The weapon that had intercepted Cades attack, blocking it at the middle of the trajectory and seemingly absorbing the collision without even a sound, perhaps because the thing was made out of wood and that wood had absorbed the sound, or perhaps it was a magical property of the object, the property of being soundless, definitely useful for assassins or the likes.
The weapon resembled a long pole with a constantly transforming something at the end that resembled both a blade, a spearhead and sometimes an axe or hammer, it changed while consisting of countless roots, the bigger ones residing inwards and the smaller, thinner ones always building the sharp outer edges, and all of that was happening while the pole, a pole that seemed to be changing its size as well was writhing, as though the pole itself was a living being.
And while Cades was momentarily captivated by the intriguing weapon, a weapon he didn't have any idea about how it possibly worked the succubus also changed its own form, the ancient, greenish algae slowly vanishing, as if seeping into its own body while it was growing horns, smaller curved ones that seemed to emphasize just how encapsulating its body would've been for most men.
Its body itself was also constantly transforming, the curves and proportions changing, sometimes it seemed to be male, sometimes female, and rather striking and more often than not average or simply ugly, perhaps it was trying to find what attracted Cades to try and entrance him, but Cades had never been too attracted in a sexual way, so he didn't really care about that.
It was however interesting that this being possessed that ability as its existence had previously been heavily discussed seeing as every single man or woman that had met it had claimed it to be perfect and all had given different descriptions, though their reasoning for that was now fairly obvious.
Perhaps this was why, though that didn't matter as the monster started using its second had, with a second great pole growing within it that was going to impale Cades if he didn't do anything, so he did do something.
With his mind full of adrenaline and ready to calculate almost anything required for magic he tried casting something, a powerful fire spell, the same one that he had casted against the first monster he had truly fought, the monster that had started this entire journey.
But nothing happened, and instead as he used the remaining mana in his body, the mana that had been restrained, only one thing happened.
As the mana coursed through his sore body it began to burn, and feel as if there was a great blockade within it, it felt as if his mana was hindered by a huge wall of policemen, just as when protesters were stopped and killed in ancient times, each time he tried to use it, it burned and the mana seemed to vanish into what could only be described as thin air.
But there was something that was activated, the only active he had, the active began overloading due to the greater mana that was forced into it, in an attempt to escape from the great pain and extinguishing of their mana, and soon after a greater lightning storm than ever before began to course out.
Thick strands of lightning enveloped the entire wooden body of the succubus and began to devour its body, shrinking it down in a surprisingly quick way as the orange liquid began steaming, crackling, cooking inside it, cracking the entire thing and causing an orange glow to come through.
The surprising thing about the attack was that it was much more powerful than before, and Cades knew why.
The active required much less magic than any normal spell, and oftentimes ever so slightly more powerful, but they were normally limited by how much mana one could infuse, this, however, something that Manug couldn't break because he was born with the limitation of the actives, didn't affect Cades, instead his overload spell, the lightning, was much more powerful than before, but still much less powerful than before, seeing as he was barely able to sear away the body of a low ranking lord.
And as such he began to smile ever so slightly, enlightened by that knowledge and recognizing that this would not be limited to just this place, recognizing just how much he had been limited by that which the archer had told him, and recognizing at the same time that the archer had truly just told him what HE fought was right.
But that didn't matter as a hammer with a wide edge, one that was quite big and circular with a circumference of about three foot struck into his back and knocked him over, as he still looked at the steaming husk of wood that had once stared at him with its orange, glowing eyes.
Luckily the strike from the hammer wasn't too powerful, it was just surprising, he just turned around on the ground, escaping another strike that hit the ground right in front of his eyes and quickly pushing himself up, looking at the enemies that had now started closing in, with the wooden puppet at the back, one he recognized as a mage being fiercely protected and already starting to glow in an orange light and exude a surprisingly great power for these puppets.
That same being at the back that was still recognizing it was probably also controlling the puppets right now, just as the succubus had, as the beings were quickly closing in, some growing greater and greater, assuming the form of a being that Cades had long since known, a being that he had fought in the mountains near Hekima's library for quite some time.
Those that were previously about a few dozen soldiers that resembled ehetrians without wings, at least those that still hadn't completely formed themselves, had just begun transforming, but only some of them, almost as if they were ordered at a priority to transform into their original forms, or maybe just into the forms of the trolls.
And now they had already arrived, staring at Cades with great wooden tusks made out of wood, disgusting skin hanging off of their hips, and great poles in their hands, some wielding swords instead, ones that were about six feet long, corresponding to their size that was quite abnormal for a troll, a size of about four feet.