"You finally grace us with your presence?" Jack asked.
"Forgive me, I need to meet my opponents in combat," Mihos replied. "You people seemed safe enough, until now. That's why I come."
"I'm kidding, mate. I'm glad you are here. Let's deal with these scums, eh?"
"Gladly!" Mihos said before unleashing a deafening cry. The enemies around them received damage and were reeling back.
'Crap! Do you have to do that so close to me?' Jack complained as he felt his ears hurt, but then he received a notification that he had received a 100% boost in movement speed and attacking speed from Mihos' Lion Roar.
'So, that roar not only affects the enemies but gave benefits to allies as well? This Mihos is truly an asset in a team!' Jack thought.
Not long after, Leavemealone came and gave his support. He had destroyed twelve supply carts, two more than what Jack asked for because he thought that since Jack asked for ten, that should be the number of supplies Jack destroyed. He didn't want to lose to Jack. Yet, as they received extra manpower, more enemies also came. In the end, all they could do was just hold the line.
Mihos took the brunt of the enemy's force. He was much more ferocious compared to when he fought with the players earlier today. He had activated his ancestral possession. The lion-head apparition was above him as he dove into the enemies' midst. He swung his large greatsword violently while his apparition clawed at anyone who came near.
Jack and the others tried to support him as best as possible while keeping the enemies' attention to themselves, allowing others to continue destroying supply carts. Many of the enemies were killed by this rampaging champion. Jack lamented that the enemies inside this ancient battleground provided no soul. Otherwise, these high-grade enemies would have given tons of souls to his Container of Souls.
As they fought, they heard the sound of a horn. Jack's Dragon Eye, which could see far away, saw the eternal-grade commander, Herald of Greed, standing up. Jack had always allocated a portion of his attention to that sitting commander.
"It's time already," he uttered as he sent the message in the party chat, telling everyone to double their effort, that this simulation would end soon.
After giving his notice to everyone, he used Shooting Dash, heading towards Herald of Greed who had now turned back and was floating towards the combating soldiers.
"Peniel, get ready!" Jack said to her flying sidekick.
"Leave it to me!" Peniel replied. Jack had discussed a plan with her beforehand.
The others were stunned seeing Jack going towards the most powerful and unkillable being in this simulation.
"Lad, what are you planning?" Jet called out.
"I want to test your theory!" Jack replied.
As Jack got near, he saw several of the black-armored elite guards break away from their ongoing combat and come his way. There was no way a low-level outworlder like him to pose a danger to their commander, but it was still their duty to stop anyone that tried to approach.
When they almost came into range, a golden figure suddenly slammed onto one of them at high speed. It was Mihos who used his enhanced jump assault. A shockwave bubble radiated out from his body and pushed all these elite guards back.
"You have guts, I'll join you!" Mihos shouted to Jack. He then turned to those elite guards he had pushed back and yelled, "Face my Sword of the Braves!" Eight golden swords came out and struck them, forcing them back even further.
Jack was glad for the assist. He used Charge to increase his speed. Mihos did the same. He kept himself by Jack's side and struck anyone that tried to come near.
The floating black-robed Herald of Greed was now back on the ground. As before, his skull-head staff started to draw runic symbols in the air. When Jack and Mihos approached while he was still casting, a large black-armored mutated human stood before them. It was a level 50 mythical-grade elite guard.
Jack cast Myriad Ensnaring Chains. But as the ground glowed and the crimson chains started coming out, the mythical-grade elite guard struck a spot on the ground. He was using the same method Mihos had used to cancel Selena's Flame Turbulence. The crimson chains that had only emerged halfway, fell back to the ground and crumbled to dust.
"Allow me the glory of facing this opponent!" Mihos shouted passionately as he rushed forward and met the black-armored mythical-grade elite guard in direct combat. Jack took a roundabout way to avoid their battle. But because of that, Herald of Greed finished casting his nine-runes spell before Jack arrived.
"Peniel, now!" Jack uttered as the ground as far as he could see turned bright red.
He now experienced where his entire vision was covered by dense flame for the second time. The difference was, this time he was not immediately sent to the void space like the last time. This was because Peniel had cast Invulnerability just as Hell Inferno erupted.
Jack continued to run in the direction where Herald of Greed was last seen. The flame was still burning everywhere in his vision. The fire around him felt as if liquid, he felt like he was running inside water, there was pressure everywhere which slowed him down. Even with Peniel's invulnerability which protected him from the pain, he could still feel the extreme heat.
As he waded through the hellfire, he was worried that this spell lasted longer than three and a half seconds, which was the duration of his invulnerability. But the fire soon vanished, everything was visible again but the scene was now replaced by a desolate wasteland. Even the supply carts were all gone already, Jack wondered if this world's history truly happened like this or this was just in this simulation? If so, then even if the golden knights were all wiped out, they still achieved their objectives because the enemy's commander had destroyed his own army's supplies?
He didn't have time to ponder this question because another scene was taking his attention. The Herald of Greed in front of him was casting another spell. Jack used Sword of Light while running forward. Herald of Greed lifted his left hand, then with that bare hand he caught the crescent light. He clenched his fist and the crescent light broke to pieces as if it was a tangible thing.
Six-runes spell on his staff was completed while Jack was still shocked by the way the Herald of Greed blocked his Sword of Light. Herald of Greed pointed his staff at Jack who was now right in front of him. Jack tried to use Flash Step to move away but his whole body was getting gripped by a powerful force. He couldn't move even a finger.
Herald of Greed lifted his staff and Jack's body was lifted into the air following the staff's movement.
"It's Telekinesis," Peniel informed.
Jack didn't have time to ask about this spell's details as he experienced it firsthand. He felt the pressure around him increasing greatly. He felt as if he was being crushed by an invisible hand. Perhaps he was, because damage numbers appeared one after another above him without Herald of Greed sending any attack at him.
In a short time, Jack's HP was depleted. Herald of Greed swung his staff downward and Jack's body was slammed hard onto the ground beside him. Jack failed to even touch his opponent.
Herald of Greed turned around to float away, but as his feet started to part way with the ground, he sensed something from behind. The one he had just put down and was bereft of mana a moment ago had suddenly filled up with mana again. He abruptly turned around, a spell formation started forming. But at the same time, a large cross-shaped dark energy engulfed him.
Peniel had cast Second Life before she cast invulnerability, right when Herald of Greed started casting his Hell Inferno. Once Jack came back to life, he didn't waste time and immediately used Devouring Cross. It was fortunate that he was already right beside his opponent.
The Devouring Cross hit. Herald of Greed suffered over 2,000 damages. Jack was astounded, it was only half of the normal damage this skill should produce. Even though this Herald of Greed was eternal-grade, he was only level 50 and was also a magic user which usually had a poor defense.
Herald of Greed's spell formation was not slowed down the slightest by Jack's attack. The spell was completed and a huge spear of fire pierced through Jack's body. He was forcefully dragged away by the spear. The flaming spear brought him almost a hundred meters away before detonating into a massive explosion.
Jack then found himself in the void space. The other nine were already there waiting for him, including Mihos.
"Holy crap, you didn't die from that Hell Inferno spell?" Paytowin asked Jack when he appeared there.
"How do you survive?" Jet asked.
"She can make me invincible for a few seconds," Jack answered while pointing to Peniel.
"So, do you manage to hit that commander?" Jet asked again.
"I did!" Jack replied with a wide grin.
A voice was then heard, "Congratulations on your effort in the ancient battleground. Brave participants, These are your scores."
