The Tale of Hero Alice's Social Death - Chapter 158

Chapter 158 – Taboo Gallery
Alice was a considerably ruthless person. Although she and Luna were currently fighting outside the Elven Forest, the outside of the forest consisted of a wide expanse of grassland.

Luna’s Dark Sunburst might possess great destructive power, but it was a spell composed of dark mana. Hence, apart from destroying and corrupting the terrain caught within the blast radius, it didn’t do any further damage. On the other hand, Alice’s Burning Star was a spell fueled by fire mana. If not handled properly, it could very well cause a fire that engulfed the entire prairie.

Of course, Alice didn’t cast this taboo without considering the consequences. Out of the several taboos she had learned during her time studying in the March Academy, she had also learned a water-type taboo in addition to Burning Star. Thus, so long as she followed up Burning Star with the water-type taboo afterward, she could ensure that the grassland did not turn into a land of fire.

Burning Star was one of the more classical taboos, and its principles were used in many different spells and technology. Hence, Patriarch Elway instantly recognized it, and his expression changed when he saw the fiery star forming on the tip of the Hero’s Sword. Immediately afterward, he swung his staff and pushed all of the elven warriors behind him to the ground while shouting:

“Get down!”

The next moment, a terrifying heatwave spread across the entire battlefield. The heat was so intense that the elves that got pushed to the ground felt as if their hair had caught on fire. Had Patriarch Elway not pushed the elven warriors to the ground just now, many elves would’ve probably lost consciousness from the blast of the

On the other side, the demon soldiers fared relatively well against the heatwave. The armor they wore was magically enhanced, so other than a little sweat, they remained largely unaffected by the intense heat.

The Burning Star Alice conjured didn’t have a humongous size despite its name. Instead, its size was only similar to that of a Fruit of God. However, the instant it hit Luna, it instantly began expanding into a gigantic fireball, forming a miniature sun that enveloped Luna and burned everything around it.

While Burning Star might seem like an AOE attack, it was, in reality, a single-target offensive taboo. After expanding to a certain size, the miniature sun stopped expanding and concentrated all its flames within a small area. Even then, though, the intense heat the miniature sun radiated to the surroundings still caused the surrounding grassland to catch fire.

Just when everyone thought that the Demon King had succumbed to this attack, a gigantic blade made of dark mana suddenly pierced through the top of the miniature sun. Then, the blade cut downward, bisecting the miniature sun and causing it to explode. Meanwhile, after the tsunami of flames scattered across the surrounding grassland, Luna’s figure appeared in place of the miniature sun.

Luna’s cloak was magically enhanced. When receiving Alice’s Burning Star before, she had even paid extra care to prevent the cloak from getting damaged. However, despite her precautionary steps, Burning Star’s intense heat still scorched the edges of the cloak a little. Fortunately, though, it still kept Luna’s face hidden from others.

“Fountain of Uys!”

Luna cutting apart the Burning Star was something Alice had expected. So, she did not pause her actions and promptly cast the water-type taboo she learned against Luna.

Immediately, a huge spring of water appeared in the sky and released a huge water column that crashed down onto Luna. Then, the water began defying gravity as it flowed upward, bringing Luna into the sky with it.

When cast, Fountain of Uys would create a special river that flowed down from the sky to envelope the user’s target and sweep the target into the air. Then, the water mana in the river would nullify any attempts the target made to escape and keep the target trapped in the air until they grew physically exhausted from trying to keep themselves from drowning. In general, Fountain of Uys was a taboo that focused on control. However, it could also be used to wear out the trapped target.

In addition to keeping Luna suspended in the air, Fountain of Uys also scattered water all over the place, extinguishing the burning prairie beneath it. Moreover, due to the unique properties of mana water, the burnt grassland even began recovering its past prestige.

Normally, an ordinary person would’ve long died after receiving multiple offensive taboos with their bodies. However, Luna was no ordinary person.

Suddenly, a black shadow appeared within the torrent of water trapping Luna. Then, this shadow rapidly expanded into a pitch-black dragon that tore apart the Fountain of Uys.

“Dragon?!”

When the demon soldiers saw the black dragon in the sky, they couldn’t help but shudder in fear.

Dragons were a significant threat in this world. In addition to having extraordinary strong bodies, almost every dragon could freely cast spells with incomparable destructive power once they reached adulthood. Even if their spells didn’t reach the level of taboos, they weren’t far from it, either.

Oftentimes, one could see novels depicting the Hero defeating evil dragons. This was because dragons were publicly acknowledged as the strongest existences in this world after the Hero and the Demon King.

“It’s not a real dragon. It’s Dragon’s Shadow, a taboo that replicates a dragon’s appearance using mana,” Davis explained to the young demon soldiers around him as he looked at the black dragon in the sky. “However, this isn’t a simple imitation using mana. Instead, this taboo relies on a special means to trick the world into granting the user the strength of a dragon.”

Meanwhile, after Luna used Dragon’s Shadow to replicate a black dragon, she concentrated all of the dragon’s power. Then, she detonated it, creating a powerful explosion that instantly tore apart the Fountain of Uys. The explosion was so powerful that it had already surpassed the might a Hero or Demon King could exhibit.

In exchange for this brief explosive power, though, the black dragon also began disintegrating, leaving behind only a small trace of dark mana in the air. While this seemed like a useful way to make use of a dragon’s power, if not for this near-suicidal method of attack, even a dragon wouldn’t be able to break free from the Fountain of Uys’s bindings.

However, although Luna had successfully broken free from the Fountain of Uys, everyone could also see that the Demon King was at a disadvantage in this battle. After all, the Demon King had been the only one getting hit by attacks this entire time, and she looked much worse for wear than the Hero.