Chapter 939 (1/2)
Truly, standing before this image is an entirely different experience… Alana thought through gritted teeth. Even at this distance, the ambient energy it was throwing off was like standing before a wide-open oven. Compared to that, her own attempts at contesting the energy were minuscule.
As she pulled energy from her connection with Randidly through her Class and Fate, she was able to generate the swirl of energy that would disperse his ambient image in the area. Or rather, it pushed it away, quite like a child throwing a tantrum would drag its tired parents. In order to not be warped, Randidly’s image retreated slightly in front of her explosion of energy. But although it was simple in practice, actually maintaining that state was a struggle.
Especially because Alana could feel the focus of the image shifting to her, beginning to press down on her measly smokescreen. Although the parents will give the child space for a little while, it had now reached the point that it crossed their bottom line. As such, the weight of discipline pressed downward.
“How long can you hold out?” Mrs. Hamilton asked.
Long enough to fight Randidly, Alana thought. But her mouth said, “Maybe fifteen minutes. And I can only assist in the area around me. From farther away…”
“Truly, this boy is a monster,” Mrs. Hamilton remarked. Then she shook her head, and Alana followed her gaze to the twelve strange minions that Randidly summoned. They were rapidly gaining speed, charging toward Donnyton’s group. “Dozer! Stop them dead.”
As Alana watched them, she felt a small spark of curiosity. Although there were fifty people in Donnyton’s group, these twelve summons were sent by Randidly directly at them. It was like he was asking for them to be destroyed.
Immediately, Alana began to suspect that there were more to this group of calvary that could be easily discovered.
“Gladly.” Dozer said as he strode forward with his long club slung across his shoulders. At his side, almost ten equally large and muscular individuals followed him, forming an intimidating front line. Of the Raid Groups, Dozers had locked up the most spots by far. Although the images that Randidly produced were powerful, those stoic individuals simply endured them with patience and a tolerance for pain.
They quickly formed up into a group, raising their weapons as Randidly’s Riders approached. Other elite members of the Raid Squads gathered, preparing to mop up the remnants after Dozer’s team struck.
Behind the front line, Clarissa and Annie began rapidly rain projectiles over toward the charging forces. The three mages that Clarissa brought also began to throw spears of earth and bolts of fire. Soon, the air was filled with whizzing projectiles.
Rather than slow, Randidly’s summons just weaved through the strikes in near silence. Alana’s eyes narrowed. The weird tapping noise made by the approaching twelve was surprisingly light, belying the ominous aura that they produced as they moved in perfect formation.
Above all of it, the towering form of that tree continued to oppress the people from Donnyton like a physical weight. Flexing her hands, Alana channeled more energy through herself, generating more interference. But suddenly, she feared her prediction had been optimistic.
As Dozer raised his weapon to meet the lead rider, a wave of crimson energy blasted outward from the formation. Like a knife in the dark, Helen spun between the two lead riders and turned into a barely visible blur as she dashed forward. Within a second, a spear shot forward toward Dozer. Yet speed at this level wasn’t enough.
Alana’s eyes flashed and she rushed forward, interposing herself between the two. After waiting for so long, she felt a thrill at the impending violence. Finally, time to go wild.
Dozer’s calm eyes measured Helen’s attack and then Alana’s intervention, before finally taking no action toward them. He raised his club higher, preparing to smash the first wave of riders to a pulp as though the two women weren’t about to clash only a meter in front of him.
Even as Alana felt Helen’s spear trajectory in response to her presence, Alana snorted coldly. Alana was not one who often used fancy moves, but in terms of basics, no one in Donnyton had performed the reliable Skills as much as she had; this sort of improvisation would not fly.
Around them, the two forces remained in tense silence as they careened toward each other. Only the crash and boom of projectiles and the tapping of the mount’s feet broke the silence. It seemed that no one seemed to breathe.
With a quick move, Alana cut off Helen’s attack. Yet Alana immediately felt Helen notice her adjustment and then spin out of the way, relying on the power of her Domain to quicken the move to the point that Alana couldn’t follow it. Once more, the woman became a blur.
It seemed that up close, the image was even more difficult to resist. Helen’s crimson waves were crashing against the orange, dust-filled winds that Alana created. The density was quickly increasing, displacing Alana’s interference. But it did seem like that then magnified the effect on Randidly’s tree.
For a split second, that blur seemed about to shoot past her and crash into Dozer’s line. But then Alana simply sidestepped and slammed her shoulder into Helen, sending the other woman stumbling.
“I’m your opponent,” Alana said coldly, all of the frustration she felt over this assignment focusing toward this talented young woman that had appeared with Randidly when he returned. It was due to her presence that she was stuck with this shit assignment. As she raised her spear, Alana reflected that the best she could do was finish this immediately.
Then, in the next moment, everything was drowned out in the crash of metal as Dozer’s compatriots and the riders smashed into each other. Axes and lances blurred toward each other in an elaborate dance. The taps of the mount's legs accelerated into a staccato beat as they adjusted for the collision.
Then the two lines hit each other, both sides striking out to wound and main. Unfortunately for Alana, she didn’t allow herself to look up at the surrounding battle. Her focus was on only one foe.
As Alana took several steps forward to cut off Helen’s path of retreat, she was surprised to hear Dozer grunt in pain behind her. Despite her earlier focus, she paused. Then she once more heard the rapid taps coming from the mounts, followed by several loan moans and grunts of pain.
Looking over her shoulder, Alana witnessed the strange mounts of these riders twisting expertly out of the way of Dozer’s blow, then scuttle forward in the small gap created while thrusting a spear into Dozer’s shoulder. Around him, Dozer’s companions suffered similarly, with the mounts sometimes lightly hopping and pressing themselves off a neighbors weapon to obtain a better angle.
The whole thing was so quick and natural that it was mind-boggling. It was only as the second line of Donnyton’s forces hurried forward that they were able to slow and surround the riders. Without the benefit of their preternatural flexibility, their flawless defense began to weaken.
Alana’s eyes narrowed. Not the brute force types then. Agility-based riders. Dangerous, but not impossible to handle.
“Absolute Zero!” Immediately, Clarissa moved forward and blasted the area with a wave of cold that afflicted both the riders and Dozer’s crew alike. However, while the humans simply shrugged off the powerful restrictive effect, the riders seemed physically slowed to the point that the surrounding elites could wound them.
Very quickly, individuals from Alana’s and Donny’s Raid Squads worked together and inflicted several small blows on the legs of the mount, eliciting high pitched screams. It also seemed that these beings were relatively fragile. Alana confidently turned her attention back to Helen and thrust forward with the spear. At this rate-
Randidly’s voice sent chills down Alana’s spine.