The snake-headed long staff in Arlstraxx's hand emitted a dark glow, except for the snake head's two eyes, which shone an eerie red. Spell formation was formed before it exploded into countless bone arrows. The bone arrows rained on everyone.
Arlcard's rapier danced and destroyed all the bones that came at him. The Ice Demon Fiend did the same with his skeletal wings that revolved around and protected its body. Jack, who was gaining the upper hand against Spring Crown had to stop and deal with these bone attacks.
Therras and his ten wolves tried to dodge with their speed but the bone arrows were like homing missiles. They continued to chase after their targets. Therras didn't suffer much because of his high HP and defense. The wolves weren't so, their HP went down drastically.
Arlcard and Ice Demon Fiend lunged forward at the cardinal. The cardinal seemed to be a ranged magic type. They tried to bring him into melee. The Ice Demon Fiend threw several ice balls as it approached. Arlcard also threw darts that looked like shadow bats.
Arlstraxx's one arm extended forward. A round shield appeared and blocked all these attacks. Before Arlcard and Ice Demon Fiend arrived, Arlstraxx opened his mouth. A shrill cry was heard as a ring of dark aura radiated out. The dark aura hit his two advancing opponents and rooted them in place.
Spell formation appeared again before his snake-headed staff. Ten rays of thin lightning shot out with blinding speed. Two hit Arlcard and Ice Demon Fiend. The other eight targeted Therras and the wolves. Seven out of the ten wolves that were hit by this lightning ray were killed. Therras fared better as it never stopped moving, the lightning ray barely scrapped its body. It didn't receive the lightning ray's full damage.
Ice Demon Fiend received the full brunt of the damage. It lost massive HP. Not only that but its defense was also lowered and it was paralyzed. Arlcard, strangely, didn't show any loss of HP. However, his body suddenly broke apart into countless tiny bats.
The swarm of bats then rushed to Arlstraxx.
"Heh," Arlstraxx snickered. He cast another spell and a dark ball appeared in the swarm's path. The ball exploded before the explosion suddenly reversed and turned into an implosion. At the same time, it produced a strong sucking force in its vicinity. All the bats were sucked by the implosion.
"I don't have the time to play with you!" Jack said to Spring Crown. He used his sword style's burst attack. With six hands performing the martial art, it was not something a normal human could defend against. Spring Crown jumped away dragging Gridhacker as his eight melee weapons and spirit weapon defended against Jack's countless sword lights.
While turning away, Jack slashed and unleashed five wind energies.
"Max-level Wind Slash!" Spring Crown uttered.
Wind Slash attacks traveled at an arc and were extremely fast. It was an attack that was very difficult to be dodged. Yet, Spring Crown's eyes could pick up the trajectories of these wind energies.
His eight floating weapons crowded around the paths of three wind energies. The wind energies crashed into these collections of weapons. The weapons were blasted apart, but they successfully stopped two of the energies, while the third one had its trajectory altered, away from Spring Crown.
For the remaining two wind energies, Spring Crown jumped, letting one of the wind energies passed underneath him. At the same time, he pressed Gridhacker to the ground.
"Hey!" Gridhacker complained. But when he saw the wind energy pass by where he stood a second ago, he turned to Spring Crown with gratitude.
Jack was impressed. There were only two other persons who had managed to dodge his Wind Slash with only their precise body movements. His grandfather and Water Lily, one of Cipher Flight's top echelons. Spring Crown was now the third person to have achieved the same feat.
Still, Jack didn't have the time to admire the feat. He instructed his Spirit Weapon to change into ranged mode and fired its darts at Spring Crown and Gridhacker, keeping them busy. Jack used Charge and came behind Arlstraxx.
"Hey, bonehead. We meet again!" Jack uttered.
Arlstraxx turned around, surprised that someone dared to call him bonehead. When he saw the person who did, his surprise turned to displeasure.
"You! Meddlesome outworlder!" Arlstraxx's hand grabbed towards Jack as dark fog burst out following his grabbing motion.
However, Jack split into multiple shadows before Arlstraxx's dark fog touched him. The twenty shadows Jack had turned into came at Arlstraxx from multiple angles.
Seeing the attack, the dark fog came back swirling around Arlstraxx's body. Every time Jack's shadow was about to strike Arlstraxx, the dark fog cushioned the attack. The damage from Jack's Hundred Shadow Strikes was halved.
"Let me capture you again," Arlstraxx uttered.
Jack sensed mana gather underneath his feet when his twenty shadows coalesced back into himself. He used Roll and moved away just as the bone prison that had caged him in the past appeared where he stood. With his mana sense, it won't be so easy to catch him off guard again.
Arlstraxx cast a spell and a bone whip shot out from his free hand. Jack used Shooting Dash and evaded the whip as he moved away.
"Come back here!" Arlstraxx yelled. His body floated forward while his whip continued to lash and tried to catch Jack.
Gridhacker, who was busy defending against Jack's Spirit Weapon's dart, noticed the other blue dot on his radar started moving.
"No, don't move away from the shrine!" Gridhacker called Arlstraxx.
"Stay back! It's hard enough trying to keep you alive!" Spring Crown scolded and held Gridhacker back. Gridhacker had tried to advance just now. Spring Crown's spear had been busy hitting Jack's spirit weapon's small darts. His Weapons Festival had ended and he only relied on his spear and his own spirit weapon to block these fast-moving and relentless darts.
Arlstraxx didn't heed Gridhacker's call, he continued to chase after Jack. While Arlstraxx was occupied, Therras and Jack's remaining wolves had taken care of the other two natives that were near death. At this time, the front door to the shrine was unguarded.
Brave King burst out from nearby bushes. It was flying. There was a jet booster on its back, allowing it to shoot forward at high speed. It was an upgrade equipment part that Paytowin had installed on his techno golem. Clinging on Brave King's shoulder was Paytowin. The two shot straight towards the Shrine's entrance.
Arlstraxx realized he had been duped. He turned around, but a shadow suddenly enveloped him. Arlcard had been wounded after his bats form received Arlstraxx's gravity attack, but he was still fully able to fight. His shadow lock immobilized Arlstraxx when he was distracted.
"Don't think you can hold me!" Arlstraxx yelled. His body burst with dark fog and the fog negated Arlcard's shadow lock.
Ice Demon Fiend's thick ice beam came at this time, swallowing Arlstraxx and encasing him in a wall of ice.
Paytowin jumped down from Brave King after arriving in front of the shrine. He used his Beam Turret skill. The turret and Brave King shielded his back as he took out a key Myson had given him. It was the key to the shrine. He inserted the key and the shrine's door slowly turned transparent.
The ice wall which imprisoned Arlstraxx erupted with a loud sound. Pieces of ice were scattered everywhere.
"Impudent insects! Move away from that shrine!" Arlstraxx shouted as the black fog enshrouding him turned into tentacles and swatted everyone around him. He also cast the bone arrows spell again. Numerous bone arrows shot at Paytowin.
Paytowin's beam turret shot its beam at the incoming bone arrows but they were too many. Brave King rushed forward and used the new skill it got after Paytowin installed the unique-grade Power Core of Courage. Its body shone and then erupted with a powerful blast. All the bone arrows were disintegrated by the blast. Even Arlstraxx's fog tentacles dissolved when they were touched by the blast. Arlstraxx was unable to advance.
The delay allowed the shrine's door to completely become transparent. Paytowin lunged inside. Once he did. The door became solid again, blocking everyone else from entering.
"You cretins!" Arlstraxx shouted furiously. When Brave King's powerful blast subsided, Arlstraxx immediately rushed forwards. His fog tentacles knocked Brave King away and destroyed Paytowin's beam turret. He then hit the shrine's door again and again with his fog tentacles, but the door didn't budge.
He looked back with a savage face. "I will slay all you dogs here!" He uttered menacingly.
Jack stepped forward. Arlcard, Therras, and Ice Demon Fiend by his side. Brave King had also stood back up. Although Arlstraxx was at the same level and grade as Garland. Jack didn't think the cardinal was at the same power level as the lightning dude. Arlstraxx didn't exhibit any mana sense or mana manipulation ability. Furthermore, Jack and the others had all become stronger from the time they fought against Garland.
"Don't look down on us, you creepy f*ck! Who will slay who is not yet known," Jack shot back.
