Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 171 - Who wants to deal with that?

He was getting experience from dozens of kills per minute. Not just any kills, but pixies, who gave unnaturally high EXP for their levels.

Several spells suddenly came streaking toward his position. The pixies weren’t breaking off from their own engagements to specifically target him, but when they had the opportunity between their other actions, a few would opportunistically send attacks his way.

Lumi frowned slightly.

If he stopped casting offensive spells to teleport away from every incoming attack, his experience rate would decrease significantly. That was unacceptable.

His Strength and Dexterity stats were actually quite good, thanks to Narinder’s blessing from way back when. The permanent stat boost had given him physical capabilities well above what a pure magician would normally possess.

Therefore, he would do as he practiced for this exact scenario.

A bolt of dark energy came at him from the left. He tilted his head to the side, letting it pass by his ear. The airflow lightly shifted upwards, and Lumi didn’t even need to look to know what the spell was. He stepped to the right, his concentration mostly on casting, as he effortlessly dodged the lightning bolt aimed at him.

A third attack, a swift energy blast, came straight at his chest. He twisted his torso, letting it pass harmlessly by.

If he had been hit by a speed curse or a slow effect, then perhaps physical dodging would become unfeasible. However, no pixie in their right mind would waste their limited curse slots on an enemy they weren’t actively engaged against in direct combat. Curses had several limitations, they were not able to simply be spammed.

As it was, he dodged spell after spell after spell. A small grin appeared on his face. It wasn’t the time to be feeling such fleeting emotions, but if he was forced to admit it... it was almost fun. It was almost like a game, recalling the signs of various spells and how to move to counter them.

He shook off the smile though. Even if it felt like it, it was not, could never be a game.

From an imperceptible corner of his mind, danger suddenly screamed at him. He didn’t know why. He didn’t know what was coming. There was no visible threat from that direction.

But the instinct was there. He instantly teleported away without hesitation.

It was just in time.

A sword slashed through the exact space his neck had occupied a fraction of a second earlier. Lumi materialized a few meters away and immediately turned to face his attacker. It was a pixie wielding a long, sharp blade.

A warrior.

The rarest type of pixie of all.

What was even the point of choosing to be a warrior when your species naturally excelled at weaving spells? When magic came so easily to pixies that even children could cast basic effects?

Well, that question wasn’t particularly important right now.

What was important was the pixie’s level.

[Pixie Warrior - Level 33]

Oh.

Lumi was taken aback for a moment.

So little?

The pixie had moved with such confidence, such precision, such killing intent that he’d been certain they were significantly stronger. How dare a pixie of such level be so arrogant?

He immediately raised his wand and cast. "Lance of Light!" Multiple lances materialized and shot toward the warrior pixie. Lumi backed away while casting, creating distance.

The warrior pixie moved through the barrage. It dodged left, right, ducked under one lance, deflected another with its sword. All but one of the projectiles missed entirely.

The single lance that connected merely drew a hint of blood, before dissipating away. The warrior’s physical toughness was on a completely different level compared to the magicians.

The warrior closed the distance again immediately, its sword raised for another strike. Lumi was forced to teleport away, reappearing further back. He looked at the pixie with a growing frown.

He could defeat it. He really could. It was lower level than him, and he had plenty of powerful spells at his disposal.

But it would be such a pain in the ass.

Warriors took the least damage of any class due to their naturally high physical constitution. Valeria, who was not even a tank focused warrior, proved that by surviving so long against the Elite Guard. And even more, warriors were so fast that they could keep pace with teleportation through pure movement speed and predictive positioning.

The ideal way for a magician at this level to fight a warrior involved, surprisingly, occasionally holding ground and forcing them back with powerful spells cast at point blank range. They weren’t as agile as thieves, meaning something like a void sphere in their way could cause them big trouble. You had to make them respect your damage output and make them hesitate to close in.

Even with that strategy, it would take a considerable amount of time to whittle down a warrior. And he’d probably lose over half his own health in the process from the trades he’d be forced to make.

Did he feel like doing all that right now?

He considered the question seriously for a moment.

No. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

No, he didn’t.

He had been fighting for a while now. His Light and Dark meters were both completely full, sitting at 100% each. He could enter Convergence mode at any time.

He made his decision and activated it.

"Convergence."

He felt the overwhelming power surge into his body immediately. The fusion of Light and Dark energies flooded through him, that familiar sensation of being simultaneously torn apart and held together with impossible force.

But his mind was elsewhere, focused on a different concern entirely. If the pixies as a whole noticed his abnormal state, he might get jumped for real by the powerful pixies that mattered, perhaps even his own "allies".

He took a deep breath and began deliberately suppressing the external signs of Convergence. The aura that emanated from his body, the visible glow of energy, and the fluctuations in ambient mana that would alert any skilled combatant to his power spike.

He compressed it all inward, hiding it.

It was an alternate usage of the Casting Control core skill he’d obtained from Chief Knight Alice during their training sessions. The skill was allegedly designed to enable quicker spell casting through manual mana manipulation

In reality, what it actually provided was minor but useful control over one’s own mana flow and expression.

That control allowed him to suppress the visible signs of Convergence mode, to hide the fact that he’d just dramatically increased his combat power.

He had no desire to draw this fight out into a prolonged engagement. If he wasted time here, he would lose EXP he could have been getting.

He cast Lance of Light again, a seemingly routine attack.

The warrior pixie saw it coming and immediately began dodging, weaving between the lances as it rushed toward Lumi once more.

Lumi waited patiently, tracking the pixie’s movement. He let it get closer, closer, measuring the distance and timing carefully.

Then he cast his real attack.

"Torment."