Chapter 944 (1/2)

Alana, how much longer? Mrs. Hamilton asked through party chat.

...hard to say. Soon. But as you expected, she’s trouble.

Now that they were forced to reveal Decklan so early, they couldn’t afford to keep allowing Randidly to pick them off one by one. It was time to drag this monster down while they still had spare manpower. Don’t hold back. Even if one of you gets injured, we are going to need you to keep him still long enough for Beryl to use the Skill.

Got it. Came Alana’s bland reply.

Mrs. Hamilton clicked her tongue. The fact that the woman replied at all in the middle of the fight was a testament to how annoyed she was. Although Mrs. Hamilton fully understood that frustration, it didn’t matter right now. They needed to get rid of Helen before they could corner Randidly.

Decklan spun his dagger expertly. “I must say, I had to stay almost five miles away before Mrs. Hamilton was satisfied. She was worried you’d be able to sense me from any closer than that. So I haven’t seen these images of yours in person, I’ve only heard about them. But now that I’m here… are they really that powerful?”

Randidly didn’t reply. Although the gash on his arm was deep, she felt a sinking feeling in her chest. She had wanted that blow to be debilitating, not just cut away a chunk of Randidly’s Health.

His expression remained inscrutable as he studied Decklan. His emerald eyes seemed to glow, and Mrs. Hamilton suspected that he was directly viewing the recipient’s Skills somehow. It wasn’t infallible, based on Randidly’s continued intense stare at Donny, but it would still give him an idea what to expect with Decklan.

Besides, Decklan’s first strike would undoubtedly be the most damaging. Without the element of surprise, it would be much harder to bleed Randidly once more. The Shadow Teleportation that Decklan had used to move immediately to Mrs. Hamilton’s side had an extremely long cooldown, or else this part of the fight would have been much easier.

If she hadn’t believed it was necessary, Mrs. Hamilton would have preferred not to use Decklan. Both because the fact he wasn’t listed as one of the participants or standing on the arena at the beginning of the match was extremely misleading and because of the strange darkness Decklan had carried since Tera had died.

Meeting Randidly had done some good to even him out, but it was clear that Decklan was not in a healthy mental state. Yet they couldn’t afford to lose here. This was the strength of Donnyton. If Randidly wanted to call them weak, he needed to do that after enduring everything they could throw at him.

If he wanted to complain or call her a liar, he could do it after the match was decided.

“So, let’s-” Decklan began, but Mrs. Hamilton cut him off. With the most recent round of casualties, their numbers had fallen to barely twenty. They simply didn’t have time for any of this.

“Less talking, more attacking,” Mrs. Hamilton ordered. “You know his Regeneration- if you wait too long he will simply heal all that damage back. Move, everyone. Glendel? Stop being cute.”

“Got it,” Came Glendel’s short reply. Rather than continuing to charge, his two-headed bear pulled up short. As it stood to its full height of seven meters, it opened its mouth and gathered dozens of glowing motes of light. Very soon, those bits of light had condensed into an egg that blasted out a beam of concentrated energy.

Even seeing that attack, Mrs. Hamilton felt a hint of loss in her chest. That beam was the reason it had been so dangerous. To that beam, two of Donnyton’s finest had died.

Before the bear had even begun to gather energy for its blast, Randidly began to move. But Mrs. Hamilton had prepared for that. Her steel wires tightened around him like a garrote, aiming to cut into his flesh. Further, Annie used two more of her precious Slaughter arrows, pinning Randidly down.

In order to make double sure he stayed in place, Sam had retrieved his precious hammer and pointed it at Randidly. A blast of concentrated cold short forward, frosting the ground with its passage.

Yet Randidly cut wildly, severing most of Mrs. Hamilton’s wires. Those few he missed were caught by the damned roots. Mrs. Hamilton tightened the wires, but the roots were remarkably resilient. It bought Randidly more than enough time to turn toward the blast unleashed by Sam’s hammer.

In the face of the cold, that terrible monster above Randidly howled. His body rippled and the cold just… passed through him. Without blinking, Randidly turned to face the beam unleashed at him by the two-headed bears. Randidly’s living spear cut forward to smashed the beam.

For a second, her breath caught in Mrs. Hamilton’s chest. He’s going to face it directly?!? Then there was a flash of light and a shockwave smashed Mrs. Hamilton in the chest, Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to stay on her feet and continually monitored Randidly. They couldn’t afford for him to escape encirclement. Luckily, Decklan had used that moment to move closer and struck at Randidly’s back.

“Did you think I wouldn’t take this chance?” Decklan’s bitter comment cut through the smoke and dust.

“I was banking on it,” Randidly replied, his voice completely calm despite tanking the attack that had killed two people while the two-headed bear was alive.