Haa haa haa! Finally, the golem was done for. Now, it was time to deal with the shaman, but before I could even complete that thought, I felt a shiver run down my spine.
My instincts screamed at me to move, and without hesitation, I used fire to lift myself into the air.
Whoosh!
The flames erupted beneath me, propelling me upward just as the ground beneath me began to writhe and twist.
Spikes, black as coal, shot out of the earth, their tips glinting in the faint moonlight. The sound of the spikes bursting forth was like a deadly symphony, a chorus of crunching earth and scraping stone.
Crunch! Scraaape!
As I hovered in the air, I took in the carnage that surrounded me. The battlefield was a charnel house, a gruesome testament to the destruction that had been wrought.
Dead bodies littered the ground, their forms twisted and broken. Some were pierced through by the spikes, their bodies impaled like gruesome trophies.
Others had been turned to ash by some of our magic attacks, their remains nothing more than smoldering piles of dust.
And then there were those who had been squashed by the golem's rampage, their bodies crushed beneath its massive feet.
I felt a wave of nausea wash over me as I took in the sheer scale of the destruction. "Fuck," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the sound of my own ragged breathing.
If this was the result of a battle between a few C-ranks and D-ranks, I feared for how a battle between S-rankers and above would end. The thought sent a shiver down my spine.
Snapping out of my reverie, I saw Joseph standing on one of his light swords, its blade shining with a pure, crystalline radiance.
Viona stood on another, her eyes fixed intently on the shaman. Joseph looked at me, his eyes burning with determination. "Let's finish this," he said, his voice low and deadly.
I nodded at his words, my heart racing with anticipation. With a swift motion, I flew at high speed towards the shaman, the wind rushing past me with a deafening Whoosh!
The shaman turned to face me, its staff pointed at me like a spear.
It began firing different spells at me, the magic bursting forth from its staff with a series of loud Bangs! and Zaps!
I dodged and weaved, my body blurring as I avoided the attacks by mere inches.
As I arrived before the shaman, my sword extended for a slash, but it clashed with its barrier.
Clang!
The barrier felt even stronger than last time, its surface rippling with a malevolent energy.
I looked down at my abdomen area, seeing the shaman's hand reaching out to touch me.
I immediately flew back, my body shooting backward with a swift Whoosh!
But the shaman followed right after me, its eyes blazing with an unholy intensity.
"You," it said to me in a menacing tone, its voice dripping with malice. "You're the bigger threat here."
But before it could get any closer, a bunch of light-made swords rushed at it, barraging its barrier with a flurry of swift, precise strikes.
The sound of the swords striking the barrier was like a deadly symphony, a chorus of Clangs! and Zings!
The shaman flicked its fingers, sending black flames at Joseph with a swift Fwoosh!
The flames rushed at Joseph with incredible speed, their tips burning with a fierce, malevolent energy.
But Viona blocked them with her shield immediately, the fire simply fizzling on her shield with a soft Sizzle!
Then, utilizing her incredible strength, she hurled her great sword at the shaman.
The sword shot through the air, its blade shining with a deadly light.
Just as the great sword was about to hit the shield, I leapt at the shaman, reappearing at its back with a frosty aura on my hand.
The air around me seemed to grow colder, the temperature dropping with a swift Chill! as I prepared to strike.
My aim was simple: to capitalize on the momentary weakness in the shaman's barrier.
There was no way Viona's great sword wouldn't do damage, even if it was just temporary.
The barrier would shake and become unstable. It would be a brief window of opportunity, a mere two to three seconds, but it was all I needed.
As Viona's great sword clashed with the shaman's barrier, the explosion sound rocked the surroundings, a deafening BOOM! that sent shockwaves through the air.
The air seemed to ripple and distort, the sound of the impact echoing off the nearby pillars.
Immediately, I sent my hand towards the shaman's location, hoping to freeze it solid with a blast of Frostbite.
But before I could even make contact, I felt something strong and solid whip me with so much force it knocked the air out of my lungs.
The impact was like a sledgehammer, a crushing blow that sent me flying downwards through the air, my body twisting and turning in a helpless arc.
I crashed into one of the pillars with a bone-jarring Thud!, the sound of my body impacting the stone echoing through the air.
My vision blurred, my head spinning with a dizzying vertigo.
I struggled to catch my breath, my lungs burning with a fiery intensity. What had just hit me?
Raising my head, I gazed up at the clearing smoke, my eyes locking onto the shaman's body.
Its form was covered in intricate runes, the symbols pulsing with a dark, malevolent energy.
Its staff, still clutched in its hand, was stretched out in a position that suggested it had just launched a devastating attack.
The air was heavy with the acrid scent of smoke and ozone, the smell of magic and destruction hanging heavy over the battlefield.
I looked down at my sword, its blade etched with slight scratches and a small, tiny crack.
The damage was a testament to the ferocity of the battle, the sword's metal strained to its limits.
Well, can't blame it, I thought wryly. I had been using this sword for a while now; it was bound to get like this.
But my amusement was short-lived. I felt something dripping down from my head, a warm, sticky sensation that seemed to seep into my skin.
I touched my head, feeling a jolt of pain as my fingers made contact with the wound. I looked at my hand, seeing it stained with crimson. My blood. I was bleeding. Shit.
It seemed the shaman had done fighting with magic. It was strengthening its body now, using those mysterious runes to augment its physical form.
I had wanted to avoid this, but oh well. At least we had two [C-] ranks on our side, I thought, looking over at Jessica and Joseph.
Joseph, ever the aggressor, leapt from his light-made sword, slashing at the shaman with a swift, deadly motion.
But despite being in mid-air, the shaman twisted its body, dodging the slash with an unnatural agility.
It countered with a powerful kick, sending Joseph flying into one of the pillars with a loud Crash!
Three arrows then flew at the shaman at high speed, causing an explosion upon contact.
The blast shook the air, sending shockwaves through the battlefield. When the smoke cleared, the shaman was gone. Shit. Where is it?
I raised my head, looking up at one of the pillars. The one Katherine was perched on.
The shaman appeared behind her, its staff swinging in a deadly arc. "Katherine, look out!" I screamed, my voice echoing off the pillars.
Katherine barely blocked the staff with her bow, the force of the swing sending her flying from the pillar.
I immediately flew to her aid, the flames fueling my launch with a soft Whoosh! I caught her in mid-air, my arms wrapping around her to break her fall.
Shit. I was running out of mana. Looking at the shaman, I thought, What are those runes? How is a C-rank monster this strong?
How were a shaman and hobgoblin capable of gathering this many goblins under them? The questions swirled in my mind, but I knew I had to focus on the battle at hand. We couldn't afford to lose.