Conqueror Of The Dark Soul

Chapter 7 - Spell

"When Alden was twelve years old:

Alden's eyes had more depth than before. However, it was also losing its emptiness, as if he was starting to accept his current situation, though it was disturbing in his daily activities.

"Uncle Luth, teach me swordsmanship," Alden said with determined eyes.

Luth, a sturdy fighter, clearly possessed the skills. That's why this group of people could still survive in this chaotic place.

Luth looked at Alden, initially a bit puzzled but nodded upon seeing the determination in Alden's eyes.

"Alright, first tell me your name," Luth said. In his memory, he had never met this child before. Even after traveling together for several years with a group of people, he had never seen the child.

However, the fact that the child knew him made him not show suspicion.

"Alden," the boy replied.

Luth, now in the midst of his daily training, had a large sword in his hand as evidence. His sweat began to drip, indicating hard work.

Adjusting his position, Luth now sat on a rock. He looked at Alden while asking, "First, what do you know about swordsmanship?"

Alden looked at Luth, silent for a moment before answering, "Swordsmanship is something learned to kill."

Luth widened his eyes, clearly not expecting such an answer from a twelve-year-old. However, for some reason, it reminded him of his master's words in the past.

Luth smiled, "So, are you ready for that? Swordsmanship is indeed learned for killing, but it also works the other way. Learning swordsmanship also means being ready to be killed."

Alden smiled, "Yes."

On the other side, a hoarse voice continued to murmur, only audible to Alden.

"How long will this lesson be repeated?"

"It should have been a year since Luth started training you; won't that question change?"

At this point, Alden began to whisper, "Whose fault do you think this all is?"

Black Orb fell silent as if admitting that it was all because of itself.

This routine, where Alden would come to Luth during training, ask him to teach swordsmanship, be given some kind of test question, and start practicing had been going on for a year now. And it repeated. Of course, with different types of exercises each day. When Alden mastered one technique, he would ask Luth to teach him another the next day.

Although Luth fundamentally treated Alden as a stranger every day, it was a complicated relationship between Master and Student.

However, this training method was not very efficient. Given that every time Alden asked Luth to train him, Luth would not remember Alden's actual progress.

One more month passed; now Alden had at least mastered the basics of swordsmanship. Alden clearly had no talent in this field, combined with inefficient training methods, his progress was very slow.

"Alden, my blood flows in you; you should be better off becoming a Spell Caster like me," Black Orb said as it observed Alden's slow progress.

That became the trigger for Alden to start learning Spells from Black Orb.

Now he had two different types of training: sword training with Luth and Spell training with Black Orb.

His progress in Spells was faster than he thought.

It was his thirteenth birthday.

He sat contemplatively in front of the lake. Behind him was the camp built by survivors from the village. Their numbers continued to decrease; some did not survive the Dark Soul attacks, some died from exhaustion, and some due to old age.

"The Spells you've learned so far are the ones commonly used by humans," Black Orb said as Alden gazed at the lake in the dark of night.

"What do you want to say?" Alden asked.

"In this world, there are several types of Spells. The Spells you've learned from me so far are the elemental Spells commonly used by Guardians."

"It's your birthday today..." Black Orb paused.

"Should I be happy to hear that from you?" Alden continued to gaze at the lake thoughtfully.

"No, there's no need. You're free to hate me even more," Black Orb said candidly.

"It's just for my own satisfaction. Alden, today, I will teach you Spells used by an Emperor in the Dark Dimension."

"Consider it an additional burden I will give you..."

Back to the present.

The black-blue swirl now emitted hot vapor as droplets of lava jumped out. Like spraying water onto hot oil.

"Blaze is a Dark Soul weak to its elemental counter, Ice," Black Orb confirmed.

"Since you were a child, you've been more proficient in Water-type elements than others. I think you won't have trouble dealing with that."

Alden stepped back a few steps, remaining vigilant.

Soon, figures emerged from the Gate.

They had humanoid proportions but were filled with continuously dripping molten lava. Steam rose as they stepped out, and the grass beneath them instantly turned into ashes.

Blaze might be a challenging Dark Soul for fighters, but Alden was a Spell Caster. This might be easier for him.

Their number was three, each having the same form.

Cracks on their bodies shone like lava fissures.

First, Alden needed to figure out some of Blaze's strong defenses. "Water Ball."

With this Spell, a water ball the size of his palm appeared at the tip of his hand. It quickly flew towards Blaze.

Sssstt!

The sound of Water Ball instantly evaporating upon hitting Blaze was heard.

"Try a stronger spell," Black Orb advised.

Certainly, there were several Spell options Alden could use. For example, using a combo of Water Ball and Freeze to freeze the opponent, but that wouldn't be effective if Water Ball couldn't reach the target.

Another option was ice magic, Ice Shard.

It did have a noticeable effect on Blaze. Cone-shaped ice shards were stuck in the chest of one Blaze. However, it slowly melted in the end.

In addition, at least he had the advantage that Blaze's movement was slower than a typical Dark Soul. That's why Blaze, despite having strong defenses, was ultimately only a Dark Soul from the first floor of the Dark Dimension.

After trying Ice Shard, Alden knew that its effect could hurt Blaze, but it didn't directly kill the lava-covered creature.

Since his training, Alden mastered some spells related to elements. And water was the one he mastered the most so far.

"Try something stronger," Black Orb grumbled again.

Alden clicked his tongue while shooting Ice Shard. "Yes, yes."

Blaze, though slow in movement, had strong defenses. According to Black Orb, Blaze's weakness was spells or Auras of ice elements. And Ice was a derivative of the water element.

"I just need to make them unable to do anything while I kill them, right?" Alden snorted softly.

After that, he crouched with one knee close to the ground. His palm touched the ground, his gaze focused on Blaze moving towards him.

"Ice Fields."

Starting from the ground beneath his palm, freezing points formed. Slowly expanding, it eventually covered the entire area in ice.

Blaze stopped in place; their legs sank into the ice. However, the vapor meeting between the heat and cold gradually melted the ice.

"Okay. Do it like this, concentrate your attack on one point," Alden raised his left hand, pointing his index and middle fingers towards Blaze.

A block of ice took shape in the air. Initially, in a regular block form, it slowly seemed to be sculpted into a cone, with a very sharp tip.

"Denser."

As he said this, he focused his mana and made the ice cone shrink. It reduced to the size of a thumb. However, it was very dense, perhaps now harder than diamond.

"Ice Shard." After saying this, he uttered another sentence, "Geminus Cantatio!"

The second spell was the one he learned from Black Orb, using the Dark Dimension language.

What was initially just one projectile now began duplicating itself, becoming three.

A steam explosion occurred shortly after the three Ice Shard projectiles hit the three Blaze.

Alden shielded his face with his hands to block the impact of the explosion.

Gradually, the steam that now turned into mist covered the area.

"Wind Blow." Using the wind elemental spell to disperse the mist.

Now the view became clearer. The reinforced Ice Shard spell had finally managed to bring down the three Blaze. Parts of Blaze's bodies scattered, indicating the result of the explosion.

"That was much easier than I anticipated," Black Orb commented.

Alden didn't speak; he looked at the Gate in front of him. "I'm going in." After that, he finally spoke with the steps he had taken.