Chapter 83: 3S

The first thing Gates noticed was the sound of his own breathing. At some point during the attack he'd briefly lost consciousness. The side of his face was warm and flecks of red clouded the vision from his right eye, he quickly put together the situation as he pushed himself up on his elbows. He needed to get a clear picture of what happened, so he receded into his own mind and forced himself to remember all he could--and quickly.

Agni barely finished her warning when the attack occurred. From all directions shards of condensed rock were propelled outwards like bullets in one swift expansion. The area of effect attack was so swift and powerful that nearly all the members of the party were left staggering, injured or crumpled on the ground.

Thanks to Agni's warning, Merri -- who'd been lamenting her inability to act, moved first. She lifted her melted shield which still contained fire element mana and leapt towards the nearest person at her side. At the same time she forced all of the contained energy outwards, making use of her adventurer class' unique abilities. A Tower Guard could absorb elemental magic within the shield and use it to defend or attack. In this case, Merri gritted her teeth as she fired a roar of flames towards the slime. She knew the blast would not be enough to even harm the creature but she hoped it would destroy as many of the projectiles as possible.

Ariadna could feel the stinging pain of several pelting store shards which easily tore into her skin and bloodied her with wounds. She covered up instinctively but this was little help, that is until Merri stepped in front of Ariadna and shielded her completely with her own body.

Sypha was late reacting, as he'd been caught completely unaware so by the time he brought up his hands he'd been struck several more times. Had Gates not called forth his spirits to sacrifice themselves the pair would have been in an even more dire situation. The majority of the stone bullets were fired in Gates' direction, no doubt in order to take out most of the Gunge Slime's foes. Katrin, Gates and Sypha all stood relatively close to one another so if they were struck half of the party would have instantly been disposed of.

Sypha forced all of his mana into a protective light barrier which resembled a mix between a half semi circle and a curtain. The pellets struck the magical construct at full velocity and some of them broke through, as if a plethora of rocks were being hurled at a curtain. In order to better defend Sypha, Gates forced his water spirit to take up a place just behind the light curtain. The earth spirit then appeared just behind the water spirit and reformed itself into a plate of earth which widened for optimal defense.

Agni was torn about what she should do, she felt she had to protect Katrin, after all it was instinct after spending so much time with her. With this in mind she decided to do the only thing she could -- she leapt forth and unleashed as much fire as possible towards her foe. Rather than focusing the flames, she simply allowed them to run wildly while she assumed a defense stance. This was the best she could do given such a short time, wind magic wouldn't have been strong enough to make a difference while earth magic was too sluggish to react with.

She focused on improving the heat and density of the flames which cost her a significant amount of mana, but the desired effect worked to some degree. She found herself pelted by only a few of the earth bullets and burning the rest or at least slowing down their velocity somewhat before they struck her. Katrin, having seen this formation plenty of times before, took her place behind Agni and prepared a healing potion just in case.

The salvo of earth bullets only lasted for less than five seconds but it was enough to bring the party to the brink of ruin. Halfway through Sypha's light curtain, which attempted to shield everyone at least a little, was shredded beyond belief. He purposely made it large enough to shield everyone to some extent but this also made the spell much weaker. That , coupled with the fact that he was still maintaining everyone's barriers caused Sypha to crumple to the ground in exhaustion as the light construct and their barriers disappeared.

He himself was bleeding from the abdomen as a rock shard jutted from his side. Gates didn't fare any better. He too was forced to use every ounce of his mana to mount some sort of defense. By using the water spirit as a thin barrier, he hardened the water to dampen the impact of bullets.

Unlike Sypha's light magic which could be stretched much further, Gates' water could only cover a square shaped area of 1.5 by 1.5 meters (4 x 4 feet). Because of this, he could only cover the area directly in front of Sypha and his earth shield was even smaller at half that size. The water spirit was instantly overwhelmed by the sheer number of bullets and the earth shield shattered slightly before the attack was done. Both he and Sypha were pegged by several bullets, one of which struck Gates on the temple and knocked him down. Another ripped into his shoulder as he crumpled down to one knee.

When all was said and done Gates looked around wildly, trying to process the battlefield as a case of mild disorientation plagued him. Merri was still standing, though her eyes were blank -- she was out on her feet though she still grasped her shield and defended her partymate to the last.

Ariadna was now grasping at a wound on her stomach and , like Merri, several spots all over her body were now bleeding from the sheer impact of the rock bullets. Sypha lay a few centimeters away from Gates, passed out due to exhaustion from over exerting his mana. His wounds were minimal, but not life threatening.

He next turned his attention to Katrin and Agni and to his surprise they were the only members of the party still on their feet. What's more Agni's eyes had taken on a reddish tint which made her appear more fearsome than Gates had initially believed her to be.

"Potions." He grunted as he began to fiddle with his inventory, he said it loud enough so that anyone conscious would begin the process of healing. Once more, retreat crossed his mind but as he cast a glance at the slime. He was surprised to see that the creature was now less than half of its original size.

*Wait? What?* He thought to himself, at first dismissing the sight as a delusion.

[Gunge Slime Level 23

Affinity : None

Vulnerability : Elemental Magic 200%

Resistance : Physical Weapons. Light Magic 200% Darkness Magic 50%]

*Level 23..did this thing get weaker due to our attacks?* Gates wondered as he hastily triggered the use of a Greater Yue Potion. The effects were felt by all of the party members as each received an equal portion of 1,000 hp's worth of restoration. Furthermore Gates noticed that Katrin was busily using potions of her own.

"Merri? Merri!" Ariadna's voice had taken on a note of concern as she gently laid the minotaur down.

"Ariadna, move Merri and Sypha to the back row. Katrin, Agni you two can still fight right?" Gates asked.

"Fight? We should be running away!" Ariadna shouted as she pulled Merri the minotaur by her underarms.

"No. Those attacks worked. Its level is almost halved. We can end it." Gates said as he got to his feet, calling forth his staff which had been knocked away during the previous attack.

*I sacrificed two spirits in order to stay in the fight. I've still got the flame spirit. Now that the Slime is near their levels I'm sure the two casters can take it on and I'll provide support. Now I just have to convince them.* He thought to himself as he watched the Slime wobble in the distance. Since it expelled all of the earth shards within its body it had not moved.

*Cooldown period?* Gates thought as he turned his gaze towards the two party members behind him. He wiped the remaining blood from his forehead, the potion had long since closed his wounds and restored a fair measure of his health. He wondered why Oliver, the expedition leader would have granted each party leader such a powerful potion but now Gates could only speculate. It was insurance, in case something like this happened.

"It's weakened. One more serious push and we can take it down." Gates said as he once more began the process of calling forth a spirit. Forcibly released spirits would take some time to return, but the flame spirit immediately answered its call. Gates then used his staff to cross the baby-like spirit floating next to him.

A swirling power of energy rose upwards from Gates' feet and focused itself into the gem on his staff before transferring into the flame spirit. The humanoid spirit turned into a sphere of flames and doubled in size before shaping itself into a flaming eagle that shrieked. With each flap of its wings Agni and Katrin could feel the heat emanating from the spirit.

"Think you're up for it?" Gates asked as he lowered his staff to his side. He wasn't exactly confident in his ability to lead, at most he was only party leader due to his rank and seniority with the Mystic Tower chapel. He knew motivational speeches were not his strong point, thus he made a show of preparing for battle in the hopes that he could sway the others.

The truth was, more than anything he hated to lose and defeating such a powerful foe would bring Gates one step closer to his own personal goals. If the two strongest members of the party decided against it, he would be forced to end this battle regardless.

"Running away was never an option." Agni said, her voice taking on a certain mix of coldness mingled with fervor. Katrin nodded in agreement as she prepared for combat herself by casting a few Scribe script spells.

*It seems like I was worried for nothing.* Gates thought to himself as a smile appeared across his face. The Spirit Mage, Scribe and Succubus stood side by side as they prepared for the final clash with the Gunge Slime.