At the sight of the little dot jumping off from the cliff, Ezekiel immediately could tell that it wasn't going to land accurately. It wasn't because he had no faith in Kayden, but because the Naga was way too difficult to pin down. Furthermore, Ezekiel doubt that Kayden could even aim well enough to hit a moving target.
When he first heard of his plans, the first thing he did was laugh. Anyone would when they heard what Kayden had proposed. I mean, jumping off a cliff as a bear? Only the craziest of people could think of something like that, and he wasn't able to contain his shock when he learned that Kayden was dead serious.
"We need more firepower! Slam that damned serpent down into the agreed location!" Ezekiel called out desperately to his allies. He did not know why Kayden needed to obtain the final hit on the Naga but seeing as he owed him for pretty much saving his life, the least he could do was try to fulfill his request.
Emphasis on the word try. This request was extremely hard to fulfill.
Loading his bow with multiple arrows at once, Ezekiel peppered the Naga with explosives as fast as he could. Together with the attacks of the other adventurers, they managed to slightly nudge it in the direction that they wanted, but it wasn't enough. They needed something with a lot of force. An attack so powerful the blast would knock the serpent off its tail so that it would stay in place, if only for a second.
A fiery serpent formed at the tip of Alice's staff and wrapped around the Naga in an attempt to restrain it, but with just a swipe of its claws, the flames were extinguished.
As Ezekiel was racking his brain trying to think of something, it seemed that someone else had thought of something first. The many adventurers squaring off against the Naga at the front started retreating into the backline, and multiple barriers were summoned in their place to cover their retreat.
It seems that Zhang had just given the orders to temporarily retreat, though, for what reason, Ezekiel did not know. In such a noisy and chaotic situation like this, it was hard for him to bring out the best of his hearing ability.
As everybody started to retreat behind the elemental mishmash of a barrier, the Naga wasn't making it easy for them. Every so often, its tail would lash out, sending people flying, and some landed hard on the ground, never to get up again. While its venomous breath was deadly, the majority of the spellcaster's focus was on dispelling it, making use of any element they could have thought of. With the additional support of Ryan doling out some of his self-made antidotes, nobody died of poisoning.
Soon, everyone made it to the now multi-layered barrier. The barrier was frankly a mess, but it was functional. Walls of fire, water, and solid metal covered the vast majority of the barrier, while certain areas were reinforced with other types of magic. Even up till now, the barrier was getting more and more fortified.
'Just what are they preparing?' Ezekiel thought.
It was far too early to start playing defensive, and this barrier isn't one-way. Even if the Naga couldn't break through to attack them, they themselves couldn't do anything to the Naga either. This left Ezekiel extremely confused.
He was about to go ask a few questions when it happened. A piercing bright light burst from where the Naga was, and it blinded everyone in the vicinity. He could briefly hear the barrier emit a cracking sound before the sound of a massive explosion overwhelmed his ears. Now both his sight and hearing were gone, rendering his clairvoyance ability completely useless.
Then, after a while, the light began to fade away, and the carnage that lay before them was quite a sight to behold. Thankfully, the barrier made the cut, and none of the adventurers were impacted by the blast, although not a shred of it was left behind.
There was a change in scenery.
That was the best way Ezekiel could describe it. No longer was there a gloomy mountain with shriveled-up trees and treacherous paths. All of it was wiped in an instant, replaced by a burning hellscape that could give the demon-infested lands back home a run for his money.
It looked like a meteor struck the place, leaving a massive crater on the side of the mountain. Standing inside the crater with her sword pointed at the sky, a figure dropped the sword and gave a loud cheer.
It was Aisha.
***
Standing far away from the crowded battlefield, Aisha stood alone, far away from the rampaging Naga. While the undead serpent whaled on the adventurers like no tomorrow, she was getting herself ready for the fight of her lifetime.
She had already informed Heather of her plans, and she had suspiciously agreed. If not for their desperate situation, Aisha found it unlikely that she would have allowed such a dangerous plan to be carried out.
But she wanted to do it. Out of everyone in her group, she was by far the most grateful to Kayden. Not only had he saved her life, her party's lives, as well as her reputation, but he also saved her from her depressed self too.
It certainly was crazy, facing off against such a beast alone, but it wasn't as difficult as it seemed. The Naga had already taken some considerable damage from the continuous onslaught of the adventurers, and she could safely say that it was no longer as powerful. Now all she had to do was to damage it just enough that Kayden could get the last hit.
Like Ezekiel, her initial reaction to Kayden's request was disbelief, but after discovering that he was actually serious, she decided that she would do anything it takes to fulfill his request.
'Eh? Does that mean… I've fallen for him? Nah, that's impossible, my heart has always been set on one person and one person only.'
It was for Morgan, Kayden's master. If Kayden was here and could read minds, he'd probably die of shock.
Anyway, her plan was simple. All she needed to do was to unleash her full power, and thanks to the barrier formed by the adventurers, she could do it without having to endanger their lives. After that, it was all a matter of skill and power. Would she be able to overwhelm the Naga and tie it down to one spot? Or would she fail miserably instead, getting herself killed in the process?
Well, she didn't really know.
"I never really tried going full power with my ability before. I don't know how powerful it can be, but that's why I took precautions."
And by precautions, she meant that over twenty-foot barrier.
All of a sudden, a small voice spoke in her head.
"A-aisha…! Y-you can go now. Good luck!"
She smiled after hearing Cathy's nervous announcement. It seems that the little girl had been tasked to give her the signal. Of course, anyone would be nervous in this situation, since this plan could go awry in so many ways, but Aisha instead felt liberated. Just in this short period of time, she could let loose without worry, something that she restrained herself from doing for the majority of her life.
"Well, I guess I owe this moment to you, Kayden."
Fiery, hot mana began circulating throughout her entire body as her veins visibly began to glow a bright orange. Her eyes turned white like the sun, and the bands that tied her hair into twin tails burned off, leaving it flowing freely in the air. Then, like a rocket, a ball of fire burst at her feet, sending her blasting off toward the Naga's direction.
In her hands held her sword and three, glowing, red beads. These were from San, and it was how she was going to trap the serpent.
'San's spell requires the three beads to be placed in a triangle with the target inside it. It seems that I need to speed up if I want to be able to pull this off successfully!'
Another burst of fire shot out from her feet, increasing her speed to the absolute limit as she shot forth.
It didn't take long for the Naga to notice something charging right at it, but before it could react, it felt a heavy impact strike at its abdomen.
Aisha had already reached the serpent. What it saw was merely her afterimage. Immediately, the Naga knew it had to retaliate, but Aisha wasn't about to give it that chance.
A trail of white flames spun around the serpent in triangles, lapping it several times with each second. With each lap came a swing of her sword, which carried so much momentum that the Naga was knocked back with each strike.
As she was running around the serpent in triangles, she managed to keep the serpent right where she wanted it by constantly knocking it back towards the center. If anyone saw this from afar, it was obvious. Aisha was toying with it.
Then, after hitting it a few more times, Aisha stopped right underneath the serpent's torso and laughed.
"Ha~ It feels good to let loose once in a while. Maybe I can do it again… if I face a stronger enemy."
The Naga discovered her quickly and hissed, raising its claw in an attempt to smash the puny insect that approached it.
"Hehe. Don't even try."
A thick, yellow beam shot out like threads from each of the beads she had placed, wrapping their ends together until it formed a triangular barrier around the serpent. Then, it rapidly shrunk, caging the serpent within as it roared and scratched in fury.
A futile struggle. San had asked for a bit of mana from every adventurer he could find here, and all of that mana contributed to this very thing. Aisha wasn't even the least bit worried.
She was a little upset that she didn't get to cut loose enough, but she supposed it was fine. She was sure that she could get more opportunities in the future as she had already made up her mind about something, but enough about that.
She looked over at the struggling Naga, a pitying look on her face. Such an anti-climatic end to what should have been an epic battle. Aisha shook her head.
'Well, at least my debt to Kayden has been cleared. I hope he is satisfied with this.'
With that, she walked away…
But it wasn't over.
A horrifying screech threatened to burst her eardrums as she turned to look back at the monster that caused it. The Naga was clutching its temple, screaming its head off, and a miasma of dark, green energy began to swirl around it.
"… It seems that you aren't done. Well, guess I'll get to let loose completely, after all."
She drew her sword and held it high above her head, pointing it to the sky. She didn't know exactly what to do, but what the serpent was attempting was definitely bad news. She wasn't going to allow it to get its way, so, she thought of an idea.
Simplicity was never her forte, due to complex her plans are and how messy they can get sometimes, so she was pleasantly surprised when this idea came to her head.
She was going to release her mana all at once.
Yup. It was that simple. She had never done this before, which would mean that it was her very first time using this spell.
'Well, here goes nothing!'
Her sword instantly glowed white, and without warning, all hell broke loose. A fiery shockwave burst out from her body, setting nearly everything around her ablaze. The dead trees by the sides all disintegrate in a matter of seconds, and the ground instantly charred wherever the shockwave passed.
And that was just the prelude for what was about to come. Right at this moment, Aisha had created a new spell to add to her repertoire, and it was by far her strongest.
Customary of all spells, they had to be given a name, and Aisha had an epiphany.
"FINAL COMBUSTION!"
And the world turned white.