Chapter 225: Barrage

It was apparent that this fight would be the finale that decided the decisive outcome.

At the moment, Tristan secretly and carefully scanned his surroundings while his mind quickly calculated their chances of winning.

It seemed that despite being badly injured earlier, the Chieng was still able to fight. The space knights did have a much more resilient body compared to that of a normal human.

On the other side, Tristan could see that Serene was also ready to join the fight. Only the barbarian girl Astrid who was left unconscious on the ground. 

Understanding what Elroth said was true, Tristan quickly gave Serene a Tier 3 bow that he took from one of the elven nobles they fought earlier.

Currently, they might have more numbers, but he understood that number alone wasn't enough to clutch the victory. Not including the Forlorn Prince who was formidable by himself, there were still the two elders that stood behind him. He couldn't just ignore them and believe they wouldn't help the former if all of them ganged up on the Forlorn Prince at once, despite the man's words that stated he would be fighting by himself.

The main problem they had right now was the fact that Tristan was still unable to guess the full extent of the Forlorn Prince's strength. The previous battle against Dulos had given him confidence that he could handle and defeat an elder who was a stage 4 Katra practitioner.

However, the magnitude of strength and speed that the Forlorn Prince displayed, who was clearly much superior than the elder, made Tristan wonder if the young man was really just a stage 4 Katra practitioner.

It was particularly at times like this that Tristan really hoped he had a better scanner. After all, knowing the strength of one's enemy was extremely important because those who charged blindly toward unknown dangers would not know how they even died.

As for now, Tristan had only one method to further test the Forlorn Prince's strength.

He reached for the earpiece in his ear and said, "Go, push on the attack, Chieng!"

The next second came the reply. (Affirmative, Master)

The space knight quickly took action as he rushed at the Forlorn Prince. This time, he didn't take out the rifles and brought a different one. It was a large-sized firearm that looked similar to a handgun back on Earth. This firearm was known as the Bolt Gun.

Instead of shooting out plasma beams that easily melt down surfaces, the gun shot explosive cartridges that caused immediate explosion on impact. It had a shorter range than the Storm Rifle, but it compensated for its shortcomings with its higher offensive output. This was the perfect type of weapon for what Tristan wanted him to do.

Tristan,  through the earpiece, gave Chieng a detailed order of what the latter should do. The main purpose of this action was to distract the Forlorn Prince as well as force Elroth the blind elf to involve more in the assault. In the meantime, he and Serene would be attacking from a safer distance. Hence he can see the prince's strength at a safer distance.

Bang! Bang!

Chieng's figure was seen rushing in while firing multiple shots at the Forlorn Prince. As expected, with the latter's speed that was on par with Tristan's, none of the shots managed to hit him. The amused prince once again utilized his bread-and-butter [Thunderbolt] spell to retaliate, but whenever one was on the brink of hitting the space knight, Elroth would conjure the familiar crystal barrier to protect the latter.

As the Forlorn Prince placed his attention to deal with the duo, Tristan secretly prepared another shot of [Fireball] spell, while Serene started doing what she did best. With the dozen arrows in her quiver, she pulled one and nocked it on the bow while also enchanting it.

She aimed at the Forlorn Prince, who was busy maneuvering the Bolt Gun's bullets, and used her battle art technique, [Spinning Shot]. The next second, the arrow left its nest. As it flew through the air, the battle art technique Serene utilized had increased its speed and added unpredictability to its motion. In addition to the enchantment, the arrow also packed quite a lot of momentum.

Swish!! The arrow rapidly closed the distance between Serene and the Forlorn Prince, and it managed to injure the latter. Even though it was only a scrape, it was a wound nonetheless. 

To add onto the effectiveness of their assault, Tristan and Serene started moving around, attacking from many different directions to further confuse Prince Janus.

The fireball that Tristan threw almost hit the Forlorn Prince, but the man managed to react at the last moment and dodged the full brunt with a slight burn. 

Knowing full well the strength of his fireball, Prince Janus was about to charge at Tristan, but the blind prince Elroth took the opportunity of the former being distracted to send numerous ice shards at him. The incoming ice shards immediately prevented Janus from doing what he intended.

Serene followed up the sequence, as she used another battle art technique in her repertoire, [Multiple Shot]. Three enchanted arrows sped through the terrain, in three different trajectories, all of them headed toward Prince Janus like homing missiles.

This barrage of attacks eventually created an opportunity for Tristan as he jumped to the air, away from the Forlorn Prince's sight, and threw several fireballs he had conjured.

[100 Blood Essence have been spent]

[100 Blood Essence have been spent]

[100 Blood Essence have been spent]

He had cast half a dozen fireballs continuously and threw them at once. They descended from the sky and exploded like rockets blasting the ground. He missed the first one, but the second one was a hit followed by the rest of it. The explosion they made was massive enough to cause violent gusts and thick smoke.

When the smoke dissipates, Tristan can see Janus' burning body. Almost all parts were burned, he even lost one of his arms and a few chunks of his body, shoulder, thigh, and waist. The prince seemed to be in critical condition as his whole body trembled.

The sight surely made Tristan and the other cheer. 

But a short after, Tristan suddenly thought something was amiss, the two elders did not react at all. He once more saw the burned standing corpse only to see the eyes open and the elf starts to laugh maniacally

"How could this be fucking possible?!"

Tristan's uneasiness rose to a whole another level when he saw Elroth's face was filled with anxiety. 

"Immortal Body?! You have reached stage five Katra!!? How could it be possible?!"

The Forlorn Prince was standing in the middle of the caved ground, his body was starting to rebuild in a rapid manner.