You have broken through your ninety-sixth barrier.

You are level 96.

Choose the trait you value the most.

A purple rectangle flashed in front of Dallion. One additional advantage of the new domain was the additional levels he’d earned. The previous four times Dallion had chosen to improve his empathy trait, raising it to seventy. On this occasion, he hesitated. He could always use a higher reaction, not to mention that his perception was lagging behind as well.

No, he chose empathy again. He had to look at more than short-term gains. Five points wouldn’t provide him with an insurmountable advantage. Developing his empathy, in the long term, would.

“Nox, do your thing,” he ordered.

GUARDIAN CHALLENGE!

Nox has challenged the guardian of STONE CIRCLE on your behalf!

The guardian has no choice but to respond to the challenge.

A towering colossus emerged, rising thousands of feet in the air. If there were clouds in the realm, they’d barely reach his chest. Despite the impressive size, at level five, it was more for show. Without blinking an eye, Dallion performed a dozen line attacks in immediate succession, all aimed at the guardian’s head.

Used to this sort of attack, the monstrosity raised his arms to cover his face. That proved to be a fatal mistake. Knowing the colossus’ weak spot, Dallion used his flight spell to circle the guardian until its ear became visible, then performed a series of point attacks.

FATAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 500%

FATAL STRIKE

Dealt damage is increased by 500%

Red rectangles stacked near the guardian’s head.

STONE CIRCLE Level not increased due to lack of inhabitants

4000 inhabitants required for STONE CIRCLE to improve further

The VILLAGE remains Level 5

Dallion paused. He suspected that inhabitants would be area specific, although he had hoped the vicinity to Sandstorm would allow him to use some of the furies in excess of the town limit. In the future, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to create a small community here and a few other settlements in order for them to act as sentry-villages.

Soon, he thought, returning to the real world.

The size of the domain wasn’t particularly impressive—the water islands were larger in size. That was all taken into account. Dallion very well remembered one of the first things he had been told about domains: he controlled everything within them, even the air.

“Thought you might need some help,” Vihrogon said, stepping into the real world part of the domain. “There’s four of us and ten islands. I guess that makes it two and a quarter each?”

A volley of water projectiles launched from the nearest island, aimed at Dallion. Once again, Harp blocked them with a series of projectiles of her own.

Drawing the aura sword to him, Dallion performed a point strike in the direction of the water island, while simultaneously casting new aether barriers.

“Any idea what we’re facing?” Dallion asked.

“A bit before my time.” The dryad stretched, vines shooting out of him to strike the few water droplets that Harp had missed. “A thousand at most, I’d say.”

“Three hundred,” the nymph specified. “It’s standard for a water island to have three hundred soldiers, all of them capable of magic. At least thirty of them awakened.”

That didn’t seem too bad. It would have been nice to have a few spy spells to be certain.

“We’ll assume all of them are awakened,” Dallion said. Taking a deep breath, he used his awakened power to bring the colossus into the real world.

The ground trembled beneath him. A chunk of rock the size of a fort emerged from the center of the realm, uprooting what little vegetation remained. The head was soon followed by a set of massive stone shoulders.

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Seeing a colossus join the battlefield, all cloud forts focused their attacks there. Bolts the size of towers flew through the valley, followed by a series of line and point attacks. That was the greatest drawback of massive creatures—they became easy targets.

Almost simultaneously, Dallion, Harp, and Vihrogon responded. Line and point attacks flew in the opposite direction, in an attempt to negate part of the enemy attacks. As it happened, Dallion kept on taking advantage of the aura sword to cast a variety of aether projectiles towards the nearest water island as well.

Thunder ripped the air, sounding like a series of explosions.

Concentrating, Dallion tried to harden the outer layer of air in his domain, but wasn’t able to. If there was such an ability, it was reserved for higher levels. Spells, however, weren’t.

Two flaming beams of light appeared a short distance away, striking the side of a water island. Dallion’s echoes had no intention of making things easier for the Azures. The damage was insignificant, but it split the attention of the enemies, at which point Dallion made his move.

As barrages of spells, water, and point attacks kept on flying at the colossus’ head, the guardian suddenly darted to the side. It wasn’t the mass of rock that was moving, though, but the whole domain.

Yes! Dallion thought. This was what domain wars were supposed to be. When dealing with large numbers and territories, it wasn’t just about overwhelming power, but adequate support. Colossi had helped him win the battle at the vortex fields, and they were going to help him win this.

“Careful!” Harp shouted.

Spires of water shot out of the area surrounding his domain, several of which hit the guardian in the shoulder.

MODERATE WOUND

STONE CIRCLE guardian’s health has been reduced by 20%

A red rectangle flashed before Dallion’s eyes.

Immediately, a wall of stone rose up, cutting off the sources of the water spires. Finding itself in his domain, the liquid was quickly reformed into a series of blades that darted at an enemy island. Aether barriers emerged, providing the people of the target enough time to jump off before fatal impact. Moments later, the massive chunk of water was unable to contain its form, bursting onto the ground.

Unfortunately, the damage to Dallion’s domain was already done. Despite all efforts, the guardian had lost a quarter of its health in exchange for one out of ten enemy structures.

“You can’t keep this up.” Vihrogon launched a torrent of leaves in the direction of the enemy soldiers. “Water can be reused.”

More water spires emerged. This time, Dallion pulled the colossus back into the area’s realm, as he continued moving towards the center of the valley. Water flew above him, like rockets.

“Get back in the mountain,” Vihrogon shouted. “It’s the best strategic—”

“Later!” Dallion summoned his mandolin. It had been a while since he’d played it. The instrument could by no means be called a weapon, but it would have to do for what he had in mind.

Two more, he told himself. All he had to do was destroy two more islands. That was the psychological point at which the enemy would view the battle as a loss. Even if they didn’t retreat immediately, the hesitation would be enough for Dallion to take more decisive actions. At the end of the day, it was all a matter of appearance. If they believed him to be strong, he was going to be strong—someone strong enough to move his domain in the heart of the action with no fear.

“Harp, ready?” He glanced at her. A harpsisword of water had already formed in the nymph’s hands.

“Destroy your echoes,” she told him. “You’ll need the magic.”

It wasn’t an ideal solution, but some sacrifices had to be made. In the blink of the eye, the three other Dallions flashed out of existence.

“Vih, protect us!” Dallion played a chord.

Harp joined in.

Magic infused the sounds, emanating like light throughout the valley. Sharper than blades, stronger than steel, their vibrations cut through every water projectile, slicing into the outer layers of the islands.

That composed only part of the attack. The main focus wasn’t its destructive power, but the emotions it spread. Dread, hopelessness, and uncontrollable sadness emanated throughout the valley, coming from two powerful sources.

MUSIC EFFECT - DEVASTATION

The strength of your attack is too strong to be contained.

You’ll suffer 10% of its intensity until it stops.

Gritting his teeth, Dallion concentrated, fighting to withstand the effects. The sensation reminded him of what he had witnessed when exploring the world sword. There was no way to measure the current music attack, but if it was as high, the effects would become visible any moment now.

Five seconds passed, then ten. The nearest water islands slowed down, decreasing their attacks. A water golem emerged on the scene, utterly unaffected, yet he was quickly engaged by Gleam.

Of course, Dallion thought. Illusions.

Taking advantage of his reaction trait, he used the time between chords to draw a series of magic symbols on his forehead. Bit by bit, the pain diminished. In terms of physical abilities, Dallion would still suffer the effect, but the illusions he’d drawn on himself ensured that his mind didn’t experience any of that. At most, it seemed that he’d spent a night away with no sleep.

A little longer, Dallion told himself.

More of the water island slowed down. A few of the distant ones attempted to target him as before, but Vihrogon was doing a good job of keeping them protected. Hundreds of instances kept shooting thousands of vines, shielding them from all direct attacks, while casting the indirect ones away as well.

Two islands stopped in their tracks, as the humans aboard them jumped off in an effort to stop the pain. Falling a hundred feet wasn’t much for an awakened, but in their current state, Dallion could be certain that they would be injured or unconscious at the very least.

“Enough.” Harp stopped playing.

“A little more!” Dallion persisted. The contents of his stomach rebelled, screaming to fly out.

“Dal.” Ice cold water grabbed his hands. “That’s enough,” the nymph added. “That’s all you can do for now.”

Dallion stopped. He knew that she was right, although deep inside, he resented himself for it. Maybe he should have increased his body trait after all? Being driven to such a state after minutes of combat made him feel so weak.

There’s nothing wrong, dear boy. Adzorg offered his support from the realm. Fighting an army is like that. Keep in mind, you’re not an archduke yet, and your enemies aren’t low-level awakened.

Strictly speaking, the old mage was right, but in a war that didn’t matter in the least. It was that notion which allowed Dallion to break through the doubt he had put himself in with the last attack. Without a moment to lose, he waved the aura blade, casting a series of healing spells. Green circles emerged, shining a soothing light onto him. That felt much better. A few more seconds and he would almost feel like before. Sadly, he didn’t have that much time. Summoning another clay cylinder, Dallion went on to release a ray of destruction at one of the islands still moving. The spell hit its target head on, only to be deflected to the side.

Damn it! Dallion thought.

This hadn’t been a standard reaction of the island itself, someone had countered the spell—someone with a high level of skills.

“It’s not over.” Dallion flew straight for the island that had deflected the attack. As long as he defeated the commander there, the rest would retreat. Many were already in pretty bad shape as it was.

A line attack flew past Dallion, missing him by inches. The relative calm had come to an end. All Azures that had withstood the music attack were now reengaging in full force. Their attacks seemed a lot slower now that Dallion had gotten used to them. Splitting into fifty instances, he evaded them all with ease. Just to be on the safe side, he cast a few more protective spells, covering himself in a full aether armor.

Just then, another combat splitting took place. A hundred instances burst out of the water island, revealing a skinny man with a weapon twice his size.

A shield blade? Dallion wondered.

He had seen pictures of the weapon in several of the weapon scrolls, but never one in real life. From what he remembered, the weapon was created exclusively for fighting slimes; its flat side was widened and reinforced to the point that it could act as a shield. Only people of considerable skill and strength used such weapons. Handling it with anything below a sixty body trait was outright impossible.

“So, it’s you again,” the man’s instances said. All of them had spread out on the ground, looking up at Dallion in utter disgust.

I suggest tactical retreat, Adzorg said from Dallion’s domain.

Why? Dallion asked. He’s not a mage.

He doesn’t have to be. That’s one of Archduke Dreud’s personal bodyguards. The same that almost killed you while puppeting a boy at the Academy.