Chapter 650: Hermes Staff
After gaining a huge boost in skills and access to an unending supply of mana and world energy for free thanks to Nirvana Armor and Hermes Staff… Armin was no longer a weak link of the group.
Previously, he could make use of flora and fauna around him but saints always battled high in the air. So there were a lot of restrictions on how he could face an opponent in an open battle. But now… things finally turned in the Pathfinder general"s favor.
"Give the princess to me and I won"t have to kill you." spoke Volka, the blue wolfkin saint archer after he nocked an arrow, giving one last warning.
"I"m tasked with protecting the princess. So if you want to touch her… you"ll have to do that over my dead body." replied Armin without the slightest hint of fear in his tone.
"Ah, so even weaklings look down on me now I see." said Volka and the next moment, he raised his bow towards the two suns in the sky and shot the red glowing arrow.
Shoot!
Whoosh!
The arrow went as far as 2 kilometers in the sky in just a few seconds. Saint archers were no different than cavalry themselves. Their skills, range and the damage output imbued with world energy were on a completely different level. Now, Volka was no longer holding back on his skills.
Shing!
Soon, the arrow reached its peak height and started descending towards Armin and Venessa"s position in the sky.
But as soon as it started its descent… the arrow burst on the spot but instead of getting destroyed, it dispersed in the 1 kilometer radius in the form of small splinters.
"Not good." spoke Armin and quickly cast a yellow-colored protection barrier over himself and Venessa inside the wooden sphere. He could sense what was about to happen already.
In the following moments, all of the thousand splinters quickly started transforming and every single one of them started increasing in size as they turned into 10 meter long arrows made of condensed and highly volatile red glowing arrows like raindrops turning into lightning bolts.
That one arrow launched by Volka turned into thousands of ma.s.sive arrows in just a dozen seconds.
Rumble! Rumble!
Armin quickly used Monarch of the Forest skill. This skill was his own exclusive ability he gained after Kahn merged Armin with the legendary rank monster Ashokvatika in Verla.s.sen fiefdom close two years ago.
It enabled Armin to telepathically control and restructure plant life as well as wood elemental creatures as their supreme monarch.
Crack!
Crack!
The ground instantly started cracking as hundred of trees, their long and deep roots coiled together and started ascending in the sky after forming a 500 meter wide protective net covered with wood, leaves, vines and even varieties of flowers.
This veil-like net erupted and quickly covered them under the protection barrier, forming another layer of defense.
BANG!!
Shatter!!
Under the intense barrage of those destructive and powerful arrows, the first protection barrier started cracking and shattered in matter of minutes.
Thud!
Tuck!
Tuck!
The arrows that survived the previous collision struck the newly formed defensive net and clashed against the defensive veil of plant life. But soon, Volka noticed that not a single one of his arrows could pa.s.s through.
SKRAA!!
ROAR!!
Crackle!
"What the…" before he could make any sense of it… a completely different scene appeared in front of his eyes.
Because while he was focused on breaking through Armin"s defense, Hundreds of Treants, a wood elemental creature came into existence out of nowhere.
Their bodies were mostly dark brown and green while covered in leaves and vines. However, unlike the normal treants… their eyes glowed green.
"Impossible! Are these created by him?" Volka asked himself in a terrified tone. He didn"t even sense when these creatures appeared around him in the battlefield on the ground.
BOOM!!
Volka hadn"t even managed to come out of his daze but suddenly, over a dozen 50 meters tall and ma.s.sive Tree Sentinels formed around him and rose high in the sky.
Dozens of glowing green orbs left Armin"s body and shot themselves inside these giant tree sentinels that were twice the height and width of the Colossal t.i.tan.
Just like how Ceril could create his Six Guardians undead giants from thousands of bones of his undead army… Armin too could now create such gigantic creatures using the trees and plant life within the 15 kilometers radius.
But this wasn"t the end…
Flap!
Flap!
SCREECH!!
Hundreds of bird-like wood elemental monsters with wings created from gra.s.s and leaves soared high in the sky.
Finally, Armin who had been hiding under the wooden protective veil revealed himself.
Armin had no attacking skills… but now, he could create an army that can defend, attack, fly and control the entire battlefield.
"You… You aren"t a human, are you?" asked Venessa who saw everything from behind Armin.
"Apart from my master… no one here is a pure human. Not even that Hero of Fire." replied Armin to the princess as he sensed a very dangerous and horrifying aura from Axel who was currently facing Kahn in the middle of this 50 kilometers radius barrier.
Venessa also gazed in Kahn"s direction and asked herself.
"Kahn… who the h.e.l.l are you?"
Soon, a fierce battle started between Volka and Armin"s army of t.i.tans.
Volka faced attacks after attacks from the tree sentinels that were being created every pa.s.sing minute by Armin while from the sky, many 10 to 20 meters hawk-like monsters with glowing green bodies attacked him from all sides relentlessly.
In the end… Volka was only an archer. He only had an advantage in range and firepower but had no defensive abilities or hiding skills in a battle happening in the sky…
He was currently facing over two thousand monsters who were resurrecting even after he killed them with his archery skills and abilities.
Meanwhile, the main boss of this army of t.i.tans was watching this whole battle from behind the army of ma.s.sive creatures like the Founding t.i.tan.
Volka was losing his mana and world energy as time pa.s.sed while trying to evade sharp vines with thorns on them, making them akin to torture whips; but Armin wasn"t slightly fazed even though he was creating more and more monsters.
Stab!
Rip!
Finally, the three meter Volka was struck and pulled towards the ground by a vine whip created by a tree sentinel.
"Argghh!!" he screamed in pain as the big thorns pierced and cut deep inside his body. Soon, the other tree sentinels The vines quickly coiled themselves around the blue wolfkin"s body as well, strangling him completely as all he could do was struggle.
For some reason, even these tree sentinels were too strong to the point that even a saint like him couldn"t free himself using sheer physical strength.
"I"m sorry! Please let me go! I will never come in your way! Please spare me!" he quickly started pleading for mercy as if it was his second nature whenever he got into trouble.
"Tch! That is such a beta mindset. At least accept your defeat and die with dignity, would you…" spoke Armin in an unimpressed tone.
Compared to Volka who ran out of most of his mana and world energy reserves and could no longer fight at his peak because of the constant onslaught from Armin"s army that attacked the archer from both ground and sky while surrounding him from every direction…
Armin didn"t even break a sweat and his expression was full of vigor and elation despite spending a great amount of his own mana, world energy and life force to create this army that could even face 10 thousand opponents easily.
Because Nirvana armor and Hermes staff were pa.s.sively generating and replenishing all of his power sources without him even having to do anything.
Thousands of Treants and Tree Sentinels cleared the way as Armin flew towards the now entrapped Volka who had a sullen and terrified expression.
His body was riddled with wounds and the wounds caused by the thorns were making him bleed excessively. Little did he know that his vitality was being sucked by these thorns and vines, making him anemic and weaker with every pa.s.sing moment.
"Any last wish?" asked Armin as he floated in front of the first stage saint archer.
"Please… let me go. I will do anything you tell me." spoke Volka in a pleading tone, no longer having any sense of superiority against the Healer.
"Denied." replied Armin and placed his right palm on Volka"s forehead.
"Arrgrhhh!! Noooo!!" shouted Volka in agony and struggled to break out of the vines relentlessly, his body trembling and shaking haphazardly like a fish out of water. Because at this moment…
Armin was absorbing in Volka"s entire life force.
Soon, the ripped body of the wolfkin started becoming thin as if he was losing all the blood and muscles present inside. Within a minute, his body started shrinking and hardening as if not a single drop of blood and water was left in his entire being.
Crack!
Crack!
Volka"s skin and bones cracked as he finally lost his life with horrified eyes while Armin drainrd his life force with a smug smile on his face, turning the former into a dried husk.
Before the battle started… Volka wanted to be in command of his fate for once and didn"t want to be a side character in his own story anymore. He wanted to survive regardless of the cost and thus planned to take Venessa hostage and use her as a bargaining chip no matter which side this war shifted on.
However, this harmless Healer from the enemy team turned out to be a world calamity himself who could create an army using just plants and trees on the battlefield.
Volka died with regret in his heart because in the end…
He still died as a background character.