Chapter 22: The Might of Tier 6 (1/2)
Erin's 'Water Serpent' could kill a monster with one bite, they maneuvered around the battlefield, killing off one monster after another, while avoiding the guards and hunters, giving them the freedom and space to fight an isolated monster.
Jarret and the others didn't want to fall behind, using their skills combined with the effects from AquaLight, they killed a lesser Basilisk every few minutes. Azar was still unconscious, even if his wounds were healed he wouldn't be off any use in this fight, he had used up part of his life force and would need a considerable amount of time to recover.
The ogres and beastmen who were considered the race with the most stamina and endurance were visibly exhausted, the only thing that kept them going was the passive effect of AquaLight. The battle had been going on for a while now and they were all mentally and physically drained, still they persevered on. The monsters attack pattern had changed drastically after they all went berserk, making the fight even more difficult.
••••••
Albert had the guard run around putting out the fires on the buildings surrounding the Chief's mansion, there were quite a number of lesser Basilisks that had broken into the town, they ran around setting more buildings on fire, Albert, with the help of the guards was barely able to kill any that roamed in his direction.
He was breathing heavily, even his Mana was getting low at this point, he could sense the urgency in Erin's heart and knew something was wrong. 'Should I try evacuating the kids?' he tried his best to remain calm but the constant worry of the people in the Chief's mansion made him lose composure. He had recently found out his vice captain of guards had died when the first monster had broken into the town, he hadn't even put up a fight and had died on accident after receiving a stray attack while trying to put out the flames on a nearby building.
'Did I misjudged him, was he unable to fight at his peak while protecting something, or was he always so weak.” Thinking of this the image of the handsome blonde young and promising demon in a flashy armor came to his mind.
During this momentarily distraction the monster he was fighting sent a claw strike his way and he failed to react in time, the attack sent him tumbling back and the guards he fought with launched their attacks in other to give him time to recover, he slowly stood up and shook the distracting thoughts off his mind.
Calming himself down he planted his right foot on the ground and shot out like a cannon ball. As he passed the beast he was able to use his momentum to slice it in half, he felt his heartbeat fluctuate and the stinging pain from his muscles brought him to his knees.
”Captain are you okay?!”
”Don't worry I'm fine” he was sweating a lot but the others didn't question him again, they knew he was the only reason they were still alive and would try their best to protect him untill he recovered his stamina.
••••••
Despite all adversities, with the seven water Serpents rampaging around, they were able to make considerable progress, reducing the number of the lesser Basilisks by more than half, there were less than 50 of them still alive now including the ones inside the town.
Erin was getting increasingly more anxious, she could sense something coming, it was still to far for the others to sense, including Albert, but because of her connection with the lesser Basilisks she could share their senses. She poured more Mana into the bracelet and another gem shattered, seven more water Serpents rose up from underneath, her complexion turned pale and she looked like she was fading away, even for her this was pushing it a bit too far.
She immediately commanded the newly arrived water serpents into the battle, this relieved the pressure on the tired fighters, they were able to catch their breaths and rejoiced. Callie on the otherhand had a worried expression on her face, she didn't know why, but she didn't like the way things were going, 'Erin please don't be reckless' she was already almost out of Mana just firing ordinary magic arrows, she couldn't even imagine what Erin was dealing with maintaining two insanely powerful spells.
The water serpents were like natural disasters, they practically destroyed a chunk of land each time they attacked, Erin had single handedly changed the entire battle, looking at her expression though, one would not be able to tell, it was like she was in a losing battle fighting desperately to survive.
The ranged fighters launching attacks from the towers and the walls had slowed down, everyone was practically low on Mana, they had already used all the Mana potions they had on hand. Potions were not as common in the demon continent as it was in the human continent, only casters would carry one or two on them, melee fighter wouldn't even bother, after all for them most battles were fought in high speed and the fact was they were too expensive.
Ogres rarely used these things, so the settlement only had a limited supply of them, healing Potions were even worst, the main ingredient only grew in the human and elf's continent, so the cost was astronomical, for a small settlement like this it was almost impossible to stock up on them, they were fortunate to have someone like Erin who had high level healing spells.
With the numbers of the lesser Basilisks reducing, the fighters of the settlement hadn't lost anyone else, with over a hundred guards and hunters attacking less than 50 lesser Basilisks along with the 14 giant water serpent, the battle was as good as won. In less than five minutes they were able to reduce the numbers to below 10.
Rumble... Rumble... Rumble...
Just when they saw victory in sight, the ground itself felt like it was about to open up and swallow them whole. ”What's going on?” the residents of the settlement was startled, confused and terrified they tried their best to stay on their feet, Jarret quickly used his spirit Vision to search for the source of the problem, his expression sank as he broke out in cold sweat. ”No! Why, we're doomed.” the others couldn't help but panic when they heard this, it was obvious something more dangerous than freaking Tier 5 Lesser Basilisks was heading this way.