The former paladin spits blood onto the ground while Eykad watches her challengingly.
"Time to get serious."
Luysia wipes the blood from her lips, her gaze burning with fury.
She casts a protection spell upon herself.
[BLESS]
The simple spell boosts all her statistics by one point.
The former paladin, having lost the favor of the goddess Chand and thus access to more powerful magics, believes she can make do without them, thanks to Strauss Wagner's seed and her companions' support.
"Kanna!" she shouts at the cleric, her look saying all that needs to be said.
Kanna immediately understands and rapidly casts enhancements on the blonde warrior.
[BLESSED ARMOR]
A spell that increases defense.
[BLESSED WEAPON]
An enhancement that increases attack power.
Luysia Camclair's stats have been further boosted, reaching their maximum potential.
With renewed determination, Luysia charges at Eykad once again, her Silverdark halberd held high above her head.
The dwarf stands his ground, his war hammer gripped tightly in both hands.
Both are prepared to unleash their full strength.
Eykad readily accepts the challenge and surges forward, his war hammer swinging with immense speed.
The air around it vibrates with the power exerted.
Their weapons collide with a deafening noise, releasing an energy shockwave that shatters the once silent temple.
Luysia activates her special oathbreaker ability, [AURA OF PAIN].
A painful aura spreads around her, amplifying the damage sustained by enemies within a two-meter radius. Every move Eykad makes becomes slower and more strenuous as he tries to resist the debilitating effect.
They exchange another series of strikes, with Luysia using her ability to inflict more damage on Eykad.
However, the dwarf is a formidable opponent and manages to withstand the woman's fury.
Then the blonde releases the spell [HERETIC SUFFERING], which envelops Eykad in a persistent aura of pain, causing continuous damage. Every minute, the dwarf suffers further damage, a constant siege on his endurance.
Eykad, however, is not unprepared.
He responds with [MALUS PROTECTION], an ability that negates the negative effects cast by Luysia.
Luysia notices that the enemy has not reused his absolute protection: [SANCTUARY OF WILL].
This leads her to believe that he might not be able to use that barrier continuously, that it might cost a lot of mana, or that it has some sort of cooldown. She needs to confirm this.
Luysia swings her halberd, attempting to exploit an opening provided by the dwarf, but Eykad counters with a sharp blow of his massive war hammer, striking the blade of the blonde.
Luysia is hurled away by the tremendous impact, feeling her arm twist unnaturally, almost to the point of breaking.
"Your metal is weak. Your flesh is weak," Eykad declares, observing Luysia struggling.
[RAY OF FIRE]
Welze casts her fire spell, seizing an opportunity.
A fiery beam erupts from her magical circle, formed by her staff, and shoots like a missile towards the enemy.
Eykad notices the magic and quickly casts his absolute protection.
[SANCTUARY OF WILL]
Luysia has been timing the spell.
If it's a matter of cooldown, this spell requires a few minutes before it can be used again.
Welze's fire shatters against the barrier, dispersing and leaving the enemy unharmed.
"In flames that blaze both fierce and bright,
With trails of fire, embrace our rite.
Burn the flare, spirit of the burning trance,
Answer our call, with your fiery dance."
[TERSIFLARE]
*FLASH*
With graceful movements, Xiaikai twirls her staff, summoning her powerful fire spirit.
Tersiflare appears in all her beauty and magnificence, dancing amidst the flames.
"A weakness of [SANCTUARY OF WILL] is that it doesn't protect against area attacks, only against single-target physical and magical attacks," Kanna reveals, sharing the strategy she has developed with the pink-haired summoner.
Xiaikai nods and commands her summon: "Tersiflare! Burn everything!"
The spirit immediately obeys and begins to spin rapidly on the spot.
As it pirouettes, a fire globe forms beneath her feet.
The globe grows larger, levitating and rising higher and higher.
Tersiflare, with her fiery ribbons, dances more frenetically, balanced atop the sphere of flames.
The sphere and spirit reach a height of about a dozen meters.
[BLAZING DANCING STAR]
Tersiflare performs a backward somersault and, with a kick, strikes the blazing globe.
"Luysia, get away!" Kanna shouts.
With great effort, the blonde throws herself as far away as possible, bracing for the impact.
The fireball is swiftly hurled towards the dwarf.
Eykad watches the sphere hurtling rapidly towards him.
He could break his protective barrier and move away, but he notices Welze, her gaze focused, ready with her staff to launch offensive spells as soon as the barrier is dropped.
This strategy, quickly devised by Kanna Merfal, the cleric observing the battle from a distance, ready to cast enhancing or debilitating spells, puts him in a tight spot.
The blazing star is now very close to the Servant.
Everyone is ready for the devastating impact that is about to happen.
The heat released by the most powerful spell of the spirit summoned by Xiaikai has already filled the temple, and everyone starts to sweat due to the high temperature.
This is the power of Xiaikai Frolich.
[BONE WALL OF SKELETONS]
But just a moment before the impact, a dark energy from an unknown source conjures an imposing barrier.
A disturbing wall made up of bones and skeletons from various creatures rises from the ground, several meters high and a couple of meters wide, defending Eykad.
*KABOOOMMM*
The fireball crashes against it thunderously.
The shockwave throws all members of Strauss's assault team to the ground.
A burning dust of pulverized bones and ash fills the entire temple, making breathing difficult and obscuring visibility.
"Cough... Cough..." Welze coughs as she rises, her expression incredulous.
"Cough... N-necromantic magic?" Kanna wonders, covering her nose from the ash.
Luysia can't believe Eykad also possesses this kind of power.
Xiaikai maintains an impassive look, with Tersiflare returned to her side.
As the ash and dust clear, the dwarf stands unscathed, looking very annoyed.
"QUES! Damn lich! Who told you to interfere?" Eykad, furious, slams his war hammer to the ground in the direction of two figures at the exit of the small temple.
"I saw you in trouble, dwarf."
A voice as grating as chalk screeching across a blackboard.
The horrible sound fills the group with unease.
The speaker is a levitating Servant, clad in black robes with burgundy accents and silver threads.
Hooded, but with an exposed face, it's the skeleton of a dark elf.
The new enemy is enveloped in an aura so dark it's visible to the naked eye, sending chills down the spines of Welze and Kanna.
"A l-lich!" Kanna realizes, aware of how terrifying it can be to face a necromancer, especially a Lich – a being that has forsaken its own life for undead immortality.
Accompanying the necromancer is another Servant, this one with a covered face.
Holding a staff, it suggests belonging to a magic-using class.
Luysia clenches her teeth: "This is bad!"