"Not all of it, save a little just in case."

Lin says "Got it. Just how insane is this spell going to be?"

"We'll see in a minute."

Lin says "That doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

I stand up, raise my arms, take a deep breath, and start casting the spell. Lin moves over to stand behind me, places her hands on my shoulders, and feeds her mana into me. I can feel her mana flowing up my arms and into the spell as it is taking form.

First, the spell reaches out dozens of miles in every direction and pulls the wind to me. The spell only pulls the wind, although some clouds get dragged along with it. As the wind converges above me it starts spinning and forms a vortex.

At first the vortex is pretty much invisible, but then it starts drawing in Shrikes. The vortex isn't made of wind anymore, the spell has turned the wind into millions of small wind blades. The Shrikes that get sucked in are quickly reduced to chunks, which are then shredded into mist.

The vortex slowly turns red as it absorbs the mist from the killed Shrikes. However, this isn't what was supposed to happen, the spell was supposed to create multiple tornados. Instead, it is making one huge tornado and I am already struggling to control it.

The vortex is stationary above us, but it is trying to reach for the ground. My concern is keeping the tail of the tornado from reaching the ground, or any of the buildings. The other problem is that the Shrikes can just stay away from the vortex.

So, instead of stopping the tail from forming, I let it form and just direct it towards the swarm. It is hard to control, but it is fun watching the Shrikes get sucked into it. It is like attaching a vacuum to a blender and sucking in bugs to watch them get shredded.

For the first time, the swarm as a whole moves as it tries to avoid the funnel of the tornado. Of course, there are far too many Shrikes for all of them to avoid the funnel. Soon the entire tornado is red from all the Shrikes that have been sucked in and torn apart.

Lin says "Ash, what's wrong? I don't think I have ever seen you sweat before."

"I made some mistakes with the spell. It is really hard to keep it under control."

Lin says "Can I help you control it?"

"I don't know, maybe?"

I can feel it when Lin's will touches the spell and starts looking for a way in. After a minute of fumbling around she finds a way in and I am able to hand off control of the core to her. That means that I only need to focus on controlling the funnel and tail of the tornado.

That makes my job much easier and enables me to control the tail better. Better control allows me to move the tail around faster and suck up a lot more Shrikes. Of course, that means I am doing my best to get the tail to hit the center of the swarm.

When I get the tail close to the center, the entire swarm tries to shift away from it. The tail cuts a gash through the swarm and reveals a winged, humanoid figure in the center. The swarm quickly closes around him to protect him, but I saw enough to know it is a demon.

That answers that question and of course I try to suck him into the tornado. Unfortunately, he is fast enough to avoid the tail and he just abandons the Shrikes. When I chase him out of the swarm, I see him point at me and the swarm moves.

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The entire swarm starts flying straight towards our rooftop and there are still thousands of them. I already know the demon is too fast, so I turn the tail on the swarm and try to get as many as I can. After a minute or so I feel Lin return control of the spell's core to me as she pulls her will back.

Lin says "I will protect you!"

Lin moves to stand in front of me to face the swarm and prepares her spells. Unfortunately, controlling the entire spell means I cannot move it fast enough to catch up to the swarm. In fact, at this point I can barely keep the spell from going out of control and reaching the ground.

So, before the swarm can get out of range, I end the spell and detonate the tornado. I have just enough control of the detonation to send the wind blades from the tail towards the swarm. The rest just fly off into the air until they fade away, but the ones from the tail shred the back half of the swarm.

With the spell finally over, I collapse to my knees and pant to catch my breath. My mana is completely spent and I feel like I have just run a marathon. Unfortunately, I can't rest yet, there are still at least a few thousand Shrikes left.

Luckily, thanks to Lin, all the weapons on our rooftop are undamaged and ready to fire. She lets the weapons fire first at the Shrikes leading the swarm. Then, when the main mass of the swarm comes in range, she unleashes her spells.

Against the densely packed Shrikes, her spells are just as effective as the tornado was. If she had full mana, then I am sure that she could have wiped out what's left of the swarm. As it is, her spells kill at least a thousand of the Shrikes heading for us.

Lin says "That's it, I'm completely out of mana."

"Then I guess it's my turn."

Lin says "You still have mana?"

"Nope."

Lin looks confused, that is until I drop shapeshift and return to my normal form. She moves out of the way as I step forward and take a really deep breath. I hold it until the Shrikes are almost within arm's reach and then I breathe out.

A cone of fire and lightning blasts out of my mouth and destroys everything in front of me. I turn my head from side to side to get as many of the Shrikes as I can before my breath runs out. It may just be my imagination, but my breath weapon seems stronger than the last time I used it.

"Alright, Zachariah, Almort, the rest is up to you."

The two of them lead the others on the rooftop in dealing with the remaining few hundred Shrikes. Luckily, Lin and I bought enough time for the weapons to be reloaded. After the weapons fire again, the Shrikes are reduced enough in numbers for the humans to finish them off.

17,953 Rank 1 Shrikes defeated! 897,650 Exp gained!

11,388 Rank 2 Shrikes defeated! 1,138,800 Exp gained!

4,619 Rank 3 Shrikes defeated! 692,850 Exp gained!

1,198 Rank 4 Shrikes defeated! 239,600 Exp gained!

131 Rank 5 Shrikes defeated! 32,750 Exp gained!