The former paladin spits blood onto the ground while Eykad watches her challengingly.
"Time to get serious."
Luysia wipes the blood from her lips, her gaze burning with fury.
She casts a protection spell upon herself.
[BLESS]
The simple spell boosts all her statistics by one point.
The former paladin, having lost the favor of the goddess Chand and thus access to more powerful magics, believes she can make do without them, thanks to Strauss Wagner's seed and her companions' support.
"Kanna!" she shouts at the cleric, her look saying all that needs to be said.
Kanna immediately understands and rapidly casts enhancements on the blonde warrior.
[BLESSED ARMOR]
A spell that increases defense.
[BLESSED WEAPON]
An enhancement that increases attack power.
Luysia Camclair's stats have been further boosted, reaching their maximum potential.
With renewed determination, Luysia charges at Eykad once again, her Silverdark halberd held high above her head.
The dwarf stands his ground, his war hammer gripped tightly in both hands.
Both are prepared to unleash their full strength.
Eykad readily accepts the challenge and surges forward, his war hammer swinging with immense speed.
The air around it vibrates with the power exerted.
Their weapons collide with a deafening noise, releasing an energy shockwave that shatters the once silent temple.
Luysia activates her special oathbreaker ability, [AURA OF PAIN].
A painful aura spreads around her, amplifying the damage sustained by enemies within a two-meter radius. Every move Eykad makes becomes slower and more strenuous as he tries to resist the debilitating effect.
They exchange another series of strikes, with Luysia using her ability to inflict more damage on Eykad.
However, the dwarf is a formidable opponent and manages to withstand the woman's fury.
Then the blonde releases the spell [HERETIC SUFFERING], which envelops Eykad in a persistent aura of pain, causing continuous damage. Every minute, the dwarf suffers further damage, a constant siege on his endurance.
Eykad, however, is not unprepared.
He responds with [MALUS PROTECTION], an ability that negates the negative effects cast by Luysia.
Luysia notices that the enemy has not reused his absolute protection: [SANCTUARY OF WILL].
This leads her to believe that he might not be able to use that barrier continuously, that it might cost a lot of mana, or that it has some sort of cooldown. She needs to confirm this.
Luysia swings her halberd, attempting to exploit an opening provided by the dwarf, but Eykad counters with a sharp blow of his massive war hammer, striking the blade of the blonde.
Luysia is hurled away by the tremendous impact, feeling her arm twist unnaturally, almost to the point of breaking.
"Your metal is weak. Your flesh is weak," Eykad declares, observing Luysia struggling.
[RAY OF FIRE]
Welze casts her fire spell, seizing an opportunity.
A fiery beam erupts from her magical circle, formed by her staff, and shoots like a missile towards the enemy.
Eykad notices the magic and quickly casts his absolute protection.
[SANCTUARY OF WILL]
Luysia has been timing the spell.
If it's a matter of cooldown, this spell requires a few minutes before it can be used again.
Welze's fire shatters against the barrier, dispersing and leaving the enemy unharmed.
"In flames that blaze both fierce and bright,
With trails of fire, embrace our rite.
Burn the flare, spirit of the burning trance,
Answer our call, with your fiery dance."
[TERSIFLARE]
*FLASH*
With graceful movements, Xiaikai twirls her staff, summoning her powerful fire spirit.
Tersiflare appears in all her beauty and magnificence, dancing amidst the flames.
"A weakness of [SANCTUARY OF WILL] is that it doesn't protect against area attacks, only against single-target physical and magical attacks," Kanna reveals, sharing the strategy she has developed with the pink-haired summoner.
Xiaikai nods and commands her summon: "Tersiflare! Burn everything!"
The spirit immediately obeys and begins to spin rapidly on the spot.
As it pirouettes, a fire globe forms beneath her feet.
The globe grows larger, levitating and rising higher and higher.
Tersiflare, with her fiery ribbons, dances more frenetically, balanced atop the sphere of flames.
The sphere and spirit reach a height of about a dozen meters.
[BLAZING DANCING STAR]
Tersiflare performs a backward somersault and, with a kick, strikes the blazing globe.
"Luysia, get away!" Kanna shouts.
With great effort, the blonde throws herself as far away as possible, bracing for the impact.
The fireball is swiftly hurled towards the dwarf.
Eykad watches the sphere hurtling rapidly towards him.
He could break his protective barrier and move away, but he notices Welze, her gaze focused, ready with her staff to launch offensive spells as soon as the barrier is dropped.
This strategy, quickly devised by Kanna Merfal, the cleric observing the battle from a distance, ready to cast enhancing or debilitating spells, puts him in a tight spot.
The blazing star is now very close to the Servant.
Everyone is ready for the devastating impact that is about to happen.
The heat released by the most powerful spell of the spirit summoned by Xiaikai has already filled the temple, and everyone starts to sweat due to the high temperature.
This is the power of Xiaikai Frolich.
[BONE WALL OF SKELETONS]
But just a moment before the impact, a dark energy from an unknown source conjures an imposing barrier.
A disturbing wall made up of bones and skeletons from various creatures rises from the ground, several meters high and a couple of meters wide, defending Eykad.
*KABOOOMMM*
The fireball crashes against it thunderously.
The shockwave throws all members of Strauss's assault team to the ground.
A burning dust of pulverized bones and ash fills the entire temple, making breathing difficult and obscuring visibility.
"Cough... Cough..." Welze coughs as she rises, her expression incredulous.
"Cough... N-necromantic magic?" Kanna wonders, covering her nose from the ash.
Luysia can't believe Eykad also possesses this kind of power.
Xiaikai maintains an impassive look, with Tersiflare returned to her side.
As the ash and dust clear, the dwarf stands unscathed, looking very annoyed.
"QUES! Damn lich! Who told you to interfere?" Eykad, furious, slams his war hammer to the ground in the direction of two figures at the exit of the small temple.
"I saw you in trouble, dwarf."
A voice as grating as chalk screeching across a blackboard.
The horrible sound fills the group with unease.
The speaker is a levitating Servant, clad in black robes with burgundy accents and silver threads.
Hooded, but with an exposed face, it's the skeleton of a dark elf.
The new enemy is enveloped in an aura so dark it's visible to the naked eye, sending chills down the spines of Welze and Kanna.
"A l-lich!" Kanna realizes, aware of how terrifying it can be to face a necromancer, especially a Lich – a being that has forsaken its own life for undead immortality.
Accompanying the necromancer is another Servant, this one with a covered face.
Holding a staff, it suggests belonging to a magic-using class.
Luysia clenches her teeth: "This is bad!"
this whole underworld arc has me concerned. introduced too much mess and power level of things out of wack
@Lachlann
As the author, I apologize if it seemed that way to you. I hope the upcoming chapters can bring some clarity to this mess. The Power Level has definitely risen; we needed a powerful antagonist who could keep up with Strauss.
@MatchaChocolate69 hmm, i need to elaborate. lets get easy one out first
power level - Strauss party average is lvl 2 vs Elf nation that is militaristic and aggresive. queen been playing this for 100+ years. there no way elfs are still in single digit levels. we also seen how helpless Rero was vs Mr. Blonde from only couple disparity in stats. either stats dont matter or you got inflation at single digit levels.
the mess - too many planets aligned here, rifs opened up on Strauss and they lead to exact world from infinite of options that has opposing demon contractor. contractor who magically has two blasts from the past for our characters(Rero, Bicrista) and fellow oathbreaker for Luysia.
where you go from here? - i though we where moving into church/nightclub but now... MC obviously wins and gets entire kingdom to rule with while also having to fight a crusade on Earth who has his name. its going school arc>world conquest with no inbetween. if MC destroys dungeon core and you take away his new kingdom then... its just nasty, make him work hard to get nothing for it
tone shift - we had two characters directly hostile to Strauss, Luysia and Deedee. Deedee doing significantly more damage to Strauss and yet gets added immidietly while Luysia had build up and suffered before joining. also master-servant contract somehow about master caring while first skill being OBEY. are we doing friendship is magic now? i expected Strauss to somehow frame Deedee as nutjob, have all her allies turn away from her, maybe go prison? only then when she at lowest and questions if she really mad from hearing gods in her head does Strauss appear with offer. that would be more inline with demonic side then silly rape scene we got. also no need to cover up school destruction with surpise rifts thus transitioning into managment of nightclub
last one was bit of mess. have to go work, no time. do with this as you will. Vol 1 was 8/10 while Vol 2 sharply fell to 4/10.
@Lachlann
Thank you so much for this feedback. Your opinion as reader is very important to me.
I read all the comments of my readers.
Actually, I didn't want to respond, and I wanted the upcoming chapters to do so, but given the effort you put into writing this precious comment, you deserve an elaborate response and some "reassurances."
Power Level
Leveling is very complex in this world. Deedee and Kanna, two expert Ventures, are at Level 3. Few humans are probably at level 4 or higher.
Strauss's group has leveled up significantly thanks to Strauss's OP class abilities.
Azherie has been playing this game for over a hundred years, but not with the same Servants.
Azherie's servants are not so far off in level from Strauss's group because they are not the Servants Azherie has had from the beginning.
This is a plot point that will be explained progressively. Isn't it strange that she only has seven?
The Mess
Well, I understand it might seem forced. Indeed, it is not random. It is part of the theme I summarize in "We'll Meet Again," a philosophical concept I intend to explore in the novel, a sub-theme that takes up the cyclicity of events, reincarnation, transmigration, and the war between the forces of creation and destruction.
In this arc, several characters, including those you mentioned, will complete the finale of their narrative arc to achieve full maturity.
Where do you go from here?
Here I don't know how well to answer you. Should I subvert expectations and make the MC lose? The ending is not yet written, and it will be the characters who get there, based on their choices and how they react to the events that will happen.
If he wins, he gets money and power, but are they enough to assert himself in the world? There are several factions, the church is one of these, and then there are the gods and demons.
There is a balance of power that is not easy to destroy.
Tone Shift
Deedee's narrative arc is not yet concluded, but every woman is subdued in a different way because each of them is different.
The only way to subdue Luysia was to destroy her, while Deedee was looking for someone who could subdue her. They are different.
As for the Master - Servant contract, on obeying and caring, it is something that will be dissected and is part of Strauss's growth/deterioration as a character. I only say that it could be just an illusion of the MC to absolve himself, or it could be the exact opposite.
I want to thank you for taking the time to elaborate your opinion, which I find very valuable.
I'm sorry to have disappointed you, but the volume is not yet concluded, and I think I can lift that low rating.
I ask you to trust me and wait until the end, maybe I'll disappoint you again, but the story's knots will be unraveled.
I'm proceeding slowly precisely because it's a crucial point of the plot, and I'm struggling because it deserves attention.
And we'll get to the nightclub! In the third volume.