Chapter 14
But in the end, reason triumphed over the sudden temptation. The archmage immediately woke up and realized: if they were so strongly tempted, what kind of temptation would this little elemental envoy face?
They quickly lowered their head and saw Sylas's tiny, frail figure braving the wind, her hair flying behind her head. They saw that she had already opened her arms and was shouting loudly at the endless wind blowing towards her.
Luckily, the elements paid little attention to this small elemental envoy's shouts. Her voice seemed insignificant amidst the intense noise of the earth and sky. However, a small group of wind elements noticed the playful little sister and kindly circled around her, as if intending to take her away. The archmage could even "see" the path of the wind as it swirled around the child's fingertips, as if trying to hold her hand.
"Sylas!" Maybe her voice wasn't loud enough, or not strict enough, or not tempting enough, but Sylas didn't hear and took two steps forward, happily shouting out loud.
But more and more wind noticed her. They seemed to see her as different from the people around her. They intended to pull and drag her into the wind. Instead of refusing, Sylas eagerly reached out her hand and stood on her tiptoes.
Because of their disturbance, the archmage's wind barrier weakened greatly. The elements that used to obey her started to restlessly try to escape. The barrier couldn't resist the wind pressure, and the difference in wind speed between inside and outside grew smaller.
"Sylas！"
The child shouted excitedly.
The wind howled and blew at her clothes. It even seemed like it wanted to blow her away. At that moment, the magic wolf let out a warning growl. Xerath keenly felt the movement of the wind, but the lightning was already eyeing her. They jittered, seemingly wanting to follow the wind's path all the way to the ground.
The end of the wind leads to Sylas!
Xerath forcefully opened her arms, commanding the restless elements to submit to her with an unprecedented stern tone. The wind began to swirl around her, and a small barrier, similar to Aimekotes' wind barrier, appeared beside her. The chaotic wind lifted her up and released Sylas's hand. Sylas felt disappointed and burst into tears.
This was a quite dangerous act. The wind element is the most unpredictable element in terms of temperament, so the consequences of this spell are also hard to predict.
But it usually doesn't have good results. After the archmage stopped maintaining the spell, the wind barrier kept spinning. More and more wind joined this fun game and the invisible elements caused a disturbance that quickly spread to the sky.
It would definitely form a tornado. The archmage was confident in their judgment. They shouted at the huge magic wolf and then quickly pulled Sylas into their arms.
"Sylas, sorry, we have to go back." While saying this, she walked towards Earth Child. The elemental creature rumbled as it walked towards the mage tower.
Sylas anxiously looked up at the sky, observing the chaos caused by the archmage's wind barrier. She waved her little hand and said, "No, no, they're coming! I want to play!"
The archmage, slightly annoyed, grasped the child's shoulder, accidentally hurting the still healing burn scar. "Sylas! I don't want to punish you! Titus! Lightning!"
The magic wolf, previously wagging its tail and trotting ahead, whimpered and turned its head reluctantly, as if it feared something. Nevertheless, it took a deep breath, closed its eyes, and spat out a large ball of electricity.
The ball of light traced a parabolic trajectory in the sky. As it reached its peak, it seemed to be pulled by something, and then it expanded into a straight line that extended towards the sky and the ground at the same time.
That was where they had just been standing. Half of the gravel disappeared and left behind a shallow pit after the electric light.
Sylas exclaimed and quickly covered her mouth. The archmage didn't look back. She even jumped off Earth Child, took a few hurried steps forward, and then turned around, shouting, "Titus!"
Titus cried and spat out lightning. The extremely large lightning that came down from the sky was guided to the side, getting closer to them. The flying debris from the explosion of rocks was blocked by a strong magical shield created by Xerath's golden glow. She held Sylas with one hand and drew a shape in the air with the other hand, creating a wind shield that protected them from the flying rocks. Sylas, who had buried her face in Xerath's neck out of fear, lifted her head when she felt her running.
The lightning was chasing them from behind. Usually, lightning only targets prominent objects, but the active wind element caused a thunderous revolt. Instead of choosing the metal coil at the top of Aimekotes, the lightning was now heading straight towards them. Xerath's spell initially created a wind channel that the lightning liked, while Sylas's cries repeatedly exposed their location. Xerath didn't need to explain this to her; she could also feel the chaos of the elements.
"Xerath... Is it my fault?"
"Sort of," the archmage answered honestly.
"Are we going to die?"
"No." She waved her hand, and a wind ball lifted Titus by the butt and pushed him forward. The loyal large dog looked back, waiting for her, but the archmage's stern gaze urged it to keep running forward. After a while, it turned back again, continuously spitting out lightning balls, diverting more and more, until they formed a net of thunder.
Even the magic wolf couldn't spit out many lightning balls at once at this level. After a few attempts, its power was drained.
The archmage felt the feeling of being targeted by the lightning, and her hairs stood on end, even her hair pointing upward. Sylas in her arms probably felt it too and asked in fear, "Xerath, what is this?"
"It's lightning." The archmage remained calm, even though they only had a few seconds from feeling the static to the lightning striking down. She threw Sylas out and turned to the void, shouting loudly, "Mountains overlapping!"
The Earth Child, who was walking rumblingly, suddenly came to life. Its size quickly increased and it stood in front of the archmage. Lightning struck the newly formed rock with dazzling electric sparks splashing like molten iron. The archmage's hands were enveloped in streams of golden light. As she chanted "towering into the clouds," intricate golden writings appeared in the air. The rock wall grew taller once again, blocking the consecutive lightning strikes.
"Titus！"
The magic wolf whimpered, but obediently spit out a small electric ball. The ball flew in an arc and landed on top of the city wall. The archmage turned around and unfastened her cloak. The black cloak was immediately swept away by the wind. She ran against the wind, pulling Sylas, who couldn't help but cry, while drawing feathers and holding her tightly. Titus stuck out his tongue and panted, always staying by her side.
They were not far from Aimekotes' wind wall. She regretted going too far away and now it was difficult to run back.
