“Ben, watch Verbum!”

It was the only thing she could yell before the ground burst, dirt that had been turned to rock under the pressure she’d exerted shooting out as shards with the demon that had come with it hanging in the air while Thera took it in.

Tall and thin, the one before her had two sets of arms and legs neatly pressed against its torso as it lightly landed on the ground, seemingly unaffected by her attack that had obliterated its brethren.

How though? I put so much force into that, I doubt that even if it had an awakened earth magic it could have managed. Magic nullification again? Even if it canceled the deepest bits of mana, the higher layers would have still kept pushing down. And besides that…

There were bands on each of its four arms, shiny metal things she hadn’t seen on any of the other demons who had come through the gate, implying it might be something more. An invader with true intelligence like the one that had destroyed Iberu’s weapon.

She couldn’t imagine how something like that had found its way so deep in the woods, the only reason it was even on the planet likely being a simple accident. She’d never heard of any proper invaders staying and raising hell before the second wave, the fact it was there had to be a mistake caused by the gates closing early. If it had come out to deal with some insurmountable problem like the last one she’d seen back at craftsman’s tower then it was the only thing that made sense.

But none of that mattered. Why it was there, how it had got there, what it had been doing and what it had planned, the only thing she knew was that it needed to die and began her assault, ripping earth from the ground in a constant barrage as bullets and spikes came at it from all angles, each one expertly avoided in the end.

No, not avoided.

It was barely moving. Instead, the attacks moved around it, each chunk of earth being subtly shifted away from its target, left to fly off further into the devastated land.

Okay, maybe it is an earth mage then?

Without her staff in her hands she was handicapped, but it was something Ben saw himself from the side.

“THERA!”

With a scream, he threw it at her and she pulled it from the air, using just a bit of her magic to make sure it went to her hand and changed tactics the second it was there, switching to mana crystallization as massive spears of her raw power shot out towards it, expecting to hit but getting the same effect, each attack missing and breaking down.

Not earth magic then. Not good.

She felt unprepared, too caught off guard after she’d been so sure of her success in handling everything with her first strike against the horde to think as clearly as she could, but the answers became apparent with its first move, holding out its hand and causing a gale of wind to flood the area.

She was almost knocked off her feet before she had a barrier up, but it gave her the answer she sought.

Air magic, powerful too. Awakened maybe? The last one seemed to be, maybe they send warriors that should be in the third wave over to handle any problems during the first?

She didn’t get a chance to question it further. It flew through the sky at her, closing the distance in an instant and smashing its fists against her barrier, making the whole of it shake. Both her level and control of that branch of magic were low enough that it was far from perfect, but the fact it was showing any strain against a punch just felt insulting considering the mana she was pouring into it and spoke volumes of the strength that demon must have possessed.

As she watched it rear back, preparing for its next punch, she brought down the barrier just as it was about to make contact, messing up its balance as she dodged to the side and felt her life flash before her eyes. She’d barely been missed but the force of the attempted blow created a rush of wind she was sure had nothing to do with its magic and confirmed its strength in her eyes. Taking a strike wasn’t going to be an option.

With earth magic and mana crystallization off the table and her barriers coming off as weaker than she would like by a wide margin, it was time to switch up her approach. Of the three magics she had left, she was sure that two would at least be useful. Both her life and her dark options.

Immediately she began buffing her physical abilities to try and put as much distance between the two as she could while at the same time luring it away from both Ben and Verbum, the fact that she was meant to be acting as the latter’s guard not far from her thoughts but needed to be ignored when the monster followed.

Each time it reached out she’d defend herself with a barrier, layering them as much as she could for whatever little extra protection that would give while at the same time its attacks only grew more fierce, thee monster reveling in that challenge as she had to manage both that and the constant wind attacks attempting to wipe her off her feet, all while she tried to prepare a spell that would let her fight back.

Even if it wasn’t to the extent of Ben, Her time in the library of the magic towers had been fruitful in its own way, letting her read the theory of plenty of spells, now all that was left was putting them into practice.

She took the life and dark mana within her and held it tight, stripping the charm off the latter and inverting the purpose of the former. At the fourth level of that particular awakened magic, she was well past the point where she could begin using it another way, one that emulated the power of death magic.

By combining both, she had something the monster before her couldn’t block, a spell with no physical aspect to be blown away but instead was purely magical, forcing weakness into the body of the beast as strength sapped from its muscles and its mind grew dim, or at least that was the intended effect.

For only a second she thought she had it, thought she had lowered its power down to a manageable level, right until it grinned. A ghastly, toothy sight, more predatory than anything else that spoke of the violence it was prepared to inflict as it finally punched through her barrier, hitting her in the gut and throwing her across the land.

Before she’d even hit the ground she was already in the process of healing herself, the strengthening she’d applied to her body being the only thing that kept her in a state where that was even possible. Ribs were broken and organs were ruptured, she could already feel blood climbing up her throat while she rushed to fix things as quick as she could, but not quick enough to be of any use.

It was walking over to her in a slow jaunt, enjoying every second of the fight and not wanting to bring it to an end, wanting to play just a little more with the toy that had just killed off its kin. It would only take seconds to finish things and as good as Thera was, she needed minutes.

Wow, so I’m going to die. She thought bluntly, feeling almost detached from the realization. This is so unfair. Why didn’t my last spell work? Don’t tell me it really does have magic nullification too, unless… Infinite hells, all of these things have some level of soul magic they can use on themselves so was it canceling my effects with that? But I put so much power into it, it would have to be awakened, so does this stupid thing have two awakened magics and a high-level combat skill? Ugh, that feels so unfair. Would petrification work? If it can cancel the effects of my last spell then it should be able to cancel that effect too since it’s partially life-based. I’m out of options.

She wanted to complain that being able to brush away any physical attack and cancel out the spiritual ones was nothing but cheating but decided to save her breath. If every invader that was going to be coming through the third wave really was that strong then it almost made sense to give up then and there and let the inevitable take her, but despite it all she didn’t let go of her staff, instead holding it forward to the approaching monster as she forced her will to the earth at its feet, changing its density to try and make it sink in while tendrils shot up to pull it down, only for both attacks to fail. It hovered above the ground, free from the change beneath its feet and kicked away everything that tried to grab onto it, still looking perfectly calm as the first world left its lips.

“Struggle.”

“The fuck do you think I’ve been doing?” She spat back, flecks of her golden blood landing at its feet raising it all of the higher in its elation.

Whatever plans it may have had had been ruined, but at the very least it got to push itself, honing the weapon that was its skills and was about to pay off the fight by ending things right there until something it never expected happened.

It knew there were others with its target, but neither had seemed worth acknowledging. The more powerful of the two was out cold, and even if the other seemed strong enough to handle the lesser demons and had a smell that picked at its brain, it wasn’t enough to bother with, leading to a small mistake.

In its confidence and focus on its main target, it let its guard down and left its back unguarded, giving just enough room for a knife to plunge into it.