rumble!*

It was as if the world responded to his words. 

The ground roiled as metal rose from beneath the earth, gathering en masse and forming the body of a Titan. 

This Titan wielded a large spear and shield, towering just as high as the Artifact. And in mere moments, it pierced out with a thrust, the spear threatening to impale the Artifact’s chest. 

But it dodged with agility, turning its body until the spear could only slice its shoulder. But the slice was deep, and it was clear that this wasn’t a mere battle of massive constructs. 

Dirk, who was near ground zero of this battle, could feel the fluctuations in the Earth element the greatest. This was especially so since he was attuned to it. 

And the feeling left him suffocating. 

His control of the element vanished entirely, and if not for the strength of his soul, the Earth Mana within him would have been sucked out to fuel Umangot’s creation. 

This level of control was something Dirk had never experienced before. The only thing he could compare it to was Eldritch Primordial barring him from wielding the Dark Element. But even that was so far beyond him that he couldn’t really grasp what had happened. 

But Umangot’s Domain wasn’t like that. It was well within his limits of comprehension and he could feel it affect him the instant it was created. It felt like Umangot had become King of the Earth, and he had become nothing more than a lowly servant that couldn’t defy the whims of his sovereign. 

It made him feel disgusted, but there was nothing he could do. He wasn’t even a Tier 5 yet. How was he supposed to defy the full power of a Tier 8, someone who stood at the top of the world’s power hierarchy?

But it was a valuable experience, helping Dirk affirm exactly why he needed to grow stronger. And because of this, he watched the battle intently. 

He could see more than just the massive constructs. In fact, those were only superficial representations of the true underlying spells that ran everything. 

Dirk could see Umangot’s Domain spread throughout the land, enveloping even the stronghold behind him. 

This Domain allowed him absolute control of the Earth. Every scrap of dirt, every metal in the ground, every pebble between the nails of the monster army. 

Nothing was beyond his reach, and he used this Domain to suppress the Artifact with absolution. 

The ground churned, grabbing the heels of the Artifact’s construct and immobilizing it while the Domain seemed to wrest control of anything the Artifact was attempting to utilize. 

The level of elemental manipulation had Dirk’s head spinning, because in an attempt to retaliate, the Artifact was casting thousands of complex spells. All these spells filled Dirk’s vision, threatening to blind him in an entirely different way. 

And its attempts weren’t futile. Umangot wasn’t able to usurp the Artifact’s construct. But he did tie it down and use his own Titan to damage it, the blows threatening to sever the Artifact in two. 

Looking back, Dirk questioned why he ever believed he could even have a chance against the Artifact. 

It couldn’t put up much of a fight against Umangot. It could only delay, using sheer complexity to overwhelm the dwarf and force him to expend more energy. The Artifact never had a chance at winning in the first place. 

But the fact that it could survive at all was astonishing. If Dirk had really felt its full power, he could only run like he had earlier. It far outclassed him. 

Of course, it also lacked variety. Earth Magic was extremely defensive in nature and could be configured in many different ways, but in the end, everything you controlled was merely Earth. It wasn’t as malleable as Water, not as free as Air, and not as destructive as Fire. It also didn’t have the unique applications that Light and Dark had. 

It was simple, almost painfully so. Perhaps this was everything it had to offer when brought to an extreme, and at first glance, it seemed underwhelming. 

But, in any other scenario, Umangot’s Titan and Domain of Conquest would make him unkillable. He could bring an entire city crumbling down to its foundations with the wave of his hand. He was a walking disaster. It was a wonder how someone like that could ever be chained down. 

It was by no means underwhelming, and Dirk wondered if he would be able to fight these kind of battles one day. Of course, he would never be so flamboyant with his applications of such power. It simply wasn’t his style. 

Regardless, this battle brought him vast inspiration, and at a perfect time since he wouldn’t be able to advance further without bringing his Tier up another level. This kind of learning was essential to his growth. 

Like that, the battle between two titans continued. It was basically a one sided beatdown, but the Artifact held on for as long as possible, using any means it could to delay the inevitable. 

And gradually, it started to fall. It was right as the Acolyte Bannsfog and the Marshals finished taking down the metal golem that the Artifact could no longer maintain its construct. 

The massive metal behemoth collapsed, almost as if melting down. Then, the Artifact emerged, looking just as miraculous, but its aura far less imposing. 

Umangot discarded his construct as well, and when he appeared openly, he looked obviously haggard. 

That’s when Dirk’s heart pounded before slowing to a crawl. He suddenly received a message. 

Spyte, who had gone to find Pandora, relayed a message from the princess. 

“It is said that Umangot must load massive amounts of mana into his construct and domain. Now, he has discarded it all. The two have entered the final stage of battle. Be ready to retrieve the construct. I am preparing to enter.”

Dirk was silent as he processed the message. 

It seemed like, although Umangot was going to win, it would cost him a good deal of energy. In that case, he was only becoming more vulnerable. 

Dirk knew that emptying your mana pool took a toll on the mind. In that case, he knew that Umangot’s reactions would be delayed and he wouldn’t be able to muster spells as fast as he did before. 

All these things were advantages. Dirk only needed to wait for the best time. But that wasn’t now. 

The battle had yet to end. 

Umangot stood across from the Artifact. After taking a moment to recover, the Artifact went back to casting spells. 

This time though, Dirk saw something that even shocked him. 

The Artifact raised its hands, and from it, a massive spell formation was created. It was composed of an entire 21 layers of spell circles, each one compounding on top of the other with varying sizes and complexities. 

And the Artifact poured copious amounts of mana into the formation. Baffling Umangot, it was giving everything it had with this one attack. 

And it wasn’t an attack Umangot could take lightly. With the level of elemental complexity this Artifact could wield, an attack of this scale would take multiple times the amount of energy from him to defend against. That’s what such deep elemental knowledge afforded the Artifact. 

So he mustered all his energy with a roar. In front of his body, a small fortification was created. It was a half dome that spread to his sides, one that would direct all the energy of the attack away. Because Umangot knew that, although he could tank a lot of it, the damage that spell could do to those behind him was a major issue. 

He was protecting not just himself with this fortification. 

And on the fortification appeared a 16 layer spell formation, one that Dirk saw increase the elemental density of the material by hundreds of times. 

The ground beneath quaked and cratered, the weight of these spells affecting the environment in catastrophic ways. This was especially so as the Artifact’s spell formation came to completion. 

Within the spell, a massive ball of metal appeared. At first it seemed like nothing, but then, the ball began spinning at extreme speeds. 

And then, Dirk actually saw the light around the metal ball warp. His own feet staggered as he felt a massive attractive force appear from that spell. 

“My god…”

He couldn’t help his astonishment as his stealth threatened to break. 

Gravity! This Artifact was manipulating Gravity!

That metal ball was rotating so fast, carrying so much weight, that gravity bent around it. And the gravity of the surroundings was multiplied as well. 

Several monsters were sucked into the gravity well, and shockingly, all of them were unable to fight back as their bodies were shredded and compressed onto that metal ball, giving it a red tinge. 

Umangot cursed as the metal ball actually shrunk in size. The power behind this attack was beyond his understanding. 

Luckily, the Artifact couldn’t seem to keep this up, because moments later, the spell completed. 

Right at that moment, the Acolyte Bannsfog appeared to Umangot’s side, casting his own spell. 

It released a beam of light, but that beam merely hurdled toward the ball before being slingshotted away by the gravity and cratering somewhere else. 

‘Useless…’

Dirk smirked before bracing himself. 

The metal ball, what had now basically become a black hole, shot toward Umangot. 

“HAHH!!”

He gave one final roar, and the black hole collided with his fortification. 

*BOOM*

An explosion was released by the collision. An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. These two colossal powers clashed, obliterating anything between them. 

Thankfully, Dirk distanced himself enough. But the fallout was still immense. 

The two spells continued to clash for several seconds, the power within that black hole being released in explosive emissions as it was broken down. But similarly, the fortification faltered and was shredded by that imploding power. And the surroundings were even worse as what seemed like a ravine was created between the two, permanently scarring the planet. 

However, the might of a Tier 8 wasn’t for nothing. 

In the end, the ball gradually dissipated, and even though the fortification was reduced to a paper thin wall, it still held out in the end. 

The surroundings became quiet, not monster nor dwarf making a single sound. 

Umangot fell to one knee, his breathing labored. 

“This… hah… is why I fight with large scale spells…”

He lamented as his head broke out in a splitting headache. 

He was a mage who specialized in large scale spells. It was why he was brought to this battlefield, because his powers could flourish the most when faced with huge amounts of enemies. 

It was also why he was paired with General Feller, because that meathead specialized in one on one battles. They made up for each other’s weaknesses. 

But now, Umangot was forced to face off against an enemy who could use both large scale spells and localized spells. Its power was efficient to a terrifying degree whereas Umangot’s was quite the opposite. 

Of course, he wasn’t a one trick pony. He could utilize small scale spells, but when faced with this level of complexity, he still lost out, making up for his weakness with sheer power. 

He barely stood up, looking toward the Artifact that was faltering itself, running on fumes. 

But before he could move to capture it, he felt both the Light and Dark Mana around him fluctuate. 

Turning around, he was baffled to see the Vampire Princess and her positively maddening smile.