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Chapter 638 - Combat Marathon
🕑 Added 2023-04-08 13:00:05 +0000 UTCOne hour turned into two, three, six, and ten. During all that time, Hera and her friends didn't have a single chance to take a break. Or, at least, not a proper break where all of them could rest. Nimbus would help anyone who wanted to go to the bathroom by carrying them out of the arena to the side and then protecting them while they relieved themselves. It wasn't a pretty job, but it was one that everyone felt thankful for. Another thing that was almost a blessing was the third type of monster that appeared. Instead of being another type of bug, it was a type of rabbit, the size of a Great Dane, with sharp teeth and four ears. Those were called Lionhares, and some of their bodies were currently being exsanguinated so they could eat them later. Sure, in an emergency, they could eat the meat even without this whole process, but then the meat wouldn't taste great. The smell was something that initially made them worried. However, Mylo pointed out that monsters were already coming after them even without the smell, so there wouldn't be a reason not to clean the meat properly.
That wasn't all they did to make their lives easier. Because her court was constantly fighting, Hera was exhausted. The Empress created a small bunker large enough to fit two people and took a nap in the middle of the afternoon, with the rest of the party's approval. She also tried something that she had never tried before. When Hera went to sleep, she left her court out, hoping they would continue moving around and fighting even when their leader was unconscious. She already knew that her blades wouldn't vanish when she slept, but having them moving around was something she had never considered. Thankfully, the plan worked. While the Empress was taking a nap, Lurize, Nimbus, and all other blades continued fighting, but it wasn't all good news. A few minutes after Hera went to bed, all of her court was hit by a debuff. It started with a simple minus 1% to their overall abilities, but as time went by, that percentage kept increasing. After 30 minutes, just before the Empress woke up from her quick slumber, the debuff had increased to -3%. Another big issue was that none of her blades were able to use any skills that required mana while Hera was sleeping. Nimbus, Lurize, and Daskka were not affected by that since they all had their own mana pools, but they couldn't give mana to the flying weapons, even after trying for a while.
After waking up, Hera had to recall her entire court for a few minutes. All of them were tired, but unlike the Empress, all they needed was a few minutes inside the legacy. From what Daskka understood, this happened more because of a lack of mana than from mental exhaustion. Since Hera had to spend mana to summon them, when she did that, it would recover their energies, and the small break inside the legacy would be enough to let them calm their minds.
During that time, Hera activated the Elemental Poison Storm again and took charge of the entrance since the rest of the party was starting to get tired, but even without doing that, they could start to relax a bit. Sometime before Hera went for her nap, the waves of monsters changed. They weren't coming only in a single species but in a mix of Cherry Mantises, Barkhoppers, and Lionhares, and the monsters didn't seem to like each other. It wasn't all the time, but if one of the creatures ended up hitting a different species, they would fight. Thanks to Adriel and Alex's commands, they could trick the monsters into fighting amongst themselves, lessening the burden on the party.
The day continued, and everything seemed to be going well for the most part. No one was getting seriously injured, even when a couple of stray attacks hit them. Despite the large number of creatures, all of them were weak. A simple attack coming from then would only scratch the team, but Hera, thanks to Lurize's defenses and her own Naga Scales skill, would just feel some pressure on the point of impact. Not that she was making a point of being hit. After all, getting used to something like that was a surefire way to get killed. Another problem was that some of the attacks were much more powerful than she expected. The monsters seemed to have some sort of skill that could increase their power, and it was very hard to tell when they were using them.
It was already the middle of the night, while Shane and Mylo were sleeping when a fourth type of monster appeared. However, this one didn't come in a group, but alone. The trees parted as this creature got closer, pushing those massive 200 meters tall behemoths of megaflora to the side and removing some of the roots from the ground. The movement wasn't necessarily aggressive, but it was like a force of nature was passing by, and nothing would stop it. Even the monsters weren't going for the arena anymore. Instead, they seemed more interested in passing through and reaching someplace safe.
'Empress! We have incoming!' Armory called as she noticed that change in the battlefield.
"What are you seeing?" Hera asked.
'I don't know for sure, but it looks like there's something big coming. It's using some of the foliage to camouflage itself,' Armory explained.
"Wait. Is it using foliage, or is it foliage?" Hera instantly thought about the Tumblevines that they had seen earlier.
'Maybe… It's hard to tell in this darkness. Maybe it… Look out!' Armory cried, sending an image of Hera crouching down to dodge.
The Empress did that right away, but as she lowered her body, she realized that Adriel was behind her. Unsure of how far away the attack would go, Hera used her Stone Shape spell to make a wide barrier between her and the elf. Because she had to focus on something else, she wasn't able to dodge the attack fast enough, and a large vine slashed the top of her shoulder as it continued piercing through the wall and almost reached Adriel. Hera tumbled to the side, getting clear from the area where the vine just hit, and looked back to whatever was coming.
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Boulder of Vine - Sultan of the Shrub - Level 30
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The creature, if it could be called that, looked like a gigantic Tumblevine that was at least 20 meters tall. The vines and leaves that were wrapped around this form also seemed stronger than the foliage of the room. It was almost as if this creature wasn't exactly a plant, but there was something more mixed with it. As if there was some sort of polymer covering its shell that would make it much more deadly than the others of its kind. Another stark difference from the other Tumblevines was its color. The leaves, vines, and branches were all in different shades of blue, yellow, orange, and even some red, although it was hard to tell if the reds were just the colors of the leaves or dried blood from monsters.
Hera raised her hand and created an Elemental Poison Storm right above the monster, hoping that it would help weaken it. Bonnie quickly rushed inside the bunker to wake Mylo and Shane up. Because of all the noise, Hera had created a reverse soundproof bubble in that area so those inside could sleep properly, but in a situation like this, it meant that someone would have to go inside it to wake people up. Helena used a Shadow Bind to try to stop the Boulder of Vine, but even now, in the middle of the night, when her spells were even more powerful, she wasn't strong enough to stop the monster on her own. Blue joined in with a pair of cloud hands, trying to hold the massive sphere of vegetation. Yet, it still wasn't enough. Alex jumped to Blue's side and threw a couple of wind blades, trying to chip away at the creature, but to no avail. The blades of wind stopped in their tracks the moment they impacted the vines.
"Bonnie! We need fire!" Hera called, but the researcher was still inside the bunker. Groaning, the Empress turned her head to the Boulder of Vine and called both Edge and Core over. She activated an Elemental Strength spell on both of them while Nimbus used his frozen ash aura to give everyone some increased defense, "Edge. Stay here and help my shoulder. Core, Risky plan. Dive inside those vines and just burn everything. Leave as much lava behind as you can. I don't care if you burn down the entire forest!" Hera quickly said, and the two blades nodded. Core even seemed excited about the idea of burning everything.
What the Empress didn't say was that he probably wouldn't be able to do that. Not with the rest of the forest, anyway. During the day, several spells that could cause a fire were thrown around, but not a single tree was ignited. Another vine lashed out, and Hera jumped away, trying to avoid the attack. She moved while keeping in mind that her shoulder was wounded, but when she accidentally slammed against the wall of the arena, the Empress realized that there was no pain. Looking over, she saw how her armor was damaged, but the damage was mostly there. Only then she remembered that her Wasp armor would take part of the damage before her and that she could use its wings to lessen the damage even more.
"What the fuck is that?" Shane gasped, still with a groggy voice.
"An enemy," Mylo replied while pulling his staff.
"No shit Sherlock!" Shane groaned but pulled a pellet from her pouch and placed it on her sling, ready to fire.
"This is not that great, but it's the best I can do!" Adriel made a circle with his finger, and a golden hula hoop appeared around each member of the party. That was one of his buffs that increased everyone's intelligence attribute by 15%.
"Just fire!" Bonnie yelled as a set of flaming fists appeared around her and flew to the giant monster. Hera joined in, using some different basic elemental attacks, going for the approach of throwing everything into the wall to see what it stuck. Shane started firing, and Mylo created several illusions that would explode near the creature. During all that time, Alex and Hera's court kept sending long-distance attacks at the Boulder of Vine. Lurize also joined with his Venom Blade, one of the few attacks that seemed to deal some damage and not just push the creature back. Nimbus didn't have that option, and as he tried to get close to attack, the vines lashed out, trying to grab him and forcing him to retreat and play defense.
The Boulder of Vine shook, making some of its leaves fall, but before they reached the ground, the foliage went flying at the party at high speeds. Hera, Blue, and Mylo used her weapons and spells to block them, but even with that, a couple of the leaves managed to hit Bonnie and the others. Their injuries weren't that big, but it was already enough to reduce their ability to move around. Shane got a particularly nasty cut on her thigh and quickly started healing it with some basic spells. Daskka noticed that and rushed over to help, but the monster didn't let up and sent in another flurry of vines.
Despite all the spells and all the effort, the creature was still pushing forward, and the party was forced to have their backs against the wall. Suddenly everyone felt a small prick on their necks, and their spells became several times stronger. With renewed strength, they forced the Boulder of Vine to move back, and once Core was finally able to start a fire inside it, the monster started to run away. Hera and the others didn't want to leave it be, but before they could start chasing it, a loud noise came from the staircase as the stone grate was lifted, and the old man walked out.
"Leave it. That is not something we should kill. Not right now, at least. But you managed to fight it off for quite a while. Even some of our best warriors wouldn't be able to do so when they arrived here. Well done," the old man smiled, "Now come. Let's go inside."
"Did we pass your test, or is this another trick?" Bonnie asked.
The old man chuckled, "You have a good head, child. But don't worry. This is no trick. You all passed," he continued walking up the stairs. Soon the rest of the party joined in, still unsure if this was the right thing to do or not.
