The Iron Fortress that Barbatos summoned was shaking constantly. It was currently resisting the combined attacks of all the crocodiles and the serpent heads that were made from water magic.
When Celine arrived at the battlefield, the first thing she did was fire berserk spells at the Centennial Dark-Scaled Crocodiles who were conjuring the water serpents. After their host lost their focus, the giant serpents slithering in the air collapsed into a rain shower.
Celine hovered in the air as she gazed at the Dark-Scaled Crocodiles with annoyance. Surprisingly, she was not alone. Floating beside her was Owen who was also sizing up the crocodile army with a frown.
"Can you handle it?" Owen asked.
"I can easily kill all the crocodiles except the Big Boss," Celine replied. "However, if I wipe out its entire clan, it might enter a berserk state. Even if all of us joined hands, it will be quite difficult to deal with it."
Millennial Beasts like the Golden Scaled Crocodiles were one of the hardest creatures to kill because of their absurdly strong resistances to magic and physical attacks.
"I see," Own replied with understanding. "So we just scare them away, right?"
"Yes," Celine answered. "Back me up, I'm going to start."
"Alright. Leave the support to me."
"I'm counting on you old man."
Celine summoned her grimoire and her face became extremely serious. Her lips moved as she chanted a powerful spell that would turn the tide of battle in their favor.
Dark Clouds hovered above the town of Lont as Celine released the bindings on her powers. Her eyes glowed a bright purple color as her voice echoed in the surroundings.
"Glorious Darkness, my redeemer, I need you now in my time of need. Guide my hand so I might conquer your foes. Punish the fools who have forgotten your name, and doom them all to eternal darkness!"
"Darkness Breaker!"
Thousands of dark beams descended from the heavens as they crisscrossed against the Dark-Scaled tide. Even the Golden-Scaled Crocodile wasn't spared from the attack, but it received very minimal damage.
Black wisps started to emit from the eyes of the crocodiles as they stopped their attacks on the Iron Fortress. What Celine used was a spell similar to Mass Blind with higher efficiency.
The Golden Scaled Crocodile stared at her in ridicule because it was unaffected by Celine's attack.
"The bastard has no intention of backing down," Celine frowned. "Old man, prepare for the worst case scenario."
Owen sighed and nodded his head. He knew that Celine had decided to massacre the entire crocodile horde in order to show the Golden Scaled Crocodile that they weren't push-overs.
"You forced me to do this you overgrown lizard," Celine clenched her fist. "Because of you, I had to stop my experiment. I was only half a step away from succeeding, and you dared to get in my way. Two years of preparation were lost and it was all because of you! I will not forgive you!"
"Oh, dear, she's snapped," Barbatos grimaced as he looked at the crazed woman hovering in the sky. "William, for your own sake, don't anger your Master. She's the crazy kind of crazy."
"C-Crazy kind of crazy?" William gulped. "How crazy is that?"
"The worst kind," Barbatos replied in a heartbeat. "She's like a yandere only twelve times worse."
"Hyeok!" William's legs trembled. This time, he was genuinely scared.
If not for the fact that he was mounted on Ella's back, he might have already collapsed to the ground in fright.
"Revered Father, the one who sits on the throne of Darkness, your humble servant requires your aid. Lead me by my hand so I might vanquish my demons," Celine chanted. "I plead this of you with open arms, O Eternal Guardian. Favor me with your illustrious might!"
"Garden of Darkness!"
Thousands of little red orbs floated above Celine. They were very similar to William's "Seed of Darkness" that he had shown to Celine and Owen a few days ago. With a wave of her hand, these seeds embedded themselves in the crocodiles who were currently suffering from blindness.
Half a minute later, all the crocodiles started to toss and turn. Some of them even started their notorious Death Rolls that were known to shred their prey in the water.
The Golden-Scaled Crocodile felt that something was amiss, but it couldn't do anything at this point in time. The only thing it could do was to roar at Celine in anger.
"Roar as much as you like, you arrogant lizard." Celine was indifferent to her enemies' anger. "Even the materials of your entire clan is not enough to compensate half of the precious ingredients I lost in my experiment!"
As if waiting for Celine's venomous words, one of the crocodiles suddenly stopped moving.
Suddenly, a red flower that was two meters tall sprouted out of its back accompanied by a blood shower. The flower glowed eerily as it sucked up all the blood of its host. A few seconds later, the crocodile stopped moving.
What remained of it was only a husk deprived of all of its blood. The crocodiles roared in unison as they all felt their impending death. Hundreds of blood flowers bloomed as the Dark-Scaled Crocodiles died in the hundreds.
Seeing its clan dying in front of it, the Golden-Scaled Crocodile body started to glow. It opened its mouth as a ball of energy slowly expanded in front of it.
"It's going to use Dragon Breath!" Owen exclaimed.
"What are our chances of survival?" Celine asked.
"Ten, no maybe five percent," Owen's face was as dark as the bottom of a kettle. "If we don't stop it, even if we survive its attack, half of Lont will be destroyed."
Celine looked at the monster in front of her fearlessly. Since the chance of survival was slim, she decided to also take a gamble.
"Owen, make sure to catch me if I fall."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Celine didn't bother to explain and began chanting. The language she used was a very ancient one. A language that only a few within the continent were able to understand. Even Owen, who was learning many languages didn't know the language Celine was using.
"Lirowasniel aerriien tireirélrieth, merrieth, telendyn, talaránial. Ararasnal trylinbradies, marániel, Áerorilbras, elowen, Thriasrilriel rinilol, triloren, morelalyn. Nielinbrnil aeraenas, merlenian..."
Celine's index finger glowed in a bloody hue after her chant ended. She then pointed at the Golden-Scaled Crocodile and sneered.
"Finger of Death!"
A loud clap reverberated in the air as a streak of red lightning shot out from Celine's finger. The lightning squarely landed on the Golden-Scaled Crocodile's forehead creating sizzling sounds. .
Celine coughed up a mouthful of blood as she lost the power to levitate in the air. Owen hurriedly caught her and landed on the ground beside Barbatos and William.
"D-Did we win?" William asked. "Did Master succeed?"
It was the question that was on everyone's mind, but no one dared to ask.
No one knew the answer to his question.
No one dared to answer this question.
Celine was already unconscious, while Barbatos' and Owen's gazes were focused on the Golden-Scaled Crocodile in the distance. They were looking for any signs that might tell them that Celine's final attack had some sort of effect on the enemy before them.
They watched in dismay as the ball of light, that hovered a few meters away from the crocodile's jaws, was still expanding. Owen and Barbatos sighed. They concluded that Celine had failed.
The "Finger of Death" had a miniscule 1% chance to instantly kill a Millennial Beast in one strike. Celine knew that the odds were against her, but she still took the risk. But, it seems that her gamble had failed and now all of them were going to die from the Dragon Breath that was slowly gaining momentum.
Owen was already chanting in an attempt to cast a barrier that would strengthen the Iron fortress and help block the calamitous attack that was about to befall them.
However, half a minute later, the ball of light completely disappeared.
Without warning, the Golden-Scaled Crocodile's head fell on the ground with a loud crash. Everyone was caught by surprise, including the crocodiles that were guarding their leader.
A few seconds later, panic spread through the entire horde as the surviving members of the crocodile clan hurried towards the river in an attempt to escape. Out of the ten Centennial Beasts, six still remained.
They, too, didn't even bother to linger and roared to their subordinates to rally to their side.
They led the survivors away and left Lont to find another hiding place where they could recover the numbers that they had lost in this battle. Although they had lost terribly, it would only take two years at most to increase their population again.
The battle against the crocodile horde ended in such an unexpected manner that the people of Lont didn't even know how to react.
Ironically, the first one to shout and cheer was none other than the crow-mouthed Theo. He raised his fist and roared. It was as if he was the one who single handedly fought against the Golden-Scaled Crocodile and sent the entire horde packing in fright.
Soon, more cheers erupted as the citizens of Lont followed suit. The children started jumping up and down while the adults patted each other's back. The two siblings watched all of this with awe and admiration.
"I think I now understand how Lont survived the Beast Tide," Leah said with a tinge of envy. She looked at Celine with sparkling eyes as if she had found her idol.
"Indeed," Cedric replied. He, too, realized that the people of Lont were not as simple as they seemed. "Lont's rise is set in stone."
He didn't want to admit it, but he had been impressed by how the citizens of Lont resisted the Beast Tide. His only regret was that Fushia didn't have such experts under their service. Perhaps, if there were people like Celine working for his father then their territory might still be standing in the Western Region of the Hellan Kingdom.