Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2683: Beast and Undead

[Jade Thread Binding]

The fey clan’s ancient technique, legacy of the Daywolf, shone within Emery’s grasp.

Born of light, the technique was designed for one purpose — to bind darkness. The Fey clan’s Earth Mother had left its secret to Kaelyn, the Fey Priestess, charging her with a single mission: ensure Emery mastered this inheritance, for the day would come when its power would be needed.

At first, Emery had resisted. His every moment had been consumed with comprehending the Temporal Law, desperate to carve a path of escape from the sealed realm. Yet Kaelyn’s persistence never faltered. Month after month, she demanded time of him, coaxing and pressing until Emery, begrudgingly, surrendered a few days each month to her lessons.

Two years of persistence paid off. Emery had reached the third of seven stages. Still in early stages, but already formidable. At this level, the threads were able to resonate with the Elysian Tree, amplifying the technique into something greater: luminous cords strong enough to restrain even the star-devouring beast rampaging before him.

[Integration: 68%... 70%...]

[Warning! You have reached the integration limit.]

The domain shook. The primal beast raged wildly, and Emery felt the backlash crash into him, threatening to tear him apart from the inside.

He stood at the junction of two powers, the jade threads vibrating dangerously as if ready to snap. His Primal Core flared with ferocity, demanding release, while his Nature Core surged with life and balance, refusing to yield.

If he faltered, both would collapse.

Clenching his jaw, Emery forced himself into calm, raising his hands as two opposing halos ignited above him and invoked the [Heaven and Earth Reversal].

Light and darkness twisted in tandem, the jade threads reinforced by the convergence of his dual cores. The balance returned — precarious, fragile, yet enough to hold back the beast’s rampage.

During all these changes, the primal beast kept fighting with unyielding fury, each swipe of its claws and snap of its fangs tearing through the advancing tide of undead mass. The grotesque horde surged endlessly, yet Emery’s movements grew sharper, faster, its strength mounting with every heartbeat. The rotting limbs that once pressed like an ocean could no longer keep pace with its raw savagery.

Talaro joined the fray. His crystalline blade shimmered with a deadly light, slashing arcs of ice-laced energy through the melee. He pressed in with ferocity, but the primal beast only swelled with greater force. Its shape shifted mid-battle—muscles refining, form condensing, power building to a terrifying crescendo. When the balance finally aligned, a shockwave burst outward—an explosion of raw power. Talaro staggered, driven back several meters.

"What is this now...?" he hissed.

[Integration: 80%]

Before him stood Emery’s new form: a towering wolf of pitch-black fur, savage and terrifying, covered in radiant green runes that pulsed with ancient light. Tremendous power radiated from every movement.

Panic edged into Talaro’s movements. His icy calm faltered. Raising both palms, he unleashed a spell. The grotesque mass of corruption fused, twisting into monstrous torrents of bone and shadow. They rose like writhing tornadoes, their howling mass surging inward to crush the best from every angle.

The beast did not retreat. It planted its massive arms apart, bracing against the oncoming flood. Muscles surged, veins glowed, and with a defiant roar—

HOOOWWWLL!

The jade runes ignited. From its forearms sprouted living armor: gauntlets of shimmering Elysian root, woven with nature energy. With newfound might, the beast tore into the first torrent, ripping it apart like brittle glass. 𝖗àΝÓ𐌱Ěș

Talaro slipped through the torn gap like a phantom, his shadowed form coiling into being. In his hand gleamed the crystallized saber, cold light shimmering along its flawless edge. He drove the blade down with precision, aiming for the neck—a single decisive strike to sever the beast’s head.

BAM!

The impact rang like steel against iron. Instead of severed flesh, the blade met muscle so dense, it turned his killing strike into little more than a shallow wound. Barely an inch deep. Blood welled, but it was not enough.

The beast’s eyes ignited with fury.

ROAARR!!

With terrifying swiftness, it retaliated. Armored claws rained down in a storm of strikes. Talaro’s saber and ice-forged armor rose to meet them, his defense shimmering with ghostly resilience. But even the undead’s enchanted shell could not deflect all of it. Slashes tore through, leaving jagged cracks across his armor.

The battlefield became a savage blur. Flesh ripped, bones splintered, and blood sprayed. Yet through it all, Talaro made no sound. His undead body felt no pain. But that lack of instinctual response became his undoing—he did not notice, not until too late, that his proud celestial frame was beginning to crumble under the beast’s relentless assault.

"This can’t be!! My Heavenly corpse body!!"

A shockwave of force smashed into him, driving him backward, skeletal limbs shuddering. Desperation clawed at him.

He called upon his spells once again, summoning the tide of grotesque mass to block the incoming beast, swarming its massive limbs, latching on tightly. For a moment, it looked as though they might hold it. Then—CRACK!—the beast surged, ripping free with primal force. Shards of bone and rotting flesh scattered like dust.

It lunged, and its jaws found him. Fangs like ivory spears crushed into the undead shoulder, nearly cleaving through.

"LET GO!!"

Talaro thrashed wildly, saber flashing in desperate arcs. Strike after strike, his blade rained down upon the beast’s hide—but each cut was shallow, sliding harmlessly against its hardened flesh. Wounds, yes, but nothing fatal. Nothing to save him.

The primal creature’s claws seized him, crushing his ribs. Its jaws yawned wide, hot breath spilling over him in waves of decay, preparing to tear him apart with one final, point-blank strike.

Talaro’s voice broke into a trembling cry.

"NOOO!!"

And then—

A flash

The star devouring beast’s killer move,

A searing, dark brilliance, like a spear of shadow, struck the lich in the skull. In an instant, Talaro’s head—and the entire upper half of his body—was obliterated.

BAMMM!!!

To make certain it was destroyed, Emery unleashed another devastating strike, ripping through the remaining body with brutal force. Limbs were shredded, the torso torn apart into chunks scattered across the battlefield.

But as expected, the abomination was not so easily vanquished.

Emery’s senses caught a foul disturbance—fragments of flesh, slithered like maggots toward the grotesque mass, and they crept back together, pulling bone and sinew into place. Slowly, the pieces began to fuse, knitting themselves into a monstrous form.