LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 99: Chapter 99
Watching the oh so pretty Ranger Captain look down upon him both literally and figuratively from the castle balcony set something off in Varrus.
Wiping some blood from his chin, Varrus sported a grin. The enemy was so cold, so detached, so arrogant that they couldn't see the truth before their eyes.
Varrus had crushed Dar'Khan. He had crushed the Amani. He had crushed Tenris.
He would obliterate the Darkfallen.
It was then and there that Varrus stopped thinking of the enemy as something to chase and run after. He decided he would make those smug Elves come to him.
Her grand plot was innovative, but the plan to encircle them had failed, and his forces had regained the momentum.
With the aid of the Frozen Orb transforming the blood rain into useless ice, the Wretched Darkfallen were not as strong as they were during their initial attack.
As a result, House Vandercross was tearing into them like there was no tomorrow.
The Illidari were facing no Heroes to contain them, and Tae'thelon was having a field day in his armored golem. All the while, Telonicus was directing artillery fire into the densest pockets of resistance.
Varrus saw that the momentum had shifted to his side, and he saw no reason to rush at the enemy when he realized that he was the primary threat that must be stopped. He was the existential crisis looming on the horizon. He would be the one to end Lana'thel, Ariel, and all their foul ilk!
Without a second thought, Varrus out sped whatever spell Valanar was preparing, and cast Volcano on them.
The Master tier Destruction spell spawned the lip of a volcano just below Ariel, and Valanar.
As a result, the pair were forced to dodge, and a large portion of the castle was melted into molten slag. Additionally, large globules of lava erupted forth, causing further damage and destruction in all directions!
Ariel tried sniping at Varrus whilst she dodged, yet Syra, Rho'dan and his Crossguard remained in front of him, and served as the most stalwart of guardians.
Varrus flashed the ranger a savage grin. It was an expression that promised pain and overwhelming violence.
The fear of death, and panic from earlier had unlocked Varrus's cruel side, and he wanted nothing more at the moment, than to tear that cold beauty limb from limb.
For so many fights, he had laughed along with Syra. But there was no laughter now as Varrus began to bring down all the spells in his arsenal.
Fire, ice, and lightning exploded and rocked the castle as Varrus tossed everything he had.
Forbidden Sun brought down large orbs of fire, incinerating everything in sight.
Twister sucked up everything in its path, and chopped up hundreds of Wretched Darkfallen as it churned up an endless windstorm whilst it plowed towards the ruined balcony.
Flamestrike brought down a swarm of meteors that rocked the earth with fire and fury. The continuous barrage of meteorites brightened the crimson skyline, and caused deep craters to form in the land.
In between these Master tier spells, Varrus flipped his hand, and cast an architecture spell to remake the Tower of Jenga.
Tens of thousands of enchanted bricks flew out of his inventory, and fused together to create an 8 story tall wizards tower. Sticking out of its sides, over 100 Mana Stones acted as both a battery for him, as well as a target for diffusing enemy magical attacks.
Positioned around him, his wife and guards stood in a protective formation.
Combining his enhanced Elven vision, and heightened position, Varrus was like a true mobile defense platform, and had easily destroyed 10,000 Darkfallen during his mad assault.
For all the power he was unleashing, Ariel had little counterplay. He didn't know what abilities she had been enhanced with, but she had clearly gone all in on the ranger bit.
In fact, Varrus already had lost track of her due to the chaos of spamming spells.
The balcony, and surrounding Undead had been his target. Now that she had found some cover, she had likely entered camouflage, and would either slither away, or attempt a sneak attack.
"Syra, hunt her down." Varrus said in a lowered voice.
Syra looked at him, unwillingness in her gaze. She glanced down at the broken pieces of a Black Arrow, then gave him a pointed look.
"I will live. But I trust no one but you. You are a master of stealth. Only one trained in the arts of the shadow can recognize a fellow practitioner." Varrus said in praise.
Syra frowned at him, yet eventually, she nodded. She winked at him, then disappeared as a shroud of invisibility coated her form.
"Tear her heart out." Varrus muttered, then turned back to the battle.
While his wife was busy, and he was painting himself as a big exposed target, he still had to deal with the last Prince.
For once, Varrus's Mana Sight actually helped him track someone, and he could see the Prince was doing something underground that was giving off insane amounts of energy waves.
Valanar, had managed to escape Varrus's indiscriminate bombardment by merging with a root, confirming that this guy was attuned with Nature magic.
Fighting an opponent underground was tricky, as in theory, he had zero spells that dealt with rocks, dirt, or any other element related to earth. Perhaps only his Volcano spell could be said to be tangentially related to the earth element.
However, that didn't mean he couldn't strike at the little cretin!
All he had to do was get…creative!
Varrus had a mad grin on his face as he thought up ways to abuse the Skyrim spells he had access to.
Undermine, an Adept level Alteration spell on the surface was a spell that shook the ground. and caused the enemy to lose their balance, messing up the swing of their weapon.
It was quite frankly, a mostly useless spell when viewed from this lens.
However, the exact system text had Undermine 'shift the earth.'
That one line birthed a goldmine of ideas in Varrus's mind, and he simply had to test a theory!
Varrus was so caught up in the exploration of magic, that he didn't notice Rho'dan and the Crossguard conspicuously shifting slightly away from him.
Little did they know that Varrus was conducting science!
Casting Undermine on top of Valanar's position, Varrus looked on with baited breath.
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Valanar sighed to himself as he blankly stared at a clump of wriggling white worms within the underground cavern he found himself in.
As a boy, he had fed them some water from the Sunwell, and they had transformed into his longest lived companions. Now they would act as his weapon of war.
He started to prepare a powerful spell for the fight to come, but he found it difficult to even get started.
Where did it all go so wrong?
One moment, he had been peacefully enjoying death within an endless forest of dreams, the next, he had awakened to see the scheming smiles of his siblings. He couldn't quite recall the details of his afterlife, but he knew it had massive trees, and was vibrant like nothing else.
Then he was resurrected only to be surrounded by schemers and malcontents.
As the youngest son of Lana'thel, and for a time, the youngest child of Anasterian, Valanar had seen the competition for the throne and decided he wanted no part in it.
Which is why he had sequestered himself in this city, and studied Tha'salah. Druidism was a dying skill amongst his people, as it was viewed as weak when compared to the power of Arcane.
Valanar found peace in Nature, and did not feel the need to argue with the naysayers.
Under the shade of trees, and company of animals, Valanar had found freedom from the constant whispers, lies, and backstabbing taking place at Silvermoon.
But now he was trapped in a revolting corpse that craved blood, and radiated Death.
The only two reasons he had stuck around after the Dreadlords freed his mind, was 1) to rehabilitate Tha'salah, and 2) help his mother.
As a druid, it was his calling to help all denizens of the forest. Whether it be a tree, or a beast. And as a son, it was his duty to help his mother in her time of need. While he was largely divorced from political matters, and he knew he had disappointed Lana'thel because he did not actively compete for the throne, he still loved her.
And so Valanar had found himself dragged into a civil war against his younger half brother.
In all honesty, he would like to surrender, because he rather liked young Kael. However, the fact that his father became adulterous with Faedra of all people drove a permanent wedge between his mother and father. By proxy, it made his mother eternally scornful towards his little brother.
Fluid relationships were not entirely unheard of given the longevity of the High Elves, yet Faedra was Valanar's aunt, and Lana'thel's sister…such a betrayal was not an easy potion to swallow.
As a result, his mother, desperate to win this conflict, then completed some ritual with a powerful extraplanar being, and was bestowed with incredible power. She also sacrificed the souls of all the other Darkfallen to empower both him and Ariel. As a result, all the Darkfallen fighting outside were mere shells of what they could be.
It was quite frankly revolting to Valanar.
Sighing once more to himself, Valanar felt some powerful tremors shake the soil above him, and some light dust fell upon his perfect silver hair.
"That Vandercross kid sure is scary." Valanar muttered to himself.
He never imagined that the laughing stock of recent Highborn society would be so strong.
In a way, he felt a kindred spirit with the young man. Both of them had rejected the political machinations of their parents, and had rebelled in their own way.
If it was under any other circumstance, he would have liked to have shared a cup of moonberry tea with Varrus.
When Ariel had nudged him earlier, and brought his attention to the young bard, Valanar had smiled when he recognized Varrus. However, based upon Vandercross's expression, he was none too happy with Valanar.
The silver haired prince cursed his perfect looks. It seemed everyone who saw him thought he inherently looked down upon them…
When he was deep in thought, the trembling earth became more intense, and was even closer than last time.
Glancing up, a cloud of dust coated his face, and he saw some blood red light begin to peak through some cracks in the dirt above him.
Valanar sighed one last time. Whatever that ritual his mother did to him, he feared that should he pass on again, his soul would be consigned to eternal damnation. That he would not return to his forest of dreams.
Unfortunately, that left him with only one option.
To fight!
Valanar smiled at himself in pity, and shook his head.
Adding the finishing touches to the spell he had been preparing, Valanar launched his counterattack.
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Varrus had been using a combination of Undermine, and Telekinesis to dig his way down to Quel'Thalas's last Prince's hidey-hole.
The constant shift of dirt and debris loosened up the soil, and made it easier for him to pull up large clumps every second.
Any excess dirt was tossed on top of the Darkfallen, and served as another means to thin the herd of ravenous Undead.
Between these two spells, it only took him a handful of minutes to reach his target.
There, at the bottom of the hole, the silver haired royal scion looked up at Varrus with that damned smug smile of his!
Varrus snorted. Now that he had a perfect line of sight on his target, he decided he would make Valanar scurry about like a rat once more, and moved to cast Volcano right under the Prince's feet.
However, Valanar had finished his spell before Varrus this time, and a powerful impact shook Varrus's tower, making his aim go awry.
Instead of the lip of a volcano spawning under Valanar's feet, it erupted on a group of Darkfallen instead.
Varrus recovered his balance, and looked down at the Tower of Jenga to see that it was slightly tilted to the side, but otherwise had suffered no permanent damage.
However, a group of giant worms began to bang their heads into his tower, and spat corrosive green slime onto it. Another was spinning silk around it, and trying to tear it down!
Varrus tried bringing them down with some Expert spells that would not damage his tower, such as Sleet Storm, or Lightning Strike, however, these worms were magically resistant! Their skin was special, and magical attacks seemed to slip right off of them!
Raising an eyebrow, Varrus was eager to slay them, and craft gear from their hides.
At this time, about a hundred of these worms were crawling the tower, and were beginning to near the summit.
"Should we be worried, Highlord?" Rho'dan enquired from the side.
"Nonsense, Rho'dan, I have them right where I want them." Varrus confidently replied.
Varrus then narrowed his eyes at the Prince, and responded with a smug smirk of his own.
When the worms grew close to the Mana Stones embedded in the tower, they began to sap the magic from them!
Over the last two weeks, Varrus had kept up with his studies of Vandercross's memory crystal, and had unlocked another ability or two. One of them was a dampening effect.
As all beings in the universe had mana flowing through them, even if the worms were not actively casting magic, they would still become sluggish as the Mana Stones began to sap them of their energy!
One worm swallowed one of the crystals whole, to which Varrus muttered a quick chant.
The stone began to shine brightly, then exploded inside the worm's mouth, sending guts and blood everywhere.
With the Mana Stones sapping the worms all this time, Varrus unleashed another Lightning Strike at the closest worm.
One of the white, eyeless creatures had reared its head at Varrus, and was about to spit some acidic splooge when it was struck.
A bolt of hot blue plasma fell from the sky, and scorched the worm, heavily damaging it. It hissed, and recoiled in pain, yet Varrus didn't give up.
He vast Lightning Strike once, twice, three times, then the beast collapsed, dead!
Varrus repeated this process several more times, and cast the Master tier spell: Static Dome to create a safety net around himself.
The spell created a hovering sphere of electricity, and much like Frozen Orb, would move around the battlefield, and strike at foes with exploding bolts of lightning. It didn't visibly change the environment much in comparison, but the worms seemed to be weak to lightning, so he would be a fool not to use this particular element.
During the combat, he also received help from both Telonicus, and Tae'thelon in eliminating over half of the remaining worms in just a handful of minutes.
Varrus didn't celebrate this minor victory, and cautiously glanced at Valanar's position, only to find an absolute unit of a giant worm emerging from the hole.
If the average size of the giant worms were the size of a school bus, then this mega worm made them look like children in comparison.
The massive worm was big, scary, and pink! It just about matched the Tower of Jenga in size, and sitting on its head was the last Prince, Valanar.
Varrus's eyebrow twitched, 'what is this, a rip off of Dune?'
"If only we met under better circumstances. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be!" Valanar's sing-song voice carried over the wind with a floaty quality to it, like he was speaking to air, and not directly at Varrus.
This only made Varrus even more agitated. He didn't recall ever meeting this guy, and had barely recognized him in the first place.
Shaking his head, Varrus replied with the only language that mattered at this point.
Violence!
Pressing his hands together, electricity cackled all around him, and he cast Lightning Storm. The Kamehameha-like beam of pure electricity scorched the worm from its midsection all the way up to its head!
The worm roared in pain, and Valanar was murmuring some spell. A moment later, a thick covering of goo coated the beast, and Varrus's lightning did little in the way of damage.
It then spat out a globule of acid with enough liquid to fill a swimming pool directly at him.
Varrus tossed a Frozen Orb in between himself and the goo, turning the acid into chunks of ice, and forcing it to drop harmless to the ground.
Several nearby Static Domes that had been hovering around the tower then went on to collide with the monster, yet only slightly slowed it down as it began to spit out a thick webbing of silk all over his tower.
Varrus ignored the webbing, and dropped multiple casts of Apocalypse upon the worm.
Massive jets of fire, ice and lightning spawned into existence all around the colossal beast, and applied a dozen effects all at once thanks to Varrus's perks tree.
Just to name a few:
Magnetize lifted the worm up, and away from his tower, dropping the worm back to the ground with a mighty thump.
Shatter repeatedly reduced frost resistance, and caused clumps of slime, and even some flesh to freeze, and break.
Cataclysm reduced magic resistance by a staggering 25%, and blasted the worm into the air every 45 seconds.
Glacial Prison then locked it in place, and added another 25% reduction in magic resistance.
Finally, Absolute Power held the worm in place through the power of magnetism, and reduced its magic resist by another 25%.
This combined elemental attack reduced its magic resist by a whopping 75%!
Again, it had its magic resistance reduced by 75%!
If Varrus was brave enough to step into the firing line of his own spell, his other perks that reduced magic resist would make the worm have a reduction of over 100%.
But for now, he was satisfied!
The worm was struggling to move its colossal frame under the constant bombardment, and was clinging to the tower like a fighter clinching during a boxing match that had run out of juice.
However, this was to its detriment, as the Mana Stones were constantly sapping away at its power!
Varrus allowed himself a small smile as he watched Apocalypse eat away at this boss-level threat like it was chump change.
Truly, the Tower of Jenga was his ultimate masterpiece. Powered by Mana Stones, it provided a shield against ranged attacks, and every brick was master crafted, and enchanted with protection.
Smirking to himself, Varrus couldn't help but taunt the beleaguered Prince.
"It's over Valanar, I have the high ground!"
Valanar chuckled at Varrus's taunt, and saluted him!
'What the hell?' Varrus thought in confusion at this strange behavior.
"You're right. I surrender!" Valanar called up to Varrus from his mount.
Varrus blinked his eyes, baffled.
He had fought in so many death battles, that the word 'surrender' wasn't even part of his lexicon.
Hell, he had gone from one crisis to the next, and had never once considered anything but completely annihilating his enemy.
Now, this handsome-yet utterly creepy-former royal wanted to surrender?!
But it wasn't like it was impossible. After all, Jan'alai had teamed up with them, and gone against the Amani, right?
"Rho'dan, thoughts?" Varrus turned to his number 2 in confusion.
"Valanar has largely stayed out of public eye compared to his siblings. He has a bit of a negative reputation. In some regards, he is a misfit, much like the King and the you of the past." Rho'dan analyzed, and spoke in a calm tone of voice.
"Your point being?" Varrus pressed.
"I say go for it. He still has some fight in him, and if he went to ground, rooting him out would prove difficult. If we capture him now, we can move on to aiding Lady Syra, or Kael." Rho'dan suggested.
Varrus glanced at the other side of the battlefield, and while he caught no sight of Syra, he saw that Kael was engaged in a dangerous brawl where fire met blood. The victory of that conflict was far from certain.
Every second wasted here meant that there could be a major screw up at any other point across the warfront. The sooner this was resolved, the sooner he could join his allies, and tip the scales in their favor.
"Thank you for your advice, Rho'dan. Have him wear a pair of magic restricting cuffs on both his wrists and ankles." Varrus ordered.
"It will be done, Highlord." Rho'dan bowed, then took some manacles out of his mageweave bag.
Varrus shook his head, it was a good thing his guards were always prepared, but damn it was a little unnerving knowing how many torture tools they might be lugging around.
Turning towards the worm, Varrus raised his voice: "we accept your surrender. Give yourself up peacefully, and we will see you remain unharmed!"
"But of course! However, could you cancel your spell? Kairo here is my only friend left, and I would be sad if he was to die like this. I will not surrender unless you can promise me his safety!" Valanar shouted back.
Varrus paused, surprised that someone would show such compassion for a worm of all things.
But he had encountered stranger things on the internet, and if there was anyone who would have such an attitude towards a worm in this world, it would be an Elf.
"Granted, but you must send your friend back underground." Varrus waved his hand, and canceled Apocalypse.
However, he held himself at the ready, prepared for any sudden moves of betrayal.
But nothing came of it.
Rho'dan cuffed Valanar, and the worm reduced itself in size until it fit onto the Prince's palm.
"That is some magic." Varrus raised his eyebrows in shocked appreciation.
"Would you care to learn it?" Valanar said gently, and almost eagerly?
"Perhaps another time. My plate is full at the moment with other studies. Now, since I have accepted your surrender, what can you tell me about Lana'thel? Speak well, and I just might be merciful with your sentencing." Varrus threatened.
"I hope you take me up on that offer. Nature magic is simply beautiful." Valanar held up his pet worm on his finger, and cast a healing spell on it. He then smiled as it happily wriggled about.
"Your mother, Valanar? What information do you have to share?" Varrus pressed.
Rho'dan roughly gripped the former Prince from behind, and tightened his hold on Valanar's shoulders.
"Hmm. Scared. I'd say she is terrified of you, and especially Kael. I don't really know anything about her magic, but her emotions seem to fuel her power. I don't know much, I just want to see the forest whole again." Valanar shrugged his shoulders, then looked on in sorrow at the crazed World Tree.
Varrus facepalmed his own forehead, as he didn't get very much out of the interaction. However, he did get a sense that the silver haired prince was very whimsical. He sort of reminded Varrus of Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series in a way.
But that was neither here nor there. He had no time to think about this when he had a war to win!
"Thank you for your insight, Valanar. Rho'dan, have one of the Crossguard watch over him, and keep me posted if anyone spots Syra. Until then, we advance upon Lana'thel." Varrus ordered, then cast a spell to unbind the bricks holding his tower together, and placed them in his inventory.
"Yes, Highlord!" Rho'dan saluted, then handed Valanar off.
"Keep my offer in mind, Varrus, we could use some more druids." Valanar called after Varrus as he was dragged away.
Whilst Varrus did find such an offer intriguing, it really was too much to deal with at the moment. He had other things to worry about.
Case in point, where in the hell was Syra?
Glancing all over the place, Varrus began to feel a slight worry well up inside.
'You had better be okay.' Varrus thought to himself, then gave the order to move out.
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AN: Read 25 chapters ahead up to ch 126 at: patreon.com/KarpQQ