Boom! Boom!
Over on Astoria’s side, huge masses of the earth were sent flying along with powerful gusts of wind that carried dozens of goblins along with it, one after the other.
Astoria had the power to uproot the earth with each swing of her massive greatsword.
However, the force of her sword swing wasn’t wholly comprised of raw physical strength. She had injected light-attribute mana into her sword to produce something similar to Aura Users’ martial arts, one powered by mana instead of aura.
As such, the force generated by her sword swings looked like an enormous beam of light with a whirling storm of wind around it.
[Sword Blast]
Astoria made an upward swing with her massive greatsword using both hands, sending out another blast of violent gusts of wind, uprooting the earth and blowing away dozens of goblins with their bones and organs crushed.
[Grand Sword Wave]
Seeing she was slowly getting surrounded by thousands of goblins and hobgoblins, she followed up with a horizontal slash, which sent out a large crescent sword wave of light.
Hundreds of goblins were sliced in half while two dozen hobgoblins lost their legs without exception.
Unlike the crushing force of her last sword skill, her second sword skill, Grand Sword Wave, possessed extreme sharpness.
[Grand Sword Wave]
Her eyes flickered with glints of red and golden light before she sent out another sharp sword wave with her greatsword, felling several more hundreds of goblins and dozens of hobgoblins.
Despite her overwhelming battle prowess and ocean-like killing intent that suffocated the whole area, the goblins and hobgoblins continued to throw themselves at her without a care for their lives.
Just by looking at their eyes, it was clear that the goblins and hobgoblins weren’t in their right state of mind. They were being manipulated.
If the goblins and hobgoblins weren’t affected by some mental effects, causing them to fight fearlessly without any regard for their lives, they would have long fled from her.
Astoria’s eyes sharpened as she scanned through the massive horde of goblins while under the heavy fire of arrows.
However, none of the goblins’ poisoned arrows succeeded in reaching her. They were all blocked by a skin-tight light barrier that wasn’t affected by the Curse of the Purple Umbala.
[Light Fortification]
The light barrier was Astoria’s unique Specialized Magic, which allows her to condense and solidify light to form powerful protective shields.
Although it was mainly used to protect her body, it wasn’t limited to such use. She could create any form she wanted as long as she willed it so.
Thus, if the goblins were in their normal state of mind, they would have still fled in the absence of her killing intent. They were creatures that mostly lurked in the darkness and feared powerful light.
As Astoria scanned the horde, she eventually narrowed her eyes on a single goblin that differed from the rest. It had red skin and held a staff.
‘A Rank 3 Goblin Shaman,’ Astoria determined.
She immediately understood the Rank 3 Goblin Shaman was casting abnormal mental spells on the goblins and hobgoblins to force them to fight.
After sending out another two Grand Sword Wave, Astoria raised the massive greatsword above her with both hands and struck down at the ground.
[Great Heaven Decimating Earth]
Boom!
Astoria split the ground apart with her powerful downward slash, creating an enormous fissure that stretched more than a hundred yards ahead and reached deep into the earth.
Hundreds of goblins along the fissure line fell inside, including the Rank 3 Goblin Shaman.
…
Some distance away from the battlefield, Silver Hawk and the other members of the Assembly of Silent Night rushed towards Headmaster Astoria’s location when the powerful tremor made them pause their steps.
“That was just made by the Battle Maiden’s sword slash? Truly a monster of a being,” Black Crow gasped with shock.
“The Battle Maiden is our greatest foe. If we can take her out, victory will be ours,” Silver Hawk solemnly said with a big frown before he added, “All B-rank hunters will join forces to kill her. The rest of you will deal with the other stragglers in the cursed region.”
“Understood!”
…
…
…
[Sword Blast]
After creating the enormous fissure with Great Heaven Decimating Earth, Astoria followed up with another attack by firing her Sword Blast into the earthen crack to crush all the goblins trapped inside to death, including the Rank 3 Goblin Shaman.
Right after she used her Sword Blast, she suddenly felt several figures closing the distance on her from multiple directions with terrifying speed.
Her eyes flickered, sensing the danger the newcomers brought her in that instance.
But in the next instance, she felt a scorching-hot wave of fire rushing over from behind her with an even greater speed.
Swish!
A wall of crimson flames covered her right flank in a flash, obstructing several B-rank hunters from attacking her from the right side.
Having one of her sides covered, Astoria immediately focused on fending off the attackers on her left and front sides.
[Great Sword Wave]
“Dodge it!” Silver Hawk cried.
Shinggg—!
The horizontal crescent sword wave sliced through hundreds of goblins and hobgoblins without mercy while the B-rank hunters from the Assembly of Silent Night jumped out of the way.
Some succeeded in evading the attack, while others barely dodged it, just scraping it. Some lost a few strands of hair while others lost had parts of their clothes torn.
Silver Hawk and the others immediately felt cold sweat while facing Astoria.
Even among High Witches, the Battle Maiden of Holy Light ranked within the top three strongest in the Kingdom of Black Rose. Heck, she might even be the strongest.
Meanwhile, Ember casually approached Astoria, cloaked in purgatory flames that burned away all the tiny antimagic spores in the area, and stopped beside her.
“My, my, what should I do with you, Headmaster Astoria? Even if we make plans, what’s the point if you don’t follow them? You charged so deep into enemy territory and attracted all of their attention,” Ember commented with a rueful smile.
Nevertheless, her eyes were sharp and burning with fighting spirit. She didn’t shy away from the battle before them.