Chapter 1589. Tracking the Hidden Enemy
Hashi was nearby. He was about to land another sneak attack when Tiemezzys was occupied but Jack beat him to it. He was now staring at Jack in disbelief. His mana sense also couldn't detect Jack. This level of mana concealment was what made him believe he was the best assassin in the world. He found it hard to believe there was another person who had the same expertise as him.
Jack's mana concealment had undergone a huge upgrade due to his practice using the Chalice of Blood. By learning how to camouflage his mana to infiltrate the artifact, he also learned how to mask his mana to make it appear as if common mana in the air. This practically made him invisible to mana sense.
Even though Jack managed to land the powerful hit, he had brought himself too close. He was Tiemezzys' primary target. Tiemezzys ignored everything else and lunged at Jack.
Jack was just about to cast Ghost Form but Tiemezzys beat him by casting cancel magic. He was grabbed by Tiemezzys' massive hand. The dragon's jaws soon followed. After three rapid chompings, Jack died.
The last clone turned into the real Jack. This one was still firing Illios Stare at Tiemezzys. It was past twenty seconds now. The Illios Stare was dealing maximum damage each second.
The others also never stopped their offensive while Tiemezzys was preoccupied with Jack. His life was below half already. The dragon was alarmed when he learned about his HP. He never expected this band to pose such a menace. He did think about fleeing, but he thought he still had enough time to finish Jack off before he was forced to take this shameful act.
He stared at the one remaining Jack. He was weighing the option whether or not to take the risk.
Giant Ragorth was in his way. Hashi also never stopped harassing Tiemezzys from the shadows. These two were always the main combatants against the dragon. With the effect of the divine might potions, the two were able to go toe-to-toe with Tiemezzys, allowing the others the leeway to land their attacks.
Tiemezzys also had a problem utilizing his mana manipulation because of Elayne's constant mental attack. He had to use mana manipulation to protect his mind. Hence, he was unable to use it during attacking or defending.
After reviewing the situation, Tiemezzys decided to risk a bit more before splitting. He lowered his body into a crouching position. Almost the entire bottom part of his body was touching the ground. While he was doing that, he was leaving himself open. Almost everyone doubled their offensive effort except those in the front line who had mana sense. They could sense Tiemezzys' aura spiking. Due to that, they moved away instead.
The dark ground below Tiemezzys suddenly alighted with a bright yellow color. This brightness spread abruptly and covered almost the entire ground within this space. Everyone suddenly felt their steps becoming heavy.
"The… The ground turns into sand!" Amy exclaimed.
Everyone understood that what was beneath their feet was no normal sand. This transformed sandy ground seemed to pull at them. The gravity that affected them had doubled or tripled. Everyone had difficulty moving. Even those who were flying above like Robinson also felt his body getting pulled to the ground.
While everyone was still flabbergasted by this situation, Tiemezzys vanished into the sand.
"Burrowing!" Jack remembered this was the same ability as the Grim Sand Drake from the past.
The Illios Stare was disconnected once Tiemezzys burrowed into the ground. Eternal grade didn't show up in God-eye monocle, so Jack couldn't tell where the dragon was now. Even his enhanced mana sense couldn't pierce too far into the ground to detect Tiemezzys' whereabouts.
Gold dragon wings sprout on his back. He flew up to put some distance from the sandy ground, but his flight speed was slow because of the increased gravity. Before he was even three meters from the ground, he sensed something approaching the ground below him.
The sand below him exploded. The huge jaws of Tiemezzys were about to swallow him whole.
Jack was ready. He had been forming a spell formation while he flew up. He cast Teleportation and appeared way up in the air. Tiemezzys couldn't prevent it since his Cancel Magic was still in cooldown.
"No flying…!!" Tiemezzys roared while casting a spell. It was the no-fly zone. Everyone lost their ability to fly and fell to the ground. In Jack's case, he fell directly toward Tiemezzys' mouth.
When Jack was about to cast Wind Jet, he found himself being hit by a spell. He disappeared and reappeared on the ground away from Tiemezzys. Jack found that it was Good Janus who had teleported him to safety.
The others resumed their attacks when Tiemezzys resurfaced, but he soon vanished into the ground again.
"Damn it! He must be heading toward me again," Jack lamented. Without the ability to fly, he wasn't confident he could dodge the next attack.
"Everyone, follow my sound attacks!" Elayne shouted. She had one hand on the ground. Her other hand was playing her zither's strings. Several sonic darts shot forward and hit a spot on the ground. "He is under there!"
The others didn't question how Elayne knew Tiemezzys' position. They attacked the spot where Elayne had indicated. Jack's royal agents were the first to act, but not all of them had ranged skills that could penetrate the ground.
Howard fired his Soul Penetrating Arrow. Robinson used Ki Blast. Lindsey stabbed into the ground using Drilling Thrust. Alfredo cast Spears of a Hundred Calamity, and Nerd cast Sunlight Spear.
Damage numbers appeared indicating that they hit something down there but those damages were greatly mitigated.
It was Eyrene's spell, Revolving Ice Saw that had a better effect. Her spell conjured a circular saw made of ice that revolved at high speed. It sliced through the sand neatly and dealt continuous damage as the ice saw cut its target repeatedly.
A booming sound was heard as multiple sharp rocks erupted from the ground, hitting those who had attacked the ground. All of Jack's royal agents were blown back from that rock attack, including Eyrene.
