Ardena struck with her sword, first thrusting the glowing blade of Dainsleif at Myria, who parried it with her Deep Sea Sword. Actually, I heard that Myria's sword was called the Abyss, so I should be calling it that from now on.
The Abyss was what the ancient Atlantis King used to seal the Deep Sea King away, and now Myria had inherited that legendary weapon and was fighting on par with the elvish Sword Saint, who herself wielded a renowned sword passed down through generations of royalty. Blue watery whips clashed against divine golden light, the two girls trading fierce blows and disintegrating their surroundings with the sheer violence of their exchange.
Even so, despite Myria's talent, she was edged out by Ardena's superior cultivation realm and experience, and she found herself faltering after receiving a particularly powerful blow from her opponent. Ardena closed in to capitalize on the opportunity, holding Dainselif with both hands and swinging it downward, but at the last moment, she altered the trajectory of her blade to block a missile-like azure arrow that I fired at her from range.
"You…!"
Ardena cast a glare at me, but she didn't have time to curse. Myria had already recovered and was counterattacking from below, her Abyss lancing toward her chest. Ardena twisted her body to avoid the riposte, and then brought her sword to retaliate with a chopping blow, but another arrow deflected the blade away from a rolling Myria, and the elvish swordswoman found herself stumbling from the tremendous impact.
She dug her feet to the ground and swung her sword almost on instinct, but Myria sprang from the ground and cartwheeled over the sweeping blade before spinning in midair to counter with a stab. Ardena brought the hilt of Dainsleif up to parry the blade, and sparks flew as the sharp sea steel shrieked against the guard.
Ardena dodged her head to the side to allow the deflected blade to spear through empty air, and then she aimed an elbow at Myria's face. To her credit, the Atlantean princess ducked under the counter and the both of them whirled away from each other to put some distance between themselves. Ardena sought to pursue, her sword already sweeping upward, but she flicked her wrist and brought her blade up to block another arrow from range.
I stood my ground and continued to offer long range support, hoping to overwhelm Ardena with enough shots so that Myria could exploit an opening, but the strategy wasn't proceeding too well right now. However, I couldn't afford to give up. Gritting my teeth, I unleashed a second volley of arrows that peppered the battlefield, discouraging Ardena from charging in and getting too close to Myria. Emboldened by the support, Myria launched her own offensive, but instead of recklessly charging in – especially when the battlefield was being bombarded – she lashed out with her sword and sent snaking water whips toward her foe.
Golden mana ignited along Ardena's blade once more, not the shimmering halo that perpetually pervaded Dainsleif, but a more extreme flare. I recognized the beginning of her mana burst attack that was capable of laying low even a fortress, and shouted a warning to Myria.
At the same time, I was already firing an arow to disrupt Ardena's technique, remembering the success I had when I triggered the volatile mana to detonate prematurely earlier. All I needed was a single hit.
However, Ardena had learned from the earlier exchange and anticipated my move. She kept one eye on me, and the moment she saw my arrow steaking toward her like a comet, she flipped herself over and evaded it, not bothering to parry the projectile with her glowing sword. The fountain of light brightened further, flaring into an inferno now, and she unleashed it once she regained her footing.
Fortunately, Myria had already retreated, and when the mana burst engulfed the surroundings, she flicked her sword. Abyss morphed into a water whip, curling around a tree, and allowing its wielder to yank herself off the ground and swing her body to safety before the destructive wave of energies swallowed the space she occupied.
Myria wasn't done, though. Far from it.
Still anchored to the tree branch via Abyss's flexible blade, she made use of her momentum to swing herself about, rotating through the air and returning to Ardena's position, almost like a boomerang. By now, the mana that flared from Ardena's Dainsleif, almost like a sun, had expired, leaving the still majestic halo that wreathed the blade from before.
As Myria hurtled toward Ardena, she transformed Abyss back to solid sea steel and swung it. Ardena whirled around and parried the blue blade, the ground crumbling under her feet and her knees buckling from the tremendous impact. She grunted and shoved Myria away, but the lighter girl managed to flip herself and land gracefully on her feet. In that same stroke, she spun around to slash Ardena's neck with Abyss, but Dainsleif surged upward to protect its master.
Then Ardena quickly withdrew from the challenge, just narrowly avoiding an arrow from me. She cursed, feeling the cold heat emitted from the arcane projectile as it wheezed past before it detonated against the bark of the World Tree and left a frozen crater.
"Sorry," I apologized when I saw the frustration leaking out of her usually blank expression. Even when mind controlled, she was still vulnerable to human emotions. Or elven emotions, for that matter. "But we are two Mystic ranked warriors going up against an Earth ranked swordswoman like you. You will forgive us if we avoid a one-against-one fight and attempt to use our numbers to our advantage, right?"
"Use whatever means you deem necessary," Ardena replied coldly. "It will make no difference in the end."
"Even when enslaved, she still doesn't lose that arrogance that elves typically possess," Myria muttered as she struck from the flank while Ardena was still distracted by another of my arrow. The elven swordswoman parried the blow, then twisted away to evade another arrow, all the while countering with a riposte that forced Myria back. Instead of pushing her advantage, she then jumped back to avoid yet another arrow.
She frowned and retreated, igniting her blade once more. This time, she didn't bother fighting Myria head on, focusing totally on evasion from both her close combat opponent and my ranged arrows. Dodging and ducking under water whips and arrows alike, she moved to a distance before unleashing Dainsleif once more. The golden light erupted from the legendary sword and engulfed everything in a tide of destruction, almost clipping the fleeing Myria.
Even though the mana burst was partially aimed at me, I was far enough that I could easily escape. Not only that, my new Eye of Odin allowed me to know whenever Ardena intended to execute that devastating technique. I could see the flow of mana, decipher the energy currents being manipulated and coalesced into effecting tremendous changes in the environment.
Unfortunately, even with the "wisdom" that this Mythic Item granted me, I wasn't able to replicate the techniques or spells. That would make me too overpowered, and this wasn't a power fantasy wish fulfilment story. It was reality, and so I couldn't expect convenient and lazy copouts here. I was more of a cultivator, anyway, not a mage. You could tell that my lack of proficiency in setting up spirit arrays meant I wasn't cut out for that sort of spellcasting.
Nonetheless, the Eye of Odin gave me a tremendous advantage. I could predict how the spells would form and where they would go by reading the flow, and evading it. That didn't change the fact that Dainsleif's eruption of divine light was deadly and destructive, laying waste to the land around it.
"We have to stop her!"
Myria was growing increasingly frustrated with our lack of progress. Leaping over the molten remains of the forest, which was essentially a crater gouged out of the top of Yggdrasil, she launched her attack while Ardena was temporarily exhausted. Her sword was still smoking and she was breathing heavily after unleashing such a powerful move and consuming so much mana, which left her susceptible to a counterattack.
And Myria was going to exploit that. I also skidded to a stop and supported her with my arrows to distract Ardena and make sure that our opponent wouldn't be able to defend herself this time.
Even so, Ardena managed to lift her fuming sword and parry Myria's strike. Sparks flew between them even as Ardena sluggishly fended off Myria's water whips. They both continued to duel, even as my arrows rained down with uncanny precision, finding gaps in Ardena's armor. Not that she was wearing any, but even so, she could avoid them by the narrowest of margins, though she grunted when a few struck home and left bruises. I tried to fire a more powerful arrow, but she was too quick for that, and Myria was too close to her for me to risk it.
"Damn it."
I ran along the ledge, trying my best to find a vantage that afforded me the best view and position to continue firing at Ardena. She was moving into the untouched parts of the forest now, instead of wildly unleashing explosive mana burst like before. At first, I wasn't sure what she was trying to do, but then I realized her strategy once I found my view being obscured by the towering trees. It would be a piece of cake to mow down the trees, but with the sheer number of them and no knowledge of where Ardena was going, I wouldn't be able to aim properly. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack – even I yanked out tufts of straws one fistful at a time, it would be difficult to find them.
"Myria! Don't follow her! She's luring you into disadvantageous terrain!"
I wanted to rely on my qi sense, but that wasn't a very precise instrument either. I could vaguely sense lots of qi or mana, but they were shapeless, formless stuff that were flaring all over the place. within the forest, there were hundreds of different engagements as humans and elves clashed against monsters and dark elves. Each of them emitted their own mana or qi, which merged together into a gigantic cloud. It was like trying to use infrared in a volcano or something.
As such, I couldn't afford to let Myria get out of my sight, or I wouldn't be able to support her.
"No. We can't let her go." Myria shook her head. She smiled when she saw my concern. "I understand why you're worried, and I know it'll be more difficult for you to support me if I charge in there. That's why she's moving into the forest still untouched by destruction. To use the trees as cover to block your line of sight and nullify your long-range support. But we have no choice."
"Yes, we do!"
"If we let her loose now, she will move on to attack the others," Myria replied. "You know how strong and skilled she is. What if she breaks away and uses the opportunity to go to the monolith? She'll be able to backstab Sigmund from behind while he is engaging Ricowen in battle."
"She will still do that if she defeats you in the forest when you try to fight her by yourself."
"Perhaps, but I can buy time. What Sigmund needs the most now is time. Given enough time, he should be able to defeat Ricowen. But even he cannot take on two Earth ranked enemies at the same time. I'll buy him the moments he need to focus on his battle and keep Ardena from reaching him."
With that, she darted into the forest after Ardena.
"Damn it!" I began to move after her, but had to stop when I caught sight of a fresh horde of Growling Griffons and Wind Wyverns emerge from over the horizon to swoop down on the forces behind me. My summoned spirit beasts responded quickly, clearing their current engagements to confront the new foe, but even my aquatic armada couldn't launch powerful enough lightning to bring down the new reinforcements. The Little Anglers and Lantern Fishes were only ordinary and Yellow ranked, after all. And the rest of my spirit beasts, except Xiao Huo Long, were bound to the earth.
The Owls were faltering, being massacred, and even Xiao Huo Long and the Grim Owl were being overwhelmed by the newcomers. Sprinting toward them, I shot down a few of the Growling Griffons and Wind Wyverns with my arrows, saving a flock of Round Owlets and Arrow Owls who were about to be devoured by the larger airborne beasts.
"Leave them alone!" I snapped, casting an anxious glance in the direction of the forest. I wanted nothing more than to race after Myria to help her against Ardena, but the recently arrived horde of Growling Griffons and Wind Wyverns had just turned the tide in the enemy's favor, allowed them to renew their assault and push us back. Without my support, both my spirit beasts and the human-elf alliance would be slaughtered.
At least that was what I thought, but a salvo of spirit swords pierced the incoming Growling Griffons and Wind Wyverns. Lightning seared and crashed into their ranks, like a vengeful deity hurling his rage down, sending more of the soaring beasts plummeting to where elves, humans and spirit beasts awaited.
"Jun Wen, we have this."
Sylvie stepped forward and placed a hand on her arm, smiling determinedly. Behind her, Silvia nodded. Both fairy sisters had set up a dazzling number of spirit arrays and were now wielding them to terrible effect, wreaking a tremendous toll on the attackers.
"That's right, big bro! Leave these small fries to us!"
"Go after Myria," Sylvie instructed, her eyes slightly hardening. "She's right. You have to stop Ardena, no matter what. And then help Sigmund after that. Leave this place to us and go ahead."
"But…"
"Trust us."
"Yeah, big bro! Big sis and I will do just fine here!"
I hesitated for another second before nodding. Squeezing Sylvie's fingers, I said my thanks before turning around and dashing into the still unspoiled sections of the forest atop the World Tree.