๐๐ถ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ล
I hear a loud cry from a distance, not from the phoenix but something else. Looking back, I saw Alice looking at the phoenix before speaking something unintelligible and as if it was a trigger, the steel-toe eagles rush towards the phoenix.
It didn't take long before it noticed them and as a reaction, the phoenix quickly breathed fire at them. It only kills one of the eagles before the other 14 splits up in various directions.
The phoenix while still breathing fire dragged its head trying to follow one of the eagles and soon enough it catches up and burned it to a crisp.
"Mages! Ready yourself!" Both mages and archers readied themselves while the melee platoons waited in anticipation as we gripped our weapons harder. Many more flying creatures coming from various directions join in not just from Alice but other summoners as well.
"Ready.....Fire!" The water mages fire their spells then after 1.5 seconds second the archer platoons also fire their bows.
As the flying creatures approach the phoenix, the first of the pack goes for a bite attack however as its head becomes closer to the phoenix's skin, its head was burned off.
The fire around the phoenix was so hot that there were no longer any remains including the ashes of its head.
Soon the other flying creatures including Alice's summoned creatures burned to nothing.
The phoenix starts to glow brightly and covers itself with its wings in response, the melee platoon became alerted to this new action and water mages near us set up a wall of water while we walk several steps back.
Of course, I didn't panic in any way as I did not feel the tingling sensation.
Alice orders her summons to retreat however the other summoner creatures stayed in one place since their summoners had not ordered anything and unfortunately they were soon burned to a crisp as the phoenix cried loudly and a massive explosion occurred though, far weaker than what caused this battlefield to form.
Then it quickly reacted to dodge both the spells and arrows going in its direction however one of the water spells that was shaped like an arrow hit its right wing but after 0.5 seconds, the wing begins to glow brightly again.
The commander for both the archer platoon and water mages clicked her tongue after finding out how little their window is. "Archers! Fire after a really short delay when the water spells are cast. Make it 3 times as fast as before!"
Alice, who was on the top of the crater next to the water mages, summoned another 15 more steel-toe eagles; Currently, she has 28 steel-toe eagles flying around the phoenix which were ordered to surround the phoenix.
"I'll try to make it stay in one place!" Alice shouted at the commander.
The commander nods her head before ordering the mages and archer platoon to ready themselves. Before the phoenix even notices the approaching eagles, it raised its head as if charging up for a strong attack.
Alice notices this and orders the eagles to retreat and the female commander commanded the platoons to stay alert shortly after Alice noticed it, however, it was too late for the archer and mage platoon to react.
Suddenly the phoenix fired hot fireballs at all of us. The commander was able to react quickly and dodge it at the last second; The approaching fireball reached the ground and exploded and since she was positioned between the water mages and an archer platoon, they were the ones who got affected.
5 water mages and 17 archers were wounded by the fireball thankfully the water mages managed to create a small wall in time so they only suffered third-degree burns however, the 17 archers were burned to crisp.
As for the fire coming to the platoon where I was, I already sensed the tingling feeling of death so I managed to retreat in time before it hit me however most of the platoon I was in was killed.
In the end, Alcor, Kinn, and I and a few others remained standing.
As for the one coming to Alice, since she was the farthest out of all of them and the last one that the phoenix fired at she managed to easily dodge it.
I stared at the phoenix and the phoenix stared back for some reason. The soldiers and medics who were not participating in battle hurriedly took the bodies of those who survived and ran to the medical tents.
The female commander shouts at the mage who preparing for the bi๊ชแฆ spell.
"Prepare your spell, we need it now!"
"It's not complete it would only be able to stop it for 0.5 seconds, I need 5 more minutes!" The mage responded.
"We're gonna die if you don't, cast it on my mark, as for the remaining archers and mages! same as before!" The commander shouts before turning to Alice.
"Summoner girl! We need you to stall it first before we bind that thing!"
Without even responding, the steel-toe eagles rush the phoenix without any intention to kill it. While doing that, Alice summoned 10 black hounds and ordered them to assist me and the others. The black hound was twice as big as your normal black wolf which can become a ridable mount.
The entire melee platoon readies their weapon and I also draw my katana. The steel-toe eagles surround the phoenix in a circle and the phoenix fires its flame breath at the eagles slowly killing them one by one.
"Ready...Fire!" The water mages fired their spells and with a 0.3 delay, the archer platoon fires all of their arrows after the commanders' second shout.
0.5 seconds before it reaches the phoenix, the female commander shouts at the mage. "Now!!!"
"bi๊ชแฆ!" Before the phoenix could move, not only was it rushed by 28 eagles which of course, were burned to death then the phoenix was bounded by some sort of invisible chain that stopped it from moving enough that the water spells hitting the body of the phoenix extinguishing the flames around its body enough to be pierced by the arrows specifically from Astoria's arrows since she imbued it with Sh๊ชrฯ.
Soon enough the phoenix cried in pain before falling, during that time the water mages who can cast แญ๊ชt๊ซr advanced closer to the melee platoon and imbued our weapons with a thin layer of compressed water.
The melee platoons charged at the phoenix before hitting the ground and it was stabbed, bashed, and slashed by many kinds of weapons.
Silence fills the area the melee platoons retreated a few steps back. I finally manage to take a good look at phoenix.
Strangely, it was as big as a dragon about 165 feet by estimation and it had elegant patterns and colors on its feather.
"We...we wo-"
"Everyone retr.eat its go.ing to expl.ode!" I shouted although brokenly as I retreated however due to my naturally low voice, the ones in the back never heard me.
Eventually, the phoenix begins to glow brighter than ever and in a domino effect, the melee platoon retreats, panicking.
It exploded and caused the ones in the front to not only be blasted by the impact and also caused their armor to be melted. I was also blasted by the explosion but before that, I stabbed my katana onto the ground before the impact hit me however I didn't know how hot it was.
I thought that it was safe since I didn't sense forgetting the fact that it only works on death blows but thankfully the water mages managed to create a wall to protect me so I only suffered a mild first-degree burn on the shoulders.
Looking at the cause of the explosion, there was no longer any phoenix but instead a brightly burning humanoid figure of a man with a black core that was somewhat goopy.
Alice's body drops. "No..no that can't be"
She talks to herself devastated. No one notices this state of hers as they were all focused on the burning figure.
The female commander shouts at everyone.
"Prepare for battle this fight is not won yet!!"
It snaps everyone back and they all gripped their weapons tightly.
But before it could even happen the figure silently aimed its hand at me and then the figure breathed a bright flame out of its mouth.
I ran to the side and dodged it however, the ones behind me got hit by the fire because of how fast it was before the mages even managed to react.
The soldiers and adventurers were burned deeply but thankfully, they still manage to dodge meaning only their legs burned to a crisp.
Before any other action could be done, a transparent wall of hot flame was erected behind me forcing them all to retreat except for me.
""HIMURA!"" Freya and Astoria shouted at me but I didn't respond.
I had the same face as before, troubled but mostly expressionless but on the inside, I was panicking. I was only managing to keep cool because of the sense of death that he keeps getting alerted and because of that, I couldn't panic or else I would die at any moment.
'Tch, of course, I would be targeted, that thing must still be a phoenix then.'
Seeing as the burning figure was only staring at me, I grabbed one of the long knives in my shin and threw one at it. As expected, the entire thing burned like it was nothing.
I could feel myself, slowly being taken over by dread but for some reason, my death perception weakens.
I was surprised for a bit but did show it. Looking around I saw my weapon infused by something. While the water mages were trying to break the transparent wall of fire, some of the mages imbued the blade with a thin layer of compressed water.
I didn't know how to feel about somebody believing in me but that was not why it decreased, below that thin layer of water, I could see something familiar.
A dark void that will never end and brighten by the light of many stars, the same design as the transparent wall in that cave.
Suddenly a low commanding voice gave me one simple word. < Go. >
I didn't panic and only nodded, I didn't know who it was or what it wanted but one thing was certain, that black goop on its core was the same substance that I saw in my first quest.
So I concluded that they were natural enemies and my enemy as well. I steadied myself and entered stance.
At the same the people outside the transparent wall of flame either were trying to break the wall of flame or looked at me in silence, praying for my win.