Assimilate All Talents

Chapter 389 - 388: Four on One

Seeing Jendar's condition, the light elf, Simina, acted quickly and cast a spell. "[Radiance of Life]."

An orb of light flew from his staff and enveloped Jendar, flooding him with radiant vitality. His wounds vanished in an instant, he was fully restored to peak condition.

Jendar, now fully healed, immediately turned to Reena and shouted in shock, "Reena?! What are you doing here?!"

"What do you think I'm doing? We're here to save you!" Reena exclaimed proudly as she checked him over. While the light magic had completely cured him, she wanted to be sure there were no lingering injuries.

"Thank you, Reena, but I'm fine thanks to Simina." Jendar gave an appreciative nod to the light elf, who returned his gesture with a smile. But while his body had been restored, he still couldn't understand how this had all happened. "But how did you know I was in trouble—? Wait... did you follow me?"

To that, Reena turned her head away, her voice soft. "Maybe..."

Soon after Jendar left through her portal, she had created one of her own to follow him. She knew that if she got too close, Jendar would detect her, so she had been using the spell [Lightbend] to monitor him from afar. As the name implied, the spell bent light over a long distance to transmit an image. While it couldn't carry sound, it was nearly undetectable.

Reena had seen Jendar arrive to confront Sol. After an initial skirmish, he suddenly became unable to use his weapon for some strange reason. She had been about to intervene, but Sol's speed overwhelmed her. She realized she wouldn't be much help in a direct fight. So instead, she teleported away to find help from nearby Guardians, who joined her the moment she mentioned Jendar was in danger.

Jendar's face twisted in anger. "Reena! I explicitly told you to stay home!" His voice cut sharply through the quiet hum of lingering mana.

"But—!"

"No buts!" he barked. "Do you realize what could have—"

Brandle, the tall sun elf beside Reena, crossed his arms and raised an amused brow. "Still barking orders like you're the only one with a brain, huh, old friend?"

Jendar snapped his gaze toward him. "Brandle..."

But Brandle wasn't done. "If she hadn't followed you, you'd be unconscious, or worse. You can't expect people who care about you to just sit around. She made the right call."

Jendar opened his mouth, but Brandle stepped forward, jabbing a finger lightly into his chest. "You're alive because she followed your stubborn ass. And she didn't charge in recklessly either, she got us. I'd even say she's matured quite a bit since I last saw her."

Reena's grin returned as someone finally took her side. "Matured, ehh..." she said, shooting Jendar a look that said it all.

But before she could savor her victory, Jendar's eyes narrowed.

Several mana arrows materialized in his hands as he aimed them at Sol. "Human! Don't move!"

Everyone turned toward Sol, who had been very quietly inching away like a man trying to sneak out of an argument he never started.

"Ah... you noticed." Sol gave a sheepish shrug, freezing mid-step with one foot slightly raised.

Reena blinked. "Was he trying to walk away?"

"I was hoping to," Sol admitted, raising his hands in a peaceful gesture. "You all seemed busy sorting things out, so I figured I'd just leave quietly."

Simina lifted a brow. "You thought we wouldn't notice you?" Though they'd been talking, it wasn't like they hadn't kept a vigilant eye on him.

Sol shrugged. "It was worth a shot. As I've explained multiple times to your very angry friend here, I don't want to fight. I'm not here to hurt anyone, I'm just passing through the forest. I've got no plans to interfere with anything."

Outwardly, he kept a calm, disarming demeanor. Inwardly, his thoughts raced.

'Dealing with one A-Ranker isn't a problem,' Sol thought. 'But four? That's out of the question. I could hold my own for a while, sure, but without using [Draconification] or forcefully expanding a tether, things could get dicey...'

He couldn't risk using [Draconification], he didn't know what the sin of pride might compel him to do and even though they wanted to kill him he didn't to do the same. And forcefully expanding a tether using [Lesser Channel Control] would cost him valuable skill levels he'd rather not lose.

He considered calling for help from Thorwyn and Amber, who weren't far, but that came with its own problems. Amber wasn't yet an A-Ranker, and Thorwyn still needed more training before he could match one.

Brandle raised an eyebrow. "You beat him half to death and expect us to just believe you?"

Sol gave a sheepish grin. "Kinda? I was trying to knock him out. I mean, I didn't kill him, did I?"

"That's not the defense you think it is," Brandle replied, raising his staff and chanting, "[Blazing Comet]!"

With a surge of mana, Brandle summoned a massive fiery meteor high above. Even from afar, the searing heat lit nearby trees as the all-consuming flame plummeted toward Sol.

Sol's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected an advanced spell to be cast so quickly, but then he realized the truth.

'He was buying time for this spell the entire time we were talking!'

Though caught off guard, he wasn't helpless. Using the Singularity Band, he teleported himself as far away as possible.

Reena grinned as she saw the spatial energy activate. "That won't work with me here! [Spatial Origin]!"

The lingering spatial energy didn't dissipate, it surged back, enveloping him once again and teleporting him right back to where he had been.

"What?!"

The next moment, the flaming meteor was meters from his head.

With no time to escape again, he had no choice but to take it head on.

He activated multiple skills at once. His body swelled in size with [Gigantify], then surged with power through [Overpower].

A massive slab of earth rose and compressed into a shield, which he grabbed and then fortified himself with [Unpassable Bulwark].

The meteor collided with the shield in a cataclysmic explosion. The ground shook violently. Sol's shield cracked under the intense pressure. The flames, unable to be completely stopped, poured around the edges and scorched him directly.

Sol grunted as he endured the inferno, protected by [Invincible Physique], but the pain still burned across his skin. And just as the flames began to die down, he spotted multiple arrows arching through the sky toward him.

'They're going all out!' Sol frowned. Jendar had taken advantage of the distraction to unleash another volley, though fortunately, they were still weakened because Sol was still suppressing his law technique.

Ten magic hands materialized around Sol, launching to intercept the incoming arrows. Seven of them bore different chromas from [Polychromatism], while the others relied on raw power alone. He didn't have the spare focus to infuse the rest other skills like [Terra Manipulation] or [Umbral Domain], but that wasn't necessary.

One of the normal magic hands smashed through the arrows with terrifying speed. Because the hands shared half of his attributes and he was currently using [Gigantify] and [Overpower], they tore through the projectiles with ease.

As the flames from [Blazing Comet] finally dissipated, Sol had a brief moment of relief, only for Simina to finish her spell.

"[Lucent Ray]!"

A brilliant beam of light surged from her staff, slamming against his cracked shield. The searing light forced even more fractures into it, and Sol had to work frantically to reinforce it just to keep up.

As he blocked the ray and countered the arrows, he heard Brandle chanting again.

His expression twisted in frustration. 'Won't they even give me a chance to fight back?!'