MMORPG: Rise of the Primordial Godsmith

Crack…

Crash!

"What…?"

Just as Erika began to feel the sense of delight once more amidst Lunarossa's despair, the sadistic smile on her face immediately turned crooked the moment one of her shields was destroyed in one hit.

For a brief moment after that, the two looked at each other, asking one another in silence if either of them knew what caused the current situation to undergo such a sudden shift.

Bang!

Crash!

Yet, as if not wanting to give both sides the opportunity to mull over the current situation any further, more of the shields that surrounded Erika continued to disappear, forcing Lunarossa to make a move in response.

"[Meltierre-style Heavenly Sword Array]!"

"[Myriad Blade Reflection]!"

Though she opted to use the same skill she had used earlier, Lunarossa noticed that her attacks were more effective compared to before, partly due to the fact that a gap in Erika's defense had finally shown itself.

However, if she were to come up with an answer as to why her attack had become incredibly effective all of a sudden…

Then there was no doubt in her mind that it was due to the one breaking the Lesser Sin's shields in one hit.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Activating some of her status buffs in the process, the woman gradually continued to pressure Erika with her flurry of blade attacks, forcing the latter to retaliate every once in a while with an attack of her own.

Yet, just as Erika's counterattacks were about to manifest…

Bang!

The same entity that destroyed her shields interrupted her skills before they could even take shape, which caused the skills to deal further harm to Erika instead.

"Kuh…!"

Feeling a hint of fear and panic rise up within her, the Lesser Sin inwardly took in a deep breath as she recast the defensive skills that continued to keep her mostly unscathed.

Whoosh!

Then, shifting her gaze towards Lunarossa once more, she went ahead and used a skill on her, infusing more energy into it while doing so.

"[Blood Control]."

With the greater infusion of energy offsetting the skill's chance of failure, Erika was greatly relieved to see that she had gained partial control of Lunarossa's body in her first attempt.

Though, just as she was about to control the woman's body to move aside…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of sonic attacks were heading straight for her, each one breaking the defenses she prided herself upon with relative ease.

"…Nngh…!" With each of those sonic attacks aiming more or less at the same spot the previous one struck, one of them eventually pierced through Erika's entire defense, forcing her to take a few steps back from the pain.

"Agh…!"

Gritting her teeth as a way to lessen the pain she felt, she then made use of the partial control she had over Lunarossa's body, forcing the woman to stand in front of her as a meat shield.

'Seeing as how the one breaking my defenses has been aiming for me all this time, then it only makes sense that they'd hesitate once they see that I've made use of the tournament director,' thought Erika, faintly grinning as she gave herself a figurative pat on the back.

Looking around the see if the entity that broke her defenses would make a move on her after her latest action, the Lesser Sin inwardly let out a wide sigh of relief once she confirmed that the current situation had fallen to a stalemate of sorts.

Yet, before the stalemate could even last for a few minutes…

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Out of nowhere, a series of sonic attacks headed straight for Erika once more, forcing the latter to move Lunarossa's body in the way of the attacks to defend herself.

Though, as if those attacks had a mind of their own, the attacks that came close to hitting Lunarossa stopped in their tracks before they could hit her.

On the other hand, those that smoothly passed around her continued on their merry way to Erika, shattering the notions of invincibility the defenses of a peak Rank 7 class holder like her had conjured.

Recasting her defenses out of fear of being hit once again by such an attack, Erika looked around her surroundings once more as she began to ponder on the current situation.

'Who in the tournament could accomplish this level of power?'

'The other arbiters? They may be strong, but they're not as strong as the director.'

'Ylvar? He may be able to match me while I was still at Rank 6, but he definitely isn't able to match me at my current rank.'

'…Then that means the only logical conclusion is that the director's reinforcements had finally arrived,' thought the Lesser Sin to herself, feeling her blood turn cold at the thought of it.

However, no matter how much she continued to look at her surroundings, she could not sense any auras that were at least the same level as what Lunarossa gave off.

Unsurprisingly, she grew confused because of that.

'…Am I overthinking it?' she asked herself, forcing herself to take in a few deep breaths to regain her bearings. 'Did her reinforcements not arrive yet?'

'If that's the case… then that means there's someone in the amphitheater who surpasses the director in combat strength.'

'Considering how the director herself said she evacuated all of the remaining audience out of the amphitheater, then that only leaves the participants still in the amphitheater.'

'…Who among them could reach that level of power, though?'

Just as the question surfaced in her mind, both Erika and Lunarossa sensed an entity gradually moving closer towards them, their aura stably at a level that was marginally above what the latter exuded.

'Who could it be?' asked the two to themselves, with Erika subconsciously removing her control over the director in preparation of attacking at the same moment the entity revealed themselves.

Yet, just as that exact moment came to pass…

Erika was instead left at a loss for words.

"All this time… all this fucking time…" she murmured to herself, the fear and panic that enveloped her earlier gradually transforming into fury and disbelief.

"I thought a third party had entered the fight all of a sudden…"

"…But to think it was only you, Ylvar?"