When the light faded, the taurs realized they were unharmed. Instead, their coats bristled with static electricity, faint sparks flickering across their fur. “What… what just happened?” oaur muttered, dazed.

  Alex’s voice cut through the fusion. “Don’t stand there gawking! You’re shielded now—lightning won’t harm you. Gather your wounded and stick close to me!”

  The elder taur’s eyes widened as he uood. “A lightning ward… Brilliant!” He immediately barked orders to the remainiaurs, who quickly rallied and moved toward Alex’s position.

  As they ehe range of the Thundris Vortex, they realized its devastating strikes avoided them entirely. The werewolf wizard’s face twisted in rage. “So, you’re here to interfere? Fine! Kill them all! No one leaves alive!”

  With a long, guttural howl, he sent his werewolves charging forward en masse. The pack surged toward Alex and the taurs, their glowing eyes filled with murderous i. Alex smirked coldly. “Smart move, rushing me all at once. But did you really think I’d stand here like an idiot?”

  He raised his wand in front of his chest, his left hand f a cw-like grip. Sparks began to daween his wand and his palm. “Tempest Orb! Ard Hex!” A crag current surged between his fingers, coalesg into five orbs of trated lightning, each the size of a ping-pong ball. The orbs hovered in the air, crag with energy, waiting for their target. The werewolves closed in, uerred by the dispy of magic. Their primal instincts urged them forward, even as the first orb shot out.

  Zap!

  The orb struck the lead werewolf square in the chest. It vulsed violently as the electricity coursed through its body, then colpsed in a twitg heap. The sed orb veered to the right, smming into another werewolf mid-leap. It yelped in pain as the lightning immobilized it, leaving it vulnerable to the taurs’ spears.

  Alex flicked his wand forward, and the five Tempest Orb spread out in a circle, f a protective ring around him and the taurs. The werewolves, though bloodthirsty and feral, were irely foolish. They reized the danger of the crag electric spheres and instinctively dodged as they spread across the battlefield.

  The magic balls hovered in midair like sentinels, sparking occasionally but remaining stationary ohey reached their designated positions. Thinking they had avoided the threat, the werewolves pressed forward, accelerating toward Alex and the taurs.

  However, as soon as they passed between two of the spheres, arcs of electricity leapt from one ball to the , creating a glowing current loop. The first werewolf to cross was caught mid-stride. It vulsed violently as the electricity coursed through its body, then colpsed, paralyzed. Another werewolf attempted to leap through but was hit midair, the current freezing it in pce as if it had stru invisible barrier. Lightning from the Thundris Vortex joined in, striking the trapped werewolf repeatedly. By the third strike, the creature was charred beynition, its upper body disiing into ash.

  “You fools!” the werewolf wizard bellowed, his voice thick with rage. “Avoid the es! Jump over the loops!”

  The remaining werewolves took his advid began leaping, attempting to bypass the arcs of electricity. But Alex’s design wasn’t so easily circumvehe five Tempest Orb were arranged in a five-poiar formation, creating a plex web of interected loops. Not only did the es link together, but the interior of the ring also formed additional circuits, creating a nearly imperable barrier.

  This arra was no act. Alex had carefully desighe spell to maximize efficy while serving mana. He could have deployed more than five spheres to form an even denser grid, but that would have been overkill—and costly in terms of magical energy.

  The werewolves that successfully jumped one loop often found themselves caught in another. One unfortunate werewolf was bounced bad forth between multiple circuits, each strike sending it flying until it finally hit the ground, twitg and smoking. While the Ard Hex paralyzed and incapacitated the werewolves, Alex was far from idle. The circuit’s purpose wasn’t solely to kill but to trol the battlefield, limiting the werewolves’ movements and creating opportunities for targeted strikes.

  “Stormscatter Hex! Sectumsempra!” Alex sent out a bination of spells. The spell, Sectumsempra, sent an invisible ssh through the air, cutting ly through a werewolf’s neck. Its head fell to the ground with a dull thud, the body colpsing moments ter.

  The other spell, Stormscatter Hex , was one of Alex’s creations. It trated electrical energy into a high-velocity bolt that struck with pinpoint accuracy. A ribbon of silver-blue lightning pierced another werewolf’s chest, leaving a gaping hole the size of a bowl. The edges of the wound crackled and smoked, the flesh charred to a crisp.

  In mere moments, Alex had elimihree werewolves, bringing the total to four since his arrival. “Destroy those spheres!” the werewolf wizard roared, his frustration boiling over. He raised his wand and cast fringo at the empest Orb.

  The bst collided with one of the spheres, but Alex had anticipated the move. With a flick of his wand, he cast Protego Maxima around the sphere. The explosioroyed the protective shield, but the sphere itself remained intact, its surface sparking defiantly.

  “Not so fast,” Alex muttered, his focus already shifting. He ighe wizard for now, targeting another werewolf caught in the circuit. “Stormscatter Hex!” The spell struck, electrog the trapped werewolf and splitting it into sm halves.

  The age began to take its toll on the remaining werewolves. Though initially freheir movements grew hesitant as fear crept into their bloodshot eyes. They circled the electric loops cautiously, snarling but unwilling to charge blindly. Alex, too, served his energy. Group battles demanded efficy, and he knew better than to exhaust himself too quickly. Instead, he maintaihe circuits, letting the Thundris Vortex and the taurs pick off the stragglers.

  During this lull, the werewolf wizard turned his attention back to Alex. Their wands cshed repeatedly, spells flyiween them in bursts of light. The wizard was skilled, his curses fast and powerful, but Alex matched him move for move.

  The werewolf wizard stood tens of meters away, gring at Alex with eyes full of malice. His speed and resilience made him a difficult oppoo engage from such a distance, and Alex knew closing the gap wouldn’t be easy. “Human, why meddle in matters that don’t you?” the werewolf wizard growled, his tone sharp but calcuted. “Proteg these taurs will cost you dearly. Do you uand what it means to provoke the werewolf ? Leave now, and I’ll personally ehis is fotten. Refuse, and you’ll fadless vengeance from my kind!”

  Alex sneered, his wand held steady. “I’m not here for the taurs. And as for provoking the werewolves? I don’t know what that entails, and frankly, I don’t care. You just happeo y path. t yourself unlucky.”

  The elder taur, now half-kneeling on the ground, leaned heavily on his spear. Exhausted from the prolonged fight and the effects of the sleeping potioill mustered the strength to shout, “Despicable poachers! Your scheme will fail. There is still time to retreat. If you stay, only death awaits you!”

  Alex turned sharply to the elder, gring at him. ‘Why would you say that?’ He’d spent the whole battle positioning himself to trap the werewolves, and now the elder ractically inviting them to run away. If the werewolves scattered, chasing them down would be a nightmare.