Chapter 267 - The Fallen Hero (Patreon)

The group enters a formation unlike any they've used before. For the first time, Tess stays behind, the opposite of her usual position, which is close to the opponent. She is so far behind that it would be hard for her to move close to help.

It surprises me, but I come to realize why she does that. Tess will be focusing on dealing as much damage as possible without being distracted by an opponent attacking her. From such a distance, she will be able to make each of her attacks as strong as possible.

Obviously, that also means she will be putting a lot of trust in the rest of the group to stay alive. For someone wanting to protect her friends so much, it's an unexpected decision.

On the other side, Lily is back on the frontline, next to Maya, who has the epic crown on her head, and plenty of mana batteries in contraptions over her body.

The petite healer seems to be determined, and I instantly realize that being in the front line is her decision.

Dennis and Aaron are both on the sides and slightly behind Lily and Maya. Seeing as no one is talking, they are using [Connection] to communicate.

A bit further behind are Isabella and Sophie, both sisters close to each other, Noodle coiled around Isabella’s arm that holds the epic bow Lily used to wield.

The last member of the group, Min-Jae, is to the side of the sisters. For this fight, he switched to smaller projectiles that spin around his body, something he started copying when he saw me doing it. The projectiles he is using look like golf balls, but I know they are extremely heavy because of his gravity skill.

One of his eyes is brown, and the left one is yellow, and it's already glowing as I'm sure he improved his control of it.

I thought about it before, but I think his and my eyes are similar, with the difference of me having two eyes that can see mana wavelengths. His eye seems to allow him to see gravitational ones.

Biscuit is also there. He stands on the dune, a gentle wind blowing against his fur, and the corgi seems to be enjoying it while he breathes quickly. His tongue is sticking out as he is also trying to cool himself. So far, he is not using any skill, but he is ready.

The fight starts suddenly. Caused by a small metal orb that Kim shoots at the Fallen Hero.

I watch through Myrra’s Aurora glass as the armor stops moving and turns around. A dead body of the Champion clad in Valorplate. Even damaged, the red and gray armor is beautiful. And most of all, it's dangerous, something confirmed by the First One being scared of it.

When the armor starts moving towards the group, I understand it. Nothing changes after it notices the group. There is no mana released from it, no skill activates. No, the entirety of that immense mana is turned into sheer strength.

The armor takes a step, and the entire dune under it explodes, and with one leap, it flies through the air right toward the group.

In the silence, a cracking of lightning sounds, and a terrifying noise pierces the air as a gray spear crashes against the armor. The lightning cracks all over, covering the armor. With the sheer strength of the impact, it pushes the armor away, and both burrow deep into a dune, sending an explosion of sand into the air.

Lightning flashes again, and the spear gets pulled back.

Isabella attacks next. One of the fire orbs that float over her elongates and turns into a fire arrow that she lodges into the bow she holds. Even though the bow is nearly as tall as her, she pulls the mana string that appears and shoots the arrow. It leaves the string and glows even brighter, more compressed, a brilliant arrow made of blue fire that Isabella slightly manipulates to compensate for her lack of skill with the bow.

The blue arrow leaves hot air in its wake that seems to wave, and when it passes over the sand, it melts it. The longer it flies, the more it speeds up, and when it reaches where the armor crashed, I can barely track it with my eyes.

The explosion that ensues sends flames high into the air, some as tall as a building. The impact spreads sand around that gets melted, and while falling, it shines brightly like pieces of glass.

Even before the fires disappear, the armor climbs out of the sand. There are some slightly charred parts of it, but that's all.

It shows movement that looks different than any before. This time it's not unhuman-like, no, it's slow and elegant. The Fallen Hero stomps on the ground, and like geysers, the sand explodes high into the air while a shockwave blows away the flames.

“It's not using skills at all; it's just sheer physical stats,” Myrra whispers, her eyes glued to the piece of glass.

The armor moves again and disappears from where it stood, another shockwave sent in its wake.

It's another leap that is much lower this time and faster.

Just before the armor reaches Maya and Lily, I notice Kim moving his arm, and the armor stops mid-air and crashes back against the ground, pulled there by immense gravity.

Mana radiates from Maya, and mana armor forms around her that is denser than anything she showed me before. She uses [Boost], moving past Lily, and as the armor stands up, her axe crashes against it, sending it staggering backward.

Before she can attack again, the Fallen Hero swings its arm, and she is sent flying, the front of her armor cracked. The armor takes a step to follow her, but Lily appears in front of it, and the armor changes its mind, a punches her. The punch is smooth and elegant, looking like the result of thousands of repeats.

Its hand passes through Lily´s chest, but then the twin's illusion disappears, Lily hitting it instead with her fist and sending a blast of gray mana through.

For the first time, damage appears on the armor, deep gauges caused by smoke-like mana splashing against it.

The armor starts moving at terrifying speed, and I notice the bag on Lily's back becoming smaller as she keeps using [Sacrifice]. While she does so, she moves nearly as quickly as the armor. They exchange a few hits until the armor feints and then kicks, breaking her arm. She rolls on the ground for a distance longer than a football field.

It dashes at Lily, but Dennis is there. He grabs her and pulls her away while a dozen illusions appear around, each of them realistic even to me and each of them with different mana signatures.

Instead of dealing with them individually, the armor stomps, creating another crater and a shockwave destroying the illusions as well as the entire dune.

Isabella shoots another arrow, but this one is different. Sophie, knowing that she can't manipulate a mind that is not there, uses her [Manipulation] to compress the arrow and even tie the web she was creating to it.

There is no explosion of flames into the area, just a small localized burst that is extremely compressed and that pierces a hole through the Fallen Hero, exiting on the other side.

A piercing noise follows, and a spear trailed by lightning flies at the area that should have a heart behind it, and for the first time, the armor blocks. It puts an arm in front of its chest and is sent flying.

Before the spear can return, the armor grabs it and stabs at Maya, who charges it. She barely dodges, but the next elegant stab pierces her chest. The armor tries to move to finish the woman surrounded in mana armor but is not able to as the web Sophie was preparing coils around it and freezes its movement.

Maya gets on her feet, the wound on her chest healing at a visible speed, and her armor flickers and disappears. Instead, she creates an axe bigger than her that becomes dark blue with a streak of light blue mana flowing through it.

Her swing is quick and deadly, the axe burrowing into the armor's neck.

Getting a warning, she lets go of the weapon and uses [Boost] to escape quickly.

The armor tears apart the skills that are holding it back. Not by canceling them, no. Just by using raw power that ignores the attempts to slow it.

At the same time, a dozen javelins trailed by lightning crash against it. One after another, each of the javelins crumpling and breaking, yet creating dents in the armor and sending lightning through it.

A few fire arrows join in, and Min-Jae also uses his eye, closing the hand he reaches towards the armor with. As he closes it, the armor moves quickly, and instead of its chest, its forearm gets crumpled under the force of the press.

The Fallen Hero turns to Min-Jae, and its focus stays on him. Lily, who attacks it, gets thrown away after a skillful kick, and more bones are broken.

A swing of its arm destroys the illusion and the entire dune in front of it. The sheer pressure of the swing throws Maya and the twins away.

Then it rushes at Min-Jae.

Dozens of iron balls crash against it, each one that hits slowing it down a bit as Min-Jae stacks his [Gravity Well] and increases the weight of the armor.

The dome-like web Sophie was creating shrinks and ties around the armor, slowing it even further, but it's not enough.

Every time it gets slowed down, more mana flows through it, strengthening it further. The heart of the Champion beats weaker than when he was alive, but still loudly, even after his death.

The spear the armor holds starts pulling at it and toward where Tess is, but the armor just grabs it with two hands and breaks the epic weapon like it's nothing. Both pieces fall to the ground.

Another stomp sends sand into the air, blocking the view, and the armor charges.

I watch as a big armored arm grabs Min-Jae and tears off the boy's arm, only for the illusion to disappear as Lily stands there instead of Min-Jae, her arm torn off. The petite healer uses her skill, and all sacrifices from her bag disappear, her waist-long hair shortening even further.

She doesn't regenerate her arm, no, the petite maniac sacrifices even the arm the armor is still holding, and then punches against the chest of the Fallen Hero, gray mana flowing through.

At the last moment, the armor shifts, and a burst of gray mana eats its arm instead of reaching its heart.

Immediately after, with immense speed, it punches Lily, denting her chest, and then breaks Lily's neck.

Before the armor can tear off her head, purple tentacles coil around it and tie it up, not allowing any movement.

After a moment of struggle, the Fallen Hero gets out, and when it tries to look after Lily, she is already gone, helped to escape with an Illusion from the twins.

Turning towards the newest enemy, the armor takes a step towards Biscuit, who doesn't even growl, just observes it curiously.

Biscuit tilts his head, a focused expression on his face, and instead of purple tentacles, an orb made of purple mana appears in front of the corgi. The orb is as big as a basketball but continues to shrink to the size of a golf ball, its purple color darkening with streaks of different colors flowing through.

Don't tell me.

The orb starts glowing bright white, and Biscuit shoots it against the Fallen Hero who tries to run away but is once again stopped by Sophie.

Aaron appears next to Biscuit and grabs him from the ground. He activates [Haste] and runs at a speed that is almost as quick as the armor.

Then the Fallen Hero changes again. The first time it happened, its awkward movements became smoother and elegant, and this time they change to confident and domineering. Even though Sophie holds the armor, it straightens up and slashes its hand towards the orb flying at it.

The orb disappears as if it never existed, and an immense force slashes against the ground, creating a deep and long crack in the sand.

Another slash with its hand destroys Biscuit's mana arms that reach toward it, and the stomp creates a shockwave that forms a crater around the armor.

Biscuit growls and javelins made of purple mana form by his sides while he is carried by Aaron. The mana projectiles shoot towards the armor, which blocks each of them easily.

Meanwhile, Tess and Min-Jae finish their preparation, and from high in the air, something starts falling. It's the chest made of unknown material that contained the eye Min-Jae now has. The indestructible chest is falling much quicker than it should be, and I'm sure it's much heavier as well, the force behind it immense.

Dozens of purple tentacles explode from the ground and surround the armor. Sophie activates her skill, and even the twins seem to use their [Connection] in a weird way.

With a shockwave, the chest smashes against the armor, crumpling and bending it and forcing it to its knees. Sheer weight and inertia do immense damage.

But slowly, the Fallen Hero still stands up. The stance changes once more, and it disappears from the spot, reappearing in front of Min-Jae and Maya. The young boy doesn't even have time to react, but Maya does. Her [Boost] gives her enough speed to face the armor for a few seconds even though she is bleeding and tearing her body as she moves. The crown on her head keeps her alive.

A dozen attacks are exchanged in a second, both of them changing positions to try to gain an advantage over each other while Lily moves nearby.

Even though the armor has only one arm, it dominates Maya, and the moment her skill deactivates, a hand swings to her face. Messages are exchanged between the group and Lily grabs the armor's hand, her body also strengthened by [Sacrifice] and capable of following the armor.

Quickly pulling its arm away, the armor dashes and disappears, attacking Isabella.

Lily disappears similarly and steps into its path, both of them exchanging a few blows.

Giving up on her ranged advantage, Tess lands nearby, a crown over her head and lightning crackling and trailing her body. Her face appears on the piece of aurora glass, and she declares something, the armor freezing in mid-movement and turning to her.

Tess's crown disappears, the lightning that was creating it flowing down her body and into her hand where it reforms into the shape of a spear. The blonde faces it and attacks the armor that changes its stance again, to the one with elegant movements.

Lily with presence masked by the twin's skill jumps on the armor's back. Her gray mana turns into a dagger she keeps stabbing into the armor's helmet, causing it to stagger a bit. More messages get exchanged between the members and skills activate, making the armor stop its movement.

Then Tess takes a step ahead and a spear of lightning pierces right through the place where the heart is supposed to be.

In the following silence, nothing moves for a while, and the wind continues to move sand over the dunes until it stops as well.

Finally, the Fallen Hero staggers and falls to its knees.

Congratulations! Your group has completed your Floor quest and defeated the second Calamity.

You have received 4000 shards.

Relieved, everyone from Group 4 groups up, smiles on their faces as they check on each other and seem to read notifications as well.

The boys, still weak and wounded, start checking the armor lying on the ground, and I notice they are talking quickly.

In the end, they did it; on their own, they defeated the Calamity, and I see that every single one of them has become stronger. Some of them by a lot, and some were unable to show it fully because of the opponent they were facing.

Another soft ding sounds, and curious I check the new Floor quest that has appeared.

Floor quest: Kill Lynthari Matriarch Myrra

Reward: 6000 shards

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