For a few seconds, Michael focused solely on supplying his spell with as much mana as possible. The roaring inferno clashed against the barrier of green mana, seeking to melt through it and burn the enemy to ashes. Despite his efforts, the Forgotten’s Mana Shield remained unbroken. Michael’s smile only widened.

  I wonder if you have more mana than me.

  His Dragonheart raced within his chest. With every heartbeat, power flooded his veins. This deadlock continued for a few more seconds before the Forgotten moved for the first time. The orc ran to the side, but Michael only followed his movement with his staff. The flames kept up, wrapped around the Forgotten’s Shield like it was dry wood. At the same time, Michael kept moving.

  Suddenly, as he reached the side of a wooden house that was much like the ones in the previous Village, the Forgotten’s Shield started expanding. Michael widened his eyes, raising his concentration to its limit. The green barrier pushed the flames outward and kept going, creating a safe zone around the orc Mage that was over eight meters in diameter. A moment later, the Shield disappeared. As he ordered the flames to rush back in, Michael watched the Forgotten chant.

  Without hesitation, he dove behind the wooden house for cover. The surrounding mana grew wild, as if anticipating what was to come. Michael’s mind raced. Should he move away from the house while still using it as a barrier? Or should he stick to the wall? Naturally, the risk of sticking close to the wall was being caught up in a spell that could simply cause the house to explode entirely, but moving away gave the orc the opportunity to make his spells go around the house.

  In a situation like this, the right choice was naturally neither.

  Pure light flooded Michael’s veins as he activated Lightspeed.

  One second is all I need.

  He lowered his center of gravity, his eyes glowing with a golden hue. The darkness all around him seemed to stop approaching him.

  It was then that the Forgotten finished chanting.

  Michael felt the atmosphere change immediately. His stats and connection with mana allowed him to realize the magnitude of the incoming spell. A moment later, he shot forward as fast as he could, directly out of cover and into the open. His gaze zeroed in on the enemy. Right in front of the orc, there was an enormous boulder, at least several meters in diameter. It floated in the air, wrapped in a green hue. The hole under it made it obvious that it had been directly ripped out of the ground.

  Damn.

  The Forgotten looked at him with blank eyes that looked like an ordinary creature’s far too much. The orc moved his staff as the boulder flew toward Michael. A wall of wind hit him in full as the air was forced to part before the projectile. However, because Michael had abruptly sped up and jumped out of cover, the Forgotten hadn’t had enough time to adjust the attack’s trajectory. The boulder unceremoniously smashed through half of the wooden house, which hadn’t been able to offer any resistance at all. Michael widened his eyes.

  Empowered by Lightspeed, he managed to see the pieces of wood and stone flying through the air like bullets. At the same time, the boulder kept going, slowly curving its trajectory toward him. He let out a breath and continued to run, chanting.

  The boulder missed him and crashed against the ground with the force of a landslide. The blackened earth gave way to its great weight. Michael didn’t glance at the attack’s effects for even a second. The enemy in front of him was what mattered.

  Light stopped coursing through him as he deactivated Lightspeed and pointed his staff at the orc.

  “Mana Missile.”

  Twin great arrows made of mana took shape and started spinning before shooting toward the Forgotten. Michael focused, his mind sharpened by the acknowledgement that this wouldn’t be an easy fight.

  He heard the boulder that had crashed somewhere behind him crack and crumble. Right after, another green Mana Shield came into being around the orc. The Missiles crashed against it with a burst, as if angry that the Forgotten had dared to raise a defensive spell. Michael narrowed his eyes as he continued to feed mana into the Missiles, which were trying to drill through the barrier in their way. The orc’s Shield was starting to expand again.

  Same strategy, huh?

  In the end, just like the other Forgotten, the ‘Leaders’ at the center of the consumed Villages were limited by their apparent lack of intelligence. However, that did not mean that they weren’t dangerous. Michael could still feel how the previous Forgotten Leader’s blade had pierced through his stomach and intestines. The pain and sensation of having steel cut through his body remained clear. The memory was a reminder of what exactly he should be willing to go through to defeat these Leaders.

  So, show me what you can really do.

  The previous Leader was a Berserker who could overwhelm him in speed and power unless he activated Lightspeed, but the orc hadn’t shown anything too impressive yet. That only made Michael raise his guard even more.

  Even as his mind raced, Michael didn’t let his concentration waver for even a second. He moved his staff. The Missiles suddenly moved around the Forgotten’s Shield like flowing water, as if searching for a chink in its armor. Nevertheless, the Shield continued to expand. More slowly than before, it grew until it was several meters in diameter, just like the previous one. He didn’t stop feeding the Missiles mana. The orc raised his head and looked at the constantly moving Missiles.

  Michael continued to run as he kept his eyes fixed on the Forgotten. Would he lower his Shield and expose himself to offensive spells in order to attack? Or would he choose to do something else? No, what if there was a way for him to attack without dismissing the Shield in the first place?

  In response to Michael’s racing mind, the Forgotten Leader only looked at him. Black eyes that cried white, glowing tears, frozen in eternal suffering. The orange irises looked dim, surrounded by deep darkness. A bad feeling wormed its way into Michael’s heart. Light flooded his entire body as the Forgotten raised his staff and pointed it at him.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  In front of the Shield, a mass of mana took shape. The Shield didn’t disappear.

  Michael gritted his teeth and accelerated with Lightspeed.

  Of fucking course. It just has the best Skill for a caster.

  There was no time to resent his enemy. The mass of mana ignited into green flames that ravenously consumed the air in the atmosphere. A heartbeat later, they flowed toward him like they were alive.

  Michael grew faster with every footstep, but the green fire was just barely able to keep up with him. The orc kept his emotionless eyes fixed on Michael as the Shield continued to expand, creating an impenetrable safe zone around the Forgotten. Michael glanced at the flames. There was no way to know how quickly they would be able to burn him to ash. Even against the Berserker Forgotten Leader, he had chosen to believe that the blade wouldn’t have been able to kill him instantly. The same didn’t go for this magic fire.

  He accelerated with a deep breath and went around another of the wooden houses. The entire structure fell apart in just over a second as the fire reached it. Michael frowned and continued to run in a circle around the Forgotten.

  How do I beat him?

  An omnidirectional defensive spell and an offensive spell capable of quickly destroying him and turning him to cinders. No matter how he tried to tackle this in his mind, he kept running into dead ends. The possibility of victory didn’t exist. Michael scoffed to himself. If it didn’t exist, he would force it to. The only thing he could try and exploit was the Forgotten’s lack of intelligence. However, in a situation like this, that was almost a boon. It meant that the orc wouldn’t be tricked into lowering his Shield by some simple strategy.

  For a few seconds, Michael was stumped as he ran. He jumped in and out of cover, but the flames devoured everything in their path, and there were no large rocks that he could hide behind. Even if there had been, it would have been pointless, as the fire would simply go around it. His only choice was to keep running.

  Lightspeed continued to empower his physical body, but its time limit approached like a ticking clock. He needed a way out of this.

  Think!

  His mind flashed with images of his Status Window and all the Skills he could use. Michael’s gaze zeroed in on the ground underneath the orc.

  If it expanded the Shield…

  Mana Shield was an omnidirectional defensive spell that acted as a Mage’s armor, even though it was one of the most basic spells he had seen. That was especially true if it remained just above the caster’s skin, acting as a layer of protection.

  But what about attacks from the inside?

  The Forgotten had expanded the Shield into a sphere that was several meters in diameter, ensuring that all spells like Fireball wouldn’t be able to even get close to it. But what would happen if Michael tried to cast Earth Spikes on the ground already behind the Shield’s cover? It would have been different if the orc’s Shield had stuck close to his body, but now… could a starter spell actually prevent Michael’s mana from affecting anything within its limits?

  Michael smiled like a beast baring its fangs. Without missing a beat, he started to chant. At the same time, Lightspeed’s timer kept ticking down, the flames approaching him from behind in a raging inferno. After what felt like an eternity, he pointed the Elder Chief’s Staff at the orc.

  “Earth Spikes!” he said, his voice almost a growl.

  In his state of heightened concentration, Michael felt like he could almost see the mana leaving his body and melting into the ground, then flowing toward the Forgotten’s feet. The ground underneath him rippled like water. The orc looked down, making the flames chasing Michael slow down for the first time, and started to move, but it was too late.

  The twin Spikes tore their way out of the stone with ferocity and pierced the orc’s thighs straight through. The Curse of Darkness almost hissed as it flowed out of the orc’s wounds. The Spikes punctured skin and muscle amidst a burst of black blood, tearing through blood vessels. They severed the orc’s legs entirely a moment later. But Michael wasn’t willing to let it end at this. He narrowed his eyes as he pushed his mind to its limits.

  Flow.

  The stone Spikes, which now stood proudly, coated in white tears of light and black blood, rippled again. They slowly curved like tentacles, tips pointing at the orc’s head as his upper body fell. At the same time, the orc looked at Michael with a blank stare. The Shield around it disappeared.

  A chill went down Michael’s spine as the Forgotten fell, pointing his staff at Michael.

  Shit!

  The fact that the Mana Shield had been dismissed only meant that there was another attack incoming. The orc had chosen to give up on his defenses after they were overcome. The ground underneath Michael rippled in a strikingly familiar fashion. Without stopping to think for even a second, Michael accelerated with Lightspeed, but it wasn’t enough.

  The earth rose in the shape of sharp spikes that pierced his lower body like spears, drilling through his muscles. The pain was immense, but Michael only felt angry at himself. If he hadn’t hesitated for a second after seeing the orc dismiss the Mana Shield, he would have been able to avoid this. He gritted his teeth.

  Michael ignored the suffering and clenched his fist, staff pointing at what remained of the Forgotten. The Spikes pierced through the air like lunging snakes and pierced the orc’s eyes. The organs were destroyed in a heartbeat, but the Spikes kept going, as if they were thirsty for his blood. The Forgotten made no sound at all as the Spikes tore through his optic nerves and skull to reach the brain. After a second, the orc’s upper body went limp. The flames chasing Michael disappeared, melting back into mana. A single System notification appeared in front of his eyes.

  [You have slain Durzol, the Forgotten (Level 69).]

  Michael let out a deep breath as the draconic light stopped coursing through him. The Spikes that had torn through him trembled before crumbling into piles of rocks, some of which remained inside his body.

  He fell to the ground, his lower body crippled. With a deep frown, Michael lightly touched his leg with his free hand. The holes bled severely, but he couldn’t heal just yet. Clenching his jaw, he carefully dug every small rock out of his muscles and blood vessels, pulling them out as if he were a surgeon. The pain of removing stones from his flesh was maddening, but he held on.

  Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Michael finished and activated Cleansing. He touched his chest with his free hand.

  “Minor Heal,” he whispered under his breath.

  Twin waves of green mana coursed through him, mending his wounds. Then, two more after that. And two more. Michael continuously cast Minor Heal through Twin Casting until he was back to pristine condition, ignoring his torn robes. However, he remained seated. After a few seconds, he raised his gaze and looked around. The surroundings were much darker than before the battle. Clear Sight was getting close to running out.

  I’m tired.

  Dragon blood or not, he was scared of fighting another Leader and being forced to withstand such painful attacks again. But what else could he do? He needed to keep going. Michael sighed and stood up, then looked at the golden sphere of light floating in the middle of the consumed Village. Trying to keep his guard up, he approached it and touched its surface. System notifications appeared in front of him.

  [You have purified part of the Consumed Territory. You have received three Skill Points and three Levels.]

  [The Curse of Darkness resents your existence. Its effects have increased by 5%.]

  [The Forgotten rejoice, for a powerful warrior now remembers their names. All XP gains from the Forgotten have increased by 10%.]

  The same as when he’d defeated Iki and touched the first golden sphere. Just like back then, the darkness recoiled as if it had met its nemesis, giving way to a path of blue light. However, Michael wasn’t in any mood to admire the sight of his Village’s Territory winning against the Curse of Darkness through his own efforts.

  I need training.

  He had changed his mind about what to do and needed to talk to Tairy. If he kept going like this, he would lose his life.