Pivot of the Sky
chapter-43

The immediate life-threatening danger preceded his mind from having other thoughts. Instead of worrying about his sorcerer identity, what mattered now was to save his own life. The ice shield formed by water magic was, unfortunately, not very effective. It was not even widely acknowledged as defensive magic. But water magic was the first magic that Amon had learnt and could cast without a thought. Besides, he was in the middle of a river. Water was the easiest element to summon.

Being late to notice the attack, Amon had to cast magic as quickly as possible. He summoned an ice shield first to block the incoming strike, then following up with earth magic to tie down the tail. However, the tail was so huge and heavy that it broke the magic smoke with ease, but Amon bought time to effectuate a spell named Concrete, fixing the tail mid-air for a short time.

The passengers on the ferry could not find time to react before they heard the bellow from Amon and felt the fore of the ferry abruptly dip. It was Amon springing high into the air with his staff in hand. Covered in a layer of faint but radiating light, the branch-like staff slashed at the tail. No sound was made. A strong shockwave propagated along the long trunk of its tail, smashed scales flying into the air.

Amon couldn’t utilise more strength than a fourth-level warrior since he hadn’t had time to practice any fifth-level body arts. The moment the staff hit the tail, a light blue flame winked into existence then extended along with the shockwave, quickly developing into a blaze, as if the huge tail was ignited by the strike.

Even the most experienced warriors on the continent might not have witnessed a similar tactic, not to mention a monster living in the river. Amon was using the staff as a polearm, performing physical and magical attacks at the same time. The magic was cast right next to the target, and it was a difficult but powerful one. It was called Fire Sea, a magic that even fifth-level mages struggle to master. Amon had cast it unflinchingly with impeccable timing and the flame burned light blue, attesting to its incredibly high temperature.

If the tail had been made of wood, it would have been burnt into ashes in a second. But the monster’s body was tough to the extent that there were only some burnt scales falling off along, emanating a pungent smell. A piercing roar came from deep beneath the water. The tail retreated high in the air, then quickly shrank back into the water, sizzling and steaming.

With a loud thump, the fore sank down again. It was Amon falling back onto the ferry.

The stupefied crowd finally awakened. Screams, crying and shouting burst out in a cacophony of chaos. Some were issued by those who had fallen to the ground by the impacts. Some were issued by the frightened livestock. There were boatmen yelling, “It’s that snake! It’s Humbaba’s offspring! How does it appear in the day?”

Some even kneeled down and cried, “Great mage! Please help us!” Seeing Amon fight with the monster, people began to cry to him as if they were drowning men desperately trying to grab driftwood floating by.

It was the first time Amon was called a ‘Great mage’. After all, what he had accomplished had protected not only himself but the other passengers on the ferry. The crying was soon drowned out by a louder roar from beneath the water. A huge whirlpool conjured at one side of the ship, water sinking in quickly. Then a wall of water rose, throwing the ship up into the air.

However, the whirlpool and the wave didn’t capsize the ship. The ferry managed to keep its balance when soaring along with the wave, sliding down the hill of water like a sledge. When the water violently splashed back down, the ferry was already far away, floating towards the upper reaches.

Standing at the front of the ferry, the grim-faced Amon held the staff horizontally as if it had been bearing the weight of the whole ship.

Two of the passengers were warriors. They had unsheathed their swords and rushed to the fore of the ship to guard Amon’s flanks. They were the hired bodyguards of a merchant on board. They had realised that the mage was their only hope against the monster. If the ferry was wrecked, everyone would fall into the river and no one would survive. They couldn’t directly attack the monster who was hiding under the water, so they chose to stand out to protect Amon.

Seeing the ferry slipping away from the huge wave and not capsize, the piercing roar grew even louder. Two walls of turbid white water rose again, slapping towards the ferry from left and right. The trunk of a giant dark green snake loomed behind each wall of water. It seemed as if the monster appeared on both sides of the ferry at the same time. It was frightening to imagine how long it was!

Perhaps the snake was severely damaged by the Fire Sea Amon had cast on its tail. It decided to hide in the water and summon huge waves with its giant body so as to overturn the ferry. Once the mage fell into the water, his life would be totally under its control.

Amon pushed the staff forward. The water in front of the ferry flattened, wiped by a giant invisible hand. The two walls of water swiftly froze. A frightened boatman lost his balance and fell into the water. Fortunately, his fellows handed him a pole in time. He managed to crawl back onto the ferry. But afterwards, no one dared stay on that side of the ferry. The boatmen even gave up quanting on that side too. The ship was now entirely at Amon’s disposal.

Under the frozen waves, the snake was writhing again, breaking the ice. At the same time, Amon pointed the staff ahead and the ferry bounded forward and advanced rapidly, leaving the area as if it had been pulled by an invisible rope. Amon didn’t have reason to tangle with an underwater monster in the river. He chose to flee as fast as possible. After all, all he wanted to do was to just cross the river.

The ferry floated over the water like an arrow. Amon could do this because he had the experience of navigating the bone in boat form during the flood. He could use water and air magic to accelerate the ship, but he knew that they would be useless against an aquatic monster.

Watching him drive the ferry as if it was a little boat, an experienced mage would harbour a guess if Amon was a supreme mage. Though what he was performing was no more than advanced magic, his fluency and smoothness were incredible. The magic flew out smoothly like a fountain, not to mention that what he was waving appeared to simply be a branch.

In fact, the truth was the opposite. Amon could only pull this kind of magic because he had his staff. Even so, after exerting a series of powerful magic, his exhaustion put him on the edge of a coma. Only his robust body of a fifth-level warrior allowed him to grit his teeth and hold on, standing firmly on the fore.

Fast approaching the bank of the river, the passengers suddenly caught sight of a line on the surface of the water to their right. It surpassed the ferry, drawing a large semicircle in front, and a giant snake swam over from beneath the water, blocking their way ahead. Over a hundred feet long, the snake raised its big head. Enormous maw gaping open, big enough to swallow a cow, its forked tongue swaying, it glared at the ferry ferociously.

An ordinary snake couldn’t roar, but this giant snake could bellow so loudly with its throat, spreading hundreds of feet across the river. Below its gargantuan body, the people on the ferry looked small and powerless. Many of them started to scream in desperation.

A surge of apprehension appeared in Amon’s mind. He knew how powerful this monster was. He had used his full power just to balance the ship and escape its attacks. But the monster overtook him and stopped him before he could even approach the bank. It seemed to be fully enraged. Perhaps alone on the ground, he would be able to try and fight against it since he could always escape in case of failure. But in the river, he couldn’t see any hope.

All he could do was fight. Amon tried his best to clear his mind, holding the staff steady and staring forward. He was mustering all the strength he had left to concentrate on one final strike. Crazy’Ole’s three dos and don’t were already cast out from his mind. Faced with such adversity he couldn’t waste time thinking about saving lives and using minimal force, what he worried about was whether or not his power was enough to save his own life.

Beside him, the two warriors’ hands were trembling, desperation too appearing on their faces. They could also tell that the mage had done all he could and he would probably be no match for the monster in the end.

Among the panicked crying and shouting, Amon suddenly heard Inanna’s voice, “Amon, the scrolls!”

Right! The scrolls! How could I forget them!? Inanna’s words came just in time! Seemingly calm, Amon had actually been nervous the whole time. Since he had no experience in using scrolls, all he had been thinking about was casting magic. The scrolls in his bag had never come into consideration.

Before Inanna’s voice faded, Amon took out a couple of things and threw them forward. Once again he showed his inexperience when it came to scrolls. No mage would recklessly use scrolls as he did. He had thrown all five scrolls at once! What he could do then was to try and activate them one by one. In the end, he only succeeded in activating three of them.

The magic power needed was stored in the scroll intrinsically, so the user of the scroll didn’t need to use his own power to perform the magic. What he needed to do was to connect his own magic power with the scroll’s and induce the power inside to function. It demanded the user to control his own magic power properly and accurately. The three scrolls Amon activated were all selected pieces of advanced magic scrolls. It was his limit to activate them in such a short time. He failed to connect the two final ones because the first three ones already functioned.

The magic contained in the first scroll was called the Lock. No explosion or fire appeared, but the giant snake was confined in a space over the water. No matter how hard it struggled, it couldn’t free itself. Before it could find a way out, the magic in the other two scrolls activated.

The magic in the second scroll was not an offensive spell either. It was called the Wall of Chaos. The light and space around the giant snake were immediately thrown into chaos. It felt as if it was sent to a strange place. It could no longer see the river, the bank or the ferry. In fact, the snake was still in the same place, but it was cut off from the outside world’s information.

The magic in the first two scrolls were auxiliary magics. They didn’t cause damage to the target but they were still useful when acting in concert with other magics.

Among the eight scrolls that Amon picked up, five were labelled and three others were found beside Nero’s staff. Actually, all eight were made by Nero. The five labelled scrolls were what he had prepared for the other mages. These scrolls might have little effect when fighting against someone as strong as Bair, but they were powerful enough for this monster.

The Lock and the Wall of Chaos were standard scrolls. The technique was open to all mages so as to serve as military supply. But the third scroll Amon activated was Nero’s own invention. It was called the Song of Ice and Fire.

Locked in the space over the river, the giant snake suddenly found itself surrounded by blue ice which arose from the water. This magic was amplified when performed over water.

On the contrary, the spell would be next to useless in a desert. That was a lesson for every new magic practitioner: the power and potency of magic depended on where you were.

With the help of the Lock, the ice formed a shell more solid than it was designed to be. However, this shell of ice didn’t touch the giant snake, merely encasing it. Then a deep blue flame arose inside the shell. The giant snake was engulfed in fire. All of the flames drilled into the snake’s body. The ice shell remained untouched by the fire.

The snake had nowhere to hide. Howling in pain, it twisted its body crazily. The net of fire soon penetrated into the body of the snake, leaving but a faint light on the surface.

The twisting snake lashed out at the ice shell fiercely, cracking the ice. But then the ice shell shattered and collapsed inwards as well. In next to no time, the giant snake was tightly wrapped by a thick layer of ice.

Black smoke emitted from every part of the snake’s giant body. Squeezed between extreme heat and frost, a series of cracks took place all over the body. It was the explosion that suddenly melted and vaporized ice.

The colossal ice ball exploded into countless pieces, along with the giant monster. Burnt flesh and bone rained everywhere.

The giant snake was killed!

Amon felt faint. It took incredible effort for him to find his balance. Shocked, he sucked in a breath through his teeth when he realized what had just happened. The Song of Ice and Fire was so powerful that, if he had been accidentally included in its range, he wouldn’t have had a chance to survive.

Though he hadn’t met and would never be able to meet him, he had to admit that this Nero indeed deserved to be called the master scroll-maker. In this scroll was sealed two advanced magics which were of common types but had great power: the Freeze and the Fire Sea. Amon had just performed both of them defending the first wave of the monster’s attacks. But Nero’s scroll activated these two magic in a more deliberate way. The Fire Sea was triggered right after the Freeze inside the ice shell, compressed to the extreme, then exploding along with the ice. The drastic difference and sharp variation in temperature had eventually caused unimaginable damage to the enemy trapped inside. As an advanced magic scroll, it was no less powerful than quite a lot of supreme magic scrolls.

The frightening, seemingly invincible giant snake had perished. Some of its viscera was still floating in the river. Amon could see the two scrolls that he had failed to activate floating in the river too. He waved his staff. A gust of wind picked up the scrolls and blew them back into his hand. Amon simply put them back into his bag.

Amon seemed to have slain the monster neat and clean, but behind the emotionless face, he was still far from calm. Surprised and excited, he even felt regret when thinking back on what he had just done. Being the first time to use scrolls in a fight, he had obviously wasted at least one scroll. If he wanted to kill the monster, it would have sufficed to use the Lock and the Song of Ice and Fire. If he wanted to escape it and flee to the bank, he could just have used the Lock and the Wall of Chaos. It would have earned him enough time.

Either way, he had consumed a precious scroll for no reason. If he had more magic power left, he might have even activated all the five scrolls, causing more waste. But the feeling of regret went away quickly. There was no time for him to brood at the moment. After all, he did his best to save his own life and the lives of the people on the ferry. Scrolls meant nothing to a dead man. It was just that next time he should do it calmer instead of throwing all of them at once.

Peace came to the Euphrate River once again. Five of the six quanting poles were lost, so Amon still had to navigate the ferry. The ship approached the bank smoothly, going through the turbid water, pushing away small pieces of ice and scales.

Amon’s eyes ranged over the quiet surface of the water in front of him, and an unusual object caught his attention. He flicked the staff, and a long strip was summoned from the water. It was about seven feet long, a semi-transparent golden string. Landing on his palm, it coiled into a little ball. Twiddling it, Amon found it pliable yet incredibly tough. It seemed to be a part of the giant snake. Most of the monster’s body had turned to ash under the power of the Song of Ice and Fire, but this small part survived. It must be a kind of distinctive material.

Putting it into his bag, Amon suddenly realised that the ferry had been tranquil since the end of the heart-quaking fight. Confused, he looked back and found that almost everybody in the cabin was prostrating towards him. Even the two warriors beside him dropped their swords when he looked back and kneeled towards him. Inanna was the only one beside Amon who was still standing.

There was also a stink left in the cabin. Some of the passengers had wet their pants in the great panic.

“Why are you doing this? You don’t have to. It’s all over. Please get up. Let’s see if anybody’s hurt.” Amon leaned on the staff and spoke to them. He could hear a slight tinge of tiredness and weakness in his own voice.

As a reaction to his words, the crowd started to shout, “Thank you! Great mage!”

“Thank you for displaying your magic power!”

“Thank you for saving us!”

“Thank God Marduc the great!”

“Thank God and thank you, mage!” The ecstasy of survival turned into all forms of praises. Many passengers began shedding tears of excitement.

The boat owner approached Amon and kneeled to him again,

“Please forgive my negligence, esteemed mage! I failed to observe a dear lord on my ferry… But how come you travel in disguise?