Chapter 685 Steel Resolve and Sweat Drops
As soon as the battle against the ten Naga Elders began and Nea established the water domain, the girls who lacked water affinity isolated their enemies so that individual combats wouldn"t interfere with their sisters.
And even though she had reached the Sky Realm just like the majority of the other girls, Jeanne lured her opponent to a high tower outside the Crystal City, seeking to leverage a stable ground as an advantage in the fight.
The speed of the Naga Elder far surpa.s.sed her own, and so, before Jeanne could even get to the tower, she was brutally a.s.saulted by her foe.
*BAM*
She was already antic.i.p.ating a rear attack and summoned her s.h.i.+eld just in time to ward off the blow.
The Naga Elder"s strength was as high as she had expected, leaving her arms numb for a moment from blocking that blow, but still, her radiant s.h.i.+eld absorbed all the damage.
The Naga Elder didn"t allow Jeanne any respite and attacked again, with even greater force.
*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*
The impact of two powerful soul weapons generated incredible force waves, prompting Kylee and Rebecca to fear approaching them while Neola readied Lucien"s old golden bow to strike her opponent from a safe distance.
After blocking several blows in a row, Jeanne was hurled backward onto the tower"s top, just as she had antic.i.p.ated. The spot wasn"t very large but provided her with solid ground, enhancing her stability while protecting her team.
"Jeanne!!" The other girls grew anxious seeing her being thrown back in such a way.
But Jeanne wiped the sweat off her face and quickly hoisted her radiant s.h.i.+eld again. "I"m alright, focus on attacking him while I hold off his attacks."
"Alright!" Without wasting any time, Neola drew several arrows made by Rebecca from her storage ring and fired them at the flanks of the Naga Elder.
Rebecca had created equipment for all the girls, but of course, she had saved something special for herself - a ma.s.sive black steel hammer, enchanted with earth magic by Daisy.
"Let"s go, Skull Crusher..." Rebecca even named her incredible weapon, but sensing the powerful force waves emanating from the Naga Elder"s attacks, her legs began to quiver.
Beside the frightened Rebecca stood an even more terrified Kylee. It wasn"t the girls" fault - the power level of their foe was so much greater than their own, resulting in an intimidating aura that placed immense pressure on them.
"We have to do something, right? Jeanne will protect us!" Kylee thought out loud.
Rebecca realized her fear was weakening her will, so she tightened her grip on the Skull Crusher"s handle and lunged toward her enemy.
"HAAA!!!" The blacksmith fears the strength of the Naga Elder, but even she is unaware of her own current power, which results in a mighty a.s.sault that sends her opponent flying off the tower.
"d.a.m.n!!" Rebecca grins as she looks at her hands, taken aback by her own attack.
"That"s what I"m talking about!" Jeanne commends while her arms appreciate the respite.
However, the enemy is far from being defeated and Neola sees him return as quickly as he had left. "He"s coming back, get ready!!!"
*Whoosh*
The Naga Elder returns, incensed, and charges towards Rebecca, brandis.h.i.+ng his eerie, dark sword wildly.
"Step back!!" Jeanne acts swiftly and raises her gleaming s.h.i.+eld in front of Rebecca.
*BAM!!!*
Jeanne"s bright s.h.i.+eld absorbs all the damage once again, and Rebecca seizes the opportunity to retaliate with her ma.s.sive hammer, driving the Naga Elder back off the tower.
"Yeah!!" The blacksmith exclaims excitedly.
Jeanne also celebrates, "At this rate, we"ll win easily!"
The duo are quite confident, but when Neola sees the Naga Elder returning unscathed in his dark armor, she becomes worried.
"d.a.m.n, we"re not making any progress!" She voices out while continuously firing arrows at her opponent.
After several impeccable defenses from Jeanne, and potent strikes from Rebecca, Neola starts wondering again, "What are we doing wrong???"
Since the group comprises young, inexperienced girls when it comes to general knowledge, Jeanne can only think of one thing.
"Kylee, go see what the other girls are doing to defeat these monsters," She quickly instructs.
Young Kylee feels terrible for not being useful to the group, so she promptly goes to see how the other girls are faring. She doesn"t have to go far before she sees Anne and Elsie destroying the dark armor of their opponent with those beautiful green daggers.
So Kylee quickly returns to the tower and alerts her sisters, "They are using the beautiful green daggers that Rebecca made."
"Those daggers??" Rebecca is taken aback since those daggers didn"t seem suitable for combat and merely appeared to be decorative items.
"Yes, I saw one of those armors getting destroyed by those daggers!" Kylee reiterates while holding her own dagger imbued with life mana.
The young warrior dashes toward the Naga Elder with that dagger, but without Marie"s elaborate plan, her enemy notices the potent life energy in that weapon and hurls a powerful dark energy wave towards Kylee.
"Kylee, no!!!" Jeanne tries to react quickly, but she can only block part of the attack with her s.h.i.+eld.
Kylee is thrown several meters backwards, with no severe injuries, but the dagger falls into the ocean.
Neola reacts swiftly and picks up Kylee before taking her back to the tower. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, but…" Kylee can"t help but curse. "d.a.m.n! That was my only dagger."
"I think I have some arrowheads with life mana here…" Neola remarks while taking out some green arrowheads from her storage ring.
"It"s good that Rebecca used those crystals on everything she could think of!" Neola comments while handing the arrowheads to Kylee and some normal arrows. "You know what to do."
"MM!" Kylee quickly begins to replace Neola"s arrow tips with those imbued with life mana.
"Just hold him off a little longer!" Neola requests Jeanne and Rebecca, who work together to keep the Naga Elder busy.
Soon, Kylee hands the first green-tipped arrows to Neola, who shoots them at the Naga Elder. His agility is incredibly high, but her archery skills are as well, and even though he manages to dodge some arrows, half of them penetrate his dark armor.
"It"s working!!" Jeanne exclaims upon seeing the dark armor full of cracks.
However, Neola quickly runs out of life-mana-tipped arrowheads, and the arrows that struck the Naga Elder are not enough to completely break his armor.
"What are we going to do???" Jeanne asks while her arms are becoming increasingly numb due to the Naga Elder"s constant attack.
"I must have something here…" Rebecca has many weapons with life mana in her workshop in the Purple World, while her storage ring is filled with other weapons and materials she considered more lethal.
Nonetheless, she searches for something inside it while Kylee takes her place next to Jeanne to keep the Naga Elder busy.
"Found it!" Within a minute, Rebecca pulls something out of her storage ring. It"s an object made of life crystals, resembling a crown with thorns.
Neola is puzzled about what it is until she sees Rebecca fitting the object onto the end of her Skull Smasher. "Oh, this is going to hurt!"
Rebecca flashes a confident smile as she leaps onto the Naga Elder once more. "Hold him down!!"
Kylee acts swiftly, obstructing the Naga Elder"s sight while Jeanne bashes him with her gleaming s.h.i.+eld.
The coordinated attack with Neola"s arrows is enough to make the Naga Elder lose his balance for a second, long enough for Rebecca to arrive with her hammer coated with life mana and land a powerful blow on his dark armor.
*BAM* *SMASH*
The life mana spikes shatter upon impact, but the dark armor also splits due to the cracks made by Neola"s arrows.
The Naga Elder falls to the ground under the weight of that attack, but before they celebrate, the girls attack him again with everything they have.
Without his dark armor, the Naga Elder doesn"t stand a chance of surviving the girls" powerful attacks, and the last thing he sees is the light of Jeanne"s s.h.i.+eld before she uses its sharp end to slice his head off.
"Yeah!! We did it!!"