NOVEL NEXT Chapter 657: Foxfire
"Let us see which of us needs to be humbled this time around," Veyrin declared.
And with a twang, the first arrow of the fight shot forward.
Devil's response was a simple, fluid step to the side. The arrow whistled past, slicing through the air where he once stood, prompting him to let out a chuckle.
"Didn't we agree to take each other seriously?"
Veyrin flashed a small smile. "You have my apologies. Please, allow me to correct my mistake. [Foxfire Culling]."
A bright light ignited around his bow. The aura of the spell spread in a single moment, moving along the bowstring as he drew another arrow, its tip now coated in unnatural blue flames.
This was no ordinary fire. It did not simply burn. It disrupted.
If one was hit with such an enchanted arrow, their mana usage would be restricted, and their spell usage would be limited as it interfered with magical flow.
Foxes were not about brute strength but sneaky tactics that granted them the greatest chance at success, honor be damned, and their racial classes represented such a mindset perfectly. If their attacks couldn't kill their enemies, then at least the targets would be crippled as combatants due to effects such as Veyrin's foxfire imbuement. Posion and other debuffs were highly favored by foxkin combatants as a result of this logic.
Devil lifted his free hand.
In perfect sync with his arm movement, a massive boulder erupted from the ground before him, blocking Veyrin's projectile.
The moment the enchanted arrow struck the stone, the foxfire flames spread over the boulder. Finding no living target they could attach to, the flames quickly dissipated.
Devil stood behind the remains of his summoned defensive structure, completely untouched.
"Now we're talking…" he mused with eyes that made it clear he was getting excited at the prospect of this battle.
Veyrin, on the other hand, was gawking at him as if he were an alien creature that was beyond his comprehension. "Y-you cast a spell without intoning words!" he shouted after managing to find the right words with great difficulty.
Devil shook his head, "My mask is no mere accessory. I said the words needed to materialize this boulder, but the enchanted mask absorbed my voice, not letting my enemy hear it."
"What kind of an artifact is that?! I'd never heard even high-ranking officers of the elf-dwarf alliance having such tools!" The reason for Veyrin's outburst could be explained by the fact that simply hiding one's mouth wasn't enough to replicate Devil's actions. If one gagged himself so that his spell casts wouldn't be understood by his opponent, the spell wouldn't be cast. It was incredibly hard to circumvent this limitation.
"A Legendary-rarity one," Quinlan lied through his teeth as naturally as he breathed. There were no such artifacts, at least not in his possession. He was wearing the Rare-rarity mask Broderick had gifted him as a token of his gratitude for saving him from the rampaging orc horde back when thanks to Blossom's acute nostrils, they helped his land whale of a wife, Marjorie, track him down and rejoin her husband on the front line.
Intoning spells was one of the most basic laws of the universe. There were some ways to circumvent it, such as Vex's curse spell that muted the sound emitted by those it affected, but even such methods had their limitations. Vex's [Hex of Null Presence], for example, had a very long cooldown, cost a lot of mana to cast, and it only worked as long as the affected people were not spotted. As such, she could not use it in a duel to hide her spells.
There were very few existences who had a high enough innate affinity for their class to reach the equivalent mastery to the control Quinlan enjoyed over the elements. It required more than talent: one had to be of the correct race, namely one of the immortal ones, and the right circumstances to develop said mastery.
No matter how much time Quinlan spent on the dying world of Drakwyn, without the four elixirs, he would've never upgraded his Elemental Sovereign class and become the Avatar of the Elements. The same was true if he had the elixirs but didn't encounter the elements in their rawest forms, which allowed him to understand them at the most fundamental level.
With that cleared up, it was time to resume…
"L-L-L-L-L-Legendary?!" Silver spat, alongside many others in the audience. His head immediately snapped in Vex's direction, looking for a reaction from the woman who knew him well. What he saw didn't alleviate any of his worries.
"Whatever shall I do with this man…?" she mused while shaking her head before erupting into her trademark merry giggles.
Legendary artifacts were the national treasures of the three countries, not even all of the beastkin leaders had one in their possession. As a result, many greedy glances were sent Devil's way. His previously unimpressive mask suddenly became an irresistibly coveted item.
As for the distribution of the Legendary-rarity artifacts, the Alliance of Elvardia had the most. Not because their master artificer dwarves were capable of creating them, but because their ancestors, the mythical dwarves of old, could.
The second largest batch of Legendary items was in the possession of the Vraven Kingdom. Not because they could invade Elvardia and steal the items and their crafters, but because Malakar decided to loot the first male elf's stash after brutally executing the man. Later, he gave some such items to his descendants once he didn't have a need for them.
The Beastman Confederation was the most lacking in good artifacts. Not because they didn't value them—even the proud apex races would more than happily wield a Legendary piece of artifact with their head held high—but simply because they drew the short end of the stick.
Their ancestors were horrible at artificing, and their primordials had left them to their own devices, going on their journeys across Thalorind once they deemed their children were capable of looking after themselves—which was when the first man and woman of each subspecies reached adulthood… They weren't overly concerned with their duty of populating and guiding their people.
However, the beastkin primordials cared just enough to sign treaties with the other primordials before doing so. Because of that, Malakar couldn't just invade the tribes and slaughter them all whenever he wished, sparing the beastkin from extinction.
As for why was Malakar willing to sign such a treaty?
Everything had a price.
The first primordial human male…
Was bribed.
"I see how it is… To think there was such an artifact in the human lands…" Veyrin murmured before drawing another flaming arrow. "But don't you dare assume that such an item will be enough to beat me."
And with that, he vanished.
Not in the way a man running too fast for the eye to track might disappear, nor in the way an illusionist might blur the lines of reality—he simply wasn't there anymore.
Devil's eyes flicked up just in time to see Veyrin soaring high above, propelled by a burst of foxfire at his feet. His bow was already drawn.
"[Eclipse Volley]!"
The sky ignited.