As Marcus’ eclipse railgun hit him, Retharin felt the sharp pain of flesh and muscle being pieced through, as the iron sphere the size of a grapefruit shot through him.
Eventually though it came to a stop within his body when it finally hit bone after traveling around fifty feet through his body.
Blood then began to flow out of the wound that Marcus had inflicted against a mythic grade magical beast over thirty levels higher than him.
Still, in order to do this, he had pushed himself to the max and now his body felt sluggish. Almost like he had a fever.
Using his soul devour skill especially in conjunction with his supreme skill and soul burst had taken a toll on him.
‘Damn even just for the second I was using it I feel bad. Now that I am more in tune with the damage it does, I can tell just how bad for me soul devour is.’ Marcus thought while examining his soul.
Luckily his soul regeneration skill was already putting him back together, but he needed to be very careful, or he could have another crisis within his soul where he begins to lose his sense of self..
Once Retharin had finished processing what had happen, he began roaring with laughter.
“Ah ha ha ha. That was great. I never expected you to be able to hurt me, but you have completely surprised me. I guess that even at your level, you are a great spirit.”
Ecstatic from Marcus’ attack, Retharin flew over towards him and began slapping him on the back.
Of course, Marcus in his currently weaken state went flying towards the ground after one hit and had to go ethereal to avoid crashing into the ground.
Floating back up, he had an aggrieved expression on his face, and said, “I would appreciate if you did not hit me right now. I used everything I had as you asked, and it has left me in a weakened state for a bit.”
Hearing Marcus say this, Retharin appraised Marcus again, and saw that his stats were all much lower now as his soul burst had worn off.
“I see. you really went all out. I am surprised you were willing to use skills like that just for this, but you have impressed me. If I was very careless you may have even been able to kill me with that attack. So, I will do as you have asked and go break that tie in the Glenna Reota council.” Retharin said while holding his head up high.
He then got closer to Marcus and started heaping more praise on him really happy to have met someone like him.
“Oh yeah, since you are this strong now, I bet you will be really strong in the future. So how about it, when you get into the mid seventies or so how about coming back and having a real battle with me? I always look forward to a good fight.” Retharin said to Marcus with an expectant gaze.
Currently Marcus might have been much weaker than him, but there was no doubt in Retharin’s mind that this great spirit would one day become incredibly powerful and make another good sparring partner for him.
Nodding his head, Marcus agreed mostly not to get on Retharin’s bad side, rather than actually caring about fighting with this battle hungry mythic grade magical beast.
However, as the two of them talked, the other person who was here and waiting for Retharin began to get impatient.
“Hey Reth, how long are you going to keep me waiting here. We need to put this place back together and I cannot do it all by myself.” Ardea said, while looking annoyed.
Sighing, Retharin seemed a bit annoyed himself that he was having to abandon his attempt to recruit Marcus as his future sparring partner and flew over to Ardea.
The two of them then began restoring the desolate area that had been reduced to dust by their powerful attacks.
It was truly amazing for Marcus to watch as Ardea began restoring the mountains that had been destroyed, while Retharin covered them with heaps of snow and ice.
The two of them used magic so much more fluidly than Marcus had ever seen, and what they created did not disappear when mana was no longer supplied to them.
Watching this intently, Marcus wondered how they were able to do this, and was curious about how many different spells they must have developed in order to use so many unique applications of magic.
Within just a few hours the area that Retharin and Ardea had destroyed was restored to its former glory, and the snowy mountains once again stood tall.
That was when Marcus realized that this was probably not the first time they had done this, and it was likely that these mountains had been remade by them multiple times.
“Well now that we are done, let us take the barrier down and I will be heading on my way.” Ardea said to Retharin.
Yet before they could do this, Marcus approached them having thought of something else important.
“Ardea I can see that you fight with gauntlets, so I assume that you have the skill for them and have plenty of techniques you have developed for your fighting style?” Marcus said to her.
Nodding her head Ardea said, “Yeah, I have the superior gauntlet fighter skill, but what does it matter to you?”
Smiling Marcus said, “So would you be willing to take on an apprentice and teach them how to fight at a higher level?”
Tilting her head, Ardea looked at Marcus intently thinking he was talking about himself.
“I mean, I certainly am not opposed to it since I will eventually need to pass on my title, but it looks like you already fight with a scythe. For my apprentice she will need to fight with gauntlets like me and my predecessors, or she will not be able to inherit my title.”
Hearing Ardea suddenly going on about something he did not understand, Marcus held up his hand to stop her and said, “I think you have misunderstood. I am not looking for you to teach me, but my little sister who also fights with gauntlets.”
“Oh, so that is what you meant. Wait how does a great spirit have a little sister?” Ardea said with confusion.
Shaking his head, Marcus explained that Lilia was his adopted sister, and very advanced for her age.
“Hm, I suppose she does sound promising.” Ardea said while stroking her chin.
However, at this point Retharin jumped back in and said, “Hey wait Ardea, I thought you were not even looking for an apprentice right now. You said you planned to take it easy for another couple centuries and would keep me company. I have to wait around another three hundred years before my pact with my master is over, and I can finally leave my post here protecting the ice elves.”
Waving her hand and dismissing Retharin, Ardea said, “Yeah, I know what I said, and while I am not looking for an apprentice. When one drops into my lap all of a sudden, I am not going to dismiss it completely.”