Chapter 339: 337 Magic-enhanced skills
"Maximum Enhance·Crimson Nova!"
"Triple Enhancement Maximum Enhance·Ten Thousand Thunder Annihilation!"
Above the scorched earth, a magic battle that could make the natives of this world tremble in fear, as if they were in a mythological world, was fiercely underway.
As soon as Ainz and Shalltear entered combat, both sides simultaneously unleashed magic at each other, casting a succession of high-tier spells, the lowest being of the seventh tier.
It was natural for Ainz to take such actions; as a pure Magic Singer, he excelled at magical combat, while physical combat was merely a performance against natives, utilizing attributes from his high level, akin to child’s play when facing an opponent of the same level. Thus, when facing an equal, Ainz wouldn’t possibly display any close-quarter combat abilities.
At first glance, Shalltear seemed like a master of close-quarter combat, but in reality, she was also a Magic Singer, specifically of the faith system, with many of her spells designed to counter the undead type, making magic the natural choice of combat when she clashed with Ainz.
Moments passed with wildfires running rampant and lightning swirling; black magic power and deep red magic power continuously appeared, collided, and neutralized each other, occasionally hitting their targets, making the magic battle increasingly intense.
"Lord Ainz..."
On the small hill, Albedo’s attention was completely captivated by Ainz, seemingly forgetting about Reiger altogether, as she turned to look towards the battlefield, her voice filled with uncontrollable worry.
Demiurge and Cocytus were also concerned about the battle where Ainz was involved, but they at least remembered their duties, keeping much of their attention on Reiger, watching him closely.
Reiger, oblivious to their vigilant stares, watched the spells cast by Ainz and Shalltear as they fought, a thoughtful expression appearing in his eyes.
"Enhancing magic skills... huh?"
Reiger was focused on the prefix abilities used by Ainz and Shalltear when casting their spells.
Specifically, terms like "Maximum Enhance" and "Triple Enhancement Maximum Enhance."
These were not actually spells, but skills learned by Magic Singers when they reached a certain level, specifically for enhancing magic.
Their effects allowed them to be used in conjunction with tier magic, enhancing the spells in various ways by adding a magic power cost.
For instance, Maximum Enhance enhanced a spell to yield its most powerful effect if its damage fluctuated.
In gaming terms, if the damage of a spell was marked between 10-30, using this magic enhancement would always result in dealing the maximum damage of 30.
Another example is Triple Enhancement, which allowed a cast spell to activate three times, turning one spell into three.
These magic enhancement skills could also be layered, such as "Triple Enhancement Maximum Enhance" mentioned above combining two effects to make the spell not only multiply, but also have all its damage elevated to the maximum.
There were many more such magic enhancement skills.
Some allowed the caster to use Instant Magic without motions, timing, or chanting.
Some could expand the effect range of the magic.
Others could elevate lower-tier magic to higher-tiers, significantly increasing the magic’s power.
All these magic enhancement skills were abilities of Magic Singers, which, by using additional magic power, could make their spells stronger and more diverse.
Reiger’s visit to watch the battle was driven not only by a desire to see "Falling Sky", but primarily to witness these kinds of magic enhancement abilities.
"These abilities are classified as skills in the original text, and are not inherent effects of the spells themselves, so ’The Omnipotent’ probably can’t teach me these abilities," he mused.
"But when I think about it, although I don’t have magic enhancing skills, I do have the ability to enhance the development of magic."
"The developing ability of ’Magic Guidance’ can increase the power, effect, and range of magic which, in effect, is essentially similar to these magic enhancement abilities."
Reiger thought, if that was the case, could he perhaps develop ’Magic Guidance’ and, using ’The Omnipotent’s memory reconstruction effect, replicate these magic enhancement abilities through the means of ’Magic Guidance’?
Having a skill akin to ’Magic Guidance,’ could he essentially be considered as having learned a magic enhancement skill?
If so, could using ’The Omnipotent’ to replicate these magic enhancement effects be feasible?
Like those Forging Masters who learned the development skill of ’Forging,’ they could endow their forged weapons with various effects after acquiring ’Forging,’ but those effects weren’t random.
The type of effects a forged weapon would display depended not only on the materials used but also on the Forging Master’s skill, intentions, and the desired outcome they sought for the weapon.
That is, the Forging Masters were using skill to control the additional effects ’Forging’ could impart to weapons.
Since ’Forging’ could achieve such manipulation, surely ’Magic Guidance’ could too, right?
"Let’s give it a try."
With that thought, Reiger extended his hand towards a nearby tree, causing a magic Array to suddenly appear.
"What are you doing...!?"
Reiger’s actions immediately triggered an excessive reaction from Albedo, Cocytus, and Demiurge.
Thinking that Reiger might finally be making his move, they each reacted in panic—one with an inaudible shriek, another exuding cold air, and another’s face even swelling up like a frog, all assuming a defensive stance towards Reiger.
Yet, Reiger remained unfazed by them.
He simply acted on his thoughts, activating the magic.
"Double Enhancement·Magic Arrow."
The next moment, two shimmering light arrows shot out from the magic Array, striking a large tree not far away.
"Thump!"
"Thump!"
There were two thudding sounds.
Two Magic Arrows struck the tree at the same time, leaving holes in it.
Seeing this, Reiger’s eyes lit up.
"Did it work?"
Clearly, it had.
The magic Reiger had just used was not meant to increase the number of Magic Arrows; it was intended to fire a single shot.
In such a case, there should have been only one Magic Arrow.
However, two Magic Arrows had appeared.
This meant that Reiger had successfully cast the same Magic Arrow twice at the same time—Double Enhancement.
His hypothesis had succeeded, and more smoothly and easily than he had imagined.
"Another great breakthrough."
Reiger put away his magic, feeling joyful inside.
The success of this experiment would profoundly influence Reiger’s magical abilities.
After a little more trial and practice, he would be able to apply this enhancement capability with ease.
By then, the power, effects, and variations of all Reiger’s magic spells would multiply significantly.
"Once I get the hang of it, my magical capabilities might even surpass my warrior skills, right?"
Reiger thought to himself.
Of course, outwardly, Reiger remained calm, ignoring the Guardians next to him who bared their teeth in hostility as he turned to leave.
"Where do you think you’re going?"
Demiurge was right behind Reiger, immediately questioning him as Reiger turned around.
At this moment, Demiurge no longer looked like a gentleman, but rather had the face of a frog, damp membranous wings, and his hands and feet were no longer human, having entirely transformed into an alien form.
Cocytus had raised his silver halberd and was holding various other weapons in his other hands—a knife, a sword, a spear, and several more.
The giant axe in Albedo’s hands began to emit dark vapors, an ominous aura that signaled to Reiger it was the most threatening weapon there.
Reiger glanced at the giant axe and then dropped this line.
"You already don’t let me get close; now you don’t want to let me leave either?"
Reiger’s words made Albedo and the others exchange glances.
"Leave?" Albedo said coldly, "Didn’t you come to watch the battle?"
Reiger’s response was very succinct.
"I’ve watched it."
That was all.
"Huh?"
Albedo was stunned.
"So, I’m saying, I’ve finished watching," Reiger said with a light smile, "I’ve seen what I wanted to see and obtained what I wanted. Isn’t that the same as having finished watching this battle?"
Albedo and Demiurge immediately frowned and stared into Reiger’s eyes, as if trying to discern his thoughts.
Cocytus, however, suddenly spoke.
"Lord Ainz and Shalltear have not yet determined the victor; don’t you want to see it through to the end?"
At this, Reiger laughed.
His laugh was somewhat intriguing.
It couldn’t be helped.
"Why bother seeing it to the end when I already know the outcome?"
Indeed, the outcome of this battle was inevitable, unshakable.
Perhaps the Guardians and everyone else in the Nasalik Underground Tomb thought that against Shalltear, arguably the strongest Guardian, Ainz didn’t stand much of a chance.
But how could they know, a gaming otaku, just how much money one would spend on this game?
They calculated combat power straightforwardly without knowing that, like any game, there were things designed to drain money from players.
Hence, Ainz was equipped with quite a few pay-to-win items.
This battle was simply the crushing of a heavy spender over a non-spender.
"So it seems, reality is a crappy game too."
Leaving these words behind, Reiger left, leaving the Guardians looking at each other, no longer responding for a long time.