The attack from the golden bell engulfed Souta, Alice, and Rowan. Rowan didn't care about getting hit by his own attack. He knew that his body was several times tougher than Souta and Alice. That's the reason why he decided on this risky attack.
The two could regenerate using that strange ability and Rowan knew it. The only reason why he did this was that he finally noticed Souta's recovery ability wasn't as fast as before. It means that there's a limit to this ability.
They couldn't keep regenerating forever.
...
Franklin arrived at the site where some people were fighting. He saw a man carrying a dwarf and Yenxa in his arms while avoiding the relentless attacks from the witches.
"So, Yenxa are here..."
He muttered as he looked around and saw other people fighting the witches. They must be that woman's subordinates, the woman with a strong presence beside Souta.
There was only one thing he could say to them and the witches.
Strong.
They were far by stronger than any opponents he had fought in the Great Astley Empire. He, alone, wouldn't be able to fight even a single witch. He would be able to hold himself but it will be hard to defeat an S-rank with his current A-rank power. Even if he used his parasite it would be a difficult fight.
Well, it doesn't matter for him. It wouldn't be thrilling if his opponent was weaker than him. He flashed a wide grin before he charged himself towards the Yenxa's group.
"They are far by stronger than us so use our advantage, our numbers, to eliminate them!"
He shouted as he ordered the people behind him.
Eztein, who was avoiding the attacks from S-rank witches, suddenly stopped as he saw a group of people charging forward. Even the witches stopped moving to look at the new group.
"Is this our reinforcement...?" Eztein muttered in a low voice while observing the new group. He confirmed it when he heard the man leading the group shout Yenxa's name.
"Yenxa, stop using your ability! It will affect our comrades and it will become disadvantageous to us!"
Franklin shouted as he noticed that Yenxa kept releasing her poison gas. The poison gas must have knocked down the weaker enemies below B-rank. Even the witches at B-rank and A-rank were affected by her poison but they were strong enough to endure it. The only good was that her poison lowered the battle power of those B to A-rank witches which were good for them. It means that even several C-rank experts would be able to give the single A-rank witch a good battle.
'Her poison is already strong enough to affect A-rank so if she grew stronger in the future, she would be able to knock down those powerful S-rank. What a terrifying ability? But we didn't need it right now. We have hundreds of C-rank experts on our side and they wouldn't be able to handle her poison for too long.'
Franklin said inwardly as he clenched his fist and gathered his mana. He used his fist to blow the poison gas in the field. If Yenxa didn't stop using her ability then it wouldn't matter even if he blow the poison gas. There were several S-rank experts here and a single wave of their hand would be enough to disperse the poison but Yenxa didn't stop releasing her poison. The only thing to stop the poison was to kill her.
"Old man... I understand..." Yenxa looked up and saw Franklin's face.
"So they really are on our side..." Eztein glanced at Yenxa who was in his arm. Yenxa rarely spoke to people and she wouldn't even talk to him or Gragas. So he was quite surprised to hear her say a word.
Sigh.
He was glad that they had reinforcement. It seems that he would be able to take it easy from now. He was exhausted taking care of the heavily injured Gragas and Yenxa while getting chased by a bunch of S-rank.
Ehe!
Franklin smirked as he collided with an S-rank witch.
Boom!
The collision caused a shockwave and his figure was blasted away. As expected of an S-rank, even with the boost from that woman, he couldn't take this lightly. So he had to use everything that he could to thoroughly fight some strong witches.
In an instant, layers of black flesh covered his body. It boosted all of his ability to the limit and it made him possible to fight against people above his level.
"Let's start the damn party!"
Franklin's figure flashed once again and he collided with S-rank witch hundreds of times in just a few seconds.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Souta's forces used their numbers to fight the powerful witches. The number of witches was low because Yenxa already eliminated the fodders with her ability so the only remaining witches were above C-rank. The difficulty in fighting the witches got easier all thanks to her ability. Right now, everyone could focus on ganging up on the strong witches that endure the poison.
Damn, her ability was really useful in this kind of situation.
Franklin smirked as his hand turned into a blade. He thrust it forward but the witch in front of him simply blocked his attack.
"I like it."
He said while looking straight into the witch's eyes.
The witch knitted his brows together but was taken by surprise when he saw Franklin's hand contract and then several tentacles came out. The tentacles turned into blades and they slashed towards him.
He tried to retreat but it was too late for him. The blades already caused dozens of cuts on his body. He was having a hard time following his opponent's movements. It was too unpredictable as this was his first time fighting a person that could change the appearance of their body parts.
"You are stronger than me but you're having a hard time predicting my movements... Ehe~ don't even try to predict it."
Franklin laughed as he swung his left foot upward.
Swoosh!
The witch lowered the two-meter silver metal pole in his hand to block the kick. Strange things happened again before it landed on his soul weapon. Black spikes with red veins protruded on the foot and the savage spikes were long enough to hit his body.
"Shit! What the hell is this?!"
The witch cursed and he moved his body away but he noticed that a tentacle was wrapped around his left wrist.
"Eh~"
Franklin pulled back his other hand. The witch was flung towards him and he used his dominant hand, which had the appearance of a blade, to injured this witch.
His power level was lower compared to his opponent and he had to use a huge amount of mana in his every attack for him to damage this witch. In terms of overall stats, the witch was higher than him but the witch didn't have great combat skills. It was plain and simple. It feels like they haven't fought a life-and-death battle before.
And he was right, the only good thing about these witches was their high power level. They were holed up in this place for decades and the new generation of witches haven't experienced real battle before.
This was the reason why Eztein could hold himself against the attacks of several S-ranks with Gragas and Yenxa in his arms.
'If they really didn't have battle experience then the difficulty would go lower once again. Even if that's the case, it still hard fighting an opponent with higher stats.'
Franklin said inwardly as he kept attacking the S-rank witch in front of him. No matter what the witch in front of him was still an S-rank and one wrong move could kill him.
Suddenly, he felt danger above him. He looked up and saw a woman with a huge hammer in her hand coming at him.
Swoosh!
Franklin kicked the ground to retreat but the woman already swung her soul weapon. The huge hammer caused a violent wind to sweep everything in front of her.
"Fuck! This girl is mad!"
He laughed as the wind smashed his body away. It tore his flesh and blood spurted out in the air.
Boom!
His figure was like a meteor as it crashed on the ground creating a wide and deep crater.
"Ah, what's wrong with that girl? Her strength and speed are several times higher than that man. Is she at the higher level of S-rank? At intermediate? High? Or maybe at peak level? No, that woman didn't possess the aura of a peak level like the other witches here. She's definitely an intermediate level."
He muttered to himself while staring at the sky. From what he understands, the strongest witches here peak S-rank and those peak S-ranks were currently fighting the twelve people on the other side.
His wounds were regenerating as he stood up and saw that the girl was saying something to the man.
"They are dead."
He muttered in a plain tone while looking at the two. He sighed to himself before he turned around to look at his next opponent.
"Next time, don't interfere in my fight, Isabella."
Suddenly, a cut appeared on the neck of the woman and the man. The cut opened and blood gushed out like a fountain.
"Ugh!"
"W-What?"
The two were too stunned as they didn't realize what was happening. They raised their hands and placed them on their neck only to see the horrific sight on each other's necks.
[Cutthroat]!
[Blend Presence]!
[Stealth Energy]!
[Hunting Prey]!
Isabella appeared behind the two holding two daggers in both of her hands. She looked at Franklin and puffed her cheeks.
She said, "But Souta said that we should finish this as soon as possible. I actually don't want to fight but I don't have a choice so I can only do this. Have you seen how strong these people are?"
"You just killed them yet you are saying that they are strong," Franklin said without looking at her.
"I just caught them off guard. If I fought them head-on then I will suffer a horrible defeat. My techniques aren't great for battle like that." Isabella said.
"Yeah, yeah, you're techniques are suitable for being an assassin. Even I would've died in your hands if I didn't know the tricks behind it." Franklin waved his hand before he jumped away to fight strong witches.
"Hmph! This old man! I will tell Souta that he didn't follow the order later! I should help Yenxa for now..." Isabella looked around before her body turned into shadows and blend into the ground.
