Chapter 1225: Ending the Swarm
Chapter 1225: Ending the Swarm
Red Rage and Elita swirled into the sky with the grace of unusual romance while their enemies and their ally watched with no small amount of surprise and puzzlement.
In Elita's last fight on Aigas, she had taken well to Red Rage whom she had battled a particularly foul undead minion with. Of course, this was before she had used her guidance field and found out that he wasn't a powerful, humble Knight as she had thought, on top of learning his name.
But that didn't change her positive attitude towards the Apostle.
A few moments later, the many enemies started to twitch and regain their ability to move. Their eyes were filled with malice and their bodies were livid with unique powers that didn't drain any source of energy.
The instant they were released, they would pounce.
Red Rage turned to them and then said to Elita:
"I can compel crowds of enemies to do as I please for a few moments as long as they are all – as a collective - weaker than my master. This effect only lasts for a few seconds, however. I'm afraid I will be swarmed by enemies rather soon. Shall I stow you away somewhere safe before everything begins? You have already done much for Master Skullius. I can handle the rest." Elita was plagued by the thought that she had let Boron escape when he was severely weakened along with the complement frustration that came with having Broodweiler as a weapon. Both of these were reasons to be sour, but she couldn't help but chuckle at Red Rage's words.
To think a mere summon could be so chivalrous.
"It's alright. I can fight. Now that I'm back on Aigas, this is my battle as well," she said. "I would require your support though. Our enemies seem very happy fighting in the air."
"As you wish," Red Rage said.
Right then, the Carven recovered their ability to move and blasted towards the two at breakneck speeds, preparing to use their abilities or already activating them.
Ashema hung back, however.
He squinted his lone capable eye.
There were now three enemies who had vast powers.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
He had seen Replicus fight, and his combination with Skullius was extremely lethal.
He had seen Red Rage draw away the great dragon Jiggorrhax.
As for Elita, the threat she posed (while he didn't understand it with nuance) was clear. 'These are all sacrifices,' Ashema thought while looking at his kin. 'They already served their purpose. Lord Boron has escaped. I shouldn't risk staying here and potentially getting slain like the rest. I would rather stay alive and claim my reward from Lord Boron for saving him. Yes! He should remember my part and gift me something worth while.'
And indeed, if Ashema hadn't stopped Elita earlier, Boron might have perished altogether, as Suzamete had hoped. Boron would not soon forget that and truly would reward Ashema immensely.
Thus, with a keen look below, at Skullius, Ashema grinned and sped away.
Meanwhile, his kin reached Red Rage and Elita. Some of the stronger Cavern immediately rushed to use their abilities.
A particularly large one with a matted, maroon armour turned into a lengthy, dark string that sprang forth speedily and reached Elita's face in a blink. This string then bulged and inflated into the form of the Carven and he revealed a cruel set of pointed teeth to bite into Elita's flesh.
But before he knew it, Elita was gone.
She had been tossed upward by Red Rage so quickly that it seemed as though that she had turned into thin air all of a sudden.
The Carven then found a profound, glowing hand gripping his neck tight. Most of his bodily faculties ceased at once, and he wheezed.
"For the crime of sexual harassment to an ordained lady, I confiscate your powers!" Red Rage said to the Carven... and it was so.
He snapped the creature's neck, and then his gleaming form became an elongated, golden string that coursed towards another Carven and inflated, forming the full figure of the Apostle. Red Rage then decked the Carven in the face with a punch, and the poor creature's body disintegrated from the Apostle's raw physical strength which far exceeded the Carven's durability.
And again, Red Rage turned into a quick-moving golden string and crushed another Cavern and another and a hundred more in but a few moments.
As he did so, Elita, whom he had flung upward continued to be suffused in the light of her Divine Blessing, Peerless Spirit.
The Blessing reinforced her strength threefold, granted her immunity against most foul sources of contamination and could heal those bathed by the light she produced!
A fat-bellied Carven with tiny wings on its back raced towards Elita while stepping on the flying bodies of its kind and pointed both its palms in her direction!
A set of large, dark hands that looked as though they were made of oil immediately grabbed Elita and held her tight.
She frowned.
'This feels just like when I fought that undead creature back then. It had traces of Boron's energy,' she thought.
(A/N: Refer to Ch.124.)
But things were different now. She wouldn't be weakened or defeated because of this, as she had almost been back then, if it hadn't been for Red Rage and Skullius.
Elita's Blessing responded in kind to her resolve and the golden flash of light around her erupted with explosive oomph!
The hands that had been clutching her tight were dispelled and the enemies that had been approaching her, viewing her as a free lunch, were shocked.
Elita's pure hazel eyes attained a freaky glow and her dark, curly hair flew in every direction. She cast away the large, dark cloak she had been wearing, revealing the sleeveless, high neck black shirt underneath. Her slightly muscular, scarred arms were exposed, and with them, she grabbed two Cavern, bashed them together such that they died instantly, used their bodies as footing and then went on a complete rampage.
Every Cavern she gave a direct punch or elbow was crushed into a pitiful mess or disintegrated altogether. Before a second could pass, tens of Cavern were obliterated, and her pace was only
increasing.
Elita's physical body had been tempered through means that didn't involve Stages, or Skills or Mana while she was gone. Thus, her bare, raw physical prowess was extremely formidable despite her progress by Aigas' terms being no different than it was when she left.
Replicus watched the slaughter fest from the ground.
Every now and then, he had Skullius send out a few slashes, but soon, he stopped trying.
Red Rage and Elita didn't seem to need the help and quite frankly, Skullius' body was hard to control using the Stark Constellation.
The brand allowed Replicus full control over whoever was branded with it if necessary. Over the last two months, he had familiarised himself with this feature by using it on his closest
subordinates.
But on Skullius, it was difficult to use, especially when trying to access the Hybrid Luman's powers. This was because all of his skills were imbued into the Stolen Angel. To access them, Replicus had to first access the mobile Attegoth through Skullius, but that connection was brittle at best. It was like trying to grab a hold of something too far to even see.
Replicus could have simply freed the Stolen Angel and had it join the battle in the sky, supporting his allies, but he wasn't so sure that was a good idea.
Currently, the Angel was stuck in a spell he had casted on it, [Cold Time]. He could release it, but a creeping doubt (from one of his phantoms) speculated that this might lead to a plethora of problems. The Stolen Angel was Skullius and while Replicus currently had the Hybrid Luman under control, he didn't know if that extended to the psyche of the Angel. It was best not to test that right now, lest he create an enemy for himself while he was weak.
Replicus looked up at the dwindling enemies and Elita.
'After this, we have a lot to think and talk about,' he thought. He too was disappointed that Boron managed to escape, but the Deity hadn't been someone Replicus had had too many
thoughts towards to begin with.
Now, however, he had many things to wonder.
The Progeny had just sighed in exasperation when...
"LAS AGGRANTE!"
A loud, feminine voice suddenly rent the air, and after it came a great, groaning beam of
bluish white light from the east, casting a glaring highlight in the sky!
The beam aimed for the tens of thousands of Cavern, but instead of blasting them apart (as it looked capable of doing) it fazed through them as it passed, coursing upward!
In a blink, its light vanished, but then...
All the Cavern - large and small, powerful and weak - that had been pierced by the light
suddenly turned pale and withered. Their eyes were glazed over and their flesh was suddenly
sunken and atrophied.
All of them started falling out of the sky like rain, dropping into the great crater below.
Elita and Red Rage were astonished.
What in the world....?
Only a quarter of the enemies remained now, and even they, upon seeing what became of their
kin were reluctant to continue fighting. How could they?
Who had attacked just now?
Before the lot even conceived of the idea to run away or do something bravely stupid, the
nearly twenty thousand remaining Carven... were killed.
Their heads were twisted at odd angles, or divorced from their bodies.
Their bodies were either cleaved in four or smashed through the chest.
In any case, they were left with frightening traumas over their forms, evidence of their
passing.
But how could this be?
Elita and Red Rage barely had time to even see that the remaining enemies had been
vanquished before they suddenly found themselves on the ground next to Replicus.
They both found that someone was touching their shoulders, however: a woman with very long lime green hair and a pretty, dark armour decorated with stars.