The previously motionless guardian began to move once again, using its hands to tear off the vines that had restrained it. Despite its damaged leg, the guardian once again launched itself into action, jumping into the fray without the aid of its sword.
It leapt towards Kate once more, targeting the weakest of the group at the time. It then appeared before the individual who had damaged its limb, before Hannah and Rexton had the chance to respond.
It balled its hand into a fist and proceeded to attack with it.
Upon seeing this, Kate brought forth her sword, which appeared to be in a rather tattered condition.
BOOM
The first strike was too much for Kate to handle, causing her to be flung through the air like a ragdoll and crash into a sturdy tree. Hannah and Rex were both filled with fury at the sight of this.
Nooooooo
The guardian, who had somewhat understood the attack pattern of the group, didn't stop there; it again targeted the next weak member of the group. which decided to be the boy flying in the air. The hand of the guardian was shown in dark light, and soon the buster swords flew towards the guardian.
Upon realising the intention of the guardian, Hannah and Rex made eye contact and, as if to understand each other's gaze, made their move.
Rex shouted to Zen "Get down here with the group."
Hannah used her vines to bring Kate close to them; she appeared in a critical condition, with her HP being only 15% of her original HP but not unconscious.
The group reassembled, but the guardian didn't care and simply caught the swords, and what he did next baffled the group.
The swords began to emit a luminous aura as if they were imbued with some kind of mystical energy, and gradually started to fuse into a single, grand weapon.
The fusion of the buster swords into a single weapon left the group awestruck. They had never seen anything like it before. The Guardian, on the other hand, seemed unfazed by the transformation.
With a mischievous glint in its eye, the Guardian turned its gaze towards the assembled group. It clutched in its grip a weapon that had undergone a most remarkable transformation, one that defied all expectations and surpassed all prior examples.
It was still in the shape of a buster sword, but it was emitting dark and unknown energy, and this energy was also being released from its body and not just the sword. The sword was thick and appeared to be bland, lacking sharpness, but gave off the feeling of being the sharpest object the group has ever laid eyes upon.
Seeing this, everyone in the group gulped in shock and felt a slight fear.
Gulp
"We'll have to fight it and that fuckin sword! holy peach of the tree." Hannah spoke with a bitter smile on her face.
Before even Rex could finish his sentence, the guardian appeared right in front of them, causing the pressure to increase several folds and its speed to become very fast. The phrase "don't worry" was left incomplete due to this interruption.
Rex promptly started to create numerous shields, and the guardian sword managed to shatter all of them at the precise moment when the blade was about to hit the group. Hannah shouted and quickly produced an abundant amount of vines, which effectively impeded the attack.
However, the situation was not going to last much longer. Despite the fact that Rex was doing his best to hold on and maintain their defensive position, their options for attacking were limited.
Rex shouted to Zen, who didn't know what to do, "Fast, feed Miss Kate some Mana potions and HP potions."
Kate, who was not unconscious but didn't have the strength to take any potions, was finally fed some potions by Zen. The moment it happened, colour started to return to Kate's face, and the moment she had the slightest bit of strength regained, she quickly stood up, took some more potions, and told Rex and the group to just hold for a few seconds.
Hannah and Rex rejoiced and nodded as they saw the potions taking effect.
They were both busy holding off the guardians' continuous attack, and sweat was dripping from their faces.
Although the group could fight long battles, fighting battles that were this intense put them on edge.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Rock shields and sword crashes were getting louder and louder, and shields were on the losing side.
Rex's complexion was becoming paler with each passing second. He was trying his utmost to create shields, but his creation speed couldn't match the speed at which the guardian had started to break them down.
It was at that moment,
Smirk
Rex was able to see that the guardian was smirking at them, almost as if to communicate that the current attempt was a futile one. As if to demonstrate this prediction, the energy being released by the new Buster sword appeared to be intensifying and...
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
As the chaos of the battle ensued, Rex was taken aback by the sudden shattering of his shields. The sheer force of the impact was so great that it resulted in the complete destruction of his shields and caused a powerful backlash to hit him. The intense pressure of the sword's energy then proceeded to sweep him away.
Zen managed to catch Rex while being able to withstand the pressure of the situation. They both lost half of their health points immediately. Zen couldn't even imagine what could have happened if he hadn't caught Rex.
However, in this moment, it was not the time for Zen to let his mind wander. He quickly retrieved the health potions from his bag, uncorked them, and downed their contents in one swift motion. Then, he turned to Rex and offered him a vial as well.
Once they had consumed the basic health potions, their colour gradually returned to their cheeks as they regained 80% of their HP. While the potions were effective, they were not cheap, costing 100 system points for each 250 ml bottle. However, the ease with which they were able to use the potions made up for the cost.
As they looked into the distance, they were able to perceive that the energy surrounding the sword was becoming more and more intense. This energy was not identical to mana, but it had some similarities.
As it so happened, Zen raised his voice and reminded everyone that merely a single minute was remaining before his talent would go on cooldown. These words filled the group with a sense of urgency to vanquish the guardian.
As Kate's complexion returned to normal, she overheard the words and shifted her gaze towards her health. After examining it, she realized that it had fully recovered, and she also sensed a slight improvement in her stamina.
Her eyes then focused on the sword he was holding. It wasn't anything remarkable, just a silver-ranked sword. What mattered most to her was whether it would hold up this time around, as she planned to once again harness the power of her talent, Inferno, to some degree.
She gazed towards the guardian, who was standing motionless and appeared to be doing nothing but accumulating some sort of energy towards the edge of its sword, and finally she saw all her teammates; Hannah was the one closest to her, and Rex and Zen were behind her.
She could feel the tension and immense pressure on the battlefield, as well as the pressure her teammates were feeling right now; she too was feeling the same, but she hadn't given up. She could feel the burning inferno inside her, which was also not backing down and wanted to punish the guardian for withstanding its onslaught earlier.
It was as if she was following the same guiding force as the inferno within her because she let out a sudden and powerful cry of "NOW OR NEVER!" Her words filled the group with a new sense of determination and resolve as they prepared to move forward and face the guardian.
They all soon started to move in sync and approached the guardian.
Guardian didn't even pay attention to them, as if seeing this as their last futile effect; it also saw the same individual who had injured him earlier running towards it, but it didn't matter this time.
Hannah commenced the action of wrapping vines around the leg of the guardian. Meanwhile, Rex initiated the process of creating a single but colossal shield. The shield was formed from the rocks found in that region. It appeared as though everyone was giving their all at this particular moment.
As Kate had previously stated, the moment had arrived for the group to make their final attack against the guardian. Despite the guardian having only half of its HP remaining, the group was confident that if they all attacked the same spot, the guardian would be crippled and would be easier to defeat as a one-legged creature.
Smirk!
Even though the group had managed to take out only half of the guardian's health, the guardian continued to smirk. It was as if it didn't even view the group as a threat. While the guardian was gathering energy in its sword, it proved to be ineffective. Despite this, the guardian was certain that its next move would be enough to eliminate the group.
As the group inched ever closer to the same injured leg of the guardian, Kate began to utilize her talent, Inferno. She displayed a rather difficult expression on her face as she summoned her power to some degree, as it had a tendency to drain her stamina quickly before starting to deplete her HP.
After traversing the path that had been created by the vines made by Hannah, Kate executed a jump towards the leg of the guardian. The flames, which were both visually stunning and lethal, were on the verge of striking their intended target.
But it would have been for nought.
At that particular moment in time, the energy being collected by the guardian started to become erratic. Kate, who had made a leap from the vines just a moment earlier, was unable to maintain control over her body due to the overwhelming gravitational force that descended upon her rapidly.
The entire group was exposed to this pressure at the same time. Rex, who was constructing the massive shield, was immediately immobilised, along with Hannah. While Zen made an effort to beat his wings and fly, he was still descending.
It all happened in mere seconds.
The guardian still had resentment in its eyes for this group as they were the ones to disturb it, and it had a smirk on its face as it was making them pay for it.
The surrounding area's mana level was depleting and running straight towards the guardian. The guardian was able to use mana freely, which players couldn't do as they could only use mana in their skills at their current level.
The air was abuzz with frenzied and tumultuous energy, yet all at once it came to a standstill and the frenzied energy ceased. The guardian raised its sword, which was intensified with some unknown energy, and moved it in a downward motion towards the ground.
The air, which was previously still, was suddenly torn apart by the tremendous force of the sword. The sound that followed was deafening and overwhelming, and the group was completely immobilized on the ground. They were unable to do anything except wait for their impending doom.
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
The sword made contact with the ground, and immediately following this action, the ground in front of the guardian where the group was located began to explode.
BOOM
The earth was ripped apart with great force, but the source of this tremendous energy remains a mystery to them.
The group of players couldn't believe their eyes as they watched the devastation wrought by the guardian's powerful sword.
BOOM
RIP
As the tearing of the earth drew closer, the group was left speechless and unable to process their thoughts. Unlike the battle-hardened guardian, these individuals were inexperienced and had only a few days of combat, leaving them at a loss for how to react.
As the group waited for what seemed like an eternity but was only a matter of seconds in the grand scheme of things, they suddenly gazed upon a glowing orb suspended in the still air. It looked reminiscent of a miniature sun, and it appeared to be hurtling towards the guardian's injured leg, and then...
BAAANNNGGG!