Elemental Cats

Toz's mana surged out and clumped together, creating a ball of fire in the air in front of him. However, before Toz could launch his fireball, he first had to intercept the spear of wind that Dristel threw at him.

Dristel took the opportunity to throw the spear while Toz concentrated on his spell.

But Dristel underestimated Toz's ability to multitask as Toz easily stopped the spear while maintaining his fireball.

Before Dristel could throw the next javelin of wind, Toz launched his fireball. The spell struck the ship's barrier with enough force to send tremors through the entire barrier. But that was all it did. The ship's enchantments didn't show any signs of breaking down in front of Toz's magic.

But Toz didn't let that dissuade him as he prepared another fireball, stopping Dristel's next Piercing Gale at the same time.

Dristel was surprised that Toz wielded five attributes and was adept enough to have learned at least two spells of different attributes as well. But he didn't let that stop him from trying to defeat Toz. However, Dristel didn't see much hope in beating Toz and saving his brother and the fleet.

Dristel tried aiming at Toz's fireballs so that Toz couldn't wear down the remaining barrier. However, Toz thickened the space in the wind spear's path before diverting his fireball to strike the ship's barrier.

After looking around and confirming that his crew was still reeling from the aftermath of Taienra's attack, Dristel turned his gaze toward the second biggest ship that had narrowly avoided Taienra's beam of starlight.

Taienra's attack had brushed against the ship's stern, tearing through the barrier and leaving the deck with sectioned emergency protection. The protection would shield the people on board against the Void but nothing else. However, Dristel didn't look at the ship because he was worried about the crew's survival. He already knew that he didn't have the leeway to care about others until he could stop Toz from tearing down the barrier protecting his ship.

Dristel looked at his second lieutenant's ship because he hoped that his lieutenant had survived and would come to help him.

However, Dristel was too busy blocking Toz's fireballs, so he couldn't carefully inspect the ship. He could only hope that his lieutenant had survived and would come to his senses soon.

Dristel used the same move as he used against Tainera's beam to block as many of Toz's attacks as possible. The giant phantom spear of wind energy wasn't a spell or technique, and it used a lot of energy. But it was at least better than the almost totally useless wind spears that only wasted his energy without blocking the fireballs.

The only reason the wind javelins weren't useless was that they forced Toz to divert his attention to stop them from interfering with him or his magic. It wasn't much, but it decreased the rate at which Toz launched his fireballs.

Toz didn't fire his fireballs too often, but each strike burned through either the energy Dristel used to maintain his large phantom spear or the remaining mana fueling the ship's barrier.

Dristel had used a lot of his energy to defend against Taienra's blast, and he felt the continuous drain to his reserve. It wouldn't matter much if his crew could snap out of their dizziness and replace the mana crystals supplying the ship. It would be risky, but if Dristel went all out, he would be able to defend against all of Toz's attacks until the ship got back to full power. At that time, Dristel could rest and let his crew use the ship's offensive measures to chase off the whale and the pirates attacking the rest of the fleet.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like it would be too long until the crew regained consciousness and took their positions, so Dristel kept holding Toz at bay.

Toz noticed Dristel's expression changing from slight worry and concentration to a more relaxed one after looking around. Toz copied Dristel and looked at the crew members. He only did it for a moment since he still had to keep a watchful eye on Dristel's free hand in case another wind javelin appeared.

That moment was enough for Toz to notice that the previously passed-out crew members were starting to stir and wake up.

Toz decided to take a risk. He had been playing it safe since he would inevitably win if he continued blasting the ship with fireballs. However, if he wanted to bring the fight to a quick end, Toz would have to use one of the tricks up his sleeve, even if it required him to use more of his concentration.

Getting distracted would put Toz at more risk to receive one of Dristel's wind javelins with his body. However, Toz decided it was worth it, and he chose a moment right after Dristel had already fired a Piercing Gale.

As soon as he stopped the wind javelin, Toz dispelled his fireball spell. He kept the fire mana around, but he didn't do anything with it until after he mixed it with his void mana.

Toz had to use a lot of concentration and willpower to perfectly fuse the two elements, but it was well worth it since the mana-devouring grey flames appeared without a problem.

Toz hadn't intended to use the grey flames since he wasn't sure he could control them and because they might spoil any possible loot that might exist on the ship, but destroying everything would be better than dying, so Toz sent a lump of the grey flames toward the ship's barrier.

Dristel looked on in confusion since he didn't understand the grey flames, but the closer they got, the worse his feeling got. Dristel sent a Piercing Gale at the flame. He expected Toz to impede its advance again, so he also swung with his phantom spear.

However, contrary to Dristel's expectations, Toz only stood back and watched as the wind javelin pierced into the lump of grey flame.

Toz was curious about what would happen when an attack of concentrated martial energy condensed using a technique came into contact with his grey flames, which was why he didn't interfere with Dristel's attack. However, before he could see how the collision unfolded, he felt an attack coming his way from another direction.