CHAPTER 505: A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE (1/2)

In less than three seconds, a multitude of translucent magical webbing spun out of their fingertips. Not only that, the webbing they spun somehow formed into a gigantic spider web!

They’re using the same tactic they used on Umbra to capture that Dracolich? Now. I don’t want to be mean or anything by crushing our own morale, but the two targets are quite different in scale. They might as well be spiders trying to take down the tree they hang on.

As I had expected, the Dracolich easily ignored the magical web. It rammed into the webbing, head first, then continued onwards without a care, still bearing that webbing and its eight casters as it sprinted forward.

Dragged along like ragdolls, the Assassins had no choice but to cut off the webbing in order to avoid more harm. Thankfully, they were all Eight-stars, so their bodies were strong enough to withstand the initial impact and drag. Even when the Dracolich started dragging them along, they were able to make use of their first-class abilities to perform an emergency tumble before cutting off the webbing, and recover quickly to their feet. Unharmed for the most part, they sprinted after the Dracolich right away.

“Cover Her Holiness’s retreat!” One of the Eight-star Assassins yelled to her comrades riding with her, then increased her speed, ran up to the flank of the charging Dracolich, and jumped onto it without any hesitation. The rest of the seven Eight-stars quickly followed in suit as well, successfully landing on the Dracolich’s back.

They immediately unsheathed their daggers and plunged them into the Dracolich’s scaly back, easily penetrating its draconic scales. However, the Dracolich was a zombified monster, so such attacks did not inflict any pain on it. Even the strongest attacks they employed did not cause the Dracolich to flinch in the slightest. And that was all thanks to its abnormal regeneration rate. Furthermore, the Assassins had to set aside some of their mana in order to block off the harmful effects of the Veil of the Dead.

For those Assassins who were right in the epicenter of the Veil, moving about was like swimming in the ocean. They had to ensure they did not breathe in the harmful particles in the Veil, all the while being obstructed in their movements as well. Fighting in the Veil had, in effect, lowered their Star Level by half a star!

The fact that they were Assassins, and did not have many techniques to deal with large creatures, did not help them in the slightest right now.

Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for us, this half-Undead monster lacked a Territory, else it wouldn’t have just been an Eight-star.

In a lot of ways, this Dracolich was like boss monsters in RPGs; their levels might be the same as yours, but their basic stats were leaps and bounds above yours.

The eight of them weren’t able to slow the Dracolich in the slightest. It wasn’t a problem of numbers at this point, it was just that large.

The Veil of the Dead was also helping to repair any injuries that appeared on the Dracolich, further worsening the gap between the weakened Assassins and the Dracolich.

We were done for, at this rate. The Dracolich was faster than us, and we still had that annoying Undead horde to contend with as well. Even though the horde itself was lower-starred and probably couldn’t hurt us, they were a hindrance to our escape. By my estimates, that Dracolich should reach us in less than a minute… that’s when we were really done for…

“All the Eight-stars, stay behind with me! We will face that monster and buy some time for Her Holiness!” Zurnalin yelled as she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Then without waiting for me to even respond, she charged at the Dracolich.

“Zurnalin! Stop! I forbid you from going! Get back here immediately!”

I called out to her in hopes of calming her down. However, she had already resolved herself, even if it meant disobeying my orders.

“Divine Blade!” Zurnalin slashed the air with her long sword, sending a massive crescent of sword energy flying at the Dracolich. That was probably the ability Zurnalin awakened when she became an Eight-star. This nearly ten meter wide wave was truly a sight to behold. Yet before it could even hit the Dracolich, the Veil of the Dead had already reduced its damage. With every inch the energy wave took, the Veil only got thicker and thicker. By the time it struck the Dracolich, it was merely a fraction of its original length.

The wave exploded upon impact with its right shoulder, blasting the scales apart and sending a spurt of black blood scattering about. The wound was a grisly mess, but it wasn’t as deep as we had hoped…

“Still too weak… then I’ll just have to get closer.” Zurnaline muttered to herself as she sped up her charge. “Even if it means that I have to give up my life for Her Holiness, you shall not take a step further, monster!”

By this time, the rest of the dozen or so Eight-stars had caught up with Zurnalin. In the blink of an eye, they launched a combined attack against the Dracolich. With magic out of the question, they only had their melee weapons to rely on. Yet to the mammoth that was the Dracolich, they were merely slightly stronger ants.

Zurnalin was the first to make contact with the Dracolich, but she had overestimated her own strength. She was immediately sent flying away by the collision. Its size wasn’t something you could take on with brute force alone.

Fortunately, her collision wasn’t for naught; she now knew what she had to do in order to make up for their size difference. She began channelling vast quantities of Fighter’s Aura, blasting off wave after wave of sword energy at the Dracolich, not to kill it, but to delay it somewhat.

I swear… everyone of them… disobeying my orders like that… so what if I make it out of this? That means nothing if I have to sacrifice everyone in order to do so.

I wanted to rescue Zurnalin right this instant, but the two Seven-star Assassins she left behind stopped me from moving at all.

“Your Holiness, please do not waste her lady’s sacrifice.”

“Let go of me!” I tried to break free from their grip, but I was nothing but a Five-star weakling to them.

“Your Holiness, our deaths do not matter as long as your esteemed personage is unharmed. Please flee from this area immediately.”

“I said, let go of me!” As I yelled, the silhouette of a spider appeared in both my eyes. This was one of the abilities given to me by my godmother. As long as a creature faithful to her looked into my eyes, they would not be able to resist my commands. While I might not have used this often, but the situation being what it was, this was the only way I could break free.

“Since I’m the one who brought you all out with me, then I have the responsibility to make sure every single of you makes it back alive as well.” Thanks to my previous command, the Assassins had already loosened their grip on me. I turned around and said to Jezsere and Ann, who were beside themselves with worry at this point, “I want the two of you to follow the rest of them and leave this place as soon as possible… I’m afraid I might not be able to look after you two from this point on…”