Lirien had already braced herself for the worst, she didn’t know why she felt that overwhelming sense of death the moment she stepped into the clearing, but it didn’t matter.
That was the final blow that shattered what was left of her resolve.
She’d already counted herself dead at this point, but when she turned her head to look, what she saw weren’t those creatures already close, leaping at her. No, quite the opposite, they stood a dozen meters away, watching everything with fierce expressions, not daring to advance.
It was as if they were afraid.
’Eh? What’s going on?’ She retreated a step back from the clearing.
That sense of death vanished instantly.
She could still feel it, but it was already far more bearable, she felt like her heart would have given out if she’d stayed under that strange pressure even a few seconds longer.
But it seemed she wasn’t the only one feeling that pressure.
Was it possible they were also afraid to get any closer? That was what she thought, and she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved. She was safe, at least for now.
She looked around, and what she saw was a battle raging on every front, dozens, hundreds of strange beings made of shadow attacking, some strong, others a bit weaker, but all of different types and species, and then that other being in the sky, which didn’t seem finished yet, since it soon unleashed another strike, this time landing dead-center on the flower at the top of the plant.
The blast from the explosion was so strong she felt a slight tremor even from where she stood.
She took no damage, but it made her realize that staying here wasn’t safe either, though what else could she really do?
She looked at the large groups of creatures in the distance that didn’t dare advance, thought about it for a moment, and finally, with a deep breath, calmed her mind as she made a decision.
The ring on her finger began to glow, and soon a bow appeared, its design fairly sophisticated.
It was an E-rank weapon, provided by her family. She’d avoided using this bow at the start of their expedition, but here, she had to pull it out.
She looked over the various creatures, and after a moment’s hesitation, drew an arrow, infused it with mana, and fired.
It streaked forward and reached one of the beings in an instant, striking it right in the head.
That immediately provoked a reaction from the rest of the group, they started roaring and thrashing, several of them charging forward at once.
At the sight, Lirien’s grip on the bow tightened slightly, but she didn’t back away.
She stayed where she was, watching the creatures approach, and just as they reached five meters from her, they seemed to stop, their bodies trembling as if they’d hit some kind of wall, and immediately began backing away.
At that sight, Lirien’s slightly trembling hand finally seemed to steady, and she calmed down as well.
’Seems like I don’t need to worry about them advancing,’ she thought, and without hesitation drew another arrow, infused it with mana, and fired.
The reason she was doing this was that she’d realized she couldn’t afford to stay in this stalemate for who knew how long.
She wasn’t sure how the battle would go, so she needed to prepare for the worst.
So she decided to test the ground, attacking those creatures, and just as she expected, they charged immediately, but instead of reaching her, they stopped halfway and retreated.
That confirmed it, whatever the reason, fear or something else, they wouldn’t cross a certain line. And that was all she needed to know.
She started firing, arrow after arrow, weakest targets first, working her way up. Fewer of them meant better odds of getting out alive.
Even the strong ones, if they could only take hits without attacking, or didn’t dare to, would eventually fall under enough sustained damage, and sure enough, with three mana-charged arrows, she brought down one of those things that was clearly stronger than her.
All headshots. The creature seemed to try dodging after the first hit, but with enough attempts, she managed to finish it off.
At the sight, a triumphant smile spread across her face.
If there was one thing she wasn’t short on right now, it was time, and with her ability to use mana, she could keep firing that vast number of arrows well before it ran out.
She wouldn’t be able to kill them all, that much was obvious, but she’d definitely take out a solid number of them.
On top of that, there was something else.
Her gaze fell on the pearls dropped by her few victims so far, and she immediately fired another arrow, this one not charged with mana but with a thread made of mana, which, once it landed near one of the pearls, wrapped around it and yanked it straight toward her.
She caught it in her hand. It belonged to one of the stronger creatures she’d just killed, and it was packed with more than enough energy to restore all her reserves, and even help her advance.
"Well, this situation isn’t so bad after all." she murmured, realizing that with this reserve of energy she could effectively keep creating arrows by drawing on mana, making it possible to keep attacking without worrying about running out.
In essence, she’d found the perfect balance to keep attacking without consequences, with absolute consistency.
Unaware of what was changing behind him, Evan, already deep in the thick of battle, advanced at blinding speed, leaping into the air while cutting through every vine that came at him.
He kept his blade constantly infused with void energy, which proved perfect for countering the avatar’s attacks, themselves saturated with void energy.
With Ash providing distraction, and Shadow attacking with countless subordinates thrown into the fight, exploiting every opening to deal damage, the three of them were steadily wearing the avatar down, which was starting to take more and more hits.
That seemed to bother it enough that a furious roar tore from its mouth at the center of the flower, while its entire stem began to shudder and shift.
Both clones’ domains had already collapsed, and with them, a good portion of both their buffs. The same wasn’t true for the plant’s, which held on a while longer, though Evan could feel it was close to giving out too, after all, it was still just an avatar below Overlord rank, and couldn’t hope to sustain something like a domain indefinitely.
It simply consumed too much energy, and eventually took its toll on whoever maintained it.
He knew that well, and so did the avatar, which wasted no time and switched tactics, no longer attacking with its many vines, but instead retracting them, releasing all of its head-shaped fruits across the field.
"Hm... What’s it trying to do now?"