Chapter 945 (1/2)

Alana’s forehead creased with a frown. If it were really that simple to subdue Helen, we would have beaten her already… Ultimately, I misjudged her; she is not a berserker. She’s an endurance fighter.

Although at every turn Helen chose to clash head-on, she excelled at making use of the collision to steal momentum and slip out of their encirclement. Very quickly, Alana realized that Helen could use their own attacks against them. Pinning her down was almost impossible; hearing that reminder of her role from Mrs. Hamilton rankled.

But Alana accepted the necessity and moved smartly toward the elusive Helen. The blood red currents around Alana sought to bind her, but a brief explosion of her own image was enough to shove those currents away. Over the course of the fight, Alana had grown much more familiar with utilizing her mental energy in this way. It was clear why Randidly was pushing them toward this; it was undoubtedly powerful.

Even still… her improvement left Alana bitter. A small consolation prize for those who lost Randidly Ghosthound.

Unleashing three quick thrusts, Alana attempted to force Helen backward toward the Cortez siblings. Unfortunately, the other woman moved like a ghost along the unpredictable lines of the currents, avoiding all of the strikes. Both Isabella’s Shield Bash and Pan’s Unerring Thrust met only air.

Growling, Dozer swung his club from the side to cut off Helen’s path of retreat. Instantly, the crimson currents spiraled downward to condense on his limbs.

Of them all, Dozer was the one with the most difficulty handling the currents. Perhaps due to his physical size, he was pushed and pulled in multiple directions constantly, unable to exercise his complete strength. Rather than an asset, Dozer had become a liability; he simply gave Helen too much cover when she escaped behind him.

“Don’t conserve anything,” Alana said shortly. “We are finishing her now.”

Hissing, Helen lashed out at Alana, but Alana didn’t even blink. She cut downward, aiming to inflict a blow even as Helen would hit her. At this point, such a trade would be ideal. Of course, Isabella quickly inserted herself between the two women, protecting Alana.

Helen was forced to spin away, even as Dozer’s eyes took on the red hue of his berserk Skill. For the next five minutes, he would display physical stats that would make even Alana careful about challenging him to a direct fight.

With a roar, he stepped forward and forcefully ripped his way through the surrounding currents. As they were ripped in half, the Domain around them swirled without any direction. The small shackles around Alana disperse quickly In that opening, Pan appeared in a flash and thrust his rapier at Helen.

Her parry was decisive, quickly overpowering him. But before she could follow up on the strike, Alana blasted Helen in the side with a wave of fire. It wouldn’t wound her seriously, but the small strikes would begin to add up, despite how difficult to catch Helen was.

Besides, even if we haven’t finished her yet, she’s failed. Alana’s gaze flicked to the side, where Clarissa was performing some elaborate ritual. Circles of Mana appeared around her in a tight cluster, connecting her with the three other mages that stood with closed eyes around her. For now, this will need to be enough, Mrs. Hamilton. Those four certainly been dutiful about chugging Mana potions…

Then Alana’s sharp gaze turned back to Helen. But back to business.

The light coming from Clarissa’s ritual slowly grew. Around the arena, a low wind began to pull at the edges of their clothes.

*****

Randidly gritted his teeth and paused in his frantic battle, scanning around.

On the ground in front of him, the two-headed bear moaned piteously. Inwardly, Randidly wondered what sort of existence it truly was. It appeared to experience pain, even though its soul had been subdued by Glendel. Did that mean it could it experience other emotions? Could it grow?

Paolo and Kayle had backed off for the moment, while Donny supported by Mrs. Hamilton and Annie were continuing to harass him. But that bear’s beam attack needed to be stopped. Although Randidly could endure it, it forced him to set his feet and meet it each time. During the second and third attack that the bear had unleashed, Randidly had earned a deep wound on his right thigh and left calf. Mrs. Hamilton and Annie hadn’t missed a chance to pincer him between their attacks while he was defending the long-range strike.

Which meant that the small wounds on his body were slowly adding up. His Health had decreased by almost a third, and his Stamina by half. Even the enthusiastic Sulfur was starting to grow timid under the constant concentrated fire. Even if Randidly blocked, the reverberations from attacks were starting to get to him.

But Donnyton was running out of Attributes and bodies to throw at him. If he continued to thin out the nameless mobs that could endure his attacks and distract him-

Then Randidly looked sharply upward. Sighing, Randidly took the time to crack his neck. Above, the familiar swirl of black clouds was beginning to gather. It seemed that Helen had been pinned down enough that Clarissa could cast the spell.

Although Helen was my first countermeasure... don’t you think standing there without moving is rather foolish?

Infinite Fingers of Yggdrasil surged upward and encountered strong resistance, quickly revealing to Randidly that the surrounding ground had been empowered by the earth mage. But that just made Randidly grin. Although it cost him more Mana to rip up through this, stopping this annoying wind Skill was more than worth it to him.