The attack launched by Prince Janus was so fast that neither Tristan nor Serene managed to react before it had already done its job. The lightning bolt literally streaked through the air in the blink of an eye. It instantly hit and pierced through Astrid's chest. Blood splattered all around her before her body once again fell to the ground.
Serene, who was standing next to her, was dumbfounded by the unexpected development. She quickly regained her bearing and crouched down, trying her best to hold Astrid's life with his healing spell. Seeing the latter's pale complexion, she could tell that Astrid's life was gradually slipping away every second.
Meanwhile, Tristan looked pissed at the Forlorn Prince's action, extremely so. Having to see one of the reliable subordinates injured and on the verge of death would definitely upset someone who was patient, let alone Tristan with his temper.
Knowing he would be courting death if he fought the Forlorn Prince alone, Tristan stared at the crippled Elroth and said, "You! It's time to pay your due!"
The blind prince, who was still hanging on Chieng's back, calmly replied, "I will help, but don't expect much from a blind and cripple like me."
Hearing Elroth's words truly made Tristan wanted to throw the crippled man one more time, sending him flying to the horizon. Even in this situation where they were in peril, the elf still had the intention to joke around.
Tristan had planned the whole rescue operation, and executed it carefully. From the decision to burn the entire forest for distraction purposes, releasing and scheming against the other prisoners back at Forlorn City, the explosive traps that successfully cleared most of the chasers, to the plan of extracting the deceased elves' body to greatly increase his strength.
Throughout the entire endeavor, Tristan's main concern was the possibility of fighting this unfathomable Forlorn Prince, Janus. The man still showed a nonchalant attitude despite Tristan's advantage in numbers, and coupled with the undefined stats he had; it certainly meant something.
Luckily, he had one card for the man; The blind elf who said to be on the same level as the prince himself.
With just one lightning spell, Tristan could catch a glimpse of the Forlorn Prince's strength. Hence, he couldn't be too careful.
Prince Janus seemed to be impatient as he stared right at Tristan and said loudly, "Are we going to fight, or what?!"
Hearing the Forlorn Prince's words, Tristan knew they couldn't stall this any longer. He quickly gave a signal to Chieng and the space knight immediately got into action. He charged toward the Forlorn Prince, with Elroth on his back.
As expected, it seemed that Elroth could indeed handle the Forlorn Prince. The moment Prince Janus decided to use his lightning bolt again, the blind elf would already be a step ahead and created a crystalline ice barrier to protect himself and Chieng.
While his charge was obstructed thanks to the protection that Elroth provided, Chieng brought out two identical firearms, one on each hand, known as the Storm Rifle. The rifles were immediately fired and plasma beams travelled through the air toward the Forlorn Prince.
In the meantime, Tristan stood unmoving as he analyzed the two Forlorn Princes' real strengths. This was because in case his opponent was much stronger than he thought and they stood no chance to fight him, he would immediately grab Serene and run away, leaving everyone else.
Ideally, Tristan would bring the space knight and the female barbarian in his escape, but in the case of fighting an undefeated enemy, asking for an ideal solution was too much.
Returning his thought back to the ongoing fight, Tristan slightly frowned at what he watched. Due to the two's decision to fight a long-range battle, he couldn't really see the true extent of Janus' strength. After all, the latter not only had undefined stats in spirit force, but also battle power.
At the moment, Elroth was seen attacking Janus by sending numerous ice shards - a result of Tier 3 spell, [Ice Shard]. The sharp-looking ice shot through the air from all directions and swiftly neared the Forlorn Prince, intending to make the latter into a pin cushion.
Unfortunately, the ice shards were quickly obliterated by the lightning spell the Forlorn Prince unleashed. The spells brought no results, but Elroth didn't give up as he sent more attacks.
Finally, after seeing several exchanges between the two figures, Tristan could conclude that the Forlorn Prince was certainly stronger than the opponents he fought before, much more so.
Throughout their fight, the two princes didn't use ordinary spells, not even once. One utilized lightning element spells that brought untold destruction upon its descend, while the other had ice element spells that were extremely versatile in his repertoire. The two elements were also supposed to be in the High Elves' list of element affinity.
It looked like the two were brothers have the High Elf gene in them. Moreover, it was seen that both of them had reached a very high level of attunement in their respective elements.
Prince Janus chose the [Lightning Bolt] spell for his offensive approach, while as for the defensive, he was seen using the spell [Stone Wall] that made the ground rise and block all the plasma beams shot by Chieng.
The blind Prince Elroth, on the other hand, depended on Chieng for his mobility. the space knight has decent speed and experience in dodging under fire. But avoiding the lighting spell was not easy at all. Tristan saw a couple of moments where the two almost got punctured by the Forlorn Prince's lightning bolt.
Thankfully, the spell that Elroth casted, [Crystal Barrier], seemed to be effective to stop the spells the Forlorn Prince sent over. Every bolt that landed on the barrier was ineffective as it deflected them away.
For the offensive, Elroth was using his trademark [Ice Shard] spell, which was supported by Chieng's plasma beam. The space knight kept running and dodging while continuing their assault on the Forlorn Prince, as the latter appeared to be suppressed under the heavy fire of the two.
However, the two Forlorn Princes were certainly still holding back as they only used Tier 3 and Tier 4 spells in the fight.
His conjecture cemented stronger when Tristan saw the two brothers smiling wickedly at each other. He could certainly see the brotherhood resemblance from their nearly identical look.
"After so many lost. you still wish to fight me, brother!"
"Huh! You will see who will win this time!"
"With that ruined body of yours? In your dreams!"
Gradually their warm-up finally came to an end as the Forlorn Prince finally made the big move. He crouched and touched the ground, casting a Tier 5 spell, [Earthquake].
The next instant, the ground shook violently and a large area in front of him fell down, replaced by a pit filled with sharp stones. This furthermore limits the space knight's mobility. At this moment the blind prince pushed Chieng away while he himself uses [Aqua Blast] water element spell to propel them two high into the air.
It was basic logic that being in the air made one vulnerable. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the Forlorn Prince swiftly conjured multiple thunderbolts and sent them at the duo. The sight of the bolts speeding through the air was comparable to fireworks.
The crystal barrier, which Elroth conquered in the air, was hit continuously by the thunderbolts until it could no longer take them anymore and broke into pieces.
However, Tristan was startled by the sight of the broken crystal pieces suddenly swirling in the air and created some kind of cloud mid-air.
[Frozen Rain - Tier 5 Ice Spell]
Elroth's figure was seen falling from the sky and being surrounded by hundreds of ice shards.
All shot toward the Forlorn Prince.
Surprisingly, Prince Janus didn't even budge at the alarming sight. He just stood there, completely unfazed as he casted another high-tier spell.
In the blink of an eye, countless streams of erratic lightning currents appeared and churned around his figure before coalescing into one and rushed the blind elf.
[Lightning Wave - Tier 5 Lightning Spell]
The two high-tier, destructive spells connected with each other, creating an enormous burst of energy. Tristan could see that the two brothers were still enjoying the fight.
"Still with the same old ice spell Elroth! Don't you have anything new!?"
This is the first time Tristan saw the tier 5 magic battle, it was an impressive display. Now with the two having launched their strongest spell, Tristan felt it was the cue for him to make a move. He immediately brought out his mithril sword and cast his hidden spell to further increase his chances of success.
[Fire Aura - tier 3 fire spell]
In an instant, Tristan's body glowed with flames as he charged at the Forlorn Prince.
"Charge!"
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Written by Avans, Published exclusively by W.e.b.n.o.v.e.l,