After Eric allowed Noam and Zane to attack the enemy with just the two of them, they immediately picked up their swords and prepared to attack Herris, who was now staring at them intently as his body was completely immobilized for the moment.
Maybe this fight would be unfair to others, as Noam and Zane would be attacking someone who couldn't even move, let alone defend himself.
But the two of them did not care about that at the moment. They were just focused on taking out the enemy while they could. After all, the difference in their strength was already huge to begin with. It was also unfair. So no one could blame the two little kids.
Herris snarled angrily, "What? You want to kill me when I can't move like this?"
Noam snorted in annoyance, "We're not lowlifes like you who solve all problems by killing."
Herris grinned mockingly, "You'll have to kill me if you want to get out of here alive. Either I die or you die."
Noam rolled his eyes. His words sounded crazy and could only be uttered by a psychopath who had the choice of living if he won and dying if he lost. Seriously, did the big man have to say that to kids like them?
"Noam."
Zane's call was only answered with a small nod from Noam, signaling that he would not be provoked by the enemy's words. Their current goal was simply to immobilize him and make him stop talking. Noam was tired of hearing him talk about crazy things.
Herris growled angrily, "What? You think I'm not worth killing? Do you think I'm too weak to be worth killing?" His voice got higher and higher, indicating his growing anger.
Noam frowned in confusion, "What--"
"You are all the same! You look down on me! I hate nobles!" Herris shouted uncontrollably as his body shook violently, indicating that he was forcing himself to move and possibly even using his magic.
Zane gasped in horror, "We have to move now!"
Without waiting, the two left Eric and sprinted towards Herris, their swords already imbued with magic. As for Herris, no matter how much he forced his body, he still couldn't move.
If Herris forced himself to cast his magic now, his body would be destroyed before the 5 seconds of casting had elapsed. There was no way to protect himself now. All he could do now was growl while staring at the children's swords that would soon hit him.
Suddenly, there was a huge explosion on the wall of lightning Nova had created, blowing them all away, including Herris, due to their rather close position. Fortunately, Rose had pulled Hana for cover, so she and the babies were not affected by the explosion.
Eric, whose body was still weak, landed roughly with a groan of pain. It wasn't a good landing for someone who was injured inside like he was. Meanwhile, Noam and Zane also landed rather roughly. But since they didn't have internal injuries like Eric, their condition was a bit better.
Noam let out a long groan as he tried to get up, "What was that explosion?"
Zane rubbed the palms of his hands that were slightly bruised, "Are you okay, Noam?"
Noam snorted, "I'm still alive."
Zane gave him a sharp look before looking around, "What about Eric?"
Noam gasped and stood up so quickly that his vision was blurred for a moment. Shaking his head to clear the dizziness, Noam began to circle his eyes, searching for his rival. Eric was injured, so they worried that the explosion had hurt him even more.
Zane tapped Noam on the shoulder before pointing to Eric, who was sitting up, holding his head and occasionally wincing in pain. The two immediately ran over to Eric, forgetting about Herris, who they should have taken out first.
Herris' condition was not much different from Eric's. The difference was that he couldn't get up because his body was still immobilized. So he could only lie down after being affected by the explosion.
Hana groaned when the sound of the explosion stopped. She immediately looked frantically at Arion and Seth before breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that they were both okay. Arion held on to her clothes as Seth began to whimper in the aftermath of the explosion.
"What happened?" Hana asked worriedly.
Rose, who had finished checking on Kalyca and Fiona, looked back in the direction of the explosion, "Did Nova's lightning wall explode?"
Hana frowned worriedly before trying to peek. Her eyes widened when what Rose said was true, "How did that happen?"
Rose looked in beside Hana, "Either the enemy attacked the lightning wall repeatedly until it exploded, or they did something to Nova that destabilized her magic and caused the lightning wall to explode."
Arion frowned, 'But that was a pretty big explosion. Nova's purpose in creating it was to separate the enemy. If the wall ends up being destroyed, what about the other 2 enemies?'
He really didn't want to think about the possibility that Nova had lost. What would be the fate of all of them? The last time Arion had seen Eric, he had already been seriously injured by his own magic. It was only a matter of time before Noam and Zane would experience the same.
Moreover, they did not know what magic the other two enemies had received after swallowing the same pill as Herris. They were lucky that the enemy they were fighting had steel magic, which had the weakness of lightning magic.
"What about my brother and the others?" Hana asked worriedly. The last time she had seen her brother's condition, he had looked very bad.
Rose narrowed her eyes before pointing somewhere, "They're there."
Hana turned to see her brother with Noam and Zane checking on him. Fortunately, his condition didn't seem to have worsened due to the explosion.
Arion grimaced to himself, 'He doesn't look hurt from the explosion. But his condition still seems bad.'
Arion remembered the time when his brother was coughing up blood from using his magic too much. He felt his body shudder. It was not an experience a 5 year old should have to go through.
"Eric is not okay. Noam and Zane are fine. At least the explosion didn't leave any serious injuries on the three of them." Rose said after watching the three from a distance.
Hana breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in understanding. At least for now, they were okay. Her relief made her almost forget that Nova's lightning wall had been destroyed.
"You look like shit, Herris."
The voice made Hana and Rose's skin crawl, as well as Arion's. They both quickly hid again, trying not to make a sound. They didn't even dare to risk a glance at the person who had just appeared.
Meanwhile, Noam and Zane gasped in horror before standing in front of Eric, who was trying to get up, though it was difficult. His body still hadn't recovered enough to allow him to move freely.
The sound of heavy footsteps approached them until the three children could feel cold sweat running down their necks. The atmosphere, which had been calm despite Herris' cursing, became tense.
All Herris could do was turn his head to look at the source of the voice. When he saw who it was, Herris couldn't help but yell at him.
"Hans!"
The figure, Hans, snorted in amusement as he noticed Herris lying motionless on the ground. The aura around them changed, as if they were surrounded by fire as the atmosphere around them became hot.
"What is this? You were defeated by those children when we left you alone? How pathetic," Hans sneered with a mocking grin that managed to make Herris even angrier.
"Shut up! I haven't lost yet!" Herris shouted angrily.
Hans snorted amusedly, "Say that when you're not in such a pathetic state."
"Why are you here?"
Eric grabbed Noam's shoulders to make him a fulcrum so he could stand up without falling down. His eyes stared intently at Hans, who looked back at him.
"How did you get through Nova's lightning wall?" Eric hissed angrily when Hans didn't answer his first question.
He almost fell as he took a step forward, but luckily Noam and Zane quickly caught him and helped him stay upright.
Hans raised an eyebrow before chuckling amusedly, "Is he the one who defeated you, Herris? If I remember correctly, your magic is weak against lightning. Given their intelligence, I wouldn't be surprised if these children found your weakness."
Hans looked at Herris with a mocking smirk that made his ally growl angrily, ignoring Eric's question for the umpteenth time.
Eric snarled angrily, "Answer my question! What have you done with Nova? Where is she?"
Hans hummed, "I see you still have plenty of energy to get angry when you seem to have trouble standing up."
Before Eric could answer, Zane immediately placed his hand, once again enveloped in his ice magic, on Eric's chest.
"Calm down, Eric. Don't let your heart beat too fast again. We can't be sure if the side effects are gone or not." Zane said worriedly as he felt Eric's heartbeat speed up again.
Eric ignored him as his eyes remained fixed on Hans, who was still smiling mockingly at them.
"Where's Nova?"