Hiss!
Killer the wild mountain cat hissed at Eren once again when it was practically bombarded with lightning shards. Even if the shards were less effective against his mana body, Eren's strategy of spamming his spell to make up for it had eventually worked.
"Aargh!"
Killer screamed in pain like a half beast and half human. He created distance from Eren once again and licked the wound before commenting.
"Master, your attempt at maintaining a distance from the target isn't going to work. You need to attack him too. Only our combined attacks can take care of THAT."
Killer stood on his two legs just like a mountain cat would and pointed at the swarm of lightning shards hovering around Eren. It had been some minutes since Killer had made his debut in the duel. And yet he had failed to register a kill. The mountain cat had taken that very seriously.
"Don't try to lecture me. Do what you are told to do. You anyway have a mana body that can be generated over and over again as long as I am here.
Just ignore all your pain and attack him as hard as you can. What is there to think about?"
Roger appeared once again a few meters away from Killer and Eren, this time in a different direction, and said. It wasn't like he hadn't tried to approach Eren. But he could see that the guy had become insane by using his Blitz Shard spell in the manner he was using it. The swarm of shards had created typhoon-like protection around him that was constantly spinning.
Unlike Killer, Rog had a normal body. He would have to deal with the aftermath the most if their attack fails and Eren gets the chance to launch a counterattack with those shards.
"Hm? Wait a minute. Why haven't you run out of mana yet? I haven't seen…"
Rog started looking carefully at Eren before finding out what he was looking for.
"A potion consumption tattoo. Not bad. But how long…"
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Eren fired at Rog once again before he could finish his obvious remarks. The latter started to feel some rage build up inside his chest as he saw those arrows flying toward him.
Rog gritted his teeth and dodged all the arrows with his movement spell. He could neither approach him. Nor could he pair up with his spirit beast without burning his hands in the process.
Rog recovered another mana recovery potion from his storage and emptied it into his mouth. He had decided to play the long game. Eren's mana expenditure to tackle both him and Killer was huge. He was sure that Eren would run out of mana soon with the way things were progressing.
2 minutes.
5 minutes.
10 minutes.
20 minutes.
Rog was baffled when Eren stayed on top of his game even with all the reckless mana consumption. He refused to believe that the potions in his tattoo were all he needed to pull this off.
"You… Do you have some kind of hidden artifact? How are you able to still cast spells?"
Eren smiled before a thought rippled in his mind.
"Real knowledge is to know the extent of your ignorance. By this logic, you are becoming smarter, Rog. if Rog is indeed your real name."
Eren replied before casting more Blitz Shards. He watched in surprise as Eren kept on spamming his spells to create two hands made of lightning shards.
Eren made a grabbing motion towards a faint shadow that was trying to run around him circularly, trying to find the appropriate angle to approach and attack him. By this point, Killer body's mana body was in a poor state.
Rog himself was running out of mana. He couldn't sustain replenishing Killer's mana expenditure with his limited mana storage. As a result, Killer didn't have the mana needed to regenerate his body even though he could technically do so.
"Hiss! Aargh! Master…"
The wild mountain cat cried in agony as it was suddenly grabbed by another hand made out of lightning shards. He had dodged the first hand just fine but Eren had used it as a diversion to catch the agile beast. This was thanks to his creative use of the seemingly mediocre spell.
Eren didn't care about the spirit beast's screams. With his giant hands, he lifted Killer's mana body and crushed it in his palms. The wild mountain cat's mana body was destroyed as a result. Killer's soul returned to his master's body when that happened.
Eren hadn't approached the assassin on his own because he knew that the latter could be a troublesome opponent once he got into a close combat fight with him. His mist element spell was too troublesome. It had made his attacks elusive and difficult to track with his mana sense.
So he decided to opt for the battle of protraction, knowing full well that Rog would go for the same option as well after seeing his mana expenditure. An assassin won't make daring moves unless he was either sure about his kill or he didn't have any other choice.
As long as the illusion of choice was in front of Rog, he would always choose the illusion over any daring stunt. Killer's decision of going all out against Eren was therefore ignored by Rog.
Rog couldn't cast his spirit beast spell anymore. He simply didn't have enough mana to cast a new mana body for his spirit beast to occupy. He had started to regret not listening to Killer when he had the chance. He could now see there was more than meets the eye when it came to Eren.
After another 5 minutes.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Two of the three arrows Eren had sent towards Rog had found their mark. Eren wasn't a skilled shooter. But he was consistent in improving his aim. He had finally been rewarded for his consistency and patience.
"Aaaargh!"
Rog's right thigh and left arm were pierced by lightning arrows. Eren's mana also infiltrated Rog's body. Rog had a better movement spell than Eren. Yet, he couldn't deal with the fatigue that had set in after all that running while Eren just stood there shooting arrows at him.
Eren didn't want Rog to deal with the pain. He was injured so it was the right time for him to approach him.
Bzzt. Swoosh. Chop.