Chapter 163: The Rescued Girls and the Battle That Is Not Over Yet!
The long period of being in a team made Ryuu accustomed to following Luke's orders.
So, when she heard his words, she instinctively delayed the release of her magic.
This momentary hesitation caused her to miss the opportunity that Alise had desperately created by burning her life.
But it also brought the red-haired captain of the Astraea Familia a glimmer of hope.
"Roarrrrr!"
The monster roared wildly.
It tried to tear the prey in its hands, which had caused it great pain, into pieces.
It didn't require much effort; just by swinging its giant claw sideways, Alise, who was previously pierced through, would immediately be torn in half.
However, someone was not planning to give it that chance.
Whoosh!
Luke, using his full strength, was like a real starlight, instantly arriving next to Alise, whose body had a bleeding hole.
Swoosh!
Splurch!
A flash of black sword light passed, and just like how the monster had instantly killed the Astraea Familia's members at the beginning, a diagonal slash cut through the space.
The super high-speed slash severed the monster's left claw, and along with the giant claw, Alise also fell towards the ground.
Luke had no intention of catching Alise.
He merely extended his hand to grab her clothes as quickly as possible and flung her backward, while shouting to someone behind him:
"Ais, catch her!"
Whoosh!
The next moment, a huge tail came whistling, and the monster, having lost its arms, roared loudly and swung its only remaining weapon.
Not wasting any time picking up Alise gave Luke just enough time to deal with the monster's incoming attack.
Splurch!
Wrapped in pitch-black flames, Ser-Veresta's blade easily sliced through the monster's tail.
Having countered the monster's counterattack, Luke did not pursue further but immediately turned to retreat, while shouting:
"Ryuu! Magic!"
"Luminous Wind!!!"
With tears streaming down her face, Ryuu called out the name of her magic with a choked voice.
Those were no longer tears of despair but tears of hope and joy at the sight of a miracle.
Boom, boom, boom, boom——!
A torrent of light surged forth, engulfing the land, countless light orbs of wind passed over Luke and bombarded the monster.
A sound like a roaring wave exploded, shaking the entire hall under the assault of the storm of light orbs.
However, a moment before the light devoured everything, Ryuu saw...
The monster turned over.
Having lost its shell and without any means of defense, the monster chose to dodge the bombardment of magic by twisting the joint in the remaining foot to accelerate.
Its super high-speed movement reappeared, though weakened, it still successfully avoided the blond-haired elf's all-out attack.
This full-force magic bombardment drained almost all of Ryuu's mental energy.
Anger, pain, fear, despair, the miracle born from a dire situation, the weakness from the depletion of mental energy, along with the hope and sense of security brought by Luke.
The elf girl, whose heart was on the verge of collapse, finally couldn't hold on under the pressure.
In the last second before losing consciousness, Ryuu looked in the direction of Luke and pleaded with an almost imperceptible voice.
"Please... save them… I beg of you…"
Luke held the hand Ryuu extended after she spent her last ounce of energy, and silently looked at the unconscious elf girl in front of him.
"Ais, how are they?"
"Not good."
Ais had unknowingly arrived beside him.
When Luke went forward to rescue Alise, Ais first helped Lyra and Kaguya lying on the ground and then followed Luke's instruction to catch Alise who was thrown over.
"I used an elixir, but it didn't have much effect."
"I'm afraid they won't last more than a few minutes."
Ais used all the potions and elixirs she had, but the injuries Alise and the others sustained were too severe for the potions of this world to have much effect.
"Leave us here, take Lion out!"
Losing both arms along with severe blood loss, and with bones shattered all over her body, Kaguya was actually the least injured among the three of them.
She barely retained consciousness and spoke to Luke with a tone full of relief:
"You arrived just in time, this way Ryuu will definitely be able to return alive."
"That monster is only temporarily repelled by the continuous explosions; it will come back soon."
"Our injuries are beyond recovery, you can't save us, so quickly take Ryuu out of here..."
"Shut your mouth."
Luke didn't let Kaguya continue to ramble.
While saving people and fighting a battle, every second counts.
In an emergency, Luke did not intend to waste any time.
But to stabilize the condition of Kaguya and Alise, who were looking at him with the same gaze, Luke still spoke while making his move:
"Whether you can be saved is for me to decide, the injured just need to lie down quietly, stop talking nonsense."
Luke reached into his waist bag, using it to conceal his action, and pulled out three bottles of crystal-clear potion from the 'Portable Pocket'.
Because there are unpredictable beings like gods in this world, Luke was not as casual as he was in the Asterisk city.
He never let anyone know about the 'Portable Pocket', a piece of space equipment, not even Ais.
"That monster is not targeting us right now; you can rest assured and lie down."
Perhaps sensing a threat from Luke, the monster did not immediately attack them after the impact and roar subsided but made another choice.
Actually, for Luke, just now was the best opportunity to eliminate it, but Alise and the others' injuries could not be delayed further.
If he had chosen to pursue the monster while it was heavily injured, Alise and the others might have died.
"Ais, I leave the treatment to you."
"One bottle per person, have them drink it, then stay vigilant for the monster's sneak attack."
After handing over the three precious potions from the main god space to Ais, Luke turned towards the direction where he sensed the monster.
Alise and Kaguya's gazes also followed Luke's figure.
At this moment, they somewhat understood Ryuu's feelings.
The helplessness and the agony of being unable to do anything continuously gnawed at their hearts.
Fortunately, in their opinion, Luke still had a chance to win since the monster had been heavily injured by them.
Without its shell, claws, tail, and with decreased mobility, that monster seemed not so terrifying anymore.
Unfortunately, things were not as simple as they had imagined.
The smoke and dust stirred up by the bombardment had also mostly settled by now.
However, what appeared before everyone, as the dust cleared...
Was an unscathed monster, having recovered to its prime.
Leaning on the rubble, Alise looked incredulously at the monster representing death in the distance in disbelief.
"That monster still has regenerative... ability?!"
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