While Gabriel occupied two hero ranked enemies on the western flank, Sophie and Scarlet were facing a gravity type hero rank, a level advantage holder whose combat style relied on overwhelming force rather than magic attacks or close range melee. From the moment the engagement began, the two women were easily able to see this weakness.
The air itself rippled with crushing force, enough to buckle lesser warriors. Sophie’s knees trembled under the weight, however Scarlet fared far better. After all, she was not only a hero rank but had endured worse during training.
This gravity user might have raw power, but his stat distribution and combat approach were one dimensional, whereas the two women before him possessed balanced attributes and real battle experience.
The enemy stood a short distance away with one hand raised, eyes glowing a dull silver as he intensified the gravity. Each twitch of his fingers magnified the pressure.
"He needs to stay focused to activate his skill," Scarlet said emotionlessly as she stepped forward, her grip tightening around her slim and elegant blade. "I need you to disrupt it."
"Leave it to me." The veiled beauty nodded. Sophie’s mana reserves were already low from constant fighting and stopping the convoy of tanks, but there was still a little left.
Without hesitation, she channeled mana into the earth beneath the gravity user. With a sharp thrust of her arms, thick green vines wreathed in flames burst from the cracked ground. They surged around the enemy’s legs and waist, lashing like iron cables. The sudden bind made the gravity mage snarl in surprise. His concentration wavered, and the oppressive force weighing on the two women lessened by a fraction.
"Now!" Sophie shouted in a strained voice, her face twisting in effort as she held the vines in place.
Scarlet seized the opening instantly. She exploded forward in a blur, activating a movement type skill that sliced through the gravity field.
In a heartbeat, she closed the gap, her gold ranked sword whistling through the air in a lethal arc aimed directly at the man’s neck.
CLANG!
Instead of cutting through flesh, her blade struck an invisible barrier inches from its target, sparks spraying outward.
The gravity user had thrown up a desperate gravitational shield at the last instant. The impact rattled Scarlet’s arms, but she had expected as much. A hero rank of his level would always have an emergency defense.
But it did not matter. The shield was hastily formed, which meant it was not sturdy enough. The man bared his teeth in effort, pouring mana into the shimmering forcefield as he struggled to hold Scarlet’s blade back.
"Damn pest!" he roared as he flung out his free hand and released a concussive gravity wave.
BOOM!
The repulsive force caught Scarlet mid strike and hurled her backward. She skidded across the ground, digging her heels in to stay upright. Sophie’s restraining vines were slammed flat against the earth, torn away as the gravity user broke free.
With an annoyed and furious expression, he waved his hand and unleashed a second wave of gravity, far stronger than the previous one, as if trying to crush everything nearby.
Crack! Crack!
The ground fractured violently, stone splintering outward as the surrounding terrain buckled under the intensified pressure.
Sophie staggered as the weight redoubled. She nearly dropped to one knee, the crushing force bearing down on her entire body. The ground beneath her cracked further as if gravity itself had multiplied many times over.
This was the gravity user’s full power.
"You two would only slow me down from reaching our main target," the hero rank said coldly. "So let’s make this quick."
Pain lanced through Sophie’s ribs as she fell to one knee, her vision blurring. Her face grew pale beneath her veil, and a thin trail of blood slipped from the corner of her mouth.
"Weak... I can’t afford to look weak," Sophie thought as she dug her fingers into the shattered ground. "He’s watching. This is the time to show him how capable I am."
Long ago, Sophie had realized that if she wanted Gabriel to be interested in her, she needed to show more than beauty. She needed to prove that she was capable, someone who could fight on the battlefield side by side with him.
She needed to show that she could stand with him and help rule Broken Dawn.
Gritting her teeth, eyes blazing with determination, Sophie slammed a hand against the ground. A dense wall of brambles erupted in front of her, thorny vines twisting together into a barrier that absorbed the brunt of the crushing force. It shattered almost immediately, wood fibers snapping under the immense pressure, but it bought her a brief moment of relief.
She threw herself into a sideways roll, escaping the center of the gravity field. An instant later, the spot she had occupied collapsed into a shallow crater.
Sophie breathed heavily. If not for her quick thinking and enhanced reflexes, she would have been flattened.
Meanwhile, Scarlet had already regained her footing a short distance away. The moment the bramble wall diverted the gravity user’s attention and split his focus, Scarlet moved again.
The vice guild leader sprinted around the shattered brambles, then launched herself into the air with explosive force.
Sensing her approach, the gravity user snarled internally and abruptly inverted his field in an attempt to repel her, a clever maneuver that would have sent an ordinary attacker flying helplessly upward.
Scarlet felt the sudden lift as gravity reversed beneath her, but her honed reflexes and aerial control turned the obstacle into an advantage.
Instead of resisting the force, she allowed it to propel her higher, twisting her body mid air. In a smooth, controlled flip, Scarlet slipped through a weak point above the field and vaulted cleanly over the enemy’s head
The gravity reversal faltered. Maintaining such complex manipulation while injured and enraged was beyond him.
Scarlet descended behind the gravity user with lethal intent. She dropped fast, her blade already angled for a finishing strike.
The enemy realized too late that she had completely evaded his defenses, his eyes widening and threatening to pop out of their sockets.
"Fuck!"
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