Eternal Undying Chronicles

Chapter 154 Whitewood Ash

Adonis kept his eyes on Alicarde, noting the scars and bruises marking his skin. His whole body ached, and his magical power was dwindling fast, while his opponent looked untouched, with not a single wound.

The violet eyes beneath Alicarde's hood showed no sign of weakness, only a frightening calmness. His physical strength was monstrous, but worse was his seemingly boundless mana pool.

'How did he get so much mana?'

Cassandra had ordered Adonis to kill him, but it was easier said than done. Alicarde's regeneration was incredible, nearly impossible to wear down. If Adonis was going to win, he had to figure out what kind of supernatural creature he was dealing with before he could find a weakness.

With that in mind...

'If he's some supernatural creature, Whitewood ash should work on him,' he thought.

He had a small Whitewood ash stake hidden within his robe, a last-resort weapon for cases like this.

'That's my trump card,' he decided.

Even the strongest vampires fell to a Whitewood ash stake to the heart; maybe this... creature would too.

"What are you, really?" Adonis challenged. "You're definitely not a human mage."

Alicarde simply shrugged.

"You tell me. What do you think I am?"

Rule number one in supernatural battles: never reveal your true nature. If an opponent is either naive or confident enough to explain what they are, they're either stupid or powerful enough not to care—or they're lying. Argint had hammered that rule into Alicarde's training.

'If possible, mislead your opponent.'

"Are you a specter?" Adonis asked cautiously.

Alicarde hesitated, if only for a split second.

"N...no, I am not," he answered.

Adonis suppressed a smirk; he sensed the hesitation in Alicarde's voice.

'I've hit the mark,' he thought, though he remained wary, knowing it was still possible his opponent was lying.

The real reason for drawing out this conversation, however, was to catch his breath and analyze the enemy.

Alicarde, on the other hand, was buying time for Malefica to complete whatever preparations she was making. Reinforcements hadn't shown up yet, suggesting they were preoccupied—most likely preparing the ritual grounds. This left Malefica with the advantage of time.

'This would be so much easier if I could just kill him,' Alicarde thought.

He was sure he could end it with one decisive strike if he could just pin the warlock down. But Adonis proved too slippery, and both combatants knew they were stalling, each recovering enough energy for the next decisive clash.

Unable to wait any longer, Alicarde struck first. He unleashed a sudden wave of gravity, closing the distance instantly, and the moment he was within range, he intensified the gravitational force, making Adonis feel as though he were being crushed. The warlock groaned, blood spurting from his lips, as he summoned the strength to cast a blink spell.

He vanished in a flash, reappearing high above in the sky, gasping for air.

Recovering swiftly, Adonis waved his hands, chanting quickly as he clasped his palms together. In a powerful burst of magic, a massive stone golem rose from the earth, encasing him within its sturdy, rocky head. The towering behemoth stood nearly thirty meters tall, with a solid, impenetrable appearance.

The golem raised its enormous fist and slammed it down at Alicarde with thunderous force. Alicarde rolled out of the way in a blur, leaping onto the creature's arm and sprinting up its stony surface.

The golem swung its other arm at him in a desperate attempt to knock him off, but he dodged each strike with ease, deftly weaving across its rocky surface.

Reaching the upper arm, Alicarde leaped from it and angled himself toward the golem's head, where he sensed Adonis hiding. With a surge of magic, he intensified his gravity field, increasing his own weight until he descended like a meteor, crashing into the golem's head with an explosive impact.

A shockwave reverberated from the point of collision, webbing the golem's head with deep cracks.

The golem staggered back, toppling into the trees, snapping them like twigs in its path.

"If you didn't want to be hit, maybe you shouldn't have made yourself such a big target!" Alicarde taunted.

Adonis, hidden within the golem, ground his teeth in frustration as Alicarde prepared to strike again, intending to shatter the colossus entirely. He didn't move, but his mouth began to murmur words under his breath.

Alicarde's fist collided with the golem's chest, the sheer force fracturing the stone body. But Adonis was ready, jumping clear just as the golem shattered into rubble.

"...Shatter bonds, none can repair,

Break them all—Rend!"

As he completed the incantation, an invisible force slashed through Alicarde, blowing apart half his body. The left side caved in, revealing a hollow darkness rather than flesh and bone. The sight unnerved Adonis, his confidence momentarily wavering.

But Alicarde didn't falter; with his mangled body still in mid-air, he forced himself forward with gravity manipulation, slamming into Adonis despite the warlock's hastily conjured wind barrier. The razor-sharp winds sliced into him but failed to slow him down.

"You monster... don't you feel pain?" Adonis shouted in a mix of anger and horror.

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Alicarde laughed, his fist making bone-shaking contact with Adonis.

"I do... just not enough to stop me."

The impact hurled Adonis down, crashing him into the ground and raising a cloud of snow as his body gouged out a small crater. He spat blood, his body wracked with pain as he murmured a quick healing spell, blinking out of existence just before Alicarde could finish him off.

"Tsk… you really are annoying… I'm really trying not to kill you here," Alicarde growled.

The warlock's resilience was pushing him to his limits; most humans would have given up by now, but Adonis clung to life with relentless tenacity.

Adonis laughed weakly, barely masking his exhaustion.

"What kind of monster are you... it's like you don't feel pain."

"Enough talk."

Alicarde crouched low and sprang forward, weaving between trees with a speed that made him appear like a phantom gliding through the forest. His eyes stayed locked on Adonis, determined to close the distance, but the warlock teleported several times, each blink taking him farther away.

Alicarde dodged the barrage of fireballs Adonis hurled back at him, twisting and pivoting with feline grace. He advanced, dodging every blast, his movements fluid and precise, until he finally closed in on the warlock, who now looked visibly rattled. Just as he was about to reach him, Adonis blinked several meters away yet again.

Alicarde scowled.

"That spell is really annoying."

Adonis smirked weakly, his face pale and exhausted.

"I could say the same about your regeneration. Without it, I would've won already."

Alicarde scoffed as he deftly dodged a sudden barrage of ice shards that sliced through the air around him. They shattered against the trees, leaving a glistening frost in their wake.

"Again… dude, I was holding back."

His focus was razor-sharp as he sidestepped another icy blast. Without realizing it, he had dropped his usual reaper-like theatrics and was throwing out casual words like "dude"—words that felt absurdly out of place in a fight like this.

Adonis, his opponent, looked young—too young, maybe, to be fighting a battle like this. But Alicarde knew better than to let his guard down. You could never truly judge a warlock by their face; Adonis could've been centuries old, masking countless years of experience behind those youthful eyes.

Adonis teleported from spot in the forest to another, unleashing strikes of frozen mana as he vanished and reappeared. Alicarde dodged each one by a hair's breadth, moving with a fluid grace through the dense trees.

"How long can you keep running from me?"

"Between the two of us, my mana reserves are higher…"

Alicarde could sense the truth—Adonis was running out.

'He doesn't have much time left,' Alicarde thought, his eyes narrowing.

But Adonis wasn't done yet. Gritting his teeth, he grounded himself and extended a fist toward Alicarde, magic pooling around him.

"I have to end this now."

Adonis began chanting, his voice echoing with the command of ancient magic:

"Rivers turn to oceans rise,

Flood the land, drench the skies.

Waters crash with tidal cries,

Drown all—Torrent High."

In an instant, the ground between them quaked as the spell took form. A thunderous roar filled the air as the forest transformed, and an enormous tidal wave erupted, rising from nothing and crashing down with the force of a hurricane. A wall of water as tall as the trees surged forward, uprooting everything in its path. Trees toppled like twigs, splintering as the wave swallowed them whole, and Alicarde was swept into the swirling torrent, his form disappearing under the churning, frothing chaos.

Adonis, drenched and breathless, staggered back and watched the aftermath, eyes scanning for any sign of his opponent. He barely had a moment to catch his breath when a blur burst forth from the crashing waters—Alicarde, emerging from the foam with fierce momentum, his eyes locked onto Adonis.

In a flash, he closed the distance between them, each stride carrying him like a bolt of lightning across the soaked landscape.

But Adonis's reaction was not one of terror. Instead, a twisted smile tugged at the corner of his lips. As Alicarde's fist swung toward him, Adonis's hand shot into his robe, drawing—a Whitewood Ash stake, With a swift, ruthless motion, he drove the stake straight into Alicarde's chest, striking exactly where his heart would be.

Alicarde gasped, his weight pressing into Adonis, who grinned victoriously.

Alicarde's hands fell onto Adonis's shoulders. Adonis sneered, his voice laced with triumph.

"Heheheh… I finally got you, specter… rest in peace."