"Grimdawn!"
Carvel uttered in recognition, his wary gaze falling upon Eren's face.
In contrast, Eren's attention remained singularly fixed on Naya's form. The growling wyvern at Carvel's side seemed almost an afterthought to him. Focused and seemingly unaffected by Carvel's presence, Eren's intent shifted to Naya, and with a snap, he summoned forth his miraculous healing ability.
Instant Reset!
Naya's wounds underwent a remarkable transformation, rapidly knitting back together as Eren channeled his ability. As in the case of Renita, he fortified his healing with the rejuvenating power of the Ice Fairy's Kiss potion, enhancing the recovery process.
"No!"
Carvel's anguished cry echoed through the air as he discerned Eren's intentions. With Naya and Birmond already defeated, Carvel's victory seemed secured. He could ill-afford to let Eren undo the damage before his eyes.
Roar!
A guttural roar, mirroring Carvel's frustration, erupted from the wyvern positioned behind him. Driven by its determination, despite its injured wings, the creature leaped into the sky, flapping with a furious energy, its massive form casting a shadow over the battleground.
Intent on preventing Eren's interference, the wyvern, named Akass, hurtled towards the duo with malicious intent, preparing to unleash a fearsome Draconic Breath.
Eren met the wyvern's advance with a resolute focus. His eyes underwent a mystic transformation, the once-white canvases adorned with intricate crimson runes, swirling into the formation of fiery-red irises.
Soul Sense + Sedating Gaze!
In a heartbeat, a potent surge of spiritual energy radiated from Eren's gaze, encompassing both Akass and Carvel. Unlike before, there was no agonizing aftermath of bleeding eyes; instead, the wyvern felt the impact, its consciousness wounded under the weight of Eren's ability.
But the narrative didn't conclude there. Materializing from thin air, an assemblage of serpentine forms, born of fused elements, manifested, entwining around the wyvern's limbs and torso.
The serpents, guided by Eren's mastery, homed in on the grievous wounds inflicted by Birmond and Naya. Their fangs found purchase on exposed flesh, injecting Eren's mana into Akass's system, thereby initiating a fierce foreign mana invasion. This intricate concoction of fused elements made for a hostile presence, a persistent intrusion that Akass's draconic resilience found difficult to immediately purge, despite its robust constitution.
Carvel bore an even harsher impact than Akass. Succumbing to the influence of Sedating Gaze, he dropped to his knees. A surge of unbridled rage surged through him, like a torrential force that sought to dismantle everything in its path. This vehement onslaught originated from Eren's fusion element serpents, which injected the essence of wrath mana into his being.
A tempestuous anger engulfed Carvel, directed both inward and outward. He berated himself for his protracted struggle against Birmond, despite the formidable might lent by Akass. Indignant at his own vulnerability in the face of Eren's gaze, Carvel's frustration reached its crescendo, fueled further by his perception of Eren as nothing more than a presumptuous upstart.
Eren's ocular ability, Sedating Gaze, had progressed significantly since his attainment of Master Rank. It now permitted him to weave spells into its influence.
Typically, a Ranker's spellcasting domain was delineated by a sphere of influence, its potency being inversely proportional to spatial separation. This radius of effect was strongest when near the caster and diminished as the distance expanded. Certain spells required close proximity, while others demanded advanced preparation before deployment. Naturally, exceptions and variations existed, but generally, proximity to the target facilitated effective spellcasting.
Eren's refined ocular prowess defied these conventions, granting him the Ability to cast basic spells within the strongest sphere of an opponent's influence.
While he was currently limited to simpler spells due to his mastery level, this method demanded a significant outlay of his spiritual energy. Despite its toll, it was worth it as it could allow him to catch his enemies off guard during crucial junctures.
An ear-splitting roar.
Akass snapped himself out of Eren's illusion within moments. However, the wyvern's capacity for flight had been severely compromised during these fleeting seconds. Helplessly, the creature plummeted to the ground, a trajectory bound by its own momentum. With a resonating thud, its colossal form crashed to the earth, dragging across the terrain, eventually halting just a mere 80 meters from Eren's position.
'Fuck!'
Eren's lips curled into a muttered curse as he gripped his head, his fingers digging into his scalp. Although he managed to evade the previous backlash from using his ocular ability on a wyvern like Akass, the manner in which he wielded it exacted a toll in the form of a pounding headache.
Yet, this minor inconvenience paled in significance, for Naya's life was preserved. The ebbing current of her vitality had stilled, her uneven breaths signaling her existence in this realm. Though grievous wounds still marred her form, she had traversed the precipice of mortality.
Nevertheless, she remained ensnared in the bonds of unconsciousness, mentally and spiritually drained, an expected consequence.
Eren grasped the fact that Naya's precarious mental state must have driven her to wield intent-based magic beyond her inherent limitations. Her spiritual resources had dwindled to near depletion, mirroring the state of her mana reserves. Her inner sanctum, her Soul Space, bore scars, rendering her unlikely to awaken for a span of two to three weeks, should she endure till then.
The Faustian Contract that had intertwined Naya's fate with Birmond's had run its course, and Eren pondered the fate of the demon fragment housed within her. The fragment's subsequent path remained uncertain; it could persist within Naya, exert its dominion by transmuting her into a wholly demonic entity, or perhaps slumber within her depths.
The eventual trajectory depended on Naya's psyche and the contract's terms.
'For now, let's save her and think of complicated things for later,' Eren ruminated silently, resuming the process of healing Naya before straightening himself.
"Human! You dare wield your spiritual force against me!"
Akass, the wyvern, bellowed, the resonance of his outrage echoing across the terrain. Taking wing once more, the draconic mana beast surged into the heavens. His volatile might surged forth anew, triggering eruptions of molten lava from subterranean depths around Carvel.
These fountains of lava ascended like coiling serpent necks, solidifying into coursing streams that bore down upon Eren. Freed from the shackles of ice-element magic that once opposed them, these lava dragons vaporized obstructions in their path, their fiery gaze unrelenting.
"This fucking overhyped lizards! Their arrogance is thicker than their hide. Someday I'm gonna go on a hunting spree, butchering every one of their ilk that dares to fucking look down on me like this," Eren seethed with disdain, his words dripping with contempt, as his gaze shifted to the impending catastrophe drawing near.
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AN: Sorry for the delayed release. I'm currently dealing with a minor workout injury that's affecting my typing speed.
