Elliot looked at Biankka with determination in his eyes. If he kills her, he'd gain a Red The Creator's Greed Skill and complete two quests.
The weight this woman has for his advantage is something that's incomparable to his previous enemies. He needed to kill Biankka.
And he can't wait to kill her.
"So, let me get this straight," Connor said, slowly shifting to his Infernal form. "This woman wants power so she killed her best friend, stole her husband, and now she's planning to kill their child which incidentally is also her godson?"
"Basically," Elliot grimaced. "She's disgusting."
"True," Connor said. He closed his eyes, feeling the horns grow from his temples to the back of his head. "I really like morphing."
Connor lunged forward, thrusting his staff to the ground. The ground shook and cracked, revealing red flames under it.
"Be wary of your MP, Connor!" Elliot yelled. "Remember, use too much of it and it will take your HP!"
"Yeah, nice yelling my secret out for everyone to hear, Elliot," Connor retorted. "But I gained something from studying this form."
"Infernal Roots."
The flames from underground started to encircle around the staff that was pierced through the ground. Connor pointed the tip of his sword to the staff's Weapon Gem. The flames traveled to the gem and into his sword, powering it up.
Infernal Roots allows Connor to absorb power from the magma underneath the ground and create another source of magic called, Arcane Points or AP.
[[ Connor ]]
Level 59
HP: 60,000/60,000
MP: 5,000/6,000
AP: 10,000/10,000
'Feature unlocked.'
[ Arcane Points ]
"A new feature," Elliot whispered to himself.
Arcane Points acts like Mana Points but instead of being replenished over time or by potions, AP are recharged by extracting magic from a natural source of the user's affinity. For Connor with flame affinity, he absorbed the magma and flames from the ground for his AP.
Elliot was about to smirk about his new discovery when he realized he didn't have an exact affinity. Now he has to wonder how to extract AP.
Do I have to craft and try to gain Arcane Points?
He was awoken from his thoughts when Biankka fired another deadly scream. She had started to grow snakes from different parts of her body. The snakes would also fire the sonic beam, making it harder for Elliot and his team to get closer.
Connor raised his hands on the side and conjured a large flaming shield in front of him, blocking Biankka's attack. When the attack ended, he compressed the flames and fired it towards the woman.
Biankka once again blocked the flames with her shield made of snakes. This time, a snake fell from the group after being burned.
"She has really high magic resistance," Elliot said. "But her physical defense is average."
"I see," Connor nodded. "It's a good thing we can all wield swords here then."
Lance was the first to blast towards Biankka. He avoided the snakes and the screams effortlessly, dashing through the waves of strong magical energy and in front of the woman. He leaped turned midair, trying to cut Biankka as much as possible.
The snakes around the woman gathered towards Lance's direction. They blocked his swords, sacficicing themselves as they let the strong blades cut them open.
Biankka launched three snakes at Lance. She was trying to catch him and let her snakes maul him as revenge for the death of her snakes.
"Something is wrong with you too," Biankka said. When Lance retreated back to his peers, she levitated and glared at the boys. "Something is definitely wrong with your group. Two Eternals and three who are similar."
Hope and Ed appeared behind her. Her eyes widen and she grit her teeth after the boys killed more of the snakes around her body.
When she wondered how they were able to fly, she saw that there were flames under their foot. She looked at Connor who was smirking at her. Biankka grunted and fired destructive screams at the two, not hesitating to kill them.
"Keep up with me, Hope," Ed chuckled. He raised his sword sideways and placed his other hand behind the blade. A dark purple light started to emerge from the middle of the sword. "Eternal Chaos Ray of Catastrophe."
The light transformed into a beam, firing against Biankka. The force from the attack made her slam down the ground, dust fogging around her after the beam had dissipated.
"Did you kill her?" Connor asked but was answered when a sonic beam shot towards them.
"Hasty Aspire!" Elliot clashed his sword against the attack and cut it in half. "Your reaction time is off."
"S-Sorry," Ed chuckled awkwardly.
The fight against Biankka continued. The victory on the five against one battle was on their side when it started but their fatigue was getting to them. Biankka seemed to hold herself throughout the fight which made the team worry.
Lance panted, holding his knees and tried to breath in air as much as he could. He was the most fatigued of all. He was still somehow in the front lines, dealing damage but at the same time taking them too. Although his friends had significantly got stronger, an enemy in Biankka's calibre was still too much for them.
"I see that you're tired," Biankka said mockingly. "The fight had just began and you're already tired. Even with the Infernal and Etheorian Eternals, you're still below me."
"Why do you keep saying that I'm an Eternal?" Connor couldn't help but ask. "I remember there was a somewhat king in the flaming realm I was at. I was only a normal soldier, so why?"
Biankka laughed hysterically, "A normal soldier?"
"What's so funny, b*tch," Ed crossed his arms. When he felt Lance quirk his brow at him, he instantly dropped his hands. "I-I got that from Luck. Sorry for the swearing."
"You have all that power yet you don't seem to understand how important and powerful that is," Biankka clicked her tongue. "Your full potential can make kingdoms kneel and realms beg for mercy. It's a shame you won't be able to reach that."
Biankka waved her arms and the snakes danced around her. The snakes that coiled her body were spreading around, forming a peacock-like tail behind her.
"Serpent Banshee's Fallen Scream."
The snakes crossed in front of her, staring at where Elliot and his friends stood and opened their mouths. A visible sphere of air started to form at the mouths of the snakes. The sphere got as large as a house before it fired towards the group.
Lance, Ed, and Connor's sword lit up as they dashed forward to block the attack. Their combined strengths were barely able to shield them. It drained a lot of their magic blocking the attack too.
Connor's Infernal form ceased, his knees failing on him as he dropped down the ground. "I ran out of Arcane and Mana points."
"This is bad," Ed said, also dropping to his knees. "The sword is still not fully obeying me. I can't harness its full potential yet."
Lance gulped and slammed his swords through the ground to force himself to stand. "I'm so tired. But this fight isn't over."
"I'm sorry I'm so useless," Hope sighed. "I'm still too far behind."
Elliot ruffled his hair, "Let's hunt beasts in your dragon form after this then. You want to be as big as Kian, right?"
Hope smiled and nodded, "Yes!"
"Then let's finish this woman faster then." Lance retrieved his swords. "I'll eat a lot of steak after."
"Yeah!" His teammates yelled and pushed themselves out of their limits.
"She had been firing screams non-stop at us," Lance started to assess the situation. "The snakes causes her screams to amplify and it had been minutes but she wasn't conjuring more snakes."
Elliot nodded, slowly getting where Lance was. "So you're saying"
"She's out of them," Lance finished. "Now we have to penetrate her defenses by killing as much snake as possible. Here's the plan, Elliot since"
"Serpent Banshee's Endless Rage."
Lance was cut off when Biankka casted her skill. The snakes around her slithered in the air. They all looked at Elliot's team before simultaneously firing their sonic beams at them.
Lance, Connor, Elliot and Hope blocked the screams with their blades. Somehow, the sonic beams from Biankka wasn't as powerful. This made them hope she was getting tired too.
After blocking the attacks, they dashed towards the her and took turns attacking. Of course, Biankka effortlessly shielded their blades with her snakes.
"Supreme Malevolence!" Elliot casted and continued slashing through the shield made of snakes.
"I wonder where Haavok is," Biankka smirked and spun. There, she saw Ed gathering up magic for his attack.
His sword was glowing with a dark purple aura and a sphere started to twirl in front of him. Biankka grinned and pointed her snakes at him without putting down her shield behind her.
"Eternal Chaos Dark Disaster!"
"Pathetic!" Biankka yelled and laughed. Her snakes opened their mouths and started to scream.
"Hasty Aspire!"
In a blink of an eye, her shield was cut in half. All the snakes coiling to provide their master protection dropped dead on the ground. Biankka felt a force incoming but was too late.
A sword had already pierced her chest.
Biankka spat blood as she felt Elliot twist his sword while it was still inside of her. She laughed and coughed, "I see. Now I know what monster hides under the disguise of a boy."
Biankka looked at Ed and smiled, her expression changed from evil to kind in a matter of seconds. "You look just like your father. I-I loved him first."
'Quest [ Save Etheoria ] finished.'
'Quest [ Kill the Snake Woman ] finished.'
'You have gainee [ Serpent Calls ] skill.'