As such, stomping arrogant ants was his birthright and the Master was no exception. By defeating him, by subjecting him to all those humiliating tests, the Master had earned themselves a thousand deaths.
Alas, just like Xedros, the Master was too strong for him, yet. Gadorf could only suck it up and bide his time.
"Because I don't like the middle way. The method we have developed for you may turn you into an Awakened one, but then what? You'll get a little more powerful, live a little bit longer. I find your idea of turning into a dragon is nothing more than wishful thinking.
"You are already a wyvern, the very thought of someone as conceited as you becoming a Guardian is disturbing, to use a euphemism. Instead, if I succeed, I'll become an immortal being with no limit to my strength and none of the weaknesses that plague Abominations.
"Humans have stopped evolving for a long time. Awakening is just a palliative care. I'll bring the dawn of a new golden age for mankind. Imagine a world where a selected few, the truly brilliant and enlightened, can lead the masses without the threat of death, aging, or illness."
Gadorf had listened to that speech countless times. The Master's eyes always shone with a childlike enthusiasm that bordered madness.
"Sure, there will be collateral damages. Some people will be sacrificed for the greater good, but Mogar is full of idiots that do not deserve to live. Small minded cretins incapable of seeing further than their nose."
The rage transpiring from their words made Gadorf suspect that the Master was lonely, unappreciated, or both.
"You don't want to conquer the world?" Gadorf was flabbergasted. The Master was as powerful as short sighted.
'Power is the only requirement to rule over the weak.' He thought.
The Master laughed heartily at those words.
"You really are insane, Lizzie. I'm just tired of seeing good people die while the mediocre thrive. To see true genius go unnoticed or buried under useless paperwork that could be handled by lesser men.
"I only want to show humans their true potential, to cure the ultimate disease: death. I'm sure that despite their name, Abominations are as natural as you and I. They are the next evolutionary step, they just need to be perfected."
After acquiring his black core and practicing his new skills, Gadorf was eager to leave the Master's side. The next time they met, it would have been when he ripped the Master's still beating heart from their chest.
Or so Gadorf thought.
"Where do you think you are going, Lizzie?" The Master refused to call him by his name until the wyvern gave up his pretentious dream of becoming a dragon. Both had proven to be stubborn.
Chapter 285 Operating Room Part 2
"Away. I need food to evolve." Gadorf snarled.
"You really are an idiot." The Master sighed.
"Attack magical beasts and Evolved Monsters will kill you. Attack humans and mages will do the same. They are many while you are one. Not a particularly brilliant one at that."
Gadorf growled, but didn't reply. He had always picked on humans because he was scared of meeting Evolved Monsters. The wyvern had always considered the humans as the weakest link, yet their fake mages had almost killed him several times.
The Master was a human and a fake mage, yet had single handedly defeated him. Those words deeply wounded Gadorf's pride, yet their truth was undeniable.
"This lab costs money. Giving you power cost me a lot of money. This isn't a bard's tale where you get riches simply thanks to the writer's pen. If you want your 'food' and get away with it, if you want your gold, you've got to earn it."
The Master taught him how to feed only on the weak and the poor, those whose disappearance would cause no alarm, if not call for celebration. The Master also showed Gadorf how to alter his life force to assume a human form.
It was something called "Body Sculpting". Last, but not least, the Master introduced him to the criminal underworld. Someone like Gadorf, capable of opening illegal Warp Gates crossing hundreds of kilometers at once thanks to his arrays, of transporting people and contraband alike, was a money-making machine.
Drugs, fugitives, stolen goods, there was nothing Gadorf couldn't slip over the Griffon Kingdom's borders unnoticed. Even some of the most powerful noble families used his services to get to safety their endangered members, like the ex-Headmistress of the Lightning Griffon Linnea or Archmage Lukart did.
Thanks to their support and protection, his criminal empire had grown over time. The reports about his activities were constantly covered up or downplayed if hiding them was impossible.
Sometimes, leading figures of human society would use him to get rid of overzealous officers, like Captain Yerna, or to settle their grudges away from the Crown's eyes, like in Lith's case. Yerna's execution was already scheduled, Lith's was just the icing on the cake. An opportunity to kill two pests with one stone.
Gadorf needed food, they needed a killer, it was a win-win situation.
The wyvern gladly indulged in such favours. He would get powerful mages to feed on, together with huge sums. The only sour note was that half his profits ended in the Master's pockets, to fund their research.
'I would have already acquired a treasure worthy of a dragon, if not for that leech!' Gadorf hated sharing, but the Master kept him on a tight leash. A single Eldritch was enough to chase him to the darkest corner of Mogar and put him down like a rabid dog.
While Gadorf was assessing his losses, watching his treasures boil and his priceless furniture turn to ashes, Lith was back at his peak condition.
'Where the heck are the reinforcements?' He had no idea that those sent to their aid were of no threat to the wyvern, nor that they had been sent to the wrong address. One hand washed the other, and both hands washed the face.
'Who's left?' Among the smoke and flames, it was hard for Lith to see. Thanks to air magic, breathing was not a problem instead.
'You, Red, the Captain, the Sergeant, and the only two orange cored members of the unit. I suspect the wyvern did it on purpose.' Solus replied.
'No sh*t, Sherlock. We must be his full course. Time to go all out.' Lith actually had several attack plans, but none of his liking. The wyvern was bigger and stronger than him.
Between the fire breath and the tail ending with a talon-like extremity, Lith was tempted to curse at the unfairness of the match.
'Could as well got a broom up his a*s, so he can sweep the floor and kick my butt at the same time.' Lith focused on Solus's ring, making it grow until it covered his whole right hand.
Now it looked like a stone gauntlet with a yellow gemstone shining at the center of the back of the hand. Then, he used darkness magic to cancel his presence and fire magic to spread the smoke while making it thicker.
Thanks to Life, Vision Lith could easily see Gadorf through to smoke and circle around him waiting for the moment to strike. The wyvern kept turning his head, sniffing the air in search of his prey.
The array hindered his mana perception. Gadorf was sure to have left alive the right ones, but couldn't pinpoint their exact location. He tried multiple times to extinguish the fires and clear up the smoke, but someone was opposing him.
'I could force my way through, but this could be some kind of trap.' The resistance he felt made keeping control over the burning environment a tug of war of willpower. To prevail, Gadorf needed to focus. Such a focus would diminish his awareness of the surroundings.
'Bah, I'm overthinking. I have nothing to fear from some weak humans and unharmed kids.'
Lith felt his grasp over the smoke weakening and smiled for it.
'He is no Awakened, otherwise the smoke wouldn't hinder his senses. Finally a piece of good news.'
The moment the air cleared, Lith struck. He charged towards the wyvern's exposed back, his hands pulsing with electricity. Gadorf had centuries of battle experience, as soon as he smelled traces of ozone in the air, he reacted boosting his reflexes with air fusion.
His tail lashed toward Lith with the bone stinger aime
d at his shoulder. The ritual required a living prey, not a healthy one after all. Lith took out the Gatekeeper bastard sword at the last second, boosting himself with fire, air, and water fusion.
The sword's appearing took Gadorf by surprise, while Lith's movements brought complete shock to him. They were too fast, leaving him no space do dodge. Too strong, cutting through his scales, flesh, and bones like a hot knife does with butter.
Too fluid, allowing his arms to move up and down like a slithering snake, amputating one chunk of flesh after the other. When Gadorf managed to pull the tail back, half of it was already painting the floor red.
"My tail! How? Why?" Had Lith cut it once, reattaching the two severed parts would have been a piece of cake. Now the wyvern's only options were to collect and reattach the pieces one by one or regrow the tail.
The latter solution would leave Gadorf drained. He didn't dare to leave himself more exposed to such a cruel sword.
"Why?" Usually Lith wouldn't talk. This time he knew his opponent was getting weaker by the second because of the blood spurting from the amputated extremity, while as long he was allowed to use Invigoration his energy was endless.
"Because this isn't a fight. This is just another operating room..." He infused the Gatekeeper with darkness magic, slashing the chunks of tail again.
"¡and I'm the healer." Lith taunted the wyvern with his sword, while the flesh rotted at a speed visible at the naked eye.
"Curse you!" Gadorf charged in outrage, his blood boiling from fury, his hatred taking physical form, engulfing him with an armor of living fire.
Red and the surviving members of the team couldn't believe their own eyes. None of what was happening made any sense. Yet Lith's next move surpassed it all.
Chapter 286 Light and Darkness Part 1
From his first and only serious fight with Protector, back when he was still a child, Lith had learned an important lesson.
Be it while facing one of the Kings of the Trawn woods, an Abomination, an Evolved Monster, or a Valor, he had always stuck to it, never allowing his pride to blind him.
Even with an enhanced body, even despite all the changes he had experienced after the recent breakthroughs, Lith never allowed himself to forget that he was just human.
There were enemies whose fury and savagery he couldn't match, no matter how badly he wanted it. Instead of charging blindly like his rage demanded, like his opponent was doing, Lith kept his mind cold while his mana core burned with power.
He had to play it smart, eroding his opponent's strength until the tables were turned.
Gadorf had never been so furious in all his life. He had allowed a simple human hatchling to mutilate him. With his flesh now rotten, reattaching the pieces was impossible, the only choice he had left was regrowing it.
That was the exact reason why Lith had done it.
'He is faster and stronger than me, but without the tail his balance is all over the place. No matter if he prefers to keep his energies and wobble like a duck or to heal himself and exhaust his reserves. Either way he is dead.'
The stump had stopped bleeding, but Gadorf wasn't used moving, let alone flying without his tail and in such a confined space at that. To keep his balance, he ended up twisting his body multiple times, touching the edges of the array with catastrophic consequences.
Every time the array and the destructive spell engulfing him clashed, both would lose part of their power while waves of pain invaded the wyvern's body. Lith easily dodged the charge with a few side steps. When the left wing passed a few centimeters from him, he slashed down with both hands.
The blade cut through the light bone of the arm, lacerating the wing almost all the way to the wyvern's hip. The short flight turned into a tumble, slamming against the altars before crashing into the barrier again.
A new barrage of spells struck the wyvern's body, making him bounce back and forth against the dome of light like a pinball. Lith and the surviving members of the unit, even Red, were throwing everything they had, to pin Gadorf as long as possible.
Gadorf was almost in agony. The phantom pain from the tail was blinding, his left wing was being consumed by the darkness magic Lith had infused into the blade, and his back was sizzling like a steak forgotten on the barbeque.
Worst of all was his pride, shattered like it didn't happen from years. Yet the physical pain made him snap out of his fury. The wyvern was thinking clearly again. His survival instinct combined with centuries of battle experience allowed him to see how foolish he had been.
'I really am an idiot.' The Master's words echoed into his mind and for the first time the wyvern actually listened to them. Seeing that the kid with the sword was waiting for him to do something stupid again, Gadorf took a deep breath instead.
Lith rolled behind the closest altar, expecting another breath of fire and so did the others. Gadorf channeled light magic into his wing instead, wiping off the dark energies and healing the limb.
"I'm done underestimating you, human."
Despite his arrogant tone, Gadorf didn't like his odds. His body was too huge to move nimbly inside the array's closed space. Yet he didn't dare return to his human husk. Tier three and below spells could barely break his skin, let alone harm his scales.
The sword, though, was another matter entirely. His human form wouldn't be able to stand more than a couple of slashes from such a powerful weapon.
'That kid is too fast for a human. Could he be like me? In disguise?' Another sting struck his abdomen while Gadorf was lost in thought.
Lith was tampering again with the array, poisoning its energies and the wyvern along with them. Gadorf inwardly cursed at him, quickly weaving a barrage of ice spears while taking back control over the array at the same time.
Lith channeled fire fusion into the Gatekeeper, engulfing himself in a shroud of flames that turned the ice into steam. Gadorf looked at the sword with greed, before Blinking behind Lith and releasing a new stream of flames from his mouth.
'Oh sh*t!' Lith inwardly cursed, realizing that the opponent not only could use dimensional magic, but also true dimensional magic. His instincts screamed at him to put the sword away and Blink to safety, an action that would lead to his death.
Warp Steps had already failed him before, there was no reason to believe Blink would work any different. Also, without the sword, the difference in physical prowess would be crippling at such a close range.
Lith clenched his teeth while suppressing his muscle reflexes. His only option was to dodge.
Yet it failed. His legs were stuck to the ground, Lith found himself incapable of lifting a single foot. While the flames roared towards him, he needed only a glance to understand what had happened.
The energy of the array was wrapped around him like a leash, blocking his movements.
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The array is mine! You are not the only one that can twist it to your whims!"
Lith didn't lose time wondering how the heck the wyvern could talk while hurling the stream of fire. He channeled water and air fusion into the sword, splitting the river of flames in two while generating a cold aura to protect himself from the scorching heat.
Yet he was too close to their source and the wyvern's breath too deep. The creature's flames had an intensity on par with the tier five Raging Sun that had almost killed him in the past. They broke through the aura first and the armor later, prickling at his skin like thousands of white-hot needles.
Lith's hair took fire, his skin was covered in blisters and burns despite the multiple layers of magical protections.
Captain Yerna didn't stand idle. She had attempted to contact the HQ multiple times, but the signal was jammed. Yerna had already used all the weapons she had with little to no effect. She only had one card left to play.
While the two monsters fought, she reached Red's side.
"Why are you staring at them like an idiot? Do something, now!"
"Me?" Red was almost frozen in fe
ar, his mind replaying Balkor's attack in a loop.
"You are the soldier! You do something."
"Kid, I only know tier three spells that the army bestowed to me. The Sargent is just a magico stuck at tier two. Do you really think we can help? You are a Warden and we are stuck inside an array. Do your thing!"
Red cursed at himself. He had picked a potentially dangerous job to get rid of the fear and helplessness Balkor had etched into his heart. Yet just like during those days, he was cowering in fear behind others.
"It's going to take time."
"Then you'd better start now!"
Chapter 287 Light and Darkness Part 2
Before the jet of fire ended, Gadorf charged head first at Lith like a ram. Even with the flames still raging around him, fighting off the blinding pain with light fusion, Lith saw the wyvern coming at him and acted accordingly.
The heat had not only injured Lith, but also weakened his constraints. He could now let himself fall to the ground, holding the sword with both hands close to his chest. As he expected, Gadorf Blinked at the last second, keeping his momentum to strike at him from a dead angle.
It was what Lith would have done in his shoes.
With the back on the ground, however, he had no blind spots. The area was still shrouded in flames, Gadorf had no way to know Lith's exact position. His head only hit empty air, Lith rolled away as soon as the Blink happened.
Darkness energy coursed through the blade, grazing one of the wyvern's legs as he passed. It was just a scratch, but it affected Gadorf's already precarious balance, chipping again his life force at the same time.
The wyvern tripped on his own feet, crashing against one of the altars. The array protected and empowered it, giving Gadorf the impression of having hit a mountain. Lith was too weak, his battered body didn't allow him for fast movements anymore.
Charging at Gadorf was like asking him to Blink and put him out of his misery.
Lith lifted his sword again, using all the strength he had left to stab the ground, unleashing all the accumulated darkness magic into the array. The wyvern felt like his body was being torn into shreds.
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