NOVEL WEB Chapter 726: Battle against Andrey (3)
Andrey pursued with his attacks promptly after activation of his divine skill.
The ground shook, as if an earthquake had hit them, with Andrey at its epicentre. The floor rises like the displaced earth crust after a meteorite crash, and the ground swoops toward everyone, no matter the direction.
Allen and others promptly backstepped to avoid the tsunami-like several tens of meters of ground wall crashing on them, but there was no escape path for them.
«Allen-dono! Wat—aaarrrrgggg!»
Luvanka in his wind incarnation state rushed to cover Allen, and held Allen between his three pairs of arms. A second later, the creeping pulverized floor turned in fine sand and swallowed them whole.
«We must do something!! Myun!!»
The situation was no less better for Sophia and others too. But the situation was handled by the Great Water Spirit Tonis. He created a huge water pearl shaped barrier promptly—it was big enough to swallow Kuwataro in it—which was then strengthened by Space Spirit Jigen, pouring their spiritual power in it.
«T-this is nuts, Luck! I am going to swallow you!»
Similarly being pressed on by the situation, Mutton from above Luck's head shouted and thinly spread himself, covering Luck in a transparent membrane. This grants him a newfound elasticity and he takes a huge leap in direction of Tonis's bubble barrier, narrowly diving inside it.
«Kyaaa!!»
A shriek escaped from Cecile. She had been standing 100m, shooting her spells from a safe position, but it appeared while she was out of ground attack, shockwaves still hit her.
This took her by surprise but she continued to shoot her spells at the floor, and nimbly jumped behind.
«Phew, that was so close. I wondered why you gave up on key, but I didn't expect you would be jump at me, and push for a frontal battle. Indeed, one isn't vain if one can make it to this far. Brave Ones, but you have pushed me to be take you in all seriousness. I'm Andrey, the incarnation of soil, and the familiar of Earth God Gaia. It would besmirch the honor if I let some people pull a fast one over me.»
Andrey remarked with a huge grin, seemingly assured of his victory.
The soil turned into a muddy stream as Andrey's words ended, allowing Allen and Luvanka, and many others, who had many buried in sand, to appear out.
«You're alright?»
Merus affirmed their safety from the sky. He had managed to avoid the attack by flying around.
"Yes, there's no problem. Thanks, Luvanka."
«...I am a summoned beast now. I just want to see the future that you will pave.»
Luvanka shrugged off as Allen gave an apologetic look. It appeared he was seeking the answer for himself after becoming Allen's summoned beast, in contrast to his depressed self from the past. Besides, saving their summoner was an obvious thing to do.
After that, Allen immediately turned to analyze the damage they'd bore from the area attack. He took a look at Grimoire and affirmed that they'd escaped the fate of dying under the current attack, but they;d lost a huge chunk of their endurance.
«The path at your back is always there if you forfeit now and retreat. There's only around 50 minutes left. You may be able to save your spiritual aura too. —Hmm, Earth's Heal!!»
Having recovered the spiritual power along with the usage of divine skill, Andrey then turned to heal himself. It seemed he had already anticipated Allen's decision.
(So, its endurance is above 100,000, and spiritual power has seen an increase as well by 100,000. The attack range is mostly 300 meter, and pertaining only to the main area of effect, 100 range of meter huh. It doesn't seem like that tsunami-like attack has much cooldown. It would be game over if he could spam it. So there's some cooldown time huh. But it makes a tough situation for Luck to keep fighting in close combat. Kuwataro, tell Luck of it.)
Allen went through the pros and cons of the situation. Once he had firmly grasped the situation, he immediately had Bird F to inform Luck and Sophia behind Andrey.
«Keep a distance of 100 metres at minimum, and focus on long-range attacks and continue to shave off Andrey' resistance and endurance from there.»
It would be a pity to lose the debuff attack as good as «Cursed Strike», but since it required Luck to be in close proximity, it would be counterproductive in their current situation. It would be better to stick to the slightly inferior Acid Vortex or Poisonous Tsunami skills than lose their team members.
He also instructed Great Spirits to fight from distance.
"...So, it's to assume Allen-sama isn't going to give up yet, huh?"
Sophia murmured in a quiet voice, subdued enough to keep it out from Allen to hear. Luck and Formar heard her however, and nodded in affirmation.
"Meanwhile, we will act the same. Luvanka, you might need to become my shield this time."
(Well, at least I can immediately convert mana, spiritual power, and endurance any time with my Life Circulation blessing.)
[Life Cycle - Grasss S's Blessing]
1. Allow to convert one's endurance into spiritual power.
2. Allow to convert one's spiritual power into mana.
3. Allow to convert one's mana into endurance.
4. Reverse flow, simultaneous conversion, and any conversion outside of the three types mentioned above are not possible.
5. Conversion must be consciously performed, as it will not occur automatically.
It was like gaining the life codex in his hand. And for Allen, it raised his odds of survivability, and it also gave Merus ease of mind, allowing him to act from a second position.
«Good grief. You sure are one heck of battle-junkie master."
Luvanka spilled a sigh as Allen's lips twisted into a grin. Andrey had been watching them, and he couldn't have argued more.
«......So you still are willing to fight me, despite the strength I has displayed?...Oh well, do as you fit. I will get along with your whim until the time limit. Maybe you will leave the Earth Labyrinth with these memories. But don't hold on to me if you die.»
Allen ignored Andrey's warning and followed with his command.
«Merus, and the rest. Your task is to chip away its endurance. The claws with increased probability of delivering critical hit should be optimal to deal more damage. Leo, you try to handle all the incoming attacks. You also don't need to keep my safety in mind, Luvanka. And the rest, focus on long range attacks, especially breath attack! Cecil, I will signal and use «Small Meteorite» then!»
"Hmm, alright. I will definitely!!"
«A battle of attrition? I see, so Allen-dono has been thinking of trying *that*.»
Leon chimed in, immediately understanding where Allen was going with this plan.
With the past incident still fresh in his mind, Andrey raised the vigilance innwardly as he captured confident expression of Allen. Similarly, the dark cloud hanging on his teammates had also cleared.
«It's all going to end the same way, regardless of the mean you use. I will not be taking passive approach anymore! Just be prepared.»
Andrey remarked as he swung his leg. Allen and Merus slide past by the flank of his, meanwhile Leon stayed behind and raised his hand to intercept the attack.
«Argh!»
«You're tough, but it's far from enough to match me now that I am using my divine technique!»
Andrey pressed on Leon, nearly bringing him to his knees, burying him in the floor.
Luvanka exploited that gap while the two wrestled with each other, covering the distance in blink like a gale, and aimed at Andrey's throat with his weapon, now enhanced with technique «Beast's Blood».
«Extreme Flame!!»
"Great. We're jumping in, all. Poisonous Vortex!"
«Haaa, burn to the core!!»
Luck took the lead, and Great Spirit of Fire Kaka produced a lump of flame and hurled it at the back of Andrey's head.
Having overcome countless trials, the strength behind team's onslaught was enough for Andrey to vince at pain.
«Rrrrgh! Y-you all really wouldn't understand so easily huh. Fine, I will engrave it into your being. Wrath of the Earth!!»
Unable to withstand the barrage of attacks, Andrey consumed spiritual power and invoked «Wrath of the Earth» divine technique.
The blasted off earth once again loomed at the close combatants—Allen, Merus, Luvanka, and Leon.
Allen, Merus and Luvanka dodged by hair breath, albeit, they couldn't escape from minor damages. Meanwhile, Leon had been pushed so much into the floor till his knees that it turned out impossible for him to roll away, and bore the full brunt of the attack.
The rest of team members, summoned beasts, and Great Spirits, stationed 100 meter in distance, were also blown away by the resultant shockwave.
"Pecktan, healing now!!"
Allen somehow swipe away the sand covering him, and issued a command to Pecktan who was held between Magla's forelegs, making sure that he didn't accidentally roll himself into the attack range.
«Scloop!!»
Pecktan stopped wiggling and shook his head, releasing spores. The spores fell behind Andrey and activated «Healing Mushroom» skill.
«Fumu, I was defeated huh? But, we're re-starting from the same page huh.»
Leo remarked as he revived, affirming his present status-quo.
«Heh, you are able to resurrect yourself?»
«Obviously. I have not spent my eternity in vain.»
By virtue of passive skill «Reincarnation», Leon had revived while keeping all the status and buff he had. And since it was Leon's himself awakening skill, it didn't infringes on the rule of Earth Labrynith.
"Well, this is the thing. Alright, everyone. Charge!!"
«Just why wouldn't you understand! You're going to reach the same end no matter how turns you take.»
The battle against Andrey continues.
«Haaa! Infinite Heaven Piercing!!»
«Geehh!»
(Wow, what terrific magic. The Retribution skill's effect continued still after resurretion, and Andrey's resistance is already very low. I did expect, but the combination of two passive awakening skills are amazing.)
A heavy groan escaped Andrey as the golden scepter split into ten fragments, each encapsulating a fearsome amount of mana, and pulverized the carpace on his abdomen.
«Rrgh! Earth's Healing. So what, take it!"
"It's charging at us. Roll into your left or right side!!"
The pain build up a rage inside Andrey who then slide his hand and feet inside the shell and rushed into a straight line toward Allen and team while spinning at terrifying speed.
Andrey continued to lose his earlier leeway, and began spamming his divine technique or other skills, going all out agains Allen's team.
Of course, challenging a demi-god class opponent without their proper party wasn't an easy task for them as well. The divine skills in particular were a big menace to them.
The normal physical attacks like tail or forelegs attack were handled by Leon, but they barely made the bulk of attack as Andrey would frequently stick to Wrath of the Earth. This divine skill probably had short cooldown.
(Phew, I really dodged the bullet so many times, didn't I?)
Allen mused to himself as he once again bring his head out of the sand at the aftermath of nth Wrath of the Earth.
"Hey, Allen. Do we really need to force outselves so much? We can make do with Iron Golems, too, you know? And it's not like we immediately need me to hit level 99!"
Seeing as how the battle keep devolving into a fiersome battle, Cecil couldn't help herself and shouted at Allen.