Lith was no Clacker, but his mana perception was high enough to allow him to perceive the earth magic traveling under his feet. ’Damn, I’d better be quick. I am sure that Clacker didn’t waste its last moments of life to improvise dance moves. It has called for reinforcements.’ Lith thought. The mass grave had been enlarged so that the various carcasses could be separated based on their quality. In the leftmost corner of the pit, there was a giant cocoon made out of webs and covered in eggs. Solus’s mana sense could see that the eggs yielded an orange core, while the hatchlings that were taking cover inside the cocoon had already reached a yellow core. Tufts of flaming red hair were scattered around the floor. Lith gritted his teeth, realizing that his worst fears had come true. Protector’s body was lost. ’Damn Clackers! I can’t resurrect the dead, but that doesn’t mean I’m willing to let them go away with it.’ Lith jumped out of the pit, releasing a stream of fire on the cocoons until the incubator was turned into a funeral pyre. The dying screeches of the hatchlings filled him with joy, so he kept pouring fire while watching the eggs boil from within until the pressure made them burst. Hatchling Clackers tried to stop him. Now that he was alone, Lith only needed a glance to unleash several wind blades and turn them into mincemeat. The Hatchlings were all the size of a basketball, like those he had faced during the mock exam. They were too small and afraid of the fire to be a threat. The only reason why they were attacking him was that they didn’t dare to disobey the Brood Mother. ’Lith, on your right!’ Solus warned him. Lith turned just in time to see a huge stone disc crash land right beside the pit, from which descended a human like female figure with razor sharp claws aiming for his head. The creature was incredibly fast since it could exploit the Clackers’ natural speed and boost it with air fusion magic. "How dare you harm my babies?" She hissed with a voice full of hatred. The Brood Mother current form resembled a woman of breath-taking beauty with long black hair that reached the ground. She wore a black evening dress similar to those Lith had seen the noble dames wear during social events. Aside from the claws, many things revealed her inhuman nature. Four spider legs came out of her back and she had eight eyes instead of two. Two on the forehead, two on her cheeks and the last two beside her chin. Thanks to Solus’s warning, Lith managed to dodge just in the nick of time. He had been checking the surroundings with Life Vision, but the rocket like disc had been an unpleasant surprise. "My army!" She cried in outrage, watching all her careful plans to take over the forest turn into ashes. Lith took a few steps back, watching four gargantuan Clackers approach from the site of the crash. Each one of them was three meters (9’10") tall, with legs as thick as young trees. ’Beware, those four all have a deep cyan core.’ Solus warned him. ’It seems this Brood Mother has really found a way to use corpses and living prey to hasten her offspring growth. If it keeps like this, all the members of her personal guard could evolve within a few months!’ Lith didn’t care much about the future, he was concerned enough about the present. He had never expected to face an evolved monster capable of using all elements, let alone that it would have so many powerful bodyguards. According to the dryad’s words, the Brood Mother was supposed to have only recently evolved. He had assumed she would have at her disposal a very limited amount of skills. Otherwise, Lith would have never wasted so much time burning the eggs. Yet she was already able to shapeshift and nurture very powerful warriors. It was a fight where he had nothing to gain and very much to lose. ’How strong is she, Solus?’ ’More than you. Her core is light cyan and very close to become deep blue. There is a piece of good news, though. Now that I look better at them, despite their cores being already this powerful, they have only a limited amount of mana. ’I think their evolution was too fast, their bodies have yet to develop enough to employ so much power. They will probably break if you push them strong enough.’ The Brood Mother’s body shapeshifted. The dress disappeared under her skin. Her lower body turned into the abdomen of a giant spider with eight long longs. The front legs were different from the others, shining under the sunlight like they were made out of obsidian. It was like someone had attached a human to the spider body, starting from the thighs. Her upper body still looked the same, but her skin had turned from pink to a chitinous grey and her hands had unnaturally long fingers ending in razor-sharp claws. "You owe me, human!" Her rage subsided when she looked at Lith with Life Vision. "Your body will do just fine! A living host is much better than maggots infested corpses. Surrender and I promise you won’t suffer. Much." Despite her threats, the Brood Mother was reluctant to attack first. She could tell that the intruder was quite strong and she needed him alive to recover from the massive loss of the incubator chamber. She had two of her Praetorians position behind her back and the other two on her sides. "I’m sorry, but I already have a girlfriend." Lith sneered. "You defiled my friend’s body and dare to ask for compensation? Here is my offer. Let me go and I will not kill you." His tone was stone cold. He wanted nothing more than kill her in the slowest, more gruesome way possible, but he was outnumbered and outmatched. Also, charging blindy was something the old Lith would have done, taking unnecessary risks just to quench his rage. ’Wrath without a purpose is just acting without thinking of the consequences. I can leave the Scorpicore to deal with these vermin, there’s no need to dirty my hands.’ He tried to convince himself. The Brood Mother reacted by spreading her fingers and releasing a stream of lightning toward Lith, who Blinked out of the harm’s way opening the exit point on her right side. Yet the Brood Mother was well aware of that. She had never stopped using Life Vision, even though it consumed a lot of mana. She knew that if her opponent was capable of using dimensional magic, he could have appeared behind her back and kill her in one fell swoop. That was the reason why she had made her Praetorians remain close to her, to block his line of sight. Her front legs not only were harder than steel, but they were also razor sharp, capable to pierce through stone. She lunged them towards the Blink exit she had saw appearing only to have them hit thin air. Lith had yet to learn true dimensional magic, but he had taken to heart Kalla’s words. He knew how dangerous it was to Blink in front of someone capable of using Life Vision. When the Talons had ambushed him on his way to Kandria, he had managed to beat them because they were too reliant on the spell. Lith had learned from their mistake, so he had used Switch alongside Blink. The gate on her right was just a really mana expensive feint. His real target was one of the Praetorians on her back. With their position swapped Lith now had almost a clear strike. Almost. The Praetorian beside him moved as fast as it could to intercept the enemy lunge aimed at its goddess’ heart. Lith was holding the sword with both hands, channelling fire magic through the hilt. The enchantment Orion had infused the sword with amplified the strength of the spell, turning the yellow flames into an emerald storm that engulfed Lith’s whole body, turning him into a human comet. Praetorians were bigger and stronger than Soldier Clackers, but their magic abilities were still limited to the water and earth elements. It unleashed the defensive spells it had prepared, raising a wall of frozen stone in front of Lith to block his charge. Lith realized that his original plan had been foiled. Crashing head on might allow him to destroy the makeshift barrier, but he would be blind against what was waiting for him behind it. So he changed his target. Lith ran horizontally along the wall at high speed, his sword aimed at the defenceless Praetorian. The creature raised its front leg like a shield, trying to infuse itself with earth magic. Lith was too close and too fast, when the first strands of magic started to harden the exoskeleton, it was already dead. The Praetorian was cleaved in half, both parts of its body were being devoured by emerald flames scorching the earth below. "No!" The Brood Mother screeched. Not only was the human stronger than she had predicted, but also losing a Praetorian was a huge blow to her army, second only to losing the incubator. Even using the corpses of powerful beasts or magicians, there was only a small chance for a Praetorian to be born instead of a simple Soldier. She emitted a gargling sound, calling all her minions to help in battle. Lith was amazed by how even a sword Forgemasterd with fake magic could be so powerful, yet he had no time to waste. He was still one against three and according to Solus, Hatchling Clackers were incoming from all directions. ’Thanks to Invigoration I was back at my peak condition when the fight started and aside from Switch I have yet to use a strong spell. If I let them combine their attacks, I’m done for.’ Lith thought. The Mother and here Praetorians stepped back to safety. Once the caster died, the frozen wall crumbled leaving a hole in their formation. "Curse you, human! I don’t care anymore of taking you alive. I’ll make sure you suffer like the inferior being you are!" If it wasn’t for Lith’s "No speeches while fighting" policy, he would have liked to tell her that she had just taken the words out of his mouth. Lith Blinked again instead of bantering, sending the Brood Mother into a panic. "He’s behind us!" She yelled noticing no exit point had opened in front or above them. The four turned around at unison, unleashing several spells that turned the ground in front of them into what looked like an earthquake aftermath. Yet aside from some Hatchlings that had managed to arrive faster than his brethren, the natural forces they unleashed only hit the air. Lith had actually Blinked into the pit. The exit point had escaped her detection thanks to the magical flames that were still burning the cocoons with enough strength to overwhelm the dimensional magic signature. Being generated from Lith’ own mana, those flames were harmless to him. ’She must be scared witless to keep using Life Vision like that.’ Solus pointed out. ’If you manage to keep her on her toes and prevent her from using Invigoration, she won’t last long.’ ’Yeah, the problem is that the same goes for me. I can’t Blink around too much without using Invigoration. Time to use my ace in the hole.’ Lith thought. He hadn’t created the small cloud just to use it as a cover. It was also his contingency plan in case something went horribly wrong. Before descending to the ground, he had separated with air magic the positive and the negative charges, turning it into a thundercloud. While his enemies were still attacking the ground, he used air magic on them. He charged them positively and turned them into living lightning rods. Real thunderbolts were much stronger than their magical counterparts, but it also made them much more dangerous. Lith wasn’t immune to their fury, so he kept channelling his spell from his hiding spot. Suddenly, the Brood Mother noticed that her and her Praetorians were glowing like a Christmas tree, yet she couldn’t feel any negative effect. "What treachery is this?" She said looking at her palms trying to understand what was happening. The answer came in the form of a rumbling sound from above. The evolved Clackers looked up in the sky with a confused look, while their Queen went into a panic again. "No, no, no!" She screamed trying to think of a solution. "Infuse yourselves with earth magic and shield us with rocks! Quick, or we are all dead." Lith inwardly cursed at his bad luck. It was the first time he had attempted that trick, so he had no idea it would be that slow. He started weaving several earth spells, while helplessly watching his enemies build a makeshift fortress. When the first lightning bolt came down, the Clackers’ protection held it at bay. The rock barrier had taken the brunt of the attack and most of the electricity that managed to reach them had been nullified by their earth fusion. The flash had blinded them, the thunder almost deafened them and the resulting shockwave had killed many Hatchlings that were still trying to reach their queen to protect her. Yet the Brood Mother rejoiced. "Yes! We will survive. Not even lightning can beat our combined spells!" ’What do you think I was waiting for?’ Lith inwardly replied. When the following thunderbolts came, he unleashed all of his spells at once, turning the fortress they had spent so much mana to build in a pile of dust.