Chapter 939 (2/2)

“Did you all truly forget about me?”

The ground began to rumble, then hundreds of razor-sharp roots pierced upward out of the ground and into the legs of the individuals that were attempting to slow down the riders. Quick as a flash, Ptolemy was among them, rapidly healing the damage done. But as quick as Ptolemy was there, the riders were quicker.

With impossibly light leaps, they bypassed the encirclement and began to dash rapidly forward toward the backlines of Donnyton’s forces.

Helen regarded Alana warily, spinning her spear. “I’ll fight you later. Right now, Dozer-”

Once she falls, I can finally fight him. Alana blurred forward, unleashing three quick thrusts toward Helen. Grimacing, Helen could only scramble backward, allowing the attacks to rip deep gashes in her Domain. It wasn’t just her spear that Alana struck with either; the more she used it, the more familiar she became with the strange energy she was capable of generating by vibrating her Class.

Very quickly, it was easy to see how much power she could generate by relying on this extremely primitive version of an image. Although those gashes healed quickly, Alana was rapidly learning how to use those gashes to herd Helen back toward Randidly. As long as she forced the two images close together, they would rapidly be forced to reveal some real potential to break out of Donnyton’s trap.

And if Alana could finish Helen off quickly enough, then Randidly-

More screams erupted behind her as another wave of roots ripped upward. Alana leaned backward, allowing one vicious specimen to leave a small gash on the inside of her thigh and then pass right in front of her face. She directed that orange energy downward, and she stomped her feet.

Immediately, the surrounding ground was filled with that energy, destroying Randidly’s Skill, at least temporarily. But although she was able to withstand the Skill, the other Donnyton elites were also being harried by the riders; they weren’t able to cope at all.

“I suppose we will have to be your opponent,” Mrs. Hamilton said lightly as she, Donny, and Sam leaped over Helen and Alana to rush toward Randidly and the towering tree. Without taking her eyes off the foe in front of her, Alana forcefully created more energy and sent it in a wave toward Randidly, hoping to give those three some cover.

No such luck. Only five meters away from Alana, that energy dissipated into nothing. Grinding her teeth, Alana unleashed three more simple attacks, pushing Helen further and further backward.

If she couldn’t affect him from here, she would just shove Helen backward into his chest.

“The wounds I leave on those Classers you brought here won’t be easy to heal. Are you sure you can afford to leave them alone with my Riders?” Randidly said wonderingly. The pale grey Crown above his head pulsed with power. Behind her, Alana could sense that Kayle, Paolo, and the Cortez siblings had interposed themselves between the riders and the half dozen mages.

Instead of charging, the riders wheeled around and began to return to the individuals from Alana and’s Donny’s Raid Squad. The roots that the wounded had been somehow managing with Ptolemy assistance abruptly doubled in number, now switching from attacking to simply entangling the limbs of the warriors of Donnyton. Like heavy chains, they dragged them down, making them helpless before the riders’ charge.

Cursing, Ptolemy removed two short swords from his ring and began to desperately cut his allies free, but from Alana’s peripheral observation, it was clear he wouldn’t make it in time.

Annie’s voice cut through the air. “Dozer!”

“Hop up.”

With an enviable sort of combination, Annie jumped toward Dozer, who extended his weapon caught her with the tip of his club. He then flung her impossibly high into the air, like a baseball player hitting a grand slam above the scoreboard. Instantly, glowing white arrows began to rain down toward Randidly.

But as Dozer then charged to intercept the dangerous riders who were about to reach the bound Donnyton elite, Glendel stepped forward and raised both his arms. “Descend.”

There was a shuddering rumble and suddenly the area between the group fighting Randidly and the group fighting the riders was filled with a towering mass of flesh with spectral tentacles. Ooze slowly spread outward from the central body. The hovering text above it revealed it was Level 66, and its strikes smashed downward toward the riders with clear antagonism.

With that same impossible grace, they wove their way between them, inflicting small wounds on the tentacles as they hurried toward their prey that was struggling to free themselves from the roots.

Not my battle, Alana struggled to remind herself. Her focus returned once more to her own opponent. Yet even as Alana continued inflicted small wounds on Helen, around them the battle continued to escalate. The glowing arrows that Annie shot down at Randidly crashed into the ground like comets, yet Randidly casually smashed them out of the air with his spear.

Donny’s body was suffused with a golden light as he charged toward Randidly, while Sam hefted a vivid blue hammer the size of a cinder block. The strange spectral monstrosity raised all of its tentacles to smash downward in a second wave toward the riders, but then it screamed in absolute agony as almost one hundred roots ripped upward through its body.

The plants were covered in strange, spectral goo and wiggled like gleeful maggots, their thorned sides ripping deep gashes in the spectral monsters. Very soon, it shivered and collapsed, disappearing only five seconds after Glendel had summoned it. It also seemed that its disappearance hurt Glendel as well because he coughed and took several steps backward with a pale face.

The riders arrived at the still bound group around Ptolemy at the same time that Dozer did. It seemed that even if its life was in vain, the Level 66 monster had been able to buy some time. In that second, Dozer’s club was like a tornado, smashing out left and right. The riders were immediately forced to scatter.

This is the battle we are in, where a Level 66 monster is barely able to stop him for a second. Alana thought. So why am I…!

With three sharp strikes, Alana pressed Helen several steps backward. Then, as the other woman attempted to dodge around her, Alana slammed her with pure force and knocked her back several meters to the side.

Such was the distance she had pushed her that they now neared the edge of the area. Alana rapidly advanced forward, releasing thrust after thrust. The other woman’s desperation was clear in her eyes; if she retreated another step, she would be forced off the arena and to the lowered ground. At that point, she would have no chance.

Likely, Helen would have honor enough to stay irrelevant afterward. Because Alana had forcefully suppressed her, without using Skills, while generating enough to weaken Randidly’s image in the area.

Alana’s eyes glowed dangerously as she considered Helen. You don’t belong here. Stop holding me back.