Chapter 25: A Challenge (2)

Standing at a distance away, Enoch was flabbergasted. The information he received from that person mentioned Caleb to be a combat mage with fire attributes and as strong as most of his men currently battling him. 

But from what he was seeing, Caleb was employing a multitude of different attributes and casting spells.

'This is impossible!' He exclaimed in his mind. He had never encountered a combat mage capable of casting spells meant for pure mages. Not to mention, the use of the other attributes. The screams of his men were not also helping. He was moving too fast. Even he was having trouble keeping up. At this rate, they'd achieve nothing. The only saving grace was that he was not killing them.

He was already considering retreating. But turning tail to run would diminish his mercenary group's strength. 'No. there's no way he can keep it up. His mana should be depleting just as fast.' He reasoned as his men continued to close the gap.

Caleb stared at the combat mages approaching with their infused attributes. From his point of view, they were moving very slowly. He could think of a couple of things he could do in that frame of time. Honestly, he was disappointed these guys could not even scratch him.

'Let's quickly end this.' Caleb disappeared from his spot once again and appeared right above the lot of them. He slammed into the ground amid the group with a right fist.

~BOOOM!~

With the power of earth magic, his blow caused the ground to suddenly tremble and crack open, giving way to a series of towering stone pillars that burst forth from the fissures. These pillars rapidly rippled outwards in all directions, spreading across the battlefield and lifting the hapless targets high into the air on their shifting, unstable platform.

"Watch out!" 

"Arhhh....!" The warning came late as Caleb's opponents were taken by surprise. Amid their screams of pain and shock, Caleb swiftly followed up with a lightning strike. He drew his palms together and created the charge via a magic circle that expanded to cover them all.

Swirling from this circle was what looked like a brewing storm. He quickly moved away from them. And before they could even recover from the previous attack, the lightning struck with a resounding boom.

Caleb already moved when his attack hit them. He was before his next group of opponents. He picked one of them by the neck and hurled him into another; sending them into a tree in the distance with a thump that created a long deep trench from where the trees were uprooted.

Like a ghost, he whooshed across the battlefield delivering devastating attacks that left screams of pain and many craters around. The mages still in the distance were frozen in fear and uncertainty. They didn't know what to do. On one side was their opponent whom they were to attack, but risk injuring and possibly killing their comrades. The other was the fear of experiencing the same torture.

But they didn't have to wait long. A few seconds later, the battlefield had come to a standstill. Caleb stood alone amidst the groans of pain behind him. He looked back at the Boss and flashed him a teasing smile.

"What are you waiting for?! He's exposed! Unleash your spells!" Enoch commanded in a loud voice. Coming out of their reverie, the mages unleashed their spells at the ready while the rest cast a barrier spell around their colleagues, dragging them away from the monster.

Amisdts the incoming rain of spells, Caleb stood there with both hands in his trouser pockets. The volley of spells hit their mark.

~BOOOOOOOOM!~

~CRACKLE!~

Like a mushroom cloud, the potency of the attack generated a strong shock wave that pushed the mages back and uprooted trees in the vicinity. The heat alone was enough to melt steel and the ground had turned into a scourging pool of lava.

Seconds passed and the intensity and heat from the attack reduced enough to see if their attack had truly connected. Standing in the flames was Caleb. His black shirt was burned and his trousers were turned into rags.

"Haa...only a madman would unleash their spells like that. I thought you wanted me alive." A voice came out of the flames. Enoch and his crew had expected him to be severely injured. They relied on the assumption that he would never face such an attack unprotected. However, they had hoped that the protection he utilized would have been just enough to barely keep him alive.

But from what they were witnessing, he was unscathed. "And look at what you did to my clothes? It was new you know?" Caleb said with a jovial tone. The flames slowly died down leaving a glowing earth covered in lava.

Of course, Caleb taking that attack head-on was a calculated risk. He wanted to see just how strong his body and regenerative healing was. The lightning did almost no damage and the gale blades just felt like a breeze. The fire attack on the other hand had left first-degree burns. This, however, quickly healed within seconds; just as he expected.

'Looks like my healing factor is better than I expected. And the mana utilized so far isn't much either.' Caleb thought while looking at his augmented display with his stats.

[Stats]

[Strength: 1,579/1,750]

[Speed: 1,764/2,000]

[Perception: 500/700 ---Domain]

[Mana: 2,564/3,500]

Before the fight, his mana was at 2700 units. 'Only 136 units of mana consumed.' The amazing thing was that, throughout the fight, he had not infused any mana into his speed and strength and only relied on his base stats. He had been holding back the entire fight.

'This is what I call overpowered.' He silently thought before looking back at his opponents. 

"Impossible! How can you still be unscathed after taking such an attack?" Enoch asked the question they all wanted to know. An attack like that was enough to kill anyone at his level several times over. But here he was, standing amidst the lava pool with no injuries! 

'Was his protection item that powerful?' Enoch wandered.

"Because I am overpowered?" He amusingly said. Honestly, Caleb was not having the fun and thrill he sought. He wished they were stronger. Maybe then, he could unleash more of his strength, speed and attacks. He noticed their confused gazes and just shook his head.

"Let's put an end to this, shall we?" Caleb said and released his domain to cover everyone. His system quickly marked all the remaining mages besides Enoch. Since his thoughts were now linked to the system, it was just a simple trick. 

[Forty-nine targets marked] 

'Exclude the leader.' Caleb commanded silently to himself before proceeding to carry out his plan.

Enoch had no idea what he planned to do, but he felt the very mana flowing within him tremble; a bad premonition. He scrutinized Caleb's standing form with a pounding heart. His instincts were screaming for him to leave!

'What is he about to do now?!'