"TIME TO FLOAT!"
As soon as it said this, the bony jaws of the Skeletal Dragon Lord opened up, and an immensely concentrated pool of energy began to slowly converge inside it.
It formed an orb—blackish purple in color—that seemed to hold all of chaos inside it.
All of this happened in an instant, so before anyone could even think of making a move, the corrupted sphere was done forming.
All that remained… was its eventual trail into the world.
~BOOOOOOM!~
The orb erupted as it descended upon the parties who witnessed the catastrophe.
The crowd knew, by instinct, what the incredible energy that rained down on them was.
It was Miasma—enough Miasma to melt all their bodies until not even their bones were left. The best case scenario would be them turning into a grotesque sight like the Guildmaster's corpse.
To call that the best was, however, incredibly dubious.
Needless to say, only certain death awaited.
*********
'Damnit!' Adonis' widened eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he saw the powerful beam of destruction ready to drown everyone in its concentrated corruption.
'I won't be fast enough to summon the Divine Sword and stop that!'
He had taken too long to recover from his initial shock and to pull himself together. The latter was still not a complete process, but he had enough sense to think about the current situation that they were being faced with.
Any moment now and everything around would be engulfed in dense Miasma.
Whether the Skeletal Dragon was looking to kill everyone or turn them into Undead was still unknown to him, but Adonis knew just how deadly this blast was.
Even he couldn't take it head-on.
'I could use [Absolute Defense], but he'll just shatter it!'
Plus, the greater the range of his defensive barrier, the less dense it would be. Merely at face value, the incoming blast seemed to be of the same caliber—if not a step lower from—an Absolute Skill.
In essence, if he spread his barrier to save everyone, there was still a chance that the dome would crumble and everyone would die.
What if he tried to save only a select few? That would surely make his shield denser, but… who was he to decide who died or lived?
How would he even go about deciding that?
Stuck between making all of these choices, all in a split second, as the beacon of devastation approached, Adonis found himself too paralyzed to take action.
He could only stare and shake in all his powerlessness.
Then—
~WHOOOOOOSHHH!~
—The Adventurer who was just right beside him launched himself up into the air, tightly gripping his blade as the sword became massive in size.
He was now wielding a sword that was three times over twice his size, coated in a surge of energy that anyone would deem impossible.
Then, with a loud voice, he made his decree.
"CHAOS JUDGMENT!"
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!~
The power from Jet clashed with the corruption that pressed down on him. It nearly crushed his body, to the point where he even had sprays of blood gushing out from all the parts of his body.
Still, he did not relent.
"I can't hold it off on my own!" Jet yelled, gritting his teeth as his energy fought to keep the darkness above.
"Help me, SEBAS!"
As Adonis heard this, he didn't realize it when his body moved and his legs propelled him upward.
Stretching out both hands, he concentrated his Mana at the center and released the greatest amount of Light that he could summon at once.
It burst forth; an incredible beam of golden energy.
Combating the darkness were Adonis' bright golden hues of light and Jet's bright white and blue radiation of energy.
Combined together, they created a synergy that exploded upwards, quickly defeating the power that would have annihilated them all.
And so, in that moment, they were able to win.
~THUD!~
Jet collapsed to the ground, completely drained, while Adonis ended up landing on the floor right next to him.
He was on his knees, a little exhausted, but not to the point of being invalid.
"Jet…" As Adonis stared at Jet, realizing from his whitened eyes and unmoving body, that he was already out of commission.
Thankfully, he was still breathing.
That meant he was just unconscious, not dead.
"… Thank you."
With a smile on his face, Adonis pushed his tired body to rise up. A look of determination played over his countenance, and he gritted his teeth as looked at the creature above.
"NOT BAD. BUT… I COULD JUST TRY. MAYBE A LITLE HARDER THIS TIME…"
Adonis didn't smile at this statement, but he also wasn't displaying his previous hesitation either.
His body oozed with sheer confidence, and with his resolve fully strengthened by Jet just moments earlier, he felt something rise up inside him.
It was the strength to do more—to transcend his limits.
"You can try, but it won't work." As Adonis said this, the Skeletal Dragon chuckled a little, though it might have as well been an earthquake.
"SUCH CONFIDENT, IMPUDENT WORDS. YOU MUST BE QUITE CONFIDENT IN YOUR ABILITIES, HUMAN…"
It was only at this point that Adonis leaked out a small smile and shook his head.
"No. Not really."
"AND YOU THINK MY ATTACK WON'T WORK?"
"Not if we can help it…"
A brief moment of silence engulfed the room and further confusion filled the Skeletal Dragon Lord's face—though it was a little difficult to see.
"WE…?"
All of a sudden, like silhouettes rising out of Adonis' shadows, all eight of his comrades appeared behind him.
Alicia, Billy, Belle, Eric, Justin, Clark, Trisha, and Rey: they all stood with wide smiles on their faces.
Even Snow stood among them, its furry hands folded as it stared at the Undead entity with determination.
"Yes. We…" Adonis stretched out his hand, and something began to appear atop his palm.
Shining brightly, along with his own smile, the object emerged.
"We can stop you!"
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Thanks for reading!
