Boom!
A blast had taken place on the battlefield only a few meters away from where Eren was standing. He knew that killing any soldier in his current condition was impossible for the time being.
He was surrounded.
There were too many rankers for him to even try to engage with any of them now. Still, he had made most of his time by executing four Ace soldiers and critically injuring the fifth one. This feat had been made possible because of his early prediction of the ambush.
Eren alone had killed four Ace ranker soldiers without sustaining any injuries. Only hands were bloody. His clothes had remained spotless amid the short but intense mini battles he had executed while enhancing his reactions with Sedated Perception and Stunning Speed almost the whole time.
He had to admit that the army had geared up these soldiers too well. They were a challenge for him because of their artefacts. For example, he couldn't sense the assassin that had come to attack him from behind at all.
It was only because he anticipated the move that he could kill him so quickly. Plus, he was also getting threatening vibes from Stephan's Warhammer. That's why he had maintained his distance from him. He had used the tank as bait to injure him with the potion bomb. Because he knew the guy would be able to dodge the bomb easily with his speed.
Eren had to stop his kill streak now. That's because he couldn't execute his lightning or fire element spells anymore. The rectangular mana layer seemed to have produced its intended effect.
There was a stalemate happening right now that quickly turned into a stare-down. There were around 30 pairs of eyes focused on Eren. He only looked ahead in front of him towards the person he had seen before– Clinton Claho. The guy was looking hatefully at the butcher. As if he was the one who had ambushed Claho's team while they were doing heroic deeds for the kingdom of Edinburgh.
Claho and Eren did not say anything to each other as they observed the night's silence while maintaining a sufficient distance. The rest of the soldiers were waiting for Claho's orders.
The squad leader decided to take things slow to minimize any further casualties on his end. He had seen with his stretched mana sense the sheer explosive nature of the butcher. He would tear through many of his soldiers before they could subdue or kill him.
Claho regretted targeting this monster. He and Kelmar had just thought of having fun while taking a bit of vengeance on Eren for their personal satisfaction. Had he known things would turn out like these, he would have never offended Eren when the meeting took place for the first time near the city of Osan.
'What is it, Layla? What is stopping me from executing any of my spells?'
Eren asked Layla while he remained silent on the outside. He had thought the times of mortal danger were behind him for the time being when he got out of Purgatory. But the situation hinted in the other direction. He was targeted by two cultist organizations as soon as he had come out of the separate dimension.
But even that wasn't enough. Now he was getting targeted by Claho for a reason that didn't make sense to him. The things happening to him were starting to piss him off. He was not completely stable after Reen was taken away from him anyway.
Eliza's presence and the mark of the seven sins had burdened his mind even more. And now these things had finally made his cold-hearted attitude crumble into pieces. A bubble of rage was building within him. Stephan had misinterpreted his smile during the earlier battle. It wasn't the smile of joy. The butcher's smile was a sign of suppressed rage and all the negative emotions getting riled up in his mind.
'It's an element restrictive array. Since they restrict two types of elemental spells, it could be called array integration. You can't use your mana for any of your lightning or fire element spells while trapped inside the array.
The good thing about this array is that it is not restrictive to a specific person. That means you won't find any lightning or fire element ranker on your opponent's side. The problematic thing is that…'
'Let me guess. They must have considered that. The rankers that had been sent at the perimeter to keep the array active are either lightning or fire element rankers. Since they have to keep the array active, they don't need to cast any of their spells anyway.
In short, I'm basically a dud while this array is active. Can… Can you do something about it? Is there a potion that can lift the restrictions?
Eren asked while keeping his Sedated Perception active. He had activated it so he could have more time to think while he conversed with Layla. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly, she could keep up with his enhanced perception.
'I'm afraid potion alone won't be able to cut it this time, Eren. I can make a potion to make your body compatible with a filtered mana source and make you absorb the same through the pendant. That way, you could use the filtered mana source to cast your spells.
But the source of mana needs to be outside the mana layer created by the array integration. And I'd need a supportive spatial array to tap into the external mana source.'
Eren wasn't interested in Layla's description. He asked, narrowing his eyes on Claho.
'Answer clearly!'
Eren kept his response short which indicated his urgency and irritation at the same time. Layla sighed and took a moment to ponder before responding.
'I can do it. But I'll need the E-Rank space-element artefact that you won inside the dungeon. I might damage it a bit if not completely ruin it by using it as the eye of a spatial array. But I don't think you'd complain about it at this point.
Plus, I'd have to stay inside the pendant to keep the spatial array running.'
Eren smirked before asking another question.
'Do whatever you want. I want to ask something else before we do this though. Can't we use that broomstick of yours to make our escape from this whole thing?'
Of course, Eren didn't like his odds against so many enemies who intended to take his life. The most sensible solution for him was to run away from the whole thing if he could help it.
Layla responded with a voice that spelt helplessness from her end.
'Sadly, we can't. You'll have to get out of this mess by wading through it.'
AN: The 400th chapter finds Eren in a pinch. Milestone chapters are always special that way, Lol. I won't keep on hold for long though. The closure to volume 02 of VEH will be uploaded soon. Another good news is that we won't be taking any breaks. Cheers!
