Chapter 302 - Teamwork
Theo barely had time to process what had happened before several bright lights shot towards the Imperial Church and Dragonfang groups.
’’Keep the beast occupied!’’ Darius shouted. ’’Marcus, defend with all you can!’’
A thin, almost weasel-like man immediately nodded.
Several summoned beasts slid to a halt in front of them.
Each rapidly started conjuring their spells while growing taller and stronger under Marcus’s buffs.
At the same time, Darius turned back to the B-rank vulture, pure anger filling his eyes.
’’This is why I hate doing missions with inexperienced losers!’’ he cursed as violent blue lightning gathered around his axes. ’’Goddamn Church... always causing fucking problems.’’
His teammates instantly seemed to recognize what he was doing.
Each took a step back before continuing with their own spells.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
As dozens of spells landed on the summoned beasts behind them, Darius launched himself into the air with both axes raised high over his head.
The lightning around his axes rapidly intensified.
Within moments, both weapons had completely disappeared beneath the violent blue light.
The B-rank vulture let out a loud screech as it began gathering its mana.
For the first time since the start of the fight, it finally revealed its third element as a bright light began gathering on its wings.
Within seconds, every feather seemed to glow like a miniature sun.
’’Come on, beast!’’ Darius shouted.
A huge axe purely made from lightning materialized above him.
The vulture immediately brought its wings forward.
WHOOSH!
A massive beam of light erupted towards Darius.
The entire battlefield lit up in the bright light as it rapidly closed the distance.
But Darius didn’t stop.
Instead, a vicious grin appeared on his face.
’’COME ON!’’ he shouted. ’’FACE MY STRONGEST ATTACK!’’
Meanwhile, complete chaos had broken out on the Imperial Church’s side.
After losing four people in an instant, their formation had vanished.
Now... they were just getting pelted by attacks from both sides.
’’REGROUP!’’ Gabriel desperately shouted.
Before he could even utter his next command, he watched several massive poison orbs barrel towards them.
Two church members instantly formed golden barriers in front of them.
BOOM! BOOM!
The spells smashed against the barriers, sending cracks spreading across their surfaces.
But others hadn’t been that lucky.
Another two church members had been occupied by large earth spikes from the B-rank vulture.
They’d been completely unable to react before the poison hit them.
’’AHHHH!!!’’
’’ARGH!!’’
Both screamed as their bodies melted away under the poison.
Gabriel’s face paled immediately.
’’What the fuck are you doing?!’’ he shouted, glancing at the people they’d just let through.
The people didn’t even react.
Instead, they began forming several more attacks right away.
But as if that wasn’t bad enough, a shadow suddenly shifted in the middle of their formation.
Before anyone could react, a small female figure jumped out with a knife in her hands.
SHHK!
She sliced the throat of another church member before quickly vanishing.
’’Wha—’’
Gabriel truly didn’t know what to say or do.
He’d never faced something like this in his life.
They were the Imperial Church, for crying out loud. Ambushing the strongest organization in the world was something he couldn’t comprehend.
’’For fuck’s sake!’’ Lucienne cursed beside him. ’’You deal with the one here and the vulture.’’
For a brief second, her gaze flickered past their group and Dragonfang’s, focusing on the large rock figure from Theo’s group.
’’I’ll go deal with them,’’ she finally said.
Before Gabriel could even react, a bright and dark light gathered around Lucienne’s hands.
Suddenly, bones began materializing in the air.
Bone after bone knitted itself together, forming a humanoid skeletal figure.
Only... a massive set of skeletal wings suddenly unfurled behind its back.
But it wasn’t done there.
A long robe woven from black and white mana slowly began forming over its body, while a floating crown hovered above its skull.
Finally, a deep white flame flickered to life underneath its skull.
’’You know what,’’ Lucienne suddenly said. ’’You just deal with the vulture.’’
Just as she’d finished, her shadow rippled.
The assassin girl’s head suddenly rose out of her shadow.
But before she could even get her full body out, the robed figure appeared beside her.
The assassin’s eyes widened in terror as its hand grabbed hold of her head.
’’Kill her.’’
The flames beneath the skeletal figure’s hood flickered once.
Only a second later, gray flames burst out from its hands.
’’AAAAAHHH!!!’’
The woman let out gruesome screams as her face melted.
By the time her full body had come out of the shadows, it immediately collapsed lifelessly on the ground.
Just then, a massive blue light flashed out from Dragonfang’s side.
SCREEECH!
But Lucienne didn’t even look at it.
Instead, she rapidly flickered forward together with the skeletal figure, heading straight for the attacking group.
At the same time, Theo had caught up with his friends again.
WHOOOSH!
He’d barely reached them when a massive, flaming rock arm shot past him.
Theo’s eyes widened in shock upon seeing it.
The hand was completely made from smooth, polished rock, with streams of black fire flowing through countless cracks that ran across its surface.
A C-rank vulture desperately tried to fly away.
It even formed a thick earth sphere around its body while doing so.
Yet, the flaming hand simply wrapped around the sphere.
BOOOM!
Only a second later, the sphere shattered.
The vulture looked up for a moment, only to find several enormous fingers wrapping around it.
SCREE—
CRACK! CRACK!
Blood and scorched feathers burst between the flaming fingers.
A moment later, the hand opened again.
What remained of the vulture slowly dropped towards the ground.
Theo blinked once, still utterly shocked.
’Holy shit,’ he thought, glancing at Owen. ’His racial ability got better?’
Owen’s rock form had grown considerably compared to last time, now easily four stories tall.
But the biggest difference was that it wasn’t just a crude bundle of rocks anymore.
Instead, the rocks covering him had almost completely fused together into smooth, almost polished stone.
Only a few thin cracks with dark flames burning inside remained.
But the scariest part was his face.
The stone around his head had formed something resembling a massive hood, with nothing but dark flickering flames burning inside.
’Amazing,’ he thought, quickly nodding once.
Just then, Owen’s head snapped towards him.
’’Like the upgrade?’’ he asked, his voice booming out loudly.
Theo grinned before glancing over at the attackers in the distance.
’’Absolutely,’’ he said. ’’Shall we go see if they like it too?’’
A huge grin spread across Owen’s face.
It was as if he’d been waiting for those words.
’’Hell yeah!’’