Chapter 272: Flooded

"So what now?" Katolin asked.

Although they have activated a barrier, in return for that was them trapped inside the ruined plaza together with the Evolved Kruthik and dozens of the smaller ones.

"We'll have to wait it out," Ned replied in earnest. His mana was so low he knew he has to rely on his sheer raw power. He stood with his legs shaking.

Behind them approaches the Evolved beast and the smaller ones.

Under the darkness of the dome, the lava groveled out from the exits of the caves.

Judging from the light that was outlining the circles, Ned assumed that they have at least five minutes before the barrier turn dry. But even so, the charging Evolved and smaller Kruthiks won't wait for them to leave.

The only thing they could do was to wait for the barrier while battling the beasts and survive.

[Ned.]

ICE's voice echoed with a hint of a confused tone.

[I have lost connection with you.]

We'll have to sort it out later, Ned thought and dragged himself up. "For now," he then said, "We'll have to deal with this one."

"I agree," Katolin remarked and sighed as she positioned herself before Ned to meet the charging beast. "But I'm almost out of mana and energy. Perhaps if I have more mana... "

TTheEvolved Kruthik charges.

With her pair of limbs withdrawn, Katolin extended it before her and stabbed the marble white ground. Her limbs went deeper into the slab and pulled it upward. A square of the slab was then rooted out its base.

At ten meters between her and the Evolved Kruthik, Katolin lifted the slab midair with her limbs and launched it toward the beast.

But the Evolved merely swung its spiky limbs and rip the slab of white stone, pulverizing it.

In between the pulverized chunks of rocks was a broken sword with the tip pointed at the beast's slitted eyes.

Surprise caused the beast to falter and jerked its spiky head.

Ned dashed the moment Katolin threw the slab. He then jumped to meet the beast's eye to eye, stepping over its spikes. With the broken Butterfly withdrawn, Ned stabbed the beast through its eye.

The beast shook its head to ease the pain running through the cavity of its eye, but it seemed that it wasn't enough it roared and stumbled backward.

Ned grinned as he flipped midair across the beast, but his land wasn't snappy as he used to be, and he fell with his back. He lacks both energy and mana. He could replenish his mana with the help of the thick mana around, but it was his energy that he was worried about. His energy is just important as his mana since it was the one he used to move every inch of his body. With no vials to momentarily replenish his energy, Ned and Katolin must find a way to defeat, perhaps, at least maim the monster. To give them enough time to escape.

The circles behind Katolin dimmed along with the barrier that extended above the ruined plaza. The hundreds of beasts that weren't fortunate enough to make it past the barrier screamed in agony as the lava started to make its way toward the ruined plaza, passing through the horde of beasts.

Seeing this, Ned didn't hesitate to produce another crystal out of his spatial inventory and passed it to Katolin.

"I don't know how long you will last," Ned said over his shoulder without looking at Katolin behind him. "But use it, your spells are better than mine in terms of attacking capacity."

"How about you, Ned?" Katolin said as he caught the crystal. It was rough and blue with jagged edges, but it was compact with mana.

Ned thought of selling it when they get back on the surface, but it would be useless if they're both dead. He already used one, now with another he got one left.

"I'll deal with this annoying one," Ned ordered and gritted his teeth as he stood. "Keep the smaller ones away."

Katolin believed in Ned, there was no reason for her to doubt him anymore. He was her lifeline, her savior. She smiled with the thought of Ned saving her. Katolin nodded while she held the rough crystal blazing of blue light.

Now, Ned thought. How will I deal with you?

The Evolved beast struck its spikes on the slabs pulling it off the ground and throwing it to Ned.

This caught Ned off guard since the beast copied what Katolin had done with the slabs.

The slabs thrown at Ned were double the size of what Katolin had before, the sizes were too big for Ned that blocking them with his broken Butterfly, or simply punching it was too much for him. With a meager amount of energy he had left, Ned couldn't move an inch from his spot, and even if he moves it was too late for him to evade.

Ned plastered a grin, he raised his hand and conjured a wind spell, a spell he always knew, but rarely use because of its weak damage. Weaker than the Windball he used, but its mana consumption was also lower than his other spell.

With 300 mana left, Ned conjured Windlance (few of his spells that he knew from his memories) a barely Tier 1 spell that hardly uses any mana at all. The conjuration was almost the same as the Windball, only smaller and tweaking only a bit to extend its length instead of forming it into an orb.

Ned released the Windlance, passing through the slabs of rocks, and since the rocks weren't imbued by any magic at all, the lowly spell pierced the rocks and shattered them to pieces. The remaining rocks were easily fended off by Ned with his broken Butterfly.

This caught the beast in surprise, it did not expect the human that has been fighting for over an hour to have mana and spells hidden under his sleeves.

The Evolved beast roared, commanding.

The smaller ones or the fortunate enough to pass the barrier ran towards Ned and Katolin.

Katolin conjured a lightning spell on her left while he held the rock on her right. She could barely move to leave her spot. But judging from the approaching beast, she does not need to move an inch since the beast was lined adjacent to one another.

Katolin released her Lightning arc, killing six Kruthiks in an instant not far from Ned's left.

With the light from the barrier, Katolin could precisely hit her target according to where she wanted it. And so, she conjured another Lightning arc, the most effective spell currently.

Lightning after lightning, arcs after arcs, Katolin conjured a spell as though she was a cannon filled with endless ammunition.

Outside the ruined plaza, S'vokalt screamed as though she was dying. The lava was filling the crater she was in.

Hearing her scream, Ned smiled and realized that the Array wasn't actually something to hold S'vokalt inside the ruined castle. The Array was made to flood her with lava. Whoever made the Array thought that the lava was an alternative if the chains won't hold.

Whoever made the Array, Ned thought. Is a guarantee to kill her. But will it? Will the lava be enough?

The dome shook from S'vokalt's relentless assault of the chains locking her, she was desperate. Over the walls of the ruined castle were smoking in black emerging behind it. Came to another roar, then the suspended army of beast outside the barrier changes direction toward their Mother. Even if the lava burns their limbs, the smaller ones kept on marching as they gathered toward the ruined castle.

With Katolin's Lighting arc, the smaller beast around them was reduced to a smaller number.

Ned on the other hand fought the Evolved beast one on one using the stance Master Will thought him against a massive beast.

Ned opened his hand, his chest was wide open while the broken Butterfly raised behind him, his left hand angled across his chest as though defending. His display in red shows digits was to hit the massive beast. Ned was fighting the beast to buy time, not to kill it which was far from possible even if Ned fought it at full strength.

Ned waited for the beast to approach his attacking range. With the broken Butterfly half its length, his range was reduced as well.

Ned strengthens the grip on his sword's hilt. After the beast approached his attacking range, Ned slid to evade the spike that went passing to his left cheek and rolled to slice the ankle of the beast.

Even broken, the Butterfly proved its worth and never disappointed Ned.

The tip of the shattered Butterfly passed through the scaly limb of the beast.

Having been cut, the beast lost its balance and fell with its spiky head catching the ground.

Ned then changes his stance back to Vanishing and attacked the remaining beast. All these in less than a minute. The remaining beast fell together with Ned. Having used too much energy made Ned almost unable to move.

Katolin ran toward Ned while releasing Lightning spells in a form of orbs and lances, striking the beasts around Ned and killing them.

"Saving a human?" Ned asked with a smile as Katolin pulled him up to stand.

"Only you," Katolin replied with a smile. She held both Ned and the crystals.

The two turn to look at the downed beast as it started to move, their eyes frowned since both of them could barely fight any longer. The crystal on Katolin's hand dimmed and was emptied of mana.

After throwing the crystal, Ned and Katolin readied themselves for their final fight against the Evolved Kruthik.

The Evolved Kruthik charged with its mouth showing thousand of tiny teeth.

But just in time for the beast to reach Ned and Katolin, the ground around them shook then the circle in the middle dimmed of light after which the barrier, the Array made, vanished like a vapor.

The lava crept inside the ruined plaza from the exits except for one.

"Shit," Ned cursed seeing that the only way toward their exit was now flooded with lava.