As soon as the shield was completed, the two tree folks began absorbing mana from both the ocean and the atmosphere now that they didin’t have to worry about interference from anyone.
Initially, the process was subtle, but it was quickly detected by those with advanced mana sensitivity, and they imdiately ca up with a hypothesis behind this action.
“Looks like your magic system is designed for efficiency,” the humanoid remarked, still engaged in burning through Aron's shield. Despite their efforts, which had been ongoing for over seven minutes—a duration long enough to deplete the approximated amount of mana in the shields—Aron's shield remained intact. The humanoid could only conclude that the system’s efficiency was the reason for this anomaly.
They hadn't considered that Aron might have a mana tank within him, enabling him to use magic even in areas devoid of ambient mana. This was thanks to his previous encounters and rapid attacks that had only utilized the surrounding mana, making them not even consider the other option.
'How many more minutes before you’re done?' Aron asked ntally.
'An hour at the earliest, if I’m to do it without being discovered,' ca the response.
'Is there any way to accelerate it?' Aron inquired. He understood that although he could continue feigning confinent, it would give the other side ti to implent their plans. Additionally, it ant that the Proximians would have to endure dealing with their out-of-control compatriots for that duration.
'There is a way, but it requires a significant distraction to divert their attention so I can avoid detection,' was the reply.
'I’ll provide you with one. Finish it in five minutes,' Aron declared, finally moving from his sitting position for the first ti since being locked in the shield. He planned to bring this situation to a close as quickly as possible now that he had the response he needed.
'If it’s a large enough distraction, I can manage it within that tifra. I’ll be waiting for it,' the response ca before the communication went silent.
“Let ask you sothing,” Aron said, addressing the tree folk, or at least in the direction of where it was, as a do of intense fire still separated them. “Have you ever considered that you might lose?”
“Not even once,” the humanoid replied, his tone laced with arrogance.
“Okay,” Aron responded. He moved closer until he could touch a part of his shield with his hand. Without further comnt, he abruptly expanded his shield to match the size of the one containing the fire. This expansion compressed the fire within, increasing its intensity to the point where it exceeded the capacity of the outer shield and before the humanoid could react to his action, the outer shield shattered under the imnse pressure.
“Quite a foolish move on your part,” the humanoid said with a sinister smile, observing how the situation was shifting in his favor. “What are you going to do now that you’ve expended the little mana you had left?”
Aron didn’t bother to respond. Instead, he expanded his shield once again, catching the other humanoid off-guard. The sudden expansion pushed the humanoid outward until the shield almost matched the size of the massive shield that had previously imprisoned him, with the humanoid being within the one ter separation between the two shields.
Before the humanoid could react, a rune materialized on Aron's hand. Aron imdiately infused it with a massive amount of mana, a quantity far exceeding what should have been possible within the shield, given that the humanoid had absorbed nearly all the available mana. Without delay, Aron directed the rune toward the shield, causing it to beco passive temporarily before returning to active.
The rune then imdiately detonated, obliterating the massive shield and killing the humanoid almost instantly.
Aron quickly created another cylinder shield and extended it until it reached the ocean floor. He then expanded it to a radius of about fifteen kiloters, displacing a significant amount of water. Despite the scale of the displacent, it was a re drop in the ocean compared to the size of the planet.
This ti, however, he wasn't using the cylinder to descend to the ocean's depths out of fear of being struck by the roots. Instead, he had a different purpose in mind for this action.
Another fire rune materialized on Aron's hand. This ti, he didn’t imdiately deploy it but spent over thirty seconds fueling it with mana. Given the high density of mana in the planet's atmosphere, this would be the most powerful attack he had ever unleashed.
After thoroughly charging the rune, he sent it into the cylinder shield.
Monts later, he activated it.
“............”
Anyone observing this, whether through the live stream or their senses, instinctively closed their eyes. The intensity was so overwhelming that it felt as if the sun had suddenly appeared before them. They could perceive nothing else; the shockwave and the explosion were entirely contained within the shield, leaving them in stunned silence.
The shield contained the explosion and shockwave, trapping them within its walls. As the energy bounced off the shield’s interior, the pressure and intensity of the explosion increased. The only outlet was the bottom of the shield, where the roots were being incinerated, and the burning expanded to create a hole more than half a kiloter deep. This excavation also ford a massive bowl of molten mirror.
Despite the shield’s containnt of the explosion, the aftermath couldn’t be contained in the sa way. The detonation was several magnitudes more powerful than the Tsar bomb. As a result, the entire planet experienced violent tremors, with the underground shockwave reverberating around the globe multiple tis over the next few minutes.
With the ground shaking violently, everything within it, including the tree folks' roots, endured the sa tumultuous vibrations. If they had nerves, they would have been overwheld by the pain, but fortunately, they lacked such sensory responses.
Nevertheless, the attack and the ongoing tremors provided a sufficient distraction, allowing Aron's plan the freedom to do whatever it was doing without concern for discovery. The tremors were so overwhelming that anything else that might have been detected would be dismissed as part of the natural chaos, avoiding any suspicion.
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