ROOARR!!
An ear-deafening roar overflowing with indignation and rage resounded loudly through the air, as the Bone Dragon suffered under countless attacks.
Dozens of rune-carved arrows rapidly flew through the air and exploded right on the dragon's head, blasting it to the side, while also inciting another anger-filled roar. Unfortunately for the mighty dragon, its agony hadn't ended yet.
The arrow barrage sent by Reyne was quickly followed by the Titan's Bloodline holder, Sigurd, who stomped the ground with his feet. His figure flew into the air like a bullet, as he brandished the huge axe in his hand.
[Soul Shaker]
This was a powerful battle art that utilized the entire feature of his huge axe by rotating it ad infinitum, unleashing a rapid succession of seemingly unstoppable attacks.
Clank!! Clank!! Clank!!
Loud sounds rang in the air consecutively, as Sigurd clearly showcased the prowess of this battle art to all. There must be at least twenty strikes landed successively on the bone dragon. Even more surprisingly that one attack itself had taken out a whooping 12 points off the dragon's health.
It was, so far, the strongest single attack dealt to the dragon by anyone from Group 7. The only one who could match this feat was probably the combined bombardment from Armand's team of three spirit reader acolytes. Even so, they could only take eight, at most ten, points off the dragon's health.
"That guy has reached the peak of rank 9, with eight pillars formed. No wonder he is so powerful." Chumo whispered to Emery, as the two of them rested their exhausted bodies after their earlier turn.
In reality, using Chumo's [Eye of the Raven], he could tell that those who came from the privileged class had all reached the high stage rank 9 with at least 6 pillars formed. While Sigurd led the pack with 8 pillars, the next one after him was Annara and Armand who both had formed 7 pillars.
Even Orycon, who was known to be the strongest in the elite group seven, only had 5 pillars formed. No wonder the difference between them was so apparent. But it was just like Roran said before, none of them could fight the dragon on their own.
This was proven by how just after four minutes, Sigurd, the strongest among them, was finally down on his knee.
"Aaarrgghhh!!"
[119/1000]
Fortunately, the group had managed to shave 30 points off the dragon's remaining health. Therefore, Anas quickly shouted lest Sigurd be accidentally eliminated by the dragon's attack.
"SWITCH!!"
However, no one from Annara's or Armand's team reacted. They were still focused on recovering their condition, as if they didn't hear the loud scream from Anas.
ROOAAARRR!!
The dragon attacked and sent Sigurd crashing into the wall. He didn't move an inch as his body fell heavily on the ground. It was unknown whether he was still conscious or not.
This left Micah by himself, to be the one who held the huge creature with his [Crystal Barrier]. The young man exerted everything he had till his face turned visibly red.
"SWITCHH!!", desperately shouted the usually indifferent Micah. By this point, he was literally begging for help, as he couldn't hold the dragon any longer.
However, Armand still didn't move and only replied with, "Hold on!! Give us 30 seconds!!"
Micah's expression turned completely pale when he heard that. Even though 30 seconds wasn't that long of a time, for him who was in this precarious situation, every second could easily determine the difference between his life and death.
He was enraged by those privileged acolytes' attitude and inwardly swore he would definitely give them his payback in the future. But now, he had to do everything he could to last for 30 seconds. Left with no options, Micah decided to use his lifesaving treasure.
After taking out a crystal ball that emitted a soft blue light, Micah swiftly clenched his fist and broke it into pieces. Immediately after, similar blue light enveloped his body and the former quickly felt his crystal spell being enhanced.
Without further ado, Micah cast another spell that generated a wall of crystal, quickly encasing him, Reyne and Anas together into a frozen ice block. At the same time, the crystal barrier that held the dragon down finally shattered.
BAM!
The dragon, as enraged as Micah, brought its skeletal paw high to the air and down to the ice block that protected Micah and the other two. The ice shook violently from the attack, but fortunately, it remained intact.
Realizing that the chunk of ice didn't break, the dragon became even more furious.
BAM!
The second attack came upon Micah and the others, and it managed to create a few cracks. This greatly startled the trio within. Alas, there was nothing they could do but watch, as the third attack descended.
BAM!
The third one landed directly at the ice crystal block and almost shattered it into pieces. Their situation became grimer as time passed, but Micah was seen smiling because he calculated that his lifesaving treasure would be enough to buy the 30 seconds he needed.
Alas, his smile was dashed from his face when he looked toward the other side and saw that they didn't budge at all. The Nephilims acolytes still sat there, closing their eyes. It was at this moment that Micah knew he had been fooled.
The crystal block was finally destroyed by the dragon's fourth attack. Micah spat out a mouthful of blood as the backlash hit him. Looking at how pale the former's face was, Anas snapped his head at the privileged acolytes' direction and screamed, "Switch, dammit!!"
Alas, the only thing he received from those people was a smile, one filled with mockery.
Emery, who was on the other side, was quickly concerned. He was about to rush forward, wanting to help the Kaleos' team, but Roran once again stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.
"No!! Wait!!"
A second later, the dragon opened its jaw that was filled with sharp teeth wide and bit Micah, separating his upper and lower part of body. After throwing the now lifeless body to the side, it turned its head to Anas and Reyne, ready to attack both of them.
The two watched in fear as the massive paw approached closer. At the very last second, Sigurd arrived and stopped the dragon's attack.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!" Sigurd screamed.
It was at this time that Armand the Nephilim finally made his move. He ordered their [Soaring Shuttle] to fly toward Anas' side, however instead of targeting the dragon, the dozen golden flying weapons headed towards the three of them.
"You Nephilim bastards!!", was the last word Reyne said, as she was the one they targeted from all sides. Her body slowly dissipated into motes of lights, signaling her elimination from the game.
[Total number of acolytes: 16/692]
Next, the Soaring Shuttles made their way toward Sigurd, who was still battling the dragon.
Splat! Splat! Splat!
The Soaring Shuttles hit every part of Sigurd's body, leaving no spot untouched. Even so, the man was still standing firm, holding the dragon at bay with his huge axe.
The dozen of Soaring Shuttles circled around, as they wanted to make another attack. At this moment, Emery was ready to open his [Spatial Gate] to help. However, Roran still didn't let go of his hand on his shoulder.
The next attack by the shuttles would kill Sigurd for sure, or at least that was what Armand expected.
At the last moment, Anas made his move and held on a few of the shuttle back with his own flying weapons. Alas, his efforts were simply not enough.
Anas stood with his back against Sigurd's back. The two continued to struggle, the former with the Soaring Shuttle, while the latter with the Bone Dragon.
Emery never really liked the Kaleos guy, in fact, they behaved arrogantly and made his first year in Magus Academy extremely difficult. Even so, he was still annoyed for not helping someone in need when he actually can do something about it.
"Why?!" Emery said coldly, as he turned and looked at Roran straight in the eyes.
Facing the question, Harlight's protege answered in a calm voice. "Emery, you have to remember that this is just a game! If you help them, it will be us next who get attacked by the dragon! We should attack once the dragon was aiming for the Nephilims!"
Emery's mind was troubled and when he saw Sigurd's axe finally fell to the ground, he then finally decided.
"Like you said Roran, this is just a game, if we can't even save them in-game, I don't think we will ever save them in real life."
Emery instantly arrived with a [Blink] next to the two dying acolytes and quickly created a [Granite Wall] to hold both the dragon and the [Soaring Shuttle] attack.
Within seconds the granite wall was destroyed, but the three of them were no longer inside.
A space was distorted and a spatial gate was opened but to Roran's surprise, it wasn't on his side, but right next to the Nephilim acolytes instead.
Emery look toward the shocked Armand with a grin and said
"You dont mind we came to visit… right…. friend?"