'No!' Almond's mind stirred into action immediately as he used Rift Displacement, replacing the space where Natalia was standing with his as he appeared right in front of Ervagus, who was swinging his blades down.
It consumed more Mana, but he had to do it.
At the same time, he had also used Divine Divider's Might to reduce Ervagus' 1000 strength by half.
The backliners' defense was high since Marcus had activated all field effects and buffs, and Almond could also clash his sword instead of getting attacked.
But in this tense situation, a mishap happened. Maya also used body swap with Almond a little after Almond appeared there, causing both of their bodies to swap positions.
Almond's pupils shrank. He could see Ervagus two meters away instead of just one meter this time, so that didn't change anything. His sword slashed ahead with Sword Bending Motion, his veins popping and his speed blinding as he had stolen Ervagus' Strength stat.
Ervagus, sensing the incoming danger from Almond, changed his attack trajectory midway masterfully and met Almond's sword. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel·fire.net
Both of them instantly shot tens of meters away as Almond overpowered Ervagus.
Their swords clashed swiftly, but Almond was severely lacking in Perception and Focus against Ervagus. Having dual-wielding daggers meant Ervagus dished out more attacks. At the end of the two seconds of high-speed clashes that required Almond's full focus, Ervagus struck right at the slight gap in his armor, at a part of his arm that wasn't covered, and slashed it as his arm flew off.
The Elixir of Skyborne Reflexes already helped him during this, as he saved his neck from flying a second ago.
But during those two seconds of clashes between Almond and Ervagus, everyone had also made their moves.
Sylvia burst out with her full power, not holding back the slightest for Almond as tens of vines burst out of the ground right around Ervagus, binding him.
Black flames flared from Ervagus' body, burning the vines, but before he could escape, Lily's Gloombound Earth Golem arrived in a gloomy brown stream of elemental energy and drowned Ervagus, slowing down his movement speed and action speed.
Since Natalia was safe and sound, she was aiming for Ervagus after Almond replaced her position and instantly shot her Celestial Songstress skill, stunning the Heroic Boss upon seeing that Ervagus was briefly stopped.
With that powerful stun in place, Eliara, Kira, and Noah unleashed their items' effects and attacked, drowning the heroic boss in colorful bursts of powers, during which Almond injected Spirit Syringe into himself and completely healed, his arm regrowing.
Jemma was about to throw the Arcane Storm potion, and Almond's Spirit wraiths were also about to jump after that, but everyone sensed Ervagus vanishing from their Focus Field.
And this time, he didn't appear again so soon as before while the darkness in the hall suddenly increased.
"Drink Mana potions while we have time!"
Ervagus' vitality was down by only 7% even after Kira, Eliara, and Noah emptied their Mana pools, so they hurriedly chugged Mana potions.
Lily was preparing for her attack, so she didn't make a move but also kept her focus in the Focus Field like others to instantly detect if Ervagus appeared behind anyone.
Almond had the highest sensing power because, with the combination of his Focus Field and domain of his Espada Ad Grimveil, nothing could escape him.
'Control-types, get ready. Observe and shoot. Don't shoot all at once. Maya, Nyssara, you're first. Our chance is coming,' Almond's eyes glinted sharply as he was prepared and sent his voice to everyone via Magic Whisper.
'The moment I sense Ervagus's presence, I must slice him into pieces with Absolute Severing paired with Sword Bending Motion for more pieces of his body.'
His Absolute Severing was like a top-tier control-type attack in a way, as it dealt no damage but sliced their body parts' spaces away from each other, severing their connections to each other, but the person with consciousness and mind could still feel their body parts attached while not physically attached, making them disjointed.
Everyone was waiting in anticipation mixed with dread for Ervagus to appear.
And something flickered.
Right behind Maya and Nyssara, Ervagus emerged from the ground like a death reaper, but this time, he was already in attacking motion.
Almond was already in motion, but this time, he would be late!
Nyssara had to make a split-instant decision as she self-destructed herself while creating a crude wall of ice between her and Maya to keep her protected from the explosion. She couldn't do more than that in such a short time.
The burst of the icy explosion that Nysarra did froze Ervagus briefly, and Almond appeared, veins all over his body popping as he roared, his arms swinging at an insane speed.
Sword Bending Motion!
Six slashes! Six pieces of Ervagus!
Maya went stumbling several meters, but others were ready.
Jemma was an ultra reader as she was also waiting for Ervagus to appear and instantly used the Crystal of Arcane Storm.
The burst of storm twenty meters high and ten meters wide formed around Almond and Ervagus.
Galvaren, Ashkar, Benedict, Starlight Beast, and Frank jumped in at the moment, bursting out with their full power and using their highest-ranked skills.
Benedict, who had S-rank in shadow mastery, solely focused on not letting Ervagus escape through the darkness again.
Almond jumped out of the Arcane Storm, stepping into the air with the effects of the Elixir.
'100 Voidbound Rifts,' Almond's eyes glinted as he had formed 100 rifts and began phase 1 as all of them converged.
Maya got hold of herself and began building her attack as she pulled the string of her bow again, ready to freeze Ervagus at a moment's opportunity.
Arcane Storm was getting fueled by Amir and Jemma, so it was very strong. If any one of them entered without defense, they would die shortly.
Everyone observed the chaotic battle happening inside the storm. This battlefield was only for Spirit Wraiths because even if they died, they wouldn't die for real.
Inside the storm, All spirit wraiths were attacking Ervagus, but Ervagus was deflecting all of their attacks while slashing them even though he was into pieces. His body parts were protected by black energies while his severed arms defended his body parts by deflecting incoming attacks with his glowing black daggers.
Meanwhile, Sylvia remained in a position where her traits could affect everyone, healing, recovering mana, and calming everyone with her second and third traits.
And everyone finally saw Ervagus' status this time as they could catch a breath and inspect him.
[Shrouded Blades Ervagus]
-Type: Heroic Spirits.
-Vitality: [100% / 100%]
-Mana: [50,000 / 50,000]
↳[Strength: 1000 | Health: 5000 | Stamina: 5000]
↳[Mana: 5000 | Focus: 1000 | Perception: 1000]
Almond's eyes glinted as he used Divine Divider's Harvest, halving Ervagus' Perception and harvesting it for himself before taking out the hand fan Artifact they had gotten.
[Quetzal's Windgod Handfan]
-Tier: 1 (Higher tiered Artifacts can ignore/resist/displace effects of lower tiered Artifacts).
—> Quetzal's Domain: Turn 200 diameter meters of area in a domain of raging winds, a paradise for wind users to fuel their wind-attributed skills. All wind-attributed skills inside the domain are boosted by 50% and can be further boosted based on control. Cost: 10,000 Mana.
—> Windgod's Fury: Blow a powerful gust of wind 10 to 100 meters wide at the speed of 1000 kilometers per hour for a stretch of 2 kilometers, forcefully blowing everything away.
'Alright, this is useless in this fight.'
Putting it away, Almond focused on the fight. Ervagus's aura surged swiftly as he seemed to make a big move within the Arcane Storm as it started darkening, overwhelming other elements of the storm.