306 Chapter 306: Lake of Rage

"Scutum Sobiescianum!" I shouted, conjuring the Constellation shield immediately. There was no time to summon Black Tortoise – we hadn't been hovering in the air for the five minutes I required to summon a Celestial Guardian, especially when we kept moving from place to place and getting out of the hundred meter restriction. Despite that, I knew that Scutum Sobiescianum wouldn't be enough to withstand such a powerful attack.

"Fire Wall!"

Fortunately, Dong Fang Yue Chu joined in as well, conjuring a barrier of flames between us and the Gyaragon.

"Light Screen!"

Everyone turned to stare at Theodore Hammond, who constructed a wall of electricity as well, to reinforce our defenses. Someone had evidently been playing too much Pokemon, despite his claim that he had never heard of Hyper Beam or the latest Sword and Shield.

"Holy Strength!" Harrison Reed shouted as he leaped forward, casting a spell to buff our defenses. Unlike the rest of us, Harrison's spell didn't manifest in the form of a solid defense, but actually served to enhance the durability and endurance of our defensive spells.

With triple barriers between us and our assailant, buffed to insane levels, I hoped that they would be enough.

The Gyaragon unleashed its Hyper Beam, which instantly smashed through Theodore's Light Screen in under five seconds, the transparent lightning barrier shattering as it gave way under the colossal force. Next was Dong Fang Yue Chu's fire wall, which managed to hold strong for another ten seconds. The four of us watched with bated breath as a significant amount of the Hyper Beam dissipated, expending itself ferociously against the fire wall.

Then Yue Chu's fire wall was extinguished and the remnants of the Hyper Beam continued to hurtle forward. Even when spent, the Hyper Beam was still a devastating attack. Mind you, we were trying to defend against an attack that could literally tear large swathes through cities with our flimsy defensive spells, so it wasn't as if we were weak and pathetic, no matter how much some readers would like you to believe.

The Hyper Beam then collided against my Scutum Sobiescianum. Even when reinforced by Harrison's Holy Strength, the Constellation shield was still nearly unable to withstand the violent spell – and take note that this was after the Hyper Beam had already wasted enormous amounts of destructive energy against Theodore's Light Screen and Yue Chu's fire wall. If I had been trying to defend against the attack by myself, I would have failed miserably and ended up obliterated by the furious assault.

Of course, there was the option to evade, but the four of us knew that we wouldn't be able to dodge such a massive attack in time. We would get caught in its wake even before we could scramble out of its range. Not to mention, the Gyaragon could simply twist its head around and continued tracking us with its Hyper Beam even as we ran.

So the only method left was to defend against it. And we were struggling immensely…

"Damn it!"

Scutum Sobiescianum was shattering, falling apart against the volatile mana used to cast Hyper Beam. The colossal golden blast was disintegrating my enhanced Constellation shield bit by bit, square centimeter by square centimeter. Honestly, if Harrison hadn't buffed my summoned shield with his Holy Strength, it would have broken instantly under the furious onslaught.

"GUAAAAAH!" I roared, pouring as much mana into Scutum Sobiescianum as possible. The last fragments of the shield continued to crumble under the irresistible advance, and several rays of destructive golden energies leaked past, but managed to harmlessly dissipate before they could reach us. Then Scutum Sobiescianum shattered completely, shards of the Constellation shield flying out in multiple directions and vanishing into nothingness.

Fortunately, by then, the Hyper Beam had expended itself totally. The Gyaragon glowered at us hatefully, but fortunately it had to recharge before it could unleash a second Hyber Beam in succession. For the time being, it wouldn't be able to attack. Essentially we had a free turn to counterattack…

…if we weren't so exhausted after defending against its ferocious spell.

Luckily, we weren't the only ones on scene.

Kureha Franklin slashed at the Gyaragon while its attention was still focused on us. Her sword glowed silver and she managed to almost decapitate it, a geyser of blood spurting from its neck. The Gyaragon bellowed in agony and turned around to face her, its jaws widening to swallow her up. Kureha dove to the side, her sword coming up as she parried its fangs and was thrown to the side.

By now, the rest of us had recovered. Harrison cast his Holy Judgement spell and blasted the snaking Gyaragon while it was still pursuing the Sword Saint. His spell actually tore through the Gyaragon's steel-hard scales and ruptured its insides, causing blood to pour out. Snarling the Gyaragon turned to face him, but Theodore descended from above and slammed his Thunder Hammer against its head. Lightning exploded and the Gyaragon fell back, smoldering as electricity danced across its body. Oh, right. Weren't Gyaragons weak to lightning attacks and the metal element?

This was good.

Growling, the Gyaragon tried to lash out and knock Theodore away, but the big guy managed to vault over its snaking head and land on his feet. The Gyaragon bore down on him, only for Kureha to intervene and strike at its throat. More blood gushed out as her incredibly sharp blade cut through sapphire scales that were supposed to be as hard as metal.

Few people in our generation could hurt a rank A Behemoth-type monster with just a sword. Kureha must have mastered the pinnacle of Armament Ba Qi in order to execute such powerful moves.

However, as skilled as she was, even Kureha was not invincible. The Gyaragon twisted around to crunch her with its fangs, forcing her to deflect it away and withdraw hastily. She bounced several steps back and unleashed a silver blast from her sword, knocking it back. Theodore then smashed his hammer against the Gyaragon's head, snapping it back.

"GRRR!"

Roaring, the Gyaragon unleashed several twisters that spun wildly around it. Its demonic aura swirled and twisted into mini-tornados that ravaged the surroundings, forcing both Theodore and Kureha back.

Then it charged through its own twisters to seize the two melee combatants.

"Oh no, you don't!"

Hollering, Yue Chu conjured a gigantic inferno that bathed the Gyaragon. Shrieking, the rank A monster fell back. I realized that it wasn't just Yue Chu who was casting the spell. Harrison had added his own buffs by augmenting the fire spell with the divine element, amplifying the damage it could cause to monsters.

Even when hurt so badly, the Gyaragon was still not dead. Bellowing, it reared up and slithered toward us, its jaws glowing as it gathered mana for another Hyper Beam.

It never got to fire off its spell.

White Tiger descended from above and smashed its head to the ground with a single paw. Growling, he electrocuted the Gyaragon incessantly, sending waves after waves of lethal electricity through its convulsing body. Theodore seized the chance to join in, swinging his thunder hammer and cracking the Gyaragon's skull again and again.

Meanwhile, Kureha was standing off to the side, muttering an incantation. Tremendous amounts of mana flowed and coalesced around the blade of her sword, almost making it seem as if it had grown several hundred times. Once she completed her spell, she opened her honey-brown eyes.

Both Theodore and White Tiger retreated instinctively, as if understanding her intentions. Kureha swung her sword down and decapitated the Gyaragon in a single strike.

"…phew…"

Yue Chu wiped the perspiration off his brow as he watched the disembodied head bounce away. He shook his head and brought up a hand to incinerate the corpse. If this monster had been contaminated by a virus, which was spread through ingestion, then we couldn't leave any remains behind for other monsters to devour, or the mutation would disperse beyond the Lake of Rage, and beyond Troy City.

"GUOOOH!"

We turned to glance at the other Gyaragons, who were still mired in a bloodthirsty frenzy inside the Lake of Rage, either tearing into each other or fighting against what seemed like a large group of mages.

The Hell Hounds.

They were being led by a familiar figure, who was directing an enormous white dragon with wings of fire to immolate nearby Gyaragons with divine fire. Lilith was leading the assault, attempting to destroy the rank A monsters, but she was evidently having difficulty doing so, even when backed up by so many elite mercenaries.

It was only natural. These were the highest-ranked monsters we were talking about here. Glancing at each other, we then wordlessly reached an agreement and hurried over to see what we could do to help.

"You guys!"

Lilith could hardly spare us a glance as we reached her. White Tiger and Theodore sent out devastating bolts of lightning that kept several Gyaragons at bay, but failed to slay them, but we decided to leave them for now. One thing at a time. If we could group up with Lilith and the mercenaries, we could regroup and organize a more devastating counterattack later.

"Seems like you could use some help," I remarked, gesturing toward the Lake of Rage. I had summoned Orion, and took a few potshots at the nearest Gyaragons, my arrows detonating against their armored scales with the force of tank shells. Those wounds weren't fatal, unfortunately, but it was enough to discourage them from attacking. For now, anyway.

"We can handle this," Lilith declared, despite her face frozen in an icy scowl as she directed her Kagutsuchi and Hellfire Bear to knock a couple of Gyaragons aside. At least she didn't forget her beloved Hellfire Bear. "You guys should get into the city and help with the evacuation. There are still countless people inside, trapped by the evolved monsters."

"But you can't fight all those Gyaragons by yourself," Yue Chu protested. Lilith shot him a frosty glare.

"Perhaps not, but what difference will the five of you make against a horde of rank A monsters? I'm not looking down on you, don't get me wrong. I saw you guys destroy one of them. But your strength is better used in the city, to save more lives. We'll take care of the Gyaragons here."

"How?" Kureha demanded, glancing at the teeming horde. She spun around and swung her sword, slashing a Gyaragon at range and causing it to flop back into the waters, staining the lake with more blood. "These things are tough."

"We're getting reinforcements."

As if on cue, a hovercraft crashed through the clouds above, and someone leaped out from the open cargo bay. Lightning storms crackled and danced around him before sending hundreds of jagged bolts into the lake and frying the horde. Smoke rose into the air, which crackled with static electricity as more of the lightning bolts flashed and flickered above the surface of the lake.

"That's…"

It was a guy a couple of years older than us. A very handsome guy who resembled some South Korean superstar during my time, with longish black hair, expressive eyes, and a face that would cause a fashion supermodel to go green envy.

"Adam Lacroix," Harrison breathed, immediately recognizing him. "The Lightning Tiger."

Adam Lacroix landed on the head of one of the Gyaragons, and then punched it with his fist. Devastating lightning exploded out of his hand and shot through the poor monster, immolating it and causing its gleaming sapphire scales to blacken from the sheer heat. Before the convulsing monster could topple back into the lake, he was already leaping away. Another Gyaragon swiveled about to attempt to devour him, but a massive White Tiger materialized beside him and swatted it away. The poor dragon-type monster's head exploded in blood and viscera as the lightning claws blew it apart with sheer strength.

"The prodigy of the Lacroix Clan?" Yue Chu gasped, recognizing the name. Even I had heard of the Lacroix Clan – they were one of the top ten Great Families of the Federation, and their emblem, not surprisingly, was the White Tiger.

Adam landed on the shore, kneeling in front of Lilith. Smiling, he seized her hand and gently brought it to his lips.

"It's an honor meeting you, Miss Lilith."

The famous fire mage couldn't help but blush furiously. She suppressed the urge to yank her hand away and smiled politely.

"Mr. Adam. I'm glad you could make it."

He nodded solemnly, letting go of her hand and standing up. "Sorry for being late. But now that I'm here…" he turned around, his White Tiger also whirling around to face the horde of Gyaragons. "We'll take care of these."

My own White Tiger shrank back, intimidated by the more potent presence of Adam's much larger White Tiger. It was only natural. As powerful as my Celestial Guardians were, I was the one who took the jack of all trades route and focused on quantity over quality. None of my Celestial Guardians could compare to the summoned familiars of mages who chose to specialize and dedicate their lives to a single element.

Adam turned to stare at me curiously, no doubt wondering how I was able to summon a Celestial Guardian that was supposed to be the mascot of his family, but he decided to focus on the threat at hand for now.

Recognizing him as a threat, all the Gyaragons immediately turned as one to lunge at him. Adam's White Tiger kept them at bay, a ferocious maelstrom of lightning rippling out of its body as it growled at them. The first row crashed back, convulsing violently as deadly energies surged through their bodies.

"Hmm, looks like White Tiger might not be enough to deal with this many," Adam observed when he noticed that the Gyaragons hadn't died despite his familiar's efforts. Undaunted, he raised a hand. "Raijin."

A massive serpent descended from the heavens, its glowing, golden body crackling with electricity and causing the clouds to roil about restlessly. Dozens of tremendous thunderbolts rained down upon the Gyaragons like spears, obliterating several of the Rank A Behemoths and causing the rest to scatter fearfully.

"You've got to be kidding me…" I muttered, my eyes wide. Beside me, my friends were speechless with shock.

Lilith, on the other hand, didn't seem surprised at all. Turning to us, she made to shoo us away.

"So you don't have to worry. Mr. Adam is as strong as my elder brother, Gabriel. A horde of rank A monsters is no match for him. It'll take him – and us – some time to exterminate them, but we can handle this place just fine. You guys do what you need to do."

Wait, what? Lilith had a brother named Gabriel? Oh, right. Uncle Glen mentioned that he had two children before – a son and a daughter. I had never met either of them (except Lillith during the Spiritual Road training camp), so I wasn't familiar with them, but now that I thought about it…yeah, Uncle Glen had a son too.

If this Gabriel was as powerful as Adam, then I shudder to think what he was capable of.

We were about to run off, but a sudden splash and a much more deafening roar echoed throughout the Lake of Rage.

For some reason, in the center of the blue swarm, a red Gyaragon had emerged.