Hearing Ouida's question, even the ears of Lonz and the surrounding knights perked up. They hadn't realized due to the emergency of the situation but it was true that Odis, who was not even an Initiate Seeker, made it all the way here even with all the pressure that the giants were exerting.
"I only felt the pressure of the monster when I saw it's eyes." Odis answered curtly.
Hearing this, Lonz and the knights instantly widened their eyes. "So you didn't feel any pressure before you saw their eyes?" Lonz grabbed Odis's shoulders and quickly tried to confirm. Too embarrassed to say he didn't feel the pressure because he was lost in his thoughts, Odis just nodded his head.
Without waiting for even a moment, Lonz and the knights rushed to the front to convey the new found information. "Knights! Aim your attacks at their eyes!" Lonz cried outl. As soon as he ordered, the knights followed and started aiming their fire balls towards the giant's eyes.
To their surprise, the giants, who were tanking every attack they threw at them, were now defending their eyes with their hands.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM*
The fireballs exploded when they came in contact with the giant fingers. The giants were successfully blocking their attacks with their thick fingers, even though they were spread and the knights could still see their eyes through the gap between the fingers. This way, the sights of the giants never left the knights.
"Attack!!!!" The knights were invigorated thinking they had found the weakness of the giant monsters. They became even more aggressive in their attacks and started hurling fireballs towards the giants without stopping.
The three cadets stood at the back while watching the knights and the giants. Although they were able to move now, it was difficult for them due to the pressure they felt. As for Odis, he also observed the knights with a stunned look on his face. 'I was right?...' He thought as he watched the giants protect their eyes from the knight's attacks.
In truth, he thought he had miscommunicated with the knights due to his embarrassment as he had not given them the whole facts. Normally, miscommunication in this type of crucial information could have led to devastating results for the knights. But in a stroke of luck, Odis wasn't wholly wrong.
Due to the unique characteristics of the Mayhem's magma giants, the pressure they exerted was on a different level in comparison to other Evolved beasts, but the drawback was that they could only exert pressure if certain conditions were met.
Firstly, their prey would have to see the flickering flames from their hollow eyes. Until this condition was met, the prey would not feel any of the pressure that the giants exerted. The second and final condition was that, the prey would always have to be in the giant's line of sight. This was the reason why the giants left gaps between their fingers while blocking the knight's attacks.
The magma giant's were designed this way due to their huge frame and speed. This usually worked in the giant's favor as it was 99 percent certain their prey would see their flickering flames due to their noticeable frame. And concentrating the pressure they exerted like this, their prey would normally be frozen, which gave the giants time to approach them even with their slow speed.
The knights were still hurling fire balls towards the giants, but not even one had pierced through their defense. "We have to take another approach, save your essence!" Lonz ordered his knights once he realized attacking straight on was not working. Even though the knights were aiming between the gaps of their fingers, due to their extreme pressure, they were having a hard time.
As soon as Lonz was finished with his order, the knights were not even done with their attacks when the giants turned into the offensive. The giant on the right started shooting out shards from his ash armor once again while the giant on the left started spitting out magma from it's mouth towards the knights.
"Barrier!" The knights blocked the incoming attacks with many layers of thick barrier. The long range attacks of the monsters broke through layer after layer of the barriers, but were eventually stopped. But the knights had no time to rest as the giant in the middle started making it's move.
Just like it did before, the giant moved it's huge body and punched the ground in a speed the eye could not follow.
*BAM*
The ground shook and a crack formed under the giant's fist. The crack expanded and started moving towards the knights rapidly. "Dodge!" Lonz cried out. The knights dodged to the left and right as the ground cracked in the middle and created an abyss. But some knights were not lucky as they were too late and fell right through with loud cries, which faded the deeper they fell.
The two giants didn't miss this opportunity and started their long range attack once again. The knights dodged once again. Some rolled, some took cover behind buildings and some just defended themselves with barriers or their weapons. This time too, knights died one after the other, burning with magma and being struck with shards of the giant's armor.
Clenching his teeth, Lonz looked around the battlefield until his eyes stopped towards the four cadets who were taking cover behind a building. Clenching his teeth, he made their way towards them. When he finally reached them, he plopped down behind the building and caught his breath for a moment.
"You four, go to the Sacred Order's base in the mid-level and ask to send backup quickly! We'll hold on for now."
Three of the four cadets nodded and stood up, readying themselves to escape from the battlefield. When they stood up, Lonz seemed to realize something. While they were taking cover behind the buildings, they didn't seem to feel any pressure.
"So they have to keep looking at us..." Lonz muttered. "Wait!" He stopped the cadets and relayed the information he just realized to them. "Be sure to inform them about this clearly. Now go quickly, we all are depending on you!"
"Yes!" The three cadets replied enthusiastically. "Odis, let's go!" Ouida turned back towards Odis.
With a nod, Odis also began following the three. They quickly left for the mid-level by leaving the battlefield, carefully moving through the buildings so they were not caught in the giant's line of sight.
"Knights! Hide yourselves behind the buildings! They need to see us for their pressure to work on us!" Lonz alerted his knights. 'I hope the backup arrives quickly...' He prayed to their Goddess.