The defenders on the wall watched in disbelief. Eoranth who was up in the sky also couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. There was no way those outworlders survived his Annihilating Soul Beam.
Both out of disbelief and curiosity, Eoranth dove down to where his still surviving targets were. Once he touchdown on the ground, he understood.
"Illusion…?" He uttered. At this distance, his mana sense could sense that there was no one there. The outworlders standing on his feet were just mirages.
"Grrr…," Eoranth growled involuntarily. It was ages since someone dared fool him like this. He had wasted his strongest attack but failed to take out the enemy's head.
He turned his head around, trying to locate the audacious insects who had played him. His dragon eyes quickly located his prize in the far distance.
The enemy's ruler stood there with his aides and their platforms, exactly like the mirages on his feet. The image down here was a projection of that place.
Eoranth flapped his wings and lifted off. His marks won't escape him twice.
*
Master saw the huge dragon coming his way in the distance. With that speed, it won't take long.
The spell Master used to trick Eoranth was cast from a rare magic scroll, Mirage Transmission. The spell created a projection of the area around the caster onto another place in the distance. The maximum range to place the projection was five kilometers. The duration of the projection was two hours.
After his army arrived, Master used this magic scroll to project his command base in a far-away position near Messephyria's main gate. Since it was at night, the defenders weren't aware there were two command bases. Master then headed to this fake command base and used the Necronomicon's Army of Darkness ability. The light created by the legendary book convinced everyone that the command base was there.
Afterward, Master returned to the real command base under cover of darkness. Arriving at the real command base, his mirage was also projected at the fake base, tricking the defenders that he never moved away from that spot.
Master sent a message to Spring Crown, "Have you found the weak points? I don't have all night here."
"Give me a break, will you? This capital is insanely huge. It will take me hours to completely circle its wall. Luckily, we only targeting half of this wall."
"If you can't find a weak point along this half of the wall, we will have to go and test the other half."
"I'm not looking forward to that. I've already identified several parts with weaker defense. Give me ten more minutes, I should complete my round by then."
"Five minutes," Master replied and ended the chat.
He looked back at Eoranth who was approaching. The guild guardian from World Ruler, the manticore, tried to block Eoranth's way. The Manticore was swiftly smacked to the ground.
Eoranth didn't even spare the manticore another glance after it was down. He continued his flight. He didn't want to waste time killing the manticore.
Master took out his Liguritudum ruler badge.
"Time to put you to work," Master uttered. The badge shone a bright red. As it did, a loud shrill cry was heard.
Eoranth slowed after hearing the cry. He recognized the cry. He stopped and looked up into the sky.
The dark sky slowly turned crimson before becoming bright red. It was as if a small sun suddenly appeared up there.
Those who could spare the time to stop fighting looked up into the sky as a giant ball of fire descended from the clouds. The clouds didn't part way when the fireball descended. They were burnt instead. The clouds were like pieces of paper that were slowly burnt outward.
The ball of fire then radiated a light so bright that everyone had to look down or shut their eyes, including those in the middle of the fighting.
The bright light then dimmed to a reasonable level before everyone could have a good look again.
The ball of fire had turned into a bird with extremely large wings and long tails. A bird that seemed to be made of flame.
"Suzaki, I never thought I will see the day when you agree to be a country guardian," Eoranth said to the flaming bird.
"The offer is just too tempting to reject," The bird, whom Eoranth called Suzaki, replied. The flaming bird slowly descended and put herself in Eoranth's path.
"Haha," Eoranth laughed. "Immortal one, do you think you can win against me?"
The players underneath the two colossi started running away. They were afraid they would get caught up if the two started getting physical. But some still took the time to use their Inspect as they ran.
*
Suzaki (Eternal Phoenix, Elemental), level 95
HP: 5,300,000
*
"I don't need to win against you," Suzaki uttered softly. "All I need is simply to keep you occupied."
"Hah! Let's see you try! Maybe I will put your title to test. See if you are truly immortal!"
Eoranth dashed forward. Suzaki didn't back away. The flame on her body intensified again. She turned into a fireball that charged forward.
When the two collided, the space nearby trembled. The vibration through the air could even be felt by those on the city wall.
Suzaki lost this contest of strength. She bounced away after the collision, but she quickly flew back again. Like a giant flaming ball that had a will of its own, it continued to fly back and forth as it slammed itself onto Eoranth.
The speed of the flaming ball continued to increase until Eoranth had trouble following its movements. He had no choice but used his wings as a protective shield.
Eoranth was furious to be forced into a defensive state like this. Behind the cover of his wings, his dragon eyes paid attention to the speeding fireball. His eyes activated the ability to slow down time in his vision. As the fireball came again, he opened his wings and used his chest to catch the fireball, like a soccer goalkeeper catching a striker's shot. His two arms clamped down on the fireball, locking it in place.
He received damage when the fireball slammed into his chest, but the damage was not something that worried him. With Suzaki locked in his arm, the firebird won't escape.
Eoranth then opened his mouth. It shone with soul energy. His soul breath had gone off cooldown.
At the same time, the flame from the fireball in his arms also intensified. When his soul breath was unleashed, the fireball also discharged tremendous fire energy. The two different energies collided at close range and exploded with incredible power that forced the two apart.
Both suffered damage from the exchange but they came to one another again without hesitation. The two clashed without holding back. Each impact caused a tidal wave of energy. When they happened to hit the ground, an earthquake was produced. Those who had put a distance found that it was still not enough, so they ran further away.
While the two titans duked it out against one another, Master received a message from Spring Crown, "Okay I've determined the weakest point along this defensive wall. I'm sending you the coordinates."
