Chapter 230: The Battle Begins!
The Cultivators charged forward, the mages releasing their highest damage Spells while the others ran at high speed to the nearest enemy with their swords raised high. For a group that had only been formed in the last week, they were quite organized, and each person paid attention to the others' movements so as to avoid friendly fire.
Following the Captains' order to fire, William formed his Earth Mana into a giant spike the size of a two-story building with small cracks on its surface, then launched it towards the tightest group of Magical Beasts. At the halfway point, William shouted a command of his own, although he didn't need to.
"Scatter!"
The giant Earth Spike split into hundreds of smaller earth spikes, their silvery tips reflecting the sunlight as they flew through the air. If one focused hard enough, they would notice that the tips of the Earth Spikes were actually made of silver!
He controlled the Spikes to rotate at high speeds while they travelled, each Earth Spike targeting a different Magical Beast at the end of its path.
-Developed a new Magic Spell: +1 PP
-New Spell: Needle Storm
Seeing the Earth Spikes approaching, some Magical Beasts panicked and raised walls of Earth to defend, but they were a second too slow as the Earth Spikes were faster.
A series of cracking noises followed as the Earth Spikes tore through the Magical Beasts' flesh and shattered their bones. An attack at the Nascent Soul level was much too strong for them to bear with their bodies.
Most of the Earth Spikes struck vital points, killing the Magical Beasts instantly. Dozens of Beasts fell to the ground in front of the charging Cultivators, forcing them to slow their movements lest they trip over the corpses.
-Defeated Sandicore (x18): x90 PP
-Defeated Marauder Scorpion (x3): +16 PP
-Defeated Desert Beetle (x42): +210 PP
--Upgraded Title: +3 PP
-Multikiller (Uncommon --> Rare): Killed at least 50 enemies with the same spell or its aftereffects. +10% Area of Effect (AoE) radius.
The others were surprised at William's unique Spell that obliterated a group of Golden Core Beasts in an instant, but they didn't have time to ask about it. They rushed over the corpses at a group of Desert Beetles that weren't far behind, waving their swords through the air as a taunt.
William stepped back and started to look for injured Cultivators. He focused with Life Sense on the entire battlefield at once, but it was hard to make sense of anything. The Cultivators all shone as a mass of vitality, and the sheer number of people made the effect extremely blinding.
William was forced to narrow his range and break the battlefield up into fifths, then check each portion individually. He would call his group the Fifth Section, while his current focus was on the Fourth. He noticed a group of four weak Core Formation Cultivators that were already heavily injured and struggling to take on a single Sandicore.
"Carl, focus two of your summons on interrupting enemy Magic Spells. I'm going to leave for a bit." William said as he teleported away, to which Carl nodded.
The nearby captain looked back to see William gone and became slightly angry, "Yuming, where did you go? Come back here!"
His shout had no effect, since William was already too far away. The captain cursed his bad luck and focused on controlling his section of the battlefield with the four Elements he was blessed with, Earth, Fire, Plant, and Water.
In the Fourth Section, one of the four Cultivators closed his eyes as the Sandicore's tail stabbed forward and pierced his chest. Venom coursed through his veins at high speed as the man's vision started to fade.
"Am I...going to die here?" he was on the verge of tears while bitterly thinking about how little he had lived. Other than Cultivating and practicing his sword, the man hadn't done much in his entire life. He hadn't even found a girlfriend yet!
He opened his eyes for one last look at the World, just in time to see the Sandicore's head cut clean off its neck by a tiny sword with a hilt covered in aquamarine gemstones. The wielder was William, who knelt down in front of the man and used Life Magic to heal his wounds.
William put away the Sword of Shifting Sands and secretly used Poison Magic from his other hand to detoxify the Sandicore's venom, clearing up the man's vision and giving him back the energy to stand.
"Thank you!" he bowed at William with his head low.
"No time for that, rest for a moment then get back to the fight." William said seriously as he teleported to other parts of the battle.
Seeing William disappear in an instant, the man was stunned, but he nodded and gathered his wits before returning to his three companions for another round.
The moment William appeared in the midst of another Cultivator group, he ducked his head to avoid an arrow that targeted his position, then caught a second that was already in the air and snapped it in half. He turned his head to face the archer that shot at him, who mouthed an apology and looked away awkwardly.
William didn't waste his time on the archer and focused his Mana to erect a ten-meter dome around a group of Cultivators that were surrounded by Marauder Scorpions. Despite their name, these scorpions could spit acid from their mouths, turning them into a very dangerous opponent.
William healed the Cultivators to their peak while the dome was slowly corroded away from the outside. When he was finished, he launched an Earth spike through every hole that formed, ignoring the acid and killing the Marauder Scorpions on the other side in an instant.
Before the Cultivators had any time to thank William, he teleported away again.
It was moments like these that William wished he had the Space Element at S-Rank, since he would be able to add its Elemental Sphere to the Artifact Belt he was wearing. That being said, his Mana consumption was surprisingly quite low compared to his Reserves.
Because of his Manamatus Title, the power of his Space Magic was increased by one hundred percent, which meant he only had to use half the Mana to teleport the desired distance.
Additionally, his Seven Colored Mage Title increased Mana Efficiency of all Spells by another ten percent, while the Spell Master Title at Epic Rank increased his Mana Control by thirty percent, meaning he had to use less effort to get the Space Mana to do what he wanted it to.
All of these Titles combined, in addition to his status as a Cultivator, allowed him to spend much less Mana on each teleport than usual. He could short-distance teleport over five hundred times and still have the Mana to launch a Spell!
I now have two things on my list of upgrades. After I upgrade Uri to the next Rank, the Space Magic is definitely going next! But for that...I need more Points!
William flashed to the Third Section of the battlefield with this thought in mind, releasing another Needle Storm Spell that killed dozens of Magical Beasts in quick succession.