"Uarghh!"
The way Adonis' blade swiftly sliced through the Dragon Commander caused the latter to yell out in agonizing screams.
In one bold, swift move, he had eliminated yet another Dragon.
~FWUSH!~
The final cut through space and flesh sent the childlike Dragon into the realm of oblivion—completely eliminating him and placing all focus on the sole surviving Dragon in the group.
Unfortunately, not even Trisha and Billy's combined attacks were able to place as much as a scratch on the General.
As Eric watched all of this, he smiled wryly.
'Damn… I guess it was her Stats, after all…' Based on what he was seeing, this would be a really tough last act.
He could feel nearly all of his Mana fade away, causing him to collapse on one knee as he breathed heavily.
Adonis was currently darting towards Kar'en, the Dagon General, while Trisha and Billy were being pushed back through her sheer force.
The result was a powerful shockwave that roared in the air while Eric's weakened body shuddered under all of that impact.
Then—
"That's enough…" A certain voice echoed in the air, feminine but ominous. "Enough messing around."
There was an underlying anger in the tone. A sense of exasperation, mixed with stifled frustration.
Before Eric could properly raise his head and understand what the statement meant, the voice emerged once again; but this time, it had new words to utter.
"[Curse Magic: Degeneration]"
The moment those words echoed in the air, a wave of energy suddenly erupted from the point of origin—the Dragon General—and flew in all directions.
Faster than anyone could react… stronger than anyone could have predicted… the wave encompassed everything around her.
Then—
"Puack!"
Billy and Trisha suddenly coughed out blood, their faces drained of all life nearly instantly. At that very moment, their bodies might have very well been paralyzed as they completely froze up and began their descent to the ground.
By the time Eric raised his head to see his classmates, he saw two completely out of commission while the last one—Adonis
—still charged at the enemy with his Divine Blade in hand.
The Hero had a pale look on his face, but not to the extent of Trisha and Billy. Plus, unlike them, who had agonizing expressions on their blood-stained faces, his eyes still glittered with resolve as he advanced.
'W-what…?!' Eric didn't have the luxury of thought.
He had to protect his classmates from harm, which meant he would have to cast Magic despite his currently precarious state.
'Squeeze it out, Eric… to the last drop!' He told himself, gritting his teeth as he pointed at the descending duo, perfectly calculating the speed of their descent with the amount of Mana he had left.
'I won't be able to completely stop their fall, but I can cushion it so that they don't completely die.'
Eric utilized a Wind Spell, using the long-form chant to save Mana Cost and improve efficiency.
The result… was a soft wind that surrounded the two, covering them and causing them to slow down the closer they got to the ground.
Once they nearly touched the earth safely, though, Eric's Mana ran out, so the two were forced to forcibly hit the surface from a meter or two above ground—not a bad deal, considering the alternative.
And, as for Eric.
"Ack!" He puked out blood, feeling his body throb and hurt like it was on fire.
Tears flowed from his eyes as he felt like passing out almost instantly. He trembled, biting his lip so he could endure the pain, yet it threatened to overwhelm him at every moment.
'It hurts… It hurts!' His thoughts kept echoing as his blurry vision struggled to make out everything around him.
Drool, mixed with traces of blood, dripped from his lips as he tried to move.
Billy and Trisha were safe. They didn't look fine at all, and they seemed to be suffering, so he considered their situation a priority.
Adonis was busy exchanging blows with the Dragon General, their clash causing an impact throughout their immediate vicinity.
But, there was someone else unaccounted for…
'J-Justin? Where's Justin?!'
As soon as he had this thought, Adonis was blown away by an attack from the General, and she instantly reached out her hand to fire another Curse Magic Spell in a seemingly random direction.
The result was a scream that echoed from that position, and Justin appearing right there.
"Arghhhh!"
He too became pale and began his descent as a bloody fountain rushed from his nose and mouth.
Eric watched this, his heart racing as his weak body struggled to keep up.
He didn't have enough Magic to save Justin from the fall. Adonis was still knocked back thanks to the General's strike.
However, that wasn't all.
Eric watched as the Dragon General generated multiple spikes; most likely from the same Curse Magic. The spikes were jagged, and they shone bright red, with rusty aesthetic on each of them.
There were five spikes in total—most likely directed at all five of the parties that participated in the plan. Three were already out of commission, Adonis seemed temporarily stunned, and he was completely drained.
"[Curse Magic: Arrows Of Death]." As she muttered out those words, the spikes became much larger in size, and energy began to build up around them.
No one needed to say any more words for Eric to recognize the kind of Spell this was.
'W-we're all going to die if that hits!' His eyes widened.
The ominous energy rose in intensity, and finally… it exploded in power.
~WHOOSH!~
The five arrows of death were fired at the same time.
They raced towards their target, all of them zooming through space while leaking the forbidden energy that was bound to poison their targets and send them to the cold embrace of death as soon as they hit.
Demise was inevitable… or so it appeared.
'Looks like… this is the end of the road for me…' Eric closed his eyes as a bead of tear fell down his eyes and his lips parted.
"Forced Magic Activation: Absolute Interference."
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Thanks for reading!
I thought I'd be able to release lots of chapters today, but there's a blackout here, so it'll be hard once again. I'll try my best to be consistent, though…
